Joe Trevino is a young, but already well-established, chef de cuisine. A native of Los Angeles, California, Chef Trevino was always interested in food and its preparation, but it wasn’t until he had completed a stint with the U.S. Marines, and was searching for his niche, that he somewhat lightheartedly stumbled into the kitchen of a Greek lady who operated an Italian restaurant. Call it destiny, karma, whatever — Chef Trevino knew from that very first experience in this Greek/Italian restaurant that he had found his calling, and was ready to answer it wholeheartedly.

 

When asked why his vocation to the culinary arts was such a lightning rod, he explains that working in that Greek/Italian restaurant kitchen, prepping food, cooking dishes and presenting them, released the creative spirit that had always been lurking inside him. Through the culinary arts, that spirit was set free, and he soared. He enrolled in the Scottsdale Culinary College in Arizona and began a four-year career with Carefree Resorts as a chef intern at the beautiful Boulders Resort, a Five-Star, Five-Diamond resort hotel, rising through the ranks to sous chef.

 

In 1999, Chef Trevino began a six-year career with Loews hotels at the company’s Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona, culminating at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, Florida, in 2005.

 

In his spare time, Chef Trevino is an avid reader and collector of cookbooks. He enjoys sports, and plays golf.

 

His signature dish comprises an entire collection of Gazpacho soups, ranging from the traditional chilled, to the hot. But this creative, innovative Chef has many, many culinary tricks up his sleeve and he aims to use all of them to please his guests at Dux.

 

 

Chef Trevino's Recipe for Sea Bass with Israeli Cous Cous...

 

Serves Six Guests

 

 

Ingredients:

Sea Bass*             6 - 5 oz. fillet

Sea Salt                to taste

White pepper         to taste

Israeli Cous Cous    3/4 Cup

Fresh Basil             2 bunch’s

Lemon                  1 ea.

Roma Tomato         5 ea.

Olive Oil                1 Qt.

Butter                  3 TBSP

 

Cut Tomatoes in half lengthwise and lie flat side down in a small saucepan. Cover with olive oil then cover pan with aluminum foil. Cook in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove tomatoes from oil to cool.

 

Reserve 2 tablespoons of tomato oil to sauté fish. Remaining oil can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Use for dressings or vinaigrettes. Once tomatoes cool remove seeds and skin, set aside for service.

 

In a small pot boil 1 quart of water. Season water with 2 teaspoons of sea salt. Pick 2 bunches of basil leaves. Have 2 cups of ice with one cup of water set aside for the basil. Once the water begins to boil briefly submerge the basil for 5 seconds, then immediately remove and add to the ice water. Let the basil cool for one minute, then remove and lay on paper towels to dry.

 

Using the same blanching water as the basil, boil the cous cous for four minutes. Drain pasta through a sieve and lie flat on a sheet pan. Cool in the refrigerator until service. Add the basil to a blender with 1 tablespoon of water and puree for no more than 5 seconds. Remove puree from blender and reserve for service.

 

For service:

In a small sauce pan add cleaned tomatoes and reduce on low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, be sure to stir constantly. Add butter to melt and season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Emulsify with hand blender. Sauce should hold for up to two hours.

 

In a small sauté pan add cous cous, basil puree and the juice from the lemon. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. In a large sauté pan on high heat, add tomato oil. Once oil is hot add Sea Bass and drop heat to medium to high heat. Once the first side is browned turn fish and repeat. Thinner fillets should be done at this point. If your fish is thicker be sure to finish in the oven to desired doneness. Sea Bass is best cooked to an internal temperature of 110 to 120 degrees F.

 

Place tomato butter centered on the plate. In the center of the sauce spoon the cous cous. This should spread the sauce towards the outer edges of the plate. Place the Sea Bass on the cous cous. Garnish with some of the tomato oil drizzled over top of the Sea Bass and enjoy!

 

 

 

*Halibut may be substituted for the Sea Bass

 

**UPDATE** (Park City, Utah) November 1, 2006: The Canyons is excited to announce a stellar addition to the culinary team. Chef Joseph Trevino has accepted the position of Executive Chef at The Canyons Grand Summit Hotel and started on October 30th. Chef Trevino is responsible for menu development and kitchen staff at Canyons.

 

Within the next few weeks Chef Trevino will be unveiling a cutting edge menu at The Cabin, taking the restaurant in a radically new direction with his brand of gourmet American comfort food. Signature dishes will include a smoked salmon and wilted arugula eggs Benedict served on a toasted onion bagel with chive hollandaise, wild game pot pie with buffalo, venison and lamb and baby root vegetables. The dinner menu will entail a crispy Utah red trout stuffed with forest mushrooms and leeks served with hominy succotash and a sun choke corn puree. Chef Trevino will take advantage of area farmers and agriculture to highlight the freshness of local ingredients.

 

Chef Trevino has extensive hotel and resort experience, most recently as the Chef de Cuisine at Dux at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Dux is commonly known in the Orlando area as being one of the city’s best fine-dining four-star options. In 2006, Chef Trevino and his staff at Dux won the prestigious Ivy Award, presented by Restaurants and Institutions Magazine. The Ivy is an acknowledgement of foodservice operators that demonstrate an excellence in food, service and overall hospitality.

 

Before his time in Orlando, Chef Trevino was with the Loews group at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in Miami, Florida and the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona.

 

© 2007 Tasters Guild Orlando