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funding for simply ming is provided by: >> ocean spray. for over 75 years our grower-owners have been harvesting cranberries to bring you and your family products liked craisins, sweetened dried cranberries-- a versatile snack that's surprisingly sweet. ocean spray-- straight from the bog. >> hand crafted and naturally brewed with spring waters from the hudson valley of new york, wan ja shan offers an extensive line of natural organic gluten-free and lower sodium soy sauces. wan ja shan-- simply natural, simply organic, and a proud sponsor of simply ming.

t-fal's actifry. one spoon of oil for two pounds of fries and many other meals. >> our recipe for success-- it's what makes a subaru a subaru. subaru of new england, a proud sponsor of simply ming. >> melissa's world variety produce is a proud sponsor of simply ming. >> hey, ming tsai here. welcome to simply ming. we're cooking on the fly, improvising with what we have on hand, and our mystery ingredients as added inspiration. and i've got a real pro in the kitchen today with me-- jonathan waxman, who brought the genius of chez panisse to the east coast. between jonathan and today's technique, i guarantee your taste buds will be overjoyed. oven roasting vegetables-- the single best way to infuse them with flavor. what am i talking about? i'm talking about getting a pan

in the oven, in which we have a nice heavy pan getting hot. let that heat up on its own. do any vegetables you want. i'm going to do some sweet potatoes, kind of oven roasted sweet potatoes. and i'm going to use a little bit of just red onion with it. toss it lightly with some extra virgin olive oil, add a little fresh thyme. it'll be just the most delicious sweet potatoes you've ever had. i love the skin on, like, yukon golds and whatnot. i find that sometimes the skin of a sweet potato, because it's thicker, can be a little tough. so i tend to like to peel them. they're not horrible with the peel, but i think just for a mouth feel the peel is a little bit tough, all right? so peel them off, and then what we're going to do is so simple. the thing about this is, don't worry about, you know, how pretty the cut is. just make sure they're about the same size, all right? so i've take it and i halve it like that. i'm going to cut it again this way, and then go through it... what's that?

that's, like, a one-inch dice. all right, so we'll do that with a couple of these potatoes. we can do it a couple times. and the reason they had to be approximately the same size is obviously if one's really big and one's really small, one's going to be mushy and one's going to be undercooked. then do the same for the onions. again, nothing fancy here, guys. just one-inch dice like that. same, like that. do a second onion. why not? onions are sweet, onions are good for you. and onions are tasty. all right, so these go in as well. we're going to take a little bit of fresh thyme. just take them off. you don't have really mince it. it's really just to infuse it. if there's some stem in it, again, it doesn't matter. when you eat it, you'll see the stem, you'll pull it out. now season a little bit, a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper. and then extra virgin olive oil to kind of combine it all together. and you need the oil, because

you want to hear a little sizzle on your cookie sheet or the platter when it comes out. mix it all up like this. all right, well coated. go to the oven. and then again, a really hot sheet tray. just leave it there. you don't even have to touch it. dump the thing. this is at 450 degrees convection. take about 30 minutes. delicious. all right, look what these potatoes look like when they're done. absolutely beautiful. so if you have a convection oven, you could do about 350, 375 for 30 minutes, or no convection, 400 for about 40 minutes. beautiful roasted sweet potatoes. i am so psyched for my next guest. jonathan waxman is in the kitchen. jonathan, so great to have you here, buddy. >> so happy to be here. >> ming: godfather of american cuisine. do you like that term or not? >> you know what? i always say, like, just don't call me a legend, because that means that i'm dead and buried, you know?

