this DAF also featured another unique addition: a blind tasting wine contest. the rule was $25 max bottles. the tasting was fun and i'll write up the details in my next post... stay tuned.
babe's beautiful table setting
amuse bouche ~ lobster pops
first course ~ crab salad and avocado
second course ~ corn chowder
third course ~ scallops and citrus sauce
fourth course ~ sea bass, beniimo salt al cartoccio
fifth course ~ game hen, polenta cakes, carmelized onions
sixth course ~ sierra nevada braised short ribs, fingerling potato coins
about the food
amuse bouche ~ lobster pops
first up were the lobster pops. i had planned on serving a toasted bread box filled with brie and topped with a meyer lemon marmalade, but when i tested the recipe i found out that i am absolutely incapable of making a good marmalade. (that in itself is just a challenge really 'cause considering there's like 4 ingredients, it shouldn't be all that hard). anyways, if no bread box, then what?
well, inspiration strikes where you least expect it: las vegas. foxy wife went to vegas (baby!) for a bachelorette. they ate at Sea Blue and were served lobster corndogs. how deliciously haute country cuisine. i had to bite on that idea, and bite i did. seemed to me that a corndog tastes mostly like the cornmeal based batter and would probably mask the sweetness of the lobster. on went my little little culinary thinking cap - quite obviously the very first sign of trouble - and out popped the above mentioned tempura lobster pops. genius i thought - tempura batter, properly executed, is so light and subtle that it would surely add only a cripy texture to the golfball size chunks of lobster it was to coat.
well properly executed was the first problem ~ i followed what i thought was a fairly standard tempura recipe: corn flour, flour, ice cold water and egg. i even went so far as to chill the flour mixture in the freezer to ensure cold ingredients! regardless, the batter was waaaaayyyyy too heavy resulting in exactly what i was trying to avoid - lobster pieces lost in a mouthful of thick, crunchy fried batter. the second problem was just the rookiest of the rookie manuevers - i forgot to season the lobster. ack. there. i said it.
ah well, the idea is still solid ~ the pops themselves were fried nicely, the lobster was tender and moist and delicious. they were served with lemon wedges and fried basil. next time i go "mano y mano" with the lobster pops, ill season the little bastards liberally and follow the french laundry's tempura recipe (which includes baking soda and sparling water), and, dear friends, i'll be victorious. oh, and i hope you are there to try them out...
second course ~ corn chowder
nothing to say here except that corn and crab fritters were intended to join the perfectly-fine-but-not-interesting soup. only the fritters never made it to the party. i was told they forgot their baking soda and didn't have time to go back home and pick it up. subsequently they disintegrated in hot oil, pissed me off, and skipped out on dinner. oh well, onward...
third course ~ scallops and citrus sauce
so for this dish, i guess i need to link back to the originator? i'm not really sure how that works. anyway, babe and i ate at a joint called The House in the city and Chef Tse's dish formed the foundation for this one. Seared scallops, micro-green salad, and some sort of citrus sauce that was smooth, silky and sweet.
I have no idea what was in his version, but my sauce (served from a squeeze bottle in a funky shape - boo ya) was basically a lemon juice vinaigrette of lemon juice, white balsamic, and olive oil, enhanced with this really kick ass pomegranate syrup i found at a little middle eastern market. the syrup is incredible - super concentrated pomegranate flavor that somehow has all the sweetness leeched out so that you can control the sweetness level yourself. then the lemon-pomegranate vinaigrette was mounted with butter (again, you must be shocked) and sweetened with honey to form what i think was a nicely balanced, smooth and tangy sauce that brightened up the tender scallops. one last touch that was small but important to me, was the addition of a pinch of fluer de sel and a thyme sprig tip to each scallop. when consumed together, the salt cut the sweetness slightly and, right at the end, the thyme imparted a floral freshness, thus keeping the whole bite almost refreshing. (holy crap, that little tirade, although absolutely true and my honest thoughts, is worth a post of its own. seriously, who the hell do i think i am, haha...)
plating wise, well, i'm proud gosh darnit! why can't i use a squeeze bottle, a rectangular plate, and the rule of thirds to compose a dish that looks better than it tastes?!?
fourth course ~ sea bass, beniimo salt al cartoccio
check it: baking in paper rocks. baking the tastiest fish in the ocean in paper rocks squared. baking the tastiest fish in the ocean in paper seasoned with beniimo salt that your dear friends brought you all the way from japan rocked the house d-0-w-n. super, super simple. julienned red bell pepper and carrots, a nice hunk of sea bass, thyme (again) and the beniimo salt are assembled in an envelope of parchment paper and baked for 9 mins at 500. bam. done.
