Celebrity chef Aarti Sequeira.
Celebrity chef Aarti Sequeira is the host of the online show “Aarti Party” and the Cooking Channel’s “Taste in Translation” (aartipaarti.com). She was generous enough to take time out of her packed schedule to discuss the perks of being in the culinary media spotlight. Though this feature typically spotlights local chefs in the Sarasota-Manatee-Charlotte area, we were fortunate to hear from an international food star like her.
Q: Tell me about your background before you won “Food Network Star” in 2010?
A: One minute I was trying to figure out what to do after realizing I didn’t want to be a journalist anymore and living on my husband’s unemployment check. The next minute, I was shooting my own cooking show on the biggest network in food in the United States. The experience battling for this title is something I can always look back on when I question whether I have what it takes to do something really challenging in my life.
Q: What are some of your favorite ingredients to use when creating new dishes?
A: It changes all the time because I try to cook seasonally. I scour the farmers’ markets every week and I sort of just obey what each season has to offer. Right now, sugar snap peas, heirloom spring onions and grapefruits are calling to me. I’m moving away from the root vegetable stews of winter toward fresh salads and bright, crisp flavors.
Q: How can people spice up everyday meals?
A: I try to show people how adding just a couple of spices can really transform a basic dish into something very special. Once you’ve made a few of my recipes you’ll start to get the hang of it—which spices play well together, which ones need a middleman to make them work and how to coax the most flavor out of them. I like to think of spices like makeup; you look wonderful without it, but man, when you apply that great red lipstick that matches you so well, it’s the kind of “pow” no one can ignore.
Q: Where do you find inspiration for new recipes?
A: Inspiration is everywhere, from restaurant menus to farmers’ markets to blogs to memories of dishes I loved in my youth. I subscribe to nearly every food magazine and my mum is always sending me recipes. I characterize every city I’ve visited by the food I’ve eaten there, and I love trying to recreate those dishes or figure out my spin on them.
Q: Do you have any new and exciting projects in the works?
A: I gave birth to my first child in October of last year, so that’s my biggest project at the moment. Becoming a mother has been the most trying challenge of my life but every day is a little bit easier, and when my daughter, Eliyah, smiles at me first thing in the morning (even though it’s way before I’d choose to wake up) I can’t help but feel a little flutter of happiness in my heart. Also, my first cookbook comes out in September. The tagline is “an American kitchen with an Indian soul.”
TANDOORI STEAK-GRAPEFRUIT LETTUCE WRAPS
(serves four)
For steak and marinade -
Ingredients:
½ cup pure Florida grapefruit juice
¼ cup soy sauce
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds flank steak, trimmed of excess fat and silver skin
Method:
Whisk together juice, soy sauce, garlic and pepper, and pour over steak. Marinate at room temperature for 10 to 30 minutes.
For tandoori sauce -
Ingredients:
½ cup Greek yogurt (two percent)
¼ cup and 2 tablespoons pure Florida grapefruit juice
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons tandoori powder
1 teaspoon grated ginger
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Whisk together yogurt, juice, garlic, honey, powder, ginger, salt and pepper. Pour into a small saucepan with ¼ cup water and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, until thickened.
For filling -
Ingredients:
2 ruby red Florida grapefruits (peeled, segmented and chopped into ¼-inch pieces)
2 English cucumbers, peeled and finely diced
2 green onions, sliced finely
4 sprigs mint, minced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Toss grapefruit, cucumbers, onions and mint with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Final Assembly -
Cook steak in a hot cast iron skillet, about three to five minutes per side. Remove from the pan and let rest for five minutes. Slice thinly against the grain. To assemble wraps, place romaine lettuce leaves on plate. Place a couple of pieces of steak in a romaine leaf, top with grapefruit filling and drizzle with tandoori sauce.