but, you know, i don't mind it. you know, it's a phrase that's sort of endearing, but also it means that i... you know, actually, i lasted. >> ming: yes, you've lasted. >> i lasted to the end of the race. >> ming: and he's still cooking strong at barbuto new york. all right, reveal that for us-- secret ingredients. take it off, jonathan. you get the honor. >> here we go. >> ming: what have we got? >> voile. ah, my favorites. >> ming: duck breast, chicken breast. >> i love cooking duck. >> ming: really? >> and we don't do that much at barbuto, cooking duck. but you know, it's funny that... i think it's one of the best meats to eat. and i love it, you know? and it's so versatile, too. >> ming: so you're going to go duck. and then you have all these vegetables. and jonathan's known... you know, he trained at chez panisse. you're known for getting amazing flavors in vegetables. and you've lost a lot of weight, you told me earlier, because you're eating vegetarian. >> exactly. >> ming: so it's up to you. you don't have to use these proteins. if you want to go straight veg, that's fine, and i could do a duck-chicken gumbo, something, if you want. >> you know, i'd like to do the duck. i think duck is talking to me right now. >> ming: (whispering) i want to

do the duck. no, no, please. that's fine, no. i think cauliflower is awesome. no, you do the duck. no, i'll do the chicken. and we've got all this great veg. >> yeah, and i think if i could do radicchio and asparagus. >> ming: you can do anything. mi casa e su casa. let's come over here. let's see what else we have to play with. so full pantry, onion, shallots, lots of spices here. so any spice... >> you got macadamia nuts? i love them. >> ming: we've got mac nuts, yeah. good. you want to use some of those? >> yeah, mac nuts and duck, why not? >> ming: mac nuts and duck. sounds like you're going hawaiian on me. >> you know what? my first restaurant job was in hawaii. >> ming: really? >> yep, kaanapali beach. >> ming: wow, lucky you. >> before you were born. >> ming: don't be so sure about that. >> yeah, and maybe a little vanilla might be good, and some chilis. i'll grab that. >> ming: all right, i'll grab your chilis for you. let's come over here. let's get some fresh stuff. we have some cheeses, miso, tofu, jalapenos, bell peppers. >> i think a little jalapeno would be great. >> ming: all right. >> i'll grab that. >> ming: whole thing?

>> yep, and maybe some lemon. we'll put one of those right in here. >> ming: all right. >> maybe a lime, too. >> ming: sounds good. >> i think i'm going tropical here. i can feel it. >> ming: i can tell. >> i'm feeling it, i'm feeling it. >> ming: all right, cool. >> cool. this is great. >> ming: so tropical duck from jonathan waxman. >> roasted vegetables. >> ming: i love that. all right, so are you ready to cook? >> i'm ready to go. >> ming: all right, let's go cook. all right, jonathan, what is your duck dish you're going to do? >> listen, you know, i have... my first job in the world in cooking was in hawaii. and i love macadamia nuts, i love hawaiian sea salt, but i think duck, macadamia nuts, roasted vegetables, it's going to do it for me. >> ming: all right, let's get to it. >> all right, so... >> ming: i'm your sous chef. give me stuff to do. >> you grab the duck breast for me. and here's the sea salt. i'm going to take the radicchio. >> ming: what do you want? >> season them up, split it down the middle for me. i'm going to cut these guys in half while you're doing that. >> ming: tenderloin off? >> no, leave the tenderloin on. yeah, just as is. i'm mr. natural. any scoring, anything? >> no, don't score. >> ming: don't score. why not?

>> you know, i think what happens when you score it, it really gets it kind of a... you know, it cooks it strangely unevenly. and, you know, when i was at michael's restaurant in los angeles i cooked maybe 150 ducks a day. and i really was mr. duck at that point. and it's good with salt and pepper on both sides. remember, use a little hawaiian salt if you could. >> ming: oh, sorry. >> no, it's all right. and while you're doing that, i'm actually going to take these asparagus... and these are beautiful pencil asparagus. and it's funny that they have this little rubber band around them, and it makes it really easy to just hold like that. >> ming: right. >> and i've taken the radicchio, cut the radicchio in quarters, and i'm going to take some garlic, and i'm just going to use whole garlic. and those go right in the oven. and here's the deal on this. we're going to put the skin side down in the oven. >> ming: straight in, like this. >> yeah, straight in like that. and what it's going to do, it's going to render all that beautiful fat. and the beautiful thing about duck fat, it cooks vegetables in a gorgeous way. and while you're doing that... >> ming: i love that. so you're using the duck fat to add flavor to the vegetables.

