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The Jura Gourmet Demonstration Kitchen hosted an exciting group of chefs during Atlanta Market last week in an effort to support the Gourmet gift category.
The first demo was held Wednesday, Jan. 12, featuring Chef Palak Patel. Patel has appeared on the Food Network as a competitor on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay (spoiler: she did). Most recently she appeared on season 14 of Food Network Star. She has been featured on the Today Show, Fox, Forbes, People, Women’s Health, Thrive Global, Mashable, Marie Claire, Los Angeles Times and India Abroad, and she is a regular food and travel contributor to Table Magazine. In Atlanta, Patel owns Dash & Chutney, a plant-based Indian street food restaurant located in Chattahoochee Food Works, a 31-vendor, 26,000 square-foot food hall and events space.
To kick off the events at the Jura Demonstration Kitchen, Patel drew a crowd while she made “lamb” sliders with Beyond Meat, with spices reminiscent of of a lamb kabob dish she grew up enjoying with her family in India. “Cumin and coriander are your gateway spices to Indian food,” she said. She also noted that the longer the spices sit in the cabinet, the less flavorful they are, so rub them before using to “wake them up,” and maybe use more to make up for the diminishing flavor.
In addition to Beyond Meat, Patel used salt, fresh mint, coriander, cumin, garam masala, mango powder, chopped Thai chilies and minced garlic, and she topped the patties with lemon mayo. The sliders were packed with flavor, and the audience was amazed at how much the Beyond Meat tasted like the real thing.
The second demo was held Thursday, Jan. 13, featuring Chef Nick Leahy. Leahy is owner of Nick’s West Side, a restaurant in the Brookwood Hills neighborhood of Atlanta. Leahy is also in the process of opening a more casual restaurant close by called the Usual. Leahy is known to change up his menu frequently based on available ingredients and a stroke of inspiration.
The chef made a potato and rye gnocchi topped with a sauce made with braised short ribs. While cooking, Leahy had a Q&A session with the audience, in which he answered his favorite places to travel (San Sebastian), his favorite knives to use, and even what his guilty pleasure food is (breakfast for dinner or roasted chicken). Then he quizzed the audience on cooking terms while the smell of the gnocchi wafted through the area.
Both chefs emphasized the importance of travel to learn about a culture through its food. “Eating food is the best way to explore any country,” Leahy said.
Previous cooking demonstrations held at Atlanta Market have featured Iron Chef Geoffrey Zacharian, Bobby and Jamie Deen, Kevin Gillespie and more.
