Adorable Michele Bernstein (better know as Michy) is a James Beard Award winner (Best Chef South 2008), author of 
Cuisine a Latina (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008) and a Miami restaurateur.
If you’re ever in Miami, be sure to try her eponymous restaurant when it reopens (6927 Biscayne Blvd) sometime this fall. It’s not to be missed.
With the restaurant closed for renovations, Michy had the time to provide these enticing food responses to my Guest Foodie queries. Her answers might just might inspire you to cook.
Recent Guest Foodie Lee Brian Schrager‘s go-to favorite dessert for entertaining is chef Michelle Bernstein’s chocolate bread pudding, a recipe that we’ve shared.
Which specific food product, ingredient or gadget would you never give up? Why? Fennel. I fell in love with fennel as a child and I haven’t been able to shake the habit all these years later. If you need a salad filler shave it nice and thin with a Japanese mandolin. Tomatoes love it, arugula loves it; Fennel pretty much goes with everything you can put inside your salad bowl. My favorite dressing to serve with it is lemon vinaigrette with a 
little shaved parmesan. I dice fennel into big chunks and braise it in olive with a little butter and a pinch of sugar. When it gets a little caramelized add some white wine and chicken stock, season it with salt and cook it down until its fork tender. The result will be the most deliciously tender sweet morsel that goes beautifully with creamy risotto, sautéed fish, pork with apples and just about everything else under the sun. In my 20 years of cooking I’ve never been able to write a menu without it.
What do you like to serve when you entertain? For me the most important part of entertaining is to prepare everything a day or two ahead of time so that I’ll actually be able to enjoy myself when everyone arrives. Marinating, curing, brining and chopping are essential at least 24 hours ahead of your event. I try to make food that everybody at my party will like, from my 2-year-old son, to vegetarians to an 80-year-old meat lover. The first thing I serve is some type of a starter that is easy to put together and throw out on the table for everybody to entertain themselves and their palettes. I always love to start with jamon serrano, Spanish cheese like Manchego or Idiazabal, lots of nuts like Marcona almonds and dried figs or apricots; raw vegetables/crudités are my go to, just harvested close by growing ones if possible with one fatty type of dipping and one lighter one.
One of my favorite things to serve is stone fruit (when it’s in season) wrapped with thinly sliced lardo or speck and grilled or roasted quickly in a hot oven. It holds up really well and it’s a family favorite. I also love serving potato chips and dip (potato chips are one of my weaknesses) but I make my own onion dip with heavily caramelized onions. If I can find it for a good price, I top the caramelized onion dip with American Caviar. Gravlax is also a favorite of mine because it stores well and is easy to serve. I make my own, but you can find it in any good gourmet store. I serve it sliced thin with crème fraîche and lavash crackers and it makes everybody happy, even my toddler.
Then the meal begins. Maybe it’s because of my Argentine background but I love having different kinds of sausages on the grill along with skirt steak, chicken thighs marinated in chimichurri and grilled salad, which has become a staple in my house. The reason why I love sausages and chicken thighs is because they can be cooked ahead of time until they are about ¾ of the way done, removed and set aside to cool to room temperature. When everyone sits down, I put the steaks on the grill and finish cooking the chicken and sausages at the same time.
Reserve some of the chimichurri that you made for the chicken thighs to serve on the table. For the grilled salad, just take heads of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, plum tomatoes and avocados and cut everything in quarters lengthwise. Toss it all in a little olive oil, salt and a spice that’s always in my cupboard called Za’atar, throw everything on the grill for a couple of minutes just until it has nice marks. Serve the salad at room temp with your favorite vinaigrette, everything works.
For dessert, I like to keep it simple but I do feel that everyone should leave my house with a little sweetness. I quarter fresh strawberries and toss them with a little freshly-squeezed lemon juice and sugar. I layer them in the bottom of a trifle bowl and repeat the process with blueberries and raspberries then serve with fresh whipped cream.
If you got to choose what you ate… describe your “last meal?” I think I would start out with fresh blinis, Iranian Osetra caviar (which I know is not available anymore and is not very PC, but it is my last meal) and crème fraîche. Next would be a dozen of my favorite Island Creek oysters from Duxbury, Massachusetts with just a squeeze of lemon. There is nothing brinier with the pure taste of the ocean than that. I’d continue on with a big, fat slice of seared foie gras served with caramelized apples and a little bit of salty maple syrup. Next would be langoustines, seared hard in their own shells, with a little bit of salt. Finally, I’d have fried chicken, but make sure it’s only dark meat and served extra crispy with a side of honey. For dessert, anything my mother would make in a 50’s style tall layer cake would be perfect. Nobody makes a coconut cake like her.
What food is your secret guilty pleasure? Cheetos and Doritos but don’t tell anybody!
What is your go-to, neighborhood restaurant, and why? Petit Rouge in North Miami, it’s a local little French bistro where everything is just perfect.
What is one food product most people don’t know about, but should…? Grape seed oil. There’s nothing better to cook with, it’s awesome! Makes the crispiest fries, pretty flavorless and it’s incredibly good for you. Grape seed oil can be used for frying, sautéing, everything!
Describe your worst kitchen disaster and how (if possible) you saved it. This is quite embarrassing. Years ago I was cooking at the home of some very, very well to do people, in northern Florida. It was a big wine event and they invited the most affluent of cult wines to pair their wines with my food. I was terrified.
As we walked into the house, my sous chef tripped and dropped 5 GALLONS of fish consommé on the new bamboo floors. We didn’t know what to do, what to grab. One cook tried using a duster to collect as much soup as she could to save it. It was a total and complete disaster.
I had to start over and in 2 hours somehow produce a clear beautiful consommé with fish flavor.
We ended up going to the closest grocery store, bought nuoc nam, clam juice and chicken broth and I put this ridiculous concoction together in a pot and somehow it kind of (in a really disgusting way) worked. They loved it, or maybe they were just really politically correct…
Who was your most influential mentor? I know this is strange to say; he doesn’t even know how much he taught me as I learned from him by watching him on TV; Jaques Pepin. He taught me perfection. He taught me to cook the perfect egg, impeccable roast chicken, chop concisely and have a passion and love for my career. He also goes by it very honestly and with a ton of humility and no attitude.
To follow Michy on twitter, click here.
– bonnie
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