>> and then once that renders, after about two minutes, ming, i think what we're going to do is just throw the garlic that i've taken here, to take this radicchio and throw it right in the fat here. and if you could do me a favor and mince those for me, because i know that you're great at doing that. >> ming: thank you. i appreciate that. so how's barbuto doing? bartuto is jonathan's... which number restaurant is that? i mean, i know you have one, but how many restaurants have you run in your entire career? >> well, it's funny. >> ming: he's been around 95 years, by the way, guys. >> yeah, yeah, 120 years. but i've got some macadamia nuts, by the way. a little too many. i love macadamia nuts. and one thing about macadamia nuts that people don't get is that it's the hardest nut to crack. it's so difficult. >> ming: you're talking about in its natural shell. >> the natural shell. >> ming: right. >> and it's funny. the reason i'm doing this duck, i was just in hawaii in january, and i did a wonderful dinner there with michael simon, your buddy. >> ming: yes. >> and i would have loved to have duck for this dinner, because that would have been perfect. >> ming: what did they give you? >> well, you know what? actually, i did a whole

vegetarian dish, and i used hearts of palm and these gorgeous watermelon radishes they had on the island. and you know, the things in hawaii are just so gorgeous. and i'm going to take this ginger and peel it carefully, and i'm going to ask you to shred it on the microplaner, if you don't mind. and do we have the pan? >> ming: so why do you shred? i mean, i'm a big minced ginger type guy. >> well, i'll tell you, you know, i grew up in san francisco, berkeley area, and i went to a lot of chinese restaurants when i was a kid. and i loved ginger more than anything. but i don't like the fiber. you know, i think the fiber kind of... you know, it gets stuck in your teeth. so i'm going to leave that for you. it's all ready to shred. we're going to throw some saute... these macadamia nuts in the... >> ming: need more shallots than that? >> no, that's perfect. i've got some jalapenos here ready to go. we're going to do the macadamia nuts first. we're going to saute them gently. a little olive oil would be great. >> ming: okay. so macadamia nuts first? >> mac first, and then we're going to toast them up a little bit. and then we're going to have... we're going to... at the very last we're going to add a little mirin, some soy. we've got some... and with

lemons it's always great to roll them like this and get all the fiber... >> ming: i agree. >> the little sections squish, so we're going to squeeze some in. >> ming: duck? you want to check the duck? >> let's just check the duck, and see if we're ready for the veg. we've got these on here. beautiful. oh, great. you see what's happening already? that's gorgeous. they're beautifully wrapped. one more minute, we'll add the veg. >> ming: okay, cool. >> we might... just to help things along i'm going to add a little bit of butter to that pan when we do the veg. >> ming: or for flavoring, just to help get... >> yeah, a little bit of flavor, and i think that'll be right. and also i'm going to add some jalapenos in with that as well. >> ming: okay. >> this is starting to sound good here. >> ming: looks really good. so you never answered my question, because i know you're like me. >> oh, no, no, no. let me show you the technique. >> ming: see, i've never done it. >> yeah, see, so you do it from the front part. >> ming: yeah, i like a knife. but it does take all the fiber out. >> it does, and then you just...

look at all that beautiful... just juice you get out of it. >> ming: you notice... what i like is the... i like the little pieces of ginger cut up. >> and if you could add the hawaiian salt to this... >> ming: yep. >> and they're already starting to toast up nicely here. >> ming: okay. >> okay, and if you could... in about two seconds we're going to add... let's add the jalapenos now, why not? >> ming: one jalapeno, that's a good amount. >> yeah, we need a little spice here. now, those are gorgeous. see how nice and toasted they've gotten? and they don't take a long time. about three or four minutes, and we're just about done with those. let's add the veg. >> ming: okay. nice. >> and let's see. what have we got? oh, that's gorgeous. and we're going to put the radicchio right on here. and there's going to be a little trick a little bit later, i'll show you, with water in the veg. >> ming: do you take the rubber band off eventually? >> we should. i think that might be a prudent thing to do. and we're going to just... >> ming: well, you are the godfather, so i don't know if you use a rubber band, you know? >> you know, rubber bands are good for hair. that's about it.

