Executive Chef Pushkar Marathe from Stage Kitchen & Bar, Demonstration Dinner 1/16/23
Blog by Farmer Diane Cordeau
Last night we had the honor of hosting Executive Chef Pushkar Marathe from Stage PGA (Palm Beach Gardens) and Ela Curry Kitchen (Jupiter). Even without the menu this demo dinner sold out a month prior. For Chef Pushkar’s first appearance we did our usual best; we prepared the kitchen with all necessities and Lee fired up the Argentian Asador wood fired grill. These demo dinners are filmed live before an audience. On a cool crisp night, the energy in the room crackled like fire as our guests focused on the chef’s detailed four course dinner narrative of fine cooking techniques. With over fifty of these demo dinners, I think Pushkar got the most attention and audience questions. He has this attractive stage personality, being an excellent communicator with concise yet detailed cooking techniques.
Normally these demo dinners end in a couple hours, but despite the cool temperature, the warmth between chef and guests kept things lively for over 3 hours. He woke up our taste buds with his unique menu.
Description of each course here:
Vegetable Pachadi Salad was filled with fresh raw veggies all chopped up in a very tasty mustard seed vinaigrette. He demonstrates the technique of incorporating mustard seed to hot oil for enhancing flavors.
Second course: Our wood grilled broccolini was infused with a tomato calabrian chili sauce. He used a grater as a different technique to remove the skin of the tomatoes. The sauce added more color and a little zest to the dish.
Third Course: Shrimp Coconut moilee : He spent time explaining how to make the grits, talked about why he used basmati rice (for its flavor), and prepared the coconut sauce with our red okra
Dessert: Coconut fried banana: He demonstrated over the stove to fry the banana in a pot instead of a regular fryer. The Toffee Syrup was almost like a base for a sugar pie, not too sweet and finished with his homemade coconut ice cream
He took the time to answer lots of questions about herbs and the chemistry of his cooking. I told him that so far, he has won the best recipe for my broccolini, it was to die for and because of his expertise in the kitchen, guests did appreciate fresh vegetables grown at Kai-Kai and that was his goal to showcase our veggies.
He stayed around calling guests to come up to the stove wanting to teach them how to fry those delicious small bananas served with a toffee syrup and coconut homemade ice cream
You still have a chance to sample his cuisine by joining us on April 23rd, 2023, for his formal dinner this time. The menu should be out soon, I hope.
I felt honored when his business partner Andy Dugard mentioned that we have a wonderful event space, a space where you can let your hair down and enjoy yourself tasting great food. That is exactly what chef Pushkar Marathe did, smiling all night long and enjoying sharing his knowledge with us.
Please patronize his restaurants and his dedications to perfection
