Chocolate Strawberry Display

I was asked to make up a chocolate strawberry plate for a bachlorette party at work.  I thought of ways to make it nice and creative, and to really "wow" the ladies and make it special.  I dipped the strawberries and drizzled with white chocolate, then put them on sticks and arranged them in a vase filled with mint and lettuce, with some red grapes and rambutans for garnish.

Not as beautiful as I'd like, but a nice beginner's start.

Reunion Dinner

Our friend Linda came over on Friday night.  We haven't seen her in a long time, and she admits she is just now begining to poke her head out after a couple of years of baby-induced isolation.  We'd planned just a little get together, to let her finally see our house, to catch up, and to enjoy a nice meal.  Dinner was pretty simple, and took me about two hours to put together.  I did all the main work before she arrived so we could concentrate of socializing as I finished a little sauteeing.  Then we were able to sit down and enjoy good food and good company.

I started with a Kabocha Squash Bisque, drizzled with Sage Oil.  I like using kabocha over butternut squash for a couple of reasons.  The flesh, once roasted, seem smoother and finer to me.  It purees perfectly.  It is also less sweet and has a richer, nuttier flavor.  It takes flavors like curry and chili and melds wonderfully.  I made this bisque with just a little butter, cream, coriander, cayenne, and rice wine vinegar.  The sage oil was just crushed sage leaves seeped in warmed olive oil until infused.

Our next course was a miso/sake glazed ahi tuna, seared and sliced over a roll of sushi rice, with a pile of wakame seaweed salad and honey-chili avocado relish.  The relish was super simple:  I diced some avocado, sprinkled with a touch of salt, and drizzled a blend of honey and chili powder, then tossed.  Because of its nature, honey will prevent an avocado from oxidizing the same as lemon juice, and it provides a great alternative flavor.  For fun and flourish I added a rambutan(that spiny-looking thing) to each plate.  The fruit was a nice palate cleanser after the dish.

After that I finished off the sushi grade grilled salmon, dusted with cumin, coriander, chili powder and garlic, and set it atop the creamed leeks, celeriac, and red onions.  I usually match celeriac up with salmon these days, and generally it is pureed, as with mashed potatoes.  But this time I shredded it and creamed it with the leeks and onions.  The results were very pleasing.  I topped the salmon with a spoonfull of heirloom tomato/dijon mustard salsa spiked with a little white balsamic vinegar.

All of that would probably have been enough, but I went one dish farther and did a red wine/balsamic braised short rib (I used a piece of chuck flap, which works excellently for braising).  I sliced some king trumpet mushrooms and braised them in the beef's liquid for about 20 minutes, then reduced and strained the braising liquid to make a sauce.  I oven roasted tiny tri-color potatoes with oil, garlic, and smoked salt, and sauteed a bunch of red swiss chard.  The meat came out fork tender, the potatoes were perfect, the chard provided a nice bitter bite back against the somewhat sweet sauce, and the mushrooms added a beefy complement to the short ribs.  Of course the beef and sauce were very dark, as were the mushrooms and the chard.  Not the best photo, but it tasted darn good, for sure.

We retired to the living room for more catching up and dessert.  A simple yet flavorful Caramel Vanilla Creme Panna Cotta, with Caramelized Seckle Pear and an Amarena Cherry.  I made the caramel sauce for the bottom of the dish, and let it set up in the fridge, but bein impatient I added the panna cotta too soon and it melted and combined.  Still, very good.  A little too stiff, however.  I cut back the gelatin quantity by 1/3 from the recomended amount, because I was making the panna cotta with 36% heavy cream.  It was still a bit too much, since the panna cotta was not as smooth and spoonable as I wanted.  Flavors were all there, anyway.

It is always a joy to cook for friends and to experiment with foods.  I love having dinners like this, for the company and for the chance to play in Jack's Kitchen.

Birthday Dinner

Last weekend I did a very nice dinner/wine tasting for a couple celebrating the wife's birthday.  They had 20 very good friends over and we did a seven course round of small plates with some very nice wines.  Sommelier John Sousa provided great background and notes on the wines.  We started off the evening with a pair of appetizers: Local Grilled Peach Tart with French Chantilly and Savory Sage and Sundried Tomato Cheesecake Bite on Spiced Flatbread; with a Henri Giraud Hommage Grand Cru Brut, a Billecart-Salmon Champagne and a Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc.

Once all the guests had mingled and caught up, we ushered them into the dining room where we went course by course through our tapas-inspired small plate dinner.  Thas was a great solution to those who wanted to try a great variety of food with the various wines, but not get filled up.  Everyone was able to have just a few bites of great tasting, flavor-packed foods and not be overwhelmed by standard dinner portions.

We started with:

Cardamom Dusted Mango Lhassi Shooter

Followed by:

Baked BBQ Pulled Pork Spring Roll with Firecracker Coleslaw and Candied Peach Bite

And then:
Brandy Braised Stuffed Chicken Thigh with Dried Figs and Apples and Blackberry/Maple Glaze


All served with a 2007 Felsina Fontalloro from Tuscany

Next we served up a lovely Champagne Poached Lobster Claw and Body on a Bed of Fresh Frisse Lettuce, Heart of Palm, Roasted Red Pepper and Mango Slaw with Tarragon Citrus Vinaigrette.  John chose a 2007 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay from Russian River Valley to go with this dish.