now i'm going to pile up the asparagus like this. the radicchio i'm going to move around. and what i love about roasting in the oven is that-- we're going to shut this up now, and keep all the heat inside-- the oven does all the work. >> ming: right. >> the oven... now we can walk away. if we wanted to, you and i could have a glass of wine and wait for the... >> ming: we should have a glass of wine. >> ...duck to be done. beautiful. shallots in there. >> ming: oui. >> we have a little bit of soy, a little bit of mirin. >> ming: all right. so how much longer is that duck going to... are the vegetables going to take? >> i think about... the whole thing will take about seven minutes. >> ming: okay. all right, you know what? we're going to let this duck cook, see how it comes out. so the duck's ready? >> we're ready to go. macadamia nuts. add a little mirin, soy, ginger, all at the same time, lemon juice, and lime juice. i'm going to get the duck out of the oven. >> ming: so that's about a teaspoon of ginger. hey, check out this trick, though. look at what jasper's shown me. use tongs to get the juice. >> oh, that's very cool.

>> ming: isn't that good? >> that is so great. >> ming: it's the best juicer in the world. >> in fact, if you have an extra pair of tongs over there... well, actually i'll just pick these up. >> ming: there you go. >> that's all right. >> ming: you're a real chef. all right, so just a touch of mirin. >> one hopes after all these years that i'm good. and i'm also... this is a trick. >> ming: half a tablespoon. >> i'm turning the radicchio over. >> ming: okay. >> it looks beautiful, by the way. >> ming: good. >> and i'm going to add some water right to the pan. and what this will do, it will steam these roasted vegetables beautifully. and at the same time, get all the... can you hear that? >> ming: the sizzle? >> the sizzle is getting all the caramelization from the duck. >> ming: love that. >> and if you... i think this twisted up in the oven. >> ming: the pan. all right, so i added about a teaspoon of soy sauce, half a tablespoon of mirin, two pats of butter, right? >> that looks gorgeous. and you don't have to do it so strenuously, ming. you can relax just a little bit. >> ming: thank you. you know, he's called obi wan

kenobi amongst a lot of us. >> so i've got these duck. they're a little... the skin is not exactly as brown as i would like it. >> ming: right. >> at home, if it's not brown, put it in the broiler for about a minute. that'll help crisp it up. but i think we're going to be okay. i'm going to get a platter ready to go. >> ming: okay. yeah, i've got one for you here. >> i've got one right here. and i think that sauce looks fantastic. let's taste it. >> ming: mmm. >> mmm, good. >> ming: salty, tart, sweet, spicy. >> yeah. i think with the duck and the veg... because the radicchio needs a little bit of acidity. >> ming: so you want me to dump this on your veg, or you want to just keep it like this? >> let's see what that looks like. >> ming: and just bring that thing out if that's ready. >> yeah, let's go. oh, beautiful. >> ming: am i dumping, or are you coming to me? >> i'm coming to you. >> ming: all right, even better. >> i don't want you to work that hard. >> ming: or that strenuously. all right. >> oh, look at that. >> ming: looks awesome. >> that's beautiful. >> ming: all right, let me... >> you know what? i think we need to leave that

like that, ming. i'm going to slice the duck and put the veg on the platter. do you want to help me? >> ming: yeah. >> that's great. thank you very much. >> ming: veg on the platter. >> and the thing about slicing duck is that... remember i left that little filet on? look how beautiful that thing is. and there's two ways to do it. one is to do it this way, and one is this way. i'm going to do it the long way, which is... at home you do it away from yourself. >> ming: put apple cider on top. that looks beautiful. >> that's gorgeous. >> ming: how about the asparagus? >> whatever you like. oh, look at that. that's beautiful. >> ming: and it's so great, because you're making it look like it's steak, right? >> well, it really is. it's a duck steak. >> ming: love that. that looks awesome. all right, i'm going to grab a wine. what are you thinking of? what kind of wine do you want? >> you know, let's do that rioja. i think that rioja sounds great. >> ming: the rioja? >> yeah, rioja, whatever you want, coq du rhone, you decide. and what i'll do is just kind of put these on top. >> ming: all right. >> and we're going to... i don't want the vegetables to get covered up, so i'm going to put the duck kind of like this. look how beautiful this looks.