so the beniimo salt. comes from beni imo, or Okinawan sweet potatos. the dried, minced sweet potatos are mixed with salt and just float around like little bits of purple haze. when added to the fish, their color bleeds, creating little purple patches on the fish. topped with the thyme, the colors blended beautifully - from bottom to top: red and orange, white, purple and green. it was a straight tie-dye dish... the hippie in me smiled big.
fifth course ~ game hen, polenta cakes, carmelized onions
this dish was covered pretty well in my post about the sauce so i'm not going to get into the food per se. i do, however, want to take a moment to talk about the mad respect i have for the organizational genius it must take to run a real deal restaurant. my dish included a stock based sauce, sauteed game hens, sauteed polenta cakes and carmelized shallots. that's 4 little items.
yea, it took me several hours spread over 2 days of cooking to put this one together.
this innocent looking little dish was, however, my biggest organizational success and a very potent reinforcement of the value and efficiency of good prepping and organization. day 1 consisted of butchering the hens, separating out the legs that were to be used for the dish, and making the sauce with the freshly harvested carcasses. while the carcasses roasted with some carrots, onions, celery and garlic, i made the polenta (which, by the way, got a great flavor spike by adding crushed garlic to the stock that was simmered prior to adding the corn meal ~ thanks again french laundry cookbook!). the polenta finished cooking and went into a sheetpan to cool while the carcasses came out of the oven and went on to the stovetop. the sauce was made on the stovetop and then set aside to cool along with the polenta. finally rounds were cut from the sheet of polenta and everything - the sauce, the hen legs and the polenta rounds - went into the fridge, ready for the next day.
day 2 started with seasoning the legs and carmelizing the shallots, hours before dinner. then, come time for this course, all i had to do was sautee the legs and the polenta rounds, pull them and keep them warm while the sauce was finished in the pan used to sautee the legs. lastly, assembly of all the completed pieces and voila - the course was cooked and served in 15 minutes! this may not sound all that impressive, but considering we were five courses in, i had been cooking for like 9 hours at this point, and i HADN'T GOTTEN DRUNK YET, time was certainly of the essence. all the prep meant that i got to start drinking that much faster once dinner service was complete. need i say more?
sixth course ~ sierra nevads braised short ribs, fingerling potato coins
i, along with thousands, nay, millions, have said it before: slow cooked meat rocks. and, as you know, beer is considered to be the 8th wonder of the world at Chez Berliner's. so the two of them together is just fine by us. this is the third time i've served it and everyone always loves it. but i'm getting tired of it so this is the official swan song of the sierra nevada braised short ribs! adios tasty ribs...
well, there you have it. more than you ever wanted to know about this round of DAF. on the whole i'm really pleased. 6 courses plus an appy pulled off with no stress - well, very little stress - and another great night. best part was that i didn't get wasted until AFTER dinner so hey, success!
amuse bouche ~ lobster pops
first up were the lobster pops. i had planned on serving a toasted bread box filled with brie and topped with a meyer lemon marmalade, but when i tested the recipe i found out that i am absolutely incapable of making a good marmalade. (that in itself is just a challenge really 'cause considering there's like 4 ingredients, it shouldn't be all that hard). anyways, if no bread box, then what?
well, inspiration strikes where you least expect it: las vegas. foxy wife went to vegas (baby!) for a bachelorette. they ate at Sea Blue and were served lobster corndogs. how deliciously haute country cuisine. i had to bite on that idea, and bite i did. seemed to me that a corndog tastes mostly like the cornmeal based batter and would probably mask the sweetness of the lobster. on went my little little culinary thinking cap - quite obviously the very first sign of trouble - and out popped the above mentioned tempura lobster pops. genius i thought - tempura batter, properly executed, is so light and subtle that it would surely add only a cripy texture to the golfball size chunks of lobster it was to coat.
well properly executed was the first problem ~ i followed what i thought was a fairly standard tempura recipe: corn flour, flour, ice cold water and egg. i even went so far as to chill the flour mixture in the freezer to ensure cold ingredients! regardless, the batter was waaaaayyyyy too heavy resulting in exactly what i was trying to avoid - lobster pieces lost in a mouthful of thick, crunchy fried batter. the second problem was just the rookiest of the rookie manuevers - i forgot to season the lobster. ack. there. i said it.
ah well, the idea is still solid ~ the pops themselves were fried nicely, the lobster was tender and moist and delicious. they were served with lemon wedges and fried basil. next time i go "mano y mano" with the lobster pops, ill season the little bastards liberally and follow the french laundry's tempura recipe (which includes baking soda and sparling water), and, dear friends, i'll be victorious. oh, and i hope you are there to try them out...
second course ~ corn chowder
nothing to say here except that corn and crab fritters were intended to join the perfectly-fine-but-not-interesting soup. only the fritters never made it to the party. i was told they forgot their baking soda and didn't have time to go back home and pick it up. subsequently they disintegrated in hot oil, pissed me off, and skipped out on dinner. oh well, onward...
third course ~ scallops and citrus sauce
so for this dish, i guess i need to link back to the originator? i'm not really sure how that works. anyway, babe and i ate at a joint called The House in the city and Chef Tse's dish formed the foundation for this one. Seared scallops, micro-green salad, and some sort of citrus sauce that was smooth, silky and sweet.