Then it was time for the Chimichurri-Rubbed Flat Iron Steak, Asiago Potato Croquettes, Wilted Spinach, and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis.  We did our best to cook the beef to the requested temps, which were everywhere from "red and warm" to "medium well".  Based on the plates that came back empty, I'd say we did a good job.  With this dish they had a very nice 2007 Keenan Cabernet Sauvignon out of Spring Mountain, Napa.

The Sesame-Seared Sashimi Salmon on a Phyllo-Wrapped Cream Cheese Pillow, Orange-Glazed Asparagus, Celeriac Puree was a show-stopper.  Everyone loved the little phyllo cream cheese pillows, and the salmon came out moist and perfect.  The wine was a 2009 Sotor Pinot Noir from Mineral Springs, Oregon.

What kind of birthday party would it be without cake?  We offered some Assorted Chocolate Truffle-Cake Pops, which had rounds of richly flavored truffles stuffed inside moist and yummy cake pops.  I left off the little sticks because I thought it would look tacky.  I made some extra to leave for the kids, who didn't get to come to the party, but they were so popular the guests ate them all.

In the end everyone had a great time, we go lots of compilments on the food and wine, and looks like we are scheduled to do this menu again for a holiday dinner in November.  I can't wait to cook up a few new goodies for them to try.  I have a creme brulee cake pop in mind which ought to be just awesome.

The ladies I got to help with the plating were fantastic and really made the evening go smoothly.  And John's classy and entertaining wine tasting elevated the dinner to an evening I am sure no one will soon forget.  So much fun!



Maggie was having too much fun making cake pops!



Dolores takes plate-up very seriously!



Brookhaven Market

Kicked off the new season of local farmer’s market with a visit to the Brookhaven Market on Dresden Ave. Originally we were going to visit the Atlanta Food Truck Park, which hosts a farmer’s market on Saturdays. But when we arrived, there were only four vendors set up, and not a single one had fresh produce. It was more like a mini flea market, with someone selling jewelery, someone selling crafts, someone selling pound cake, and someone selling iced coffee drinks. It is a young market, so maybe it will develop, but on this day is was very disappointing and we did not stay more than a few minutes.

We next opted for the Peachtree Road Farmer’s Market, held every Saturday on the grounds of the Catherdral of St. Philip. It claims to be the largest produce only open air market in town, and hosts numerous chef demos every Saturday. For some reason, they were no open this Saturday; they ran their market in the evening the previous Friday.

Getting desperate and annoyed, we finally found directions to the Brookhaven Market which was happily A)open, and B)small, but bustling and featured a number of diverse vendors. It is set up in the parking lot behind two restaurants (who are both customers as well of many of the produce vendors). I think there were about 12 vendors, so it didn’t take long to go through, but we did amble and talk with the people at the tables. There was a Jamacian couple who made fresh Mojito and Ginger Tonic juices, bottled and ready to mix with your favorite alcohol, or just drink straight. A Middle Eastern woman selling hummus, nan, and chutney. Produce vendors with assortments of fresh vegetables, still dirty and smelling of the gardens. This included a guy selling scarlet turnips, which I had never heard of but were quite mild and slightly sweet, even raw. A woman selling beer soap, the peach guy with crates of SC peaches, a woman selling assorted bread loaves made from freshly milled grains, a guy selling pasta and Italian breakfast cookies.

I spoke for a while with a woman who was selling assorted jarred soups, dips, and raw vegan chips she made in her dehydrator. She made them from flax meal, ground almonds, pureed yellow squash, and some other stuff. I tried a sample and thought it was quite good. I have a friend who is raw vegan who I expect to see in a week or so. If I haven’t gotten into them myself I will probably give them to her to enjoy.

I also spent a little time talking to a man who was selling farm-raised chickens and eggs. His eggs were about the same as the organic eggs I buy in Kroger, but his his chicken was around $4.60/pound. I still can’t get past this, and I think a lot of other people can’t either. I get why they cost what they do, but it is still to hard to swallow, buying a whole chicken for $20-$25. For the market to become sustainable someone is going to have to bite the bullet and pay up, but on this day it wasn’t going to be me. We also sampled some local goat cheeses which were pretty good, if not outstanding.

As a bonus, behind the market in the greenspace of an apartment complex I found a small vegetable garden set up for the residents. It was neat and well tended, with a garden bench at one end for people to sit and just be at peace in the garden. More and more, in tiny spaces and available niches, people are generating an excited energy about gardens, local produce, fresh ingredients, handmade products, and sustainable foods.

It is a nice little market that, while it didn’t hold anything outstanding or especially unique, was a pleasant and cozy addition to the character of that neighborhood.