and then i'll do the sauce. >> ming: yeah, absolutely, chef. that looks awesome. >> excuse me. >> ming: and chef, i love what you said. this is actually... this is how you cook at home. i mean, literally, right? tell me that story. your wife... >> my wife goes shopping in the farmers market on friday, and sunday we have sunday meal. and... >> ming: and you really don't know what's in the fridge. >> she does supermarket sweep for me. she goes, "babe, this is what i bought." and my wife, who's absolutely gorgeous and knows how to shop, she brings... she'll put it out on the counter, and i just have fun cooking. and my kids come and help me, and my wife stays out of the kitchen. i'm not allowed to clean up, though. because i am the worst cleaner upper in the planet. >> ming: in the world? >> in the planet, in the whole planet. >> ming: all right, i'm going in. i've got to try this. this looks so good. i love... one pot, right? oh, no, the macadamia nut was a second pot, i guess. >> yeah. no, but we could have actually done the macadamia nuts... >> ming: oh, mmm. delicious. chef, so what's this dish called? >> i don't know. this is macadamia duck, roasted vegetable, waxman style.

>> ming: perfect. >> who knows? >> ming: it's my turn to cook. >> it's your turn to cook. >> ming: that was so poetic. jonathan, that was an amazing duck dish. thank you. >> thank you. >> ming: all right, i'm going to have you do me some mirepoix-- carrots, celery, onions. hand me a couple of chicken breasts, if you don't mind. >> here you go. >> ming: and i'm going to make a quick marinade. >> put these right on here. >> ming: thank you. i'm going to do kind of a spicy marinated chicken. we're going to render it a little bit in this cast iron pan, because cast iron pans are fantastic for oven roasting. >> now, you want a whole onion in mirepoix, or half? >> ming: do the whole. so i have a tablespoon each of sambal and dijon mustard. take a little of this worcestershire sauce... >> i love sambal. >> ming: do you like worcestershire sauce? >> i love worcestershire. >> ming: i love it. >> i love all those condiment things, you know? >> ming: i do, too. so i put, you know, about two tablespoons of worcestershire. >> you said mirepoix in this, right? >> ming: yes, please. country cooking, right? i mean, we don't need to do anything fancy. >> no. >> ming: juice of one orange. and this is my quick marinade. and we'll get this pan on hot.

and we'll season up the chicken breast a little bit. >> and you want some cauliflower too, right? >> ming: yeah, why don't you... yeah, why don't you take off... >> four or five of these guys? >> ming: perfect. >> yeah, these are gorgeous little baby cauliflower. i think cauliflower is the most underrated, delicious vegetable. >> ming: i love cauliflower. cauliflower soup, are you kidding me? >> no, and, you know, it's funny, i actually like all the little bits at the bottom. i sometimes just sort of leave them. you know, the stem part, i think it's really delicious. you know, fergus henderson in london said this is the best part to eat. >> ming: is that right? >> yeah. >> ming: i love fergus. we were cooking together in barbados, of all places. oh, my god, what a great guy. >> well, he is amazing. but it's about this-- being... you know, spontaneous cooking is the best. i love this, ming. what a great concept. >> ming: well, thank you. and i love when i can get people like you on. so all i'm doing is just cooking this chicken just a little bit to kind of render it off. and then... >> you do it skin side down, right? >> ming: skin side down, absolutely. then we're going to add all this veg to it. >> all right. i'm going to get you some carrot, if i figure out how this

thing works. >> ming: what, a peeler? it's called a peeler. >> yeah, but it's a fancy one. >> ming: it's a japanese peeler, yes. >> it's a japanese one. >> ming: you like the ones that you used to get at the grocery store. >> yeah, i love the old fashioned ones, you know, the... >> ming: that go both ways, that one? >> nothing like that one. well, anything that goes both ways, i'm good with that. >> ming: all right. i'm going to do a bell pepper, too. all right, nice job on that. so you're loving the... i mean, your career keeps getting better, right? how many years have you been cooking? >> you know, it's getting on about almost 35 years. a little bknow what? it does get better. you know, it's like... i figure, like... it's.... i'm a wine that... my age has come, you know? but i think it's true about cooking, is that cooking should be so much fun. cooking like this to me is everything. >> ming: i agree. >> so i have all these veg ready for you. are you ready for them? >> ming: almost. now, let me ask you about oven roasting. because you really cook... you've cooked this way since

