This past weekend I scored an invite to Gene and Julie Gate’s home where they said they were cooking up a few recipes that they will possibly offer at their new restaurant, Battuto Italian Kitchen which opens mid-February in the shopping center at Preston and Frankford. I broke that story back in September and you can read about that here.
When I arrived I met their opening chef, Gustavo Herrera, who was last seen working at The French Room in Dallas. Gustavo is a man of culinary talents who hails originally from Peru where he met his wife who is a professor at SMU. In the kitchen Gustavo was busily tossing a pounded chicken breast in a bath of porcini mushroom dust that would eventually be grilled and tossed into a special salad he has concocted. The salad also has grilled Asian pears and strawberries. Delicious. Continue reading