Get Cooking! Emmy-winning ‘Mind of a Chef’ Returns

September 9, 2014 PBS Wisconsin Leave a Comment

The Mind of a Chef, winner of the 2014 Emmy for Outstanding Culinary Program, is streaming online now.

I’m not a food blogger, and I will never Instagram a photo of my food. Yet, here I am, about to tell you all of a pretty decent meal I made last night – spaghetti with roasted veggies, or Spicy Roasted Ratatouille with Spaghetti as Cookie + Kate so elegantly calls it.

I came across this recipe in the midst of a challenge to go vegetarian for two weeks. It resonated with me because I had just watched the preview for the new season of The Mind of a Chef, in which chef Ed Lee reflects on cooking saying, “…it’s just elevating stuff that’s already there.” I like to think I took simple eggplant – something that was “already there” in abundance in late summer  – and elevated it to Spicy Roasted Ratatouille.

 

The Mind of Chef (the new season is streaming online) embraces the sort of experience I had with eggplant. In 2013, I hated eggplant. Since then, I’ve found eggplant comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, and realized that they can even taste alright when paired with the right ingredients. With food, exposure is everything.

In its new season, The Mind of a Chef, exposes viewers to an array of recipes and ingredients as it follows the creation process of two chefs, Ed Lee and Magnus Nilsson.

Lee grew up in Brooklyn, but has worked for the last decade at 610 Magnolia Restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. The combination of his Korean heritage, New York background, and embrace of the American South is reflected in his innovative cuisine that has won several major food awards.

The Mind of a Chef title image

The Mind of a Chef is streaming online now.

Nilsson is the head chef of Fäviken in northern Sweden, where he is renown for his creative use of fresh local ingredients… even in the dark Nordic winters!

Ed Lee starts the first half of the season by going back to his roots in East Brooklyn, where he claims he learned as much about Korean cuisine as he did about Latin cooking – or any other style, for that matter. From there, The Mind of a Chef journeys to Europe, South America and all around the globe in search of culinary inspiration.

Watch The Mind of a Chef online from Wisconsin Public Television

Oh, and Anthony Bourdain narrates…who better to voice a show all about travel, cooking and humor?

As for going vegetarian – my two week challenge ended after only 36 hours, the result of a miscommunicated lunch order. At least I can now say I’ve had a duck sandwich.

 

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