chez panisse, right? >> yeah, oven roasting is by far... because you have this dry heat. what people don't get about ovens are that you can cook anything in them. but the fat from those chickens in the oven is going to make everything work. >> ming: exactly. >> now, i've got this mirepoix done. what else do i need to do here? >> ming: put it on a plate. you can do nothing. i'm just waiting for the chicken to brown, so that'll take about two more minutes. all right, so check out this chicken. that's what you're looking for, right, jonathan? good little color there. >> yeah, that really... that brown color, that mahogany color, is what you always want to see with food. if you don't have that color, then it's not working. do you want me to dump these in here? >> ming: dump that whole thing in. >> you got it. >> ming: so these are still raw, right, guys? but now oven roasting, we're going to get this... give me the cauliflower and the potatoes. a little bit of salt and pepper, please, chef. >> you got it. you want to throw these right in here? >> ming: everything. nice chicken fat in here. >> and then salt always above, because you want to broadcast it, so you want to get it evenly coated there. >> ming: a little pepper. >> and this...

>> ming: when we do our calamari at the restaurant, i tell them 40% of the salt won't hit the bowl. >> exactly. and this wacky pepper mill that you've got. >> ming: pepper mill made out of ceramic. i know. >> and the juice is so great. >> ming: yeah, right, always. >> and you want to go in the oven here? >> ming: you want to... god, you're going to do that for me, really? >> i'll open the oven for you. >> ming: you know, my car needs to be detailed. >> you know what? i'm really good at washing cars. >> ming: okay, good. into the oven. this will take about ten minutes. you've got to cook this chicken through, and get the vegetables all nice and soft. >> so listen, i hear it's your birthday coming up, so i'm going to get you a pan that's proper. i'm going to get you a solid sterling silver pan for you. >> ming: thank you. >> all right, how's that? >> ming: that's good. >> and that way it'll cook perfectly every time. but actually, it's funny that the heavy metal, the cast iron, really brings out the caramelization of protein. and i love it. i use it every day. >> ming: all right, jonathan, i think we're good to go here. why don't you pour? i picked out a little riesling. >> oh, great. i think this is perfect with the chicken. >> ming: i had a little sambal, which is spicy, and i think riesling... >> here we go. >> ming: how does that look?

>> that looks gorgeous, really gorgeous. that looks better than mine, actually. >> ming: i don't think so. >> no, it does. cheers. >> ming: cheers. >> thank you so much. >> ming: all right, my friend. all right, whatever. look is one thing. taste is where it's at. >> yeah, i'm going to take a little piece of chicken here and see how that came out. >> ming: look at this cauliflower. it's all nice and caramelized, right? >> and look at that chicken. mmm. >> ming: mmm, great. not bad. >> fantastic. thank you so much, ming. >> ming: oh. >> mmm. >> ming: notice you're not being hot. thank you so much. >> it's my pleasure, thank you. >> ming: all you out there, as always, oven roast, peace, and good eating. for more information on simply ming, including upcoming guests and more, visit us online at ming.com/simplyming. funding for simply ming is provided by: >> ocean spray. for over 75 years our grower-owners have been harvesting cranberries to bring you and your family products

liked craisins, sweetened dried cranberries-- a versatile snack that's surprisingly sweet. ocean spray-- straight from the bog. >> ming: and by... >> t-fal's actifry. one spoon of oil for two pounds of fries and many other meals. >> ming: and by... >> simply caring about the planet. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. subaru of new england, a proud sponsor of simply ming. >> ming: and by... >> melissa's world variety produce is a proud sponsor of simply ming. >> ming: and by... >> wan ja shan soy sauce-- simply natural, simply organic, simply ming.