Atlanta ‘Top Chef’ Kevin Gillespie shares spring recipes, ideas for beer pairings
In the spring of 2018, Kevin Gillespie, one of Atlanta's most famous and beloved chefs and restaurateurs, was diagnosed with a rare form of renal cancer. But after undergoing a successful procedure to remove a kidney, he's been cancer-free for nearly two years.
Now, in the spring of 2020, Gillespie is fighting a different battle, and like many chefs around the world, he’s working hard to keep his business from going under.
“It’s just hard right now,” Gillespie said one day, while he took a short break from turning out to-go orders at his Decatur Southern-style restaurant Revival. “There’s two of us trying to produce enough stuff to keep the company afloat, while also trying to navigate the legal stuff.
“Obviously we have to come back from this with a bang, so we need to keep pushing in the right direction. We had 200 employees two weeks ago, and now we have two. And I’m not included in that, because I don’t get paid.”
In 2009, Gillespie earned a spot on the Bravo series “Top Chef” for the show’s sixth season in Las Vegas. And he was one of the season’s final three chefs, competing for the “Top Chef” title in Napa Valley, and also was voted “fan favorite” by viewers. Currently, he’s back in the kitchen on the Emmy-winning cooking competition, which returned for its 17th season on March 19 with the title “Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.”
>> RELATED: Kevin Gillespie returns to ‘Top Chef’ March 19 inspired by his cancer recovery
“One of the major reasons for doing it, obviously, is to get people to come in the restaurant, so I’m hoping we get to go back to work soon, and get a little bit of a push from it,” Gillespie said. “Because you lay a lot out on the line, and you deal with a lot of crap for that opportunity. But one of the other major reasons for doing it is for my team, so it gives them the best chance to make a good living.
“People need to understand the fragility of our industry. People laugh and joke that the restaurant business is tough. It’s not tough. It’s damn near impossible. Only a few of us have managed to make it just this side of not impossible for a little while. But something like this really shines a light on what’s broken in our industry. That’s the reality. And it’s a tragic one.”
In 2013, Gillespie opened his signature restaurant, Gunshow, in the Glenwood Park neighborhood of Atlanta. In 2019, he opened Cold Beer, an ambitious two-story, 7,000-square-foot space facing Atlanta’s Eastside Beltline.
As much a bar concept as a food concept, the menu features imaginative seasonal cocktails and wines by the glass. And then there’s the beer list, with 25 offerings curated by Gillespie, and arranged from light and refreshing to complex and strong.
As it turns out, Gillespie is a beer connoisseur. But he’s not a snob. His beer philosophy is wide-ranging, and not necessarily craft beer-correct. He favors everything from Japanese rice lager to German hefeweizen and Belgian farmhouse ales. And his chef’s palate is discerning, if sometimes a bit eccentric when it comes to pairing beer with food.
When I asked Gillespie to come up with a few dishes for a spring meal to enjoy with beer, he reached back for three favorite recipes from his first cookbook, "Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking," and offered a pairing to go with each one.
“I went with stuff from the book because I knew all the ingredients could be purchased at a grocery store, but even then it’s challenging now,” Gillespie said. “I went to the grocery store and I was surprised to get most of it. I have a recipe for salsa brava that calls for fennel pollen, but the easiest thing to do is swap it with ground fennel seed and you end up with a pretty close rendition.
“You can do that with things like peppers, too. And you can find really good frozen on the boat wild salmon at Whole Foods. It’s way better than farm raised, because it has more fat.”
Some of Gillespie’s beer pairings are going to be hard to find, too. But if you look to the style and not the particular beer or brewery, you should be able to get exactly what you need.
And like Gillespie, be adventurous and determined, despite everything.
TO-GO ORDERS
Kevin Gillespie's Revival restaurant (129 Church St., Decatur) offers Family Dinners to go on Tuesdays and Fridays. You can order online at redbeardmerch.com/collections/family-meals. The menu is published the night before at 6 p.m.
RECIPES
These recipes with beer pairings from chef Kevin Gillespie are personal favorites he chose for a spring dinner, with ingredients you might find at markets this season. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything, including farming and fishing, so substitute ingredients as needed, enjoy Gillespie’s enticing descriptions, and drink good beer while you cook.
Crispy Green Beans With Salsa Brava
“I don’t remember where I was, but a group of people took me to an Italian restaurant and someone ordered fritto misto as an appetizer to share,” says Kevin Gillespie in his first cookbook, “Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking.” “It was like every other fritto misto with bits of fried vegetables, fish, and meat. But it had green beans in it. It never occurred to me to fry green beans. I loved it. The green beans changed the texture of the whole dish. They still had snap, like raw green beans. … Salsa brava is the dipping sauce. … It’s one of those sauces that goes with just about everything. But it packs some heat!”
