Portland, Oregon-based chef Gregory Gourdet is a pretty joyous cook to watch in action. His new cookbook Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health just landed, with 200 health-centric and superfood-oriented recipes spanning the gamut. It’s got vegetarian and vegan recipes, steaks, sauces, dips, soups and desserts, among many other options.
We loved watching Gregory (a member of our Chefs’ Collective) in his home kitchen making a blackberry clafoutis and Korean seared rib eye steaks with ban chan. If you missed the virtual class, here are a few of the tips we gleaned from this Top Chef whiz.
1. Consider Avocado Oil
When Gregory was ready to sizzle up a gorgeous rib eye steak on his trusted Anolon nonstick, he didn’t reach for grapeseed or canola oil. “They’re derived from highly processed preparations,” he reminded us, and making them often involves “tons of chemicals.” Instead, he grabbed his avocado oil. “I love avocado oil. It’s one of the healthiest fats.” Generally unprocessed, avocado oil is “literally the flesh of avocados pressed until this beautiful oil comes out. It’s actually unrefined and super-healthy.” Gregory loves its high smoke point (520 degrees!) and that “it’s great for searing.” “It’s a wonderful fat,” he says. “One of my favorites.”
2. Grab a Nonstick Pan for Desserts!
Clafoutis is one of the easiest desserts around, often taking just three to four minutes to blitz together. You often see it pictured in a cast-iron dish, as above, though. Gregory was pretty smitten with his Anolon X nonstick pan, which is oven-safe to 500 degrees. “We don’t often grab a nonstick pan to make desserts,” he says. After recipe-testing clafoutis in cast-iron as well as Anolon X, though, he said he saw “100% of a difference. It comes out better and much easier. I’m swearing by this pan for this dessert now.”
Thanks, Gregory!