I have no idea what was in his version, but my sauce (served from a squeeze bottle in a funky shape - boo ya) was basically a lemon juice vinaigrette of lemon juice, white balsamic, and olive oil, enhanced with this really kick ass pomegranate syrup i found at a little middle eastern market. the syrup is incredible - super concentrated pomegranate flavor that somehow has all the sweetness leeched out so that you can control the sweetness level yourself. then the lemon-pomegranate vinaigrette was mounted with butter (again, you must be shocked) and sweetened with honey to form what i think was a nicely balanced, smooth and tangy sauce that brightened up the tender scallops. one last touch that was small but important to me, was the addition of a pinch of fluer de sel and a thyme sprig tip to each scallop. when consumed together, the salt cut the sweetness slightly and, right at the end, the thyme imparted a floral freshness, thus keeping the whole bite almost refreshing. (holy crap, that little tirade, although absolutely true and my honest thoughts, is worth a post of its own. seriously, who the hell do i think i am, haha...)
plating wise, well, i'm proud gosh darnit! why can't i use a squeeze bottle, a rectangular plate, and the rule of thirds to compose a dish that looks better than it tastes?!?
fourth course ~ sea bass, beniimo salt al cartoccio
check it: baking in paper rocks. baking the tastiest fish in the ocean in paper rocks squared. baking the tastiest fish in the ocean in paper seasoned with beniimo salt that your dear friends brought you all the way from japan rocked the house d-0-w-n. super, super simple. julienned red bell pepper and carrots, a nice hunk of sea bass, thyme (again) and the beniimo salt are assembled in an envelope of parchment paper and baked for 9 mins at 500. bam. done.
so the beniimo salt. comes from beni imo, or Okinawan sweet potatos. the dried, minced sweet potatos are mixed with salt and just float around like little bits of purple haze. when added to the fish, their color bleeds, creating little purple patches on the fish. topped with the thyme, the colors blended beautifully - from bottom to top: red and orange, white, purple and green. it was a straight tie-dye dish... the hippie in me smiled big.
fifth course ~ game hen, polenta cakes, carmelized onions
this dish was covered pretty well in my post about the sauce so i'm not going to get into the food per se. i do, however, want to take a moment to talk about the mad respect i have for the organizational genius it must take to run a real deal restaurant. my dish included a stock based sauce, sauteed game hens, sauteed polenta cakes and carmelized shallots. that's 4 little items.
yea, it took me several hours spread over 2 days of cooking to put this one together.
this innocent looking little dish was, however, my biggest organizational success and a very potent reinforcement of the value and efficiency of good prepping and organization. day 1 consisted of butchering the hens, separating out the legs that were to be used for the dish, and making the sauce with the freshly harvested carcasses. while the carcasses roasted with some carrots, onions, celery and garlic, i made the polenta (which, by the way, got a great flavor spike by adding crushed garlic to the stock that was simmered prior to adding the corn meal ~ thanks again french laundry cookbook!). the polenta finished cooking and went into a sheetpan to cool while the carcasses came out of the oven and went on to the stovetop. the sauce was made on the stovetop and then set aside to cool along with the polenta. finally rounds were cut from the sheet of polenta and everything - the sauce, the hen legs and the polenta rounds - went into the fridge, ready for the next day.
day 2 started with seasoning the legs and carmelizing the shallots, hours before dinner. then, come time for this course, all i had to do was sautee the legs and the polenta rounds, pull them and keep them warm while the sauce was finished in the pan used to sautee the legs. lastly, assembly of all the completed pieces and voila - the course was cooked and served in 15 minutes! this may not sound all that impressive, but considering we were five courses in, i had been cooking for like 9 hours at this point, and i HADN'T GOTTEN DRUNK YET, time was certainly of the essence. all the prep meant that i got to start drinking that much faster once dinner service was complete. need i say more?
sixth course ~ sierra nevads braised short ribs, fingerling potato coins
i, along with thousands, nay, millions, have said it before: slow cooked meat rocks. and, as you know, beer is considered to be the 8th wonder of the world at Chez Berliner's. so the two of them together is just fine by us. this is the third time i've served it and everyone always loves it. but i'm getting tired of it so this is the official swan song of the sierra nevada braised short ribs! adios tasty ribs...
well, there you have it. more than you ever wanted to know about this round of DAF. on the whole i'm really pleased. 6 courses plus an appy pulled off with no stress - well, very little stress - and another great night. best part was that i didn't get wasted until AFTER dinner so hey, success!
