Les Petits Chefs visit Lisa Marie (and a Street Food Diaries giveaway!)

Cheesy, bacon-y, messy, drippy. This kind of food appears all throughout Matt Basile’s debut cookbook Street Food Diaries – Irresistible Recipes Inspired by The Street. It’s also the kind of food he serves at Lisa Marie (the bricks and mortar extension of Priscilla, his food truck) and the kind of food that my Petits Chefs LOVE (to eat and to cook!).  A group of Petits Chefs were lucky enough to visit Lisa Marie earlier this year and had a blast making deep-fried mini meatball pizzas. I mean, who wouldn’t love to cook that?

Matt and Kyla were so excited to welcome a (mostly) new group of boys back to cook in the kitchen and I hoped we would make something from the book. Matt did not disappoint – when he emailed to tell me we’d be making “Buffalo Chicken Patty Melts” I knew the boys would be in heaven. I mean, it’s basically a chicken or turkey burger mixed with a little bufflao chicken sauce (topped with cheese and perhaps a little more of the sauce) and served between a grilled cheese sandwich. Heavenly, right?

Certainly the boys seemed to think so and jumped right into the prep. I love how Matt makes mixing ground meat and forming burger patties exciting and somehow cool!

Squish, squish, squelch, squelch…

Um, yes, the gloves came out :0 When Matt asked them to check if they had cuts on their fingers, all of a sudden there were a huge amount of boys needing gloves. Well, you know, it IS fun to wear the gloves (and blow into the open end of them to make it look like you have a blow up hand… yes, I saw you guys!).  In the end, though we made some pretty respectable looking patties…

Meanwhile, over on “team grilled cheese” we prepped some baking trays with parchment and brushed them with a little butter…

Matt showed the boys how to maximise the space on the trays…

And we got to work…

While the grilled cheeses were being prepped, Matt showed the boys how to cook on a flat top…

We learned not to flip the patties too often so as to keep in as much moisture as possible and to figure out when to flip them by looking to see if they had cooked at least half-way up the sides…

Waiting… waiting… When everything smells so delicious, it’s hard to be patient!

FINALLY… they looked to be done…

Matt ensured the boys ate their greens (because what is a Buffalo Chicken *anything* without some celery, right?)

We added a little extra Buffalo sauce to some of the burgers and a little cheese too!

And got to constructing our masterpieces…

The burger/sandwich went back on the grill for a few more minutes just to brown the outside a little…

And then came everyone’s favourite moment…

Get the recipe for Matt’s Buffalo Chicken Patty Melt here!

Though this was a relatively simple dish to prepare, Matt kept the boys busy with stories of life in a restaurant kitchen. The boys were very interested to hear all about what goes on behind the scenes (and surprised that Matt isn’t the only chef – I am pretty sure he’s up there with super hero status in many of their minds so this didn’t surprise me!).

In Street Food Diaries, Matt says “the act of cooking isn’t about technical skill, but about falling in love with feeding people”.  Matt himself is the personification of this – his enthusiasm, warmth and friendliness are infectious and I know the boys could have spent many hours listening to his stories (and eating his food!).  Matt, be warned, they’re already planning which terms they will join cooking club based on “when we get to come back to cook with Matt” 😉  THANK YOU. Your generosity is so very appreciated!

Win a copy of Street Food Diaries (Canada)!

That’s right – thanks to the kind folks at Penguin Canada, I have one copy of Street Food Diaries up for grabs for readers in Canada (read my review over on Recipe Geek!).

To enter:

1. Leave a comment below telling me which one of the following recipes you would like to try and why?

Sugo Burgers
Roasted Beef Tostadas
Mac N Cheese Arrabiata
Pad Thai Fries
Bacon Jam with Brussels Sprouts and Radicchio
Candied Maple Scallops
Benny and the Baguettes
Bibimbap Bowl

2. For a bonus entry, tweet the following message:

Enter to win @fidelgastro’s #StreetFoodDiaries on @eatlivtravwrite from @PenguinCanada. Details: http://bit.ly/1zFM4ff

Then come back to leave me a comment telling me you did.

Eligibility and contest rules

• Open to to Canadian residents only.
• No purchase of any product necessary for entry.
• Winner will be chosen using Random.org from all qualified entries on Tuesday November 25th 2014 after 6pm EST.
• Winner will be contacted via email on Wednesday November 26th 2014 and will have 48 hours to respond.

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Disclosure: Penguin Canada provided me with a review copy of Street Food Diaries. I was not required to post about this, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions are my own. Plus, Matt and Kyla are awesome 🙂

 

US/Canadian readers – Win a copy of Mastering the Art of French Eating! Ends November 25th 2014 6pm EST. Details here.

 

 

Congrats to Naiddia and Patrick who won a $50 Kraft gift basket from Philly Canada. Check your email!