Chef at Home

Michael explores the role that spices play in the kitchen as he makes spicy salmon tacos with avocado salsa and brightly flavoured southwestern brown rice and black beans for dinner. He promotes plain vanilla to the star of the show in a pineapple vanilla upside down cake and even slips some spice into a round of ginger melon mojitos!

Michael sets out on a backyard culinary adventure and shows two different ways to smoke your own salmon: hot and cold. The tasty results inspire a smoked salmon Caesar salad and an incredibly simple pasta dish that makes it’s own sauce!

Michael sets out to cook dinner and finds adventure every step of the way. He explores ancient cooking methods by cooking salmon in seaweed. Adventuresome ingredients flavour luxurious saffron rice and exotic Asian long bean salad. To top it all off a round of Caesar cocktails turn into a whirlwind presentation extravaganza!

A kitchen full of your favourite ingredients is a great way to rev up your cooking. Michael steams off a pile of lobsters and they end up in a lobster pesto salad, dipped in lemon brown butter and in a batch of decadent lobster mashed potatoes. His favourite pantry shelf inspires a three chocolate extravaganza for dessert!

Michael discovers that one of the best places to practice sustainability is in the kitchen. As he cornmeal crusts a great green choice, catfish, he reveals a surprising array of simple tricks that anyone can use to make their cooking sustainable. A potato cheddar casserole and farmers market salad completes the menu.

Michael heads for the beach and orchestrates the ultimate picnic: a clam boil! He fills a pot with clams, lobsters, mussels, corn, potatoes and sausage. Smoked salmon potato salad and chocolate chip cookie brownies tag along for the fun in the sun!

Michael shows how easy it is to fill your kitchen with the very best ingredients to inspire your cooking. He and Gabe share a thick juicy grilled steak dinner with cheesy potato pie, dark chocolate pate and a steakhouse salad.

The gift of a special bottle of wine inspires Michael to match food to wine instead of the other way around. He braises big beefy ribs in a big beefy red wine and serves them with roasted asparagus and purple mashed potatoes with a cabernet sauvignon reduction mashed in. A mulled chardonnay apple vanilla ice cream sundae rounds out the menu for dessert.

Michael finds inspiration for a picnic in his fresh herb stash. He flavours a grilled chicken and pineapple salad with mint. He adds thyme and bay leaves to warm bacon cabbage slaw. Basil flavours a surprisingly good watermelon feta salad while cilantro becomes a tasty pesto. When rain threatens to spoil the fun the picnic moves indoors along with mint flavoured limeade!

Michael discovers how tasty it is to grill a chicken perched on a beer can. But does the beer actually flavour the chicken? He finds out! And the results share the picnic table with Greek potato spinach salad, grilled corn and basil butter and an incredible grilled banana split

Michael gives in to his comfort food cravings with a menu full of organic choices. A simple roast chicken dinner shares top billing with dark chocolate pudding topped with white chocolate whipped cream. Garlic steamed broccoli and roast garlic mashed potatoes round out the feast as Michael and his family get comfortable with their organic choices.

Michael cooks for Gabe and a gang of his friends. He starts with some healthy snacks: pumpkin pie pumpkin seeds and olive oil popcorn. Chinese chicken balls, steamed broccoli trees and sweet potato soup round out the menu as he discovers how much fun it can be to cook for the toughest crowd of food critics ever!

With some weekend time on his hands Michael shows how easy it can be to turn your kitchen into a prep kitchen and get ready for the busy week ahead. He shows how convenient it is to slow cook a French onion chicken stew. A batch of always-needed tomato sauce is packed with hidden veggie flavour. He also creates a lunchtime favourite with a classic Nicoise tuna salad.

Michael finds dinner inspiration with local ingredients from his own neighborhood. Local food is a great way to add flavour to the table and chicken baked with ham, and cheddar, croissant bread pudding, apple pie flavoured carrots, salsa stuffed twice baked potatoes don’t disappoint!

Michael finds that the traditional flavours of breakfast are just as good for dinner! He braises fresh bacon, pork belly and serves it with tomato ginger jam. Sweet potato home fries and a round of simple omelets complete the AM PM celebration.

Some of the very best flavours in any kitchen come from patience. Michael rubs a pork shoulder with an infinitely customizable spice blend then slowly BBQ’s for a pulled pork sandwich. The pork shares top billing with a soft white potato flavoured roll and a simple coleslaw. The addictive flavours of slow food!

Michael explores the fundamental role that salt and pepper play in all cooking. He seasons a simple roast cherry tomato and black olive pasta sauce, his favourite fennel salad and a batch of handmade potato gnocchi. He even uses salt and pepper to make a batch of homemade spicy strawberry sorbet!

Michael loves to play in his kitchen, even when he’s not making dinner! With time on his hands he tries out a few cutting edge ideas. Caramel vinaigrette, ice wine foam, encapsulated mango puree and olive oil poached salmon all show off the combination of art and science that make all kitchens tick.

It’s Michael’s turn to host his dinner party club and he decides on an all-fish menu. The meal begins with some ocean tastes, smoked salmon rye bread crisps and seared tuna bites. He glazes pan seared scallops with vermouth and mustard and shares Mediterranean tomato mussel broth with pasta. He even adds squid to Neptune’s feast and figures out a way to make a fishy treat too!

Vegetarian cooking is a regular part of Michael’s family’s food lifestyle. He shows how it’s not about what’s missing but what’s present. Carrot ginger soup, apple granola crisp and grilled vegetable wraps with dried tomato black olive spread!

Michael gets ready for a community potluck. He shows how sharp knives are a cook’s best friend when cooking for a crowd. Two chickens easily become a table full of individual basil biscuit crusted chicken potpies and a pile of vegetables become a tasty balanced Asian vegetable salad.

Michael shows off an amazing new way to make bread that doesn’t require tedious kneading. With it he creates two amazing loaves of bread: a crusty classic loaf of city bread, and a hearty loaf of whole grain country bread. He dips the bread into cheddar ale soup.

Michael is asked to contribute to a local charity bake sale and comes up with a table full of treats. After fueling up with a batch of his signature whole grain pancakes he gets baking. A batch of three layered chocolate peanut butter crunch squares and old-fashioned Monkey Bread are the tasty results!

Michael and Gabe have fun setting up a neighborhood lemonade stand. After Gabe and his friends plow through their bowls of pizza soup their hand squeezed lemonade and old-fashioned doughnuts are a sell out hit!

Michael and Gabe surprise Mom with breakfast in bed. Fruit salad smoothies, granola muffins and Rachel’s favourite oatmeal complete with almond cappuccino foam are a big hit, and Gabe is impressed with his very own green eggs and ham!

Michael gets up early to make a houseful of guests brunch. Smoked salmon rye bread pudding, minestrone soup, banana fritters and caramel sauce start everyone’s day off with lots of sunny flavours! Recipes from this episode Brunch With Friends Michael Smith's Banana Fritters Michael Smith's Caramel Sauce Michael Smith's Minestrone Soup Smoked Salmon Rye Bread Pudding