TV Chef
CHEF MARCEL BIRÓ

"For me, the ability to work with food is a privilege never to be taken for granted." — Chef Marcel Biró

Marcel Biró is host of the new national PBS restaurant reality cooking series The Kitchens of Biró. He and his wife Shannon Kring Biró own Biró Restaurant and Wine Bar, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Ó, a biró restaurant, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; and the Marcel Biró Culinary School, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Biró : European-Inspired Cuisine is the couple's first book.

This simply elegant dish was created as an amuse-bouche for a special wine dinner just after I'd discovered these fantastic salts. I've brought the dish back several times now, and each time it's to great acclaim. Guests are always shocked at just how drastically a different salt can change the flavor profile of a tomato.

If you can't find heirloom tomatoes, use cherry tomatoes, small yellow plum tomatoes, small red plum tomatoes, or a combination of the three. They'll work just fine. To find the salts used in this recipe, click www.salttraders.com or call 800.641.SALT.

Heirloom Tomatoes with Tomatillo Salad and International Salts
Free to copy for personal use.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

Heirloom Tomatoes:

1/2 pound yellow grape heirloom tomatoes
1/2 pound red grape heirloom tomatoes
2 tablespoons Danish Viking-smoked salt
1 tablespoon Australian Murray River salt
1 tablespoon fleur de sel
1 tablespoon Hawaiian black lava salt
1 tablespoon Hawaiian red clay salt
1 tablespoon Japanese Nazuna salt
1 tablespoon sel gris with herbs
1 tablespoon Peruvian pink salt

Tomatillo Salad:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound tomatillos, cleaned and quartered, peels reserved
1/2 yellow onion, diced
Danish Viking-smoked salt
sugar

Preparation:

For the Tomatoes:

Slice each tomato in half lengthwise and top each slice with a different salt, about 1/8 teaspoon each.

For the Tomatillo Salad:

In a medium sauté pan, heat the oil. Add the tomatillos and onions. Season to taste with Danish Viking-smoked salt and cook until warmed. Add sugar to cut the acidity, if necessary. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Presentation:

Open each tomatillo skin so that it resembles a flower. Place it on the center of each serving plate. I use small square plates for this dish. Fill with one tablespoon tomatillo salad. Arrange the heirloom tomatoes with salts around the plate's perimeter.

Wine Pairings:

2001 Pojer & Sandri
Palai Müller Thurgaus
Trentino, Italy

2002 Villa Maria
Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc Reserve
Marlborough, New Zealand

Recipes by Chef Biró
These Recipes are Free to copy for personal use.

• Black Pepper Seared Salmon with Egg Pasta
  
  
• Double Mousse au Chocolat with Apricot and Raspberry Coulis
  
  
• Rich Grand Marnier-Chocolate Cake with Shiny Chocolate Icing and Vanilla Gelato
  
  
• Heirloom Tomatoes with Tomatillo Salad and International Salts
  
  
• Lemon Mint Sorbet with Red Peppercorns
  
  
• Mesclun Duck Breast Salad with Raspberry-Shallot Vinaigrette
  
  
• Ramp Cappuccino
  
  
• The Chefs

 

"...today, 15 years after reunification, I still love experimenting with a wealth of exotic ingredients."
— Chef Marcel Biró

Cookbooks Authored by Chef Biró
European-Inspired Cuisine is companion book to the nationally broadcast PBS reality cooking series "The Kitchens of Biró," the cookbook offers a candid, behind-the-camera look into the restaurant, culinary school, and home kitchens of Marcel Biró and Shannon Kring Biró	SpanAsian cuisine is where the elegant simplicity of Asian cooking meets the straightforward rusticity of Spanish fare. In SpanAsian cuisine, earthy tapas and colorful sushi take their place next to crispy tarte flambees and simply luxurious soups. It's a wonderful blend of ethnicities and flavors.

 

(Chef Marcel Biró)