Dinner and The Movies

My friend Calvin invited me to participate in an “Iron Chef” style themed-menu cook-off with him over the weekend. He was a little sparse on the details except to say that there would be about 20 guests at a dinner party for one of his clients. The theme was “food and the movies” and the idea was for each of us to present a menu where each dish reflected the theme of a certain movie. I whipped up a menu and sent it over to him, certain he would send it back with budgetary restrictions, but he didn’t. He said it looked good, and that cost wasn’t really a concern with this party. The host would pay whatever was necessary to get a top-notch dinner.

I’d put in a lot of hours at work for the week and asked Calvin to pick up most of the menu food for the evening. He’d said we’d have a couple of guys to help us prep things, and I assumed we’d be working out of the clubhouse kitchen since the host lived in a country club community. Some stuff I had to pick up myself on Friday because I wanted to cook and roast it overnight. I got all the ingredients, but then life and wife intervened and I didn’t get anything done on Friday night.

I got up around 4 am Saturday and began cooking my meats and smoking sugar plums for a sauce. That and a few other things kept me busy until it was time to go to the Spartan Race in Conyers. I pulled all the meats and let them chill while I went and ran the race. The race took longer than I planned and I had to rush back home, hop in the shower, scub off the mud and blood, get dressed and pack all the food. I high-tailed it over to the address Calvin gave me and found out we were not cooking at a clubhouse, but at someone’s home. I arrived a half hour late, but got right to work. The help Calvin suggested was coming never came and I had to do everything by myself. I worked on a tiny space on the counter top and Calvin and I had to share stovetop space. I finished up the components of my four dishes just as the guests were sitting down.

Calvin and I took turns taking out our dishes and explaining the plates and their connections to the movies. Calvin did a clam linguini inspired by “The Little Mermaid”, a grits and short-rib dish via “My Cousin Vinny”, a shrimp trio on cedar plank hommage to “Forrest Gump”, and a Royale with Cheese burger with vanilla shake ala “Pulp Fiction”.

My dishes were: “From Russia With Love” which had a potato hash tower wrapped with smoked salmon and topped with salmon roe, frisee salad, vodka cream sauce and borscht vinaigrette; “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” with a saffron-poached tiger shrimp crouching over a tamarind-glazed slice of bbq’d eel on a bed of green tea tapioca pearls, honey braised carrots, smoked plum sauce and lime chili pickle; “One Upon A Time In Mexico” with chipolte roasted pork tamale, adobo salsa, “riced” jicama and stewed tomatillo; and “Spaghetti Western” with BBQ chuck roast, BBQ marinara, calico baked beans, fresh fettuccini noodles and piavi cheese.

The guests scored us on presentation, taste, and tie-in to the movie. Calvin ended up winning but I didn’t care, it was his party and his guests and it was all in fun anyway. I got reimbursed for my expenses and a nice little wad of cash for helping him out. We cooked and plated and ran food and cleaned and packed up and it was 1am before I left their house and headed home. I had to unpack and unload it was after 2am by the time I was able to go to bed.

Everyone had a great time and we got lots of compliments and handshakes and back-pats on the food and the originality of our concepts. It certainly was fun to do and I always learn something while doing these kinds of gigs(ie, you can never be too organized!). Hopefully we will get to do something fun like this in the future.

Protein Power

In keeping with my goal to go higher in protein during at least one meal, I prepared one of my personal favorites: Steak Tartare. I’ve been off red meat almost completely for several months, but I decided this was a good way to kick off a powerful protein diet. I made a small salad of tomatoes and cucumbers with a lemon vinaigrette to start with. Then I finely chopped some garlic, parsley and red onions, mashed a little bit of anchovy I found in the very back of the fridge, bowled up some roasted tomatoes and Worchestershire sauce, sauteed some mushrooms, and daubed a little whole grain dijon mustard on a plate. From the store I bought some top round sirloin, very lean. I seasoned around 6 ounces with a little sea salt and stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. I diced the very cold and firm meat into cubes and ran it through my meat grinder on a medium grind setting (I know the purists want to finely chop the meat by hand, but I went the grinding route, sue me). I formed the ground meat into a thick patty and pressed a well in the center. Into the well I laid an organic egg yolk. It made for a very pretty plate, I thought. After the salad I sprinkled the various condiments onto the patty and the yolk and used my fork to fold over the raw ground meat until everything was well combined. It tasted awesome, and pretty gourmet for workout fuel.

Not something I’d do very often. I still want to make red meat a rarity in my diet. But nothing wrong in being a little decadent in the pursuit of health and fitness.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Even though we were both pretty busy last week with work and school, S. and I carved out some hours on Tuesday to celebrate Valentine’s Day together. I did what I do best: cook; and she did what she does best: set the mood for romance.

While she set the stage upstairs I worked in the kitchen and in less than an hour made up a tasty ahi tuna and strawberry salad with heart of palm and zesty orange vinaigrette, her favorite honey-glazed smoked salmon with white lentils and asparagus sauteed in more orange vinaigrette with a kumquat relish on top, and chocolate-dipped strawberries paired with Rose Regale sparkling wine. Originally I was going to make creme brulees, but time escaped me.

The only thing I’d change would be using brown sugar to make the relish. It caused the bright orange kumquats to darken too much. They still tasted great, but I really wanted that splash of color to offset the green asparagus.