- Canola oil for frying
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup club soda or seltzer water
- 8 ounces, trimmed young green beans
- Salt
- 1/4 cup salsa brava (see recipe)
- Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the cornstarch and flour until combined. Add a few ice cubes to the club soda and swirl to chill it through. Remove the ice cubes and whisk the club soda into the cornstarch mixture to form a smooth batter. One at a time, dip and swirl the green beans in the batter to completely coat them. Allow excess batter to drip off, then drop the beans, one by one, into the fryer and fry until crispy, about 1 minute. The crust won’t brown, but you’ll have a crispy, light coating on your beans. Using a spider strainer or tongs, transfer the green beans to the cooling rack and immediately sprinkle with salt.
- For each plate, swoosh a tablespoon of salsa brava down the side of the plate and mound one-quarter of the beans in the center. Or for a more casual presentation, serve the crispy green beans on absorbent paper and the salsa brava in a small bowl. Serves 4.
Nutritional information
Per serving: 350 calories (percent of calories from fat, 72), 2 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 29 grams fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 236 milligrams sodium.“You see patatas bravas in almost every Spanish tapas restaurant. It’s fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce,” Gillespie says in “Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking.” “My version of the sauce isn’t traditional but embodies the spirit of brava sauce with plucky, peppery, pungent, fiery flavors. I use raw garlic for pungency, smoked chile powder for fire and smoke, sherry vinegar for acidity, and fennel pollen for floral aroma. It’s good on everything, so make extra.”
- 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can canned whole tomatoes
- 1 (12-ounce) jar, drained piquillo chile peppers
- 2 heads garlic, about 12 cloves, peeled
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons fennel pollen or found fennel seed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon Espelette pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked serrano chile powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, blend the tomatoes and their juice, the piquillo peppers, garlic, vinegar, paprika, fennel pollen or seed, salt, Espelette pepper, serrano chile powder, and cinnamon, about 5 seconds. The mixture should be a little chunky and loose. With the processor running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream. The mixture should be fairly smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let the flavors develop for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt and vinegar as needed. Salsa brava should have an aggressive, strong flavor because it is used in small amounts to punch up the flavor of a dish. Makes 3 cups.
Nutritional information
Per serving: (one tablespoon) 15 calories (percent of calories from fat, 66), trace protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, 1 gram fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 186 milligrams sodium.Beer pairing: Gillespie chose the rare Beacon of the Abyss Bright Lager from Burial Beer in Asheville, North Carolina, to pair with his Crispy Green Beans With Salsa Brava, but you can try any modern pale lager with grassy and citrusy notes.
“Some people think grilling means throwing any and all food over the hottest possible fire. But you can’t grill fish that way,” says Gillespie in “Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking.” “It burns, dries out, and falls apart. King salmon is pretty forgiving, but it’s such a beautiful, majestic fish that you don’t want to overcook it. For this recipe, you want a hot fire but not a blazing inferno. You also want to let the fish cook undisturbed. A hot grate and a little patience will give you deep grill marks and help prevent sticking.”
- 4 stalks, about 8 ounces rapini (broccoli rabe)
- 3 tablespoons Marcona almonds
- 4 (each about 4 ounces) wild king salmon fillets, skinned and trimmed to an even thickness. Almost any other type of salmon fillet will work, too, including frozen on the boat wild salmon.
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons confit garlic oil (see recipe)
- Vegetable oil, for coating the grill
- 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar reduction (see recipe)
- 2 tablespoons finishing-quality olive oil
- Heat a grill for direct medium heat. Trim about 2 inches off the bottom of the rapini to remove the tough lower part of the stalk. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and fill a large bowl with ice water. Drop the rapini in the boiling water and blanch for 1 minute. Using tongs, transfer the rapini to the ice bath to cool and stop the cooking, swirling for about 45 seconds. Fish out the rapini and transfer to paper towels, patting it dry.
- Put the almonds in a zip-close bag and, using a rolling pin or heavy skillet, coarsely crush them. Set aside.
- Set the salmon on a flat plate and pat dry with paper towels. Generously season both sides of each fillet with salt and very lightly drizzle with the garlic oil. Avoid brushing on the oil because the brush will remove the salt. Let stand for 5 minutes; the salt will extract some moisture from the fish. Pat each fillet dry with a paper towel and drizzle with a little more garlic oil. The oil adds flavor and helps prevent the fish from sticking to the grill.
- Scrape the grill clean and coat it with vegetable oil. Set the fillets on the grill, presentation side down, at a 45-degree angle to the grates. Grill for 3 minutes, then turn each fillet 90 degrees and grill for 2 minutes more. Slip a spatula straight along the line of the grates beneath the fish to loosen and flip each fillet. Drizzle with a little more garlic oil and grill until the fish is slightly translucent in the center, another 2 to 3 minutes. Line a plate with a double layer of paper towels and transfer the fish to the paper towels, presentation side up, to rest for 3 minutes.
