Hey there Florida Foodie friends,
It is I, Thomas Mates, a spirit cursed to roam this earthly plain until I solve the mystery of my own demise.
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I want to start by offering an apology. I totally missed my last newsletter.
Moving forward, I will do my damndest to make sure that doesn’t happen again -- at least not without some warning.
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Things have been hectic around here, what with impending elections, hurricanes, rocket launches, and just the day-to-day news. Still, I apologize for forgetting about my adoring public.
I hope you won’t hold it against me.
I think I have prostrated myself before you all enough for one newsletter. Let’s get into it.
Life among the stars⭐
Chef Mike Collantes is really leaving his mark on Central Florida’s dining scene.
He earned a Michelin Star in 2022 and since then, he has been hard at work opening several different dining concepts throughout the greater Orlando area. More is on the way as well. His restaurants will offer up everything from sushi to pizza and he is even starting to go international.
He and Lisa Bell had a wide-ranging conversation about his ventures and the state of restaurants in Central Florida.
>Listen to the whole conversation here<
Small bites🧃
Sweet collab🍨: Ice cream and waffles, two great tastes that taste great together. That is part of the sweet collaboration between Kelly Seidl and Ryan Whaley, the people behind Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream and Parlor Kitchen. You can read more about it here.
Something is missing🍰: You may have noticed something was missing from Publix during this past hurricane. The grocery chain is no longer offering hurricane cakes. Here’s why.
New chicken chain🍗: Orlando already has its fair share of options for fried chicken, but a new contender is throwing its hat in the ring. Chick N Max plans to open 100 restaurants in Florida in the coming years, including some in Orlando. Learn all about it here.
Something to try at home 🍽️
This week, I’ve got a really simple dessert recipe. It’s a rustic apple tart originated by legendary chef Jacques Pepin, but I came to it by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt.
It is very easy and uses pizza dough as the base.
Ingredients:
- pizza dough, either store-bought or homemade - you can find a recipe here
- 4 medium apples, golden delicious or something equally tart
- 5 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- apricot jam
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While the oven heats, spread about two tablespoons of sugar onto a sheet pan. Stretch your pizza dough over the top of the sugar on the sheet pan and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Step 2: Core and slice your apples. Once the dough is rested, give it another little stretch as it may have contracted. Shingle on your apple slices all around the dough. It doesn’t need to be tidy.
Step 3: Dust your apples and dough with the remaining three tablespoons of sugar. Dot the top of the tart with pieces of butter.
Step 4: Bake your tart for roughly 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the sugar is caramelized. Once it is removed from the oven, brush the top of the tart with apricot jam while it is still warm and then allow to cool slightly before serving.
It is just that simple. It is a rustic tart, so it doesn’t have to look super neat and you can whip this together in about an hour (provided you have some premade pizza dough on hand).
That’s all for today.
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Send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.
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