- Grill the rapini directly over medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip and grill for 1 minute more. You only need to heat the rapini through, since it’s already been blanched. Sprinkle the rapini with salt.
- For each plate, drizzle a 4-inch circle of the sherry vinegar reduction in the center. Set the salmon in the center of the plate and arrange the rapini along the long side of the fillet. Scatter the almonds over the fish and rapini and drizzle the whole dish with a generous amount of finishing oil. Serves 4
Nutritional information
Per serving: 302 calories (percent of calories from fat, 62), 25 grams protein, 4 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 21 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 59 milligrams cholesterol, 119 milligrams sodium.Confit Garlic Oil
- 3 whole garlic heads, each clove peeled and trimmed of its woody end, about 30 cloves total
- 2 cups olive oil
- Put the garlic cloves and olive oil in a small saucepan. Bring the oil almost to a simmer over medium heat, but don’t let it boil. Cut the heat down to low and cook until the garlic is golden brown and soft, 20 to 25 minutes. Pull the pan from the heat and let the garlic cool in the oil. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- Makes 2 cups garlic oil, plus 1/2 cup garlic cloves.
Nutritional information
Per serving: (per tablespoon) 124 calories (percent of calories from fat, 96), trace protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, 14 grams fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, trace sodium.Sherry Vinegar Reduction
- 3 plump oranges
- 1 cup best-quality sherry vinegar
- 1/2 cup raw cane sugar (turbinado sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Using a vegetable peeler, remove a 1-inch strip of peel from 1 of the oranges. Squeeze the oranges to make 3/4 cup juice. Mix the orange peel, juice, vinegar, sugar and salt in a 10-inch skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then cut the heat down a little and simmer aggressively until the liquid reduces in volume and thickens to a maple syrup consistency, about 10 minutes. The reduction should be thick enough to coat a spoon, which means that when you dip a spoon into the reduction and take it out and drag your finger across the back of the spoon, the reduction should be thick enough so that the line stays clean. Pull the pan from the heat and use immediately, or refrigerate the reduction in a covered container for up to 3 weeks. As the mixture cools, it will thicken. Bring to room temperature and thin with a little hot water before using. Makes 1/2 cup.
Nutritional information
Per serving: (one tablespoon) 66 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), trace protein, 16 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 67 milligrams sodium.Beer pairing: Gillespie chose Bainbridge Kommuter Kolsch from Washington state to pair with his Grilled Salmon With Rapini. But any light and malty German-style Kolsch will do the trick, including the original import from Cologne, Reissdorf Kolsch.
Fried Bananas With Cilantro and Lime
"For Lent, I usually give up meat, sugar, fun, all the good stuff," Gillespie says in "Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking." "I can eat sugar like a seven-year-old. I can't get enough. This is my cheater dessert for when I'm not supposed to be eating sugar. I take completely ripened, black-skinned bananas, dust them in cornstarch, and deep-fry them. Ripe bananas are already sweet, but when you fry them, the sugar concentrates and goes through the roof. The acidity of the lime and the bitterness of the cilantro balance the sweetness."
- Canola oil for frying
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves minced
- 2 limes
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
- Salt
- Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees, or heat 1 inch of oil to 400 degrees in a large cast-iron skillet.
- Line a plate with a double layer of paper towels. Spoon the cornstarch into a shallow bowl. Peel the bananas, split them in half lengthwise, and then cut them in half crosswise. Each banana will end up in 4 pieces. Dredge the banana pieces in the cornstarch, patting to remove any excess; then dredge and pat again. You should have an even dusting of cornstarch completely covering the bananas.
- Deep-fry the bananas until they are golden brown, about 2 minutes. If you are pan-frying, fry for 2 minutes, then turn and fry for another 1 minute, until golden brown on all sides. Using a spider strainer or slotted spoon, transfer the bananas to the paper towels to drain.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon lime zest, 1/4 cup lime juice, and the olive oil.
- For each plate, set 4 banana pieces in the center, overlapping the pieces as you like. Sprinkle with a little salt and drizzle with a couple of spoonfuls of the cilantro-lime sauce. Serves 4.
Nutritional information
Per serving: 334 calories (percent of calories from fat, 60), 2 grams protein, 34 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 23 grams fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 39 milligrams sodium.Beer pairing: Gillespie likes to pair this fried banana dish with RedBeard De Garde, a limited edition local beer he collaborated on with Wild Heaven Beer in Decatur. But he says other Belgian-style biere de gardes or saisons will work well, too.
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