Whenever you do a fancy meal, the experts always say the same thing. For every fancy thing, you better have 2 simple things. Considering I wanted to to a 7 course meal (including desert) I would need 2 fancy things and by fancy I meant those dishes that kill your kitchen and take the entire day. To me, working on these is very invigorating and really sharpens the culinary brain. Even if it fails you can always say: "What did they expect, this is a French Laundry dish that usually cost $400."
der Joe's that screamed birthday dinner all over it. Luckly it was good, not great but it did pair well with salads and in in this case the h
Pomme Frites (French fries) with Aioli.
Clam on Nasturtium Leaf with Nasturtium Soup and Shallot Marmalade:
Mint Sorbet
Salmon with Oyster Mushrooms
1/2 cup of white wine (use the one you're going to drink, later
Wellington Criolla Port. Another favorite winery and one of the few in the States that I've seen make port.*
The guest enjoyed the meal, even the kids liked it and if you can get a kid to get pass meatballs and spaghetti, that's the ultimate compliment.
Here was the final Menu, some recipes are provided:
Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio 2009
To make good crispy fries remember to:
1) fry them
2)drain
3) Fry them again
AIoli
Lots of crushed garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
lemon juice
1 egg
Mix together, salt and pepper to taste.
Clam on Nasturtium Leaf with Nasturtium Soup and Shallot Marmalade:
This was kitchen killer #1. This dish came from Alinea. A restaurant in Chicago, famous for blending food science and sometimes, science fiction into a meal. There were at least 5 items to be made which were put onto a fork: Shallot marmalade, lemon pudding, clam, nasturtium leaf and flower, sitting over a bowl of nasturtium soup. Luckily we have lots of nasturtium around our house. The fork part took at least 4 hours for what would end up being just one bite!!! The soup was a total palate freak-out (to put it in G rated terms. At Alinea, they actually create their own dishes and silverware, just to highlight the dishes. I obviously didn't do that.
Haricot Vert (green bean) Salad:
My own invention and a simple one:
Blanched, cut up green beans
Salad greens
Gorgunzola cheese
Olive oil, infused with garlic and rosemary
mix
I chose a bottle of Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel 2008 to ease the meal into the heavier dishes. Cline is one of my top 5 wineries in Northern California if only because the staff is so friendly and the grounds are pretty.
Parmesan Crisp with Goat Cheese Mousse
This was a simple/hard recipe from the French Laundry.
The goat cheese mousse was whipped goat cheese and
cream with herbs. the Parmesan crisp were just baked mounds of shredded cheese. The hard part was forming the cooling cheese into little cone shapes which were filled with the cheese. I used egg cartons to let them form. The only regret I had about this dish is: Eat them within 15 minutes of creation! I found them a little chewy after sitting around too much, I felt this was a clunker in the meal.
Mint Sorbet
A palette cleanser. For the kid's sake, I heat the wine to remove the alcohol. I also didn't use an ice cream maker, I just froze it and crushed it with a fork occasionally.
Mint Sorbet
1 packed cup chopped mint leaves
2 cups water
1 packed cup chopped mint leaves
2 cups water
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup sweet white wine
1/2 cup lemon juice
In medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the chopped mint, water, and sugar to a simmer. Cover the pan, lower the heat slightly, and cook for about 3 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture to room temperature. Stir in the white wine and lemon juice. Chill the mixture for 2 hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Salmon with Mushrooms
This was a home run. I don't think I took a very good photo of it, but trust me, it was restaurant level.
I had made this many times and is one of my wife's favorites. the original name was Salmon with Chanterelles. Chanterelles are $20
per pound mushrooms. I did it that way once and noticed no great improvement over oyster or even Shitake mushrooms. This time I used oyster mushrooms and I made the 1/2 cup of fish stock from scratch.
Fish stock:
Fish parts
Thyme
Put fish and thyme in pan, cover with water. Simmer until water taste, well, like fish stock!
Salmon with Oyster Mushrooms
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 pound Oyster mushrooms, wiped clean and
halved
4 salmon filets (not frozen)
1/2 cup of fish stock
1 small shallot,
peeled (duh) and chopped fine
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup of heavy
cream
1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and fresh
ly ground
pepper
1 teaspoon of chopped, fresh chervil (or dry is fine)
Melt the butter in a large skillet with a tight fitting lid. Add the mushrooms and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until they start to "sweat".
Remove the pan and reserve the mushrooms and juice separately. If, for some reason, you didn't get any juice from cooking the mushrooms, you can ad a little water to the pan and reserve that.
Place the salmon in the pan, making sure you don't have any overlap.
Pour the wine and stock over the fish (the liquid should about 3/4 of the fish. Cover with the chopped shallots and the mushroom juice.
Cover the pan with the lid and place over moderate heat for about 4 minutes. The salmon should be starting to cook but you do not want to cook it all the way. Put the rare salmon into a warmed oven. By the time you finish the rest of the meal, that thing will be perfectly cooked.
Return the pan to moderate heat and add the mushrooms. Cook uncovered for about 5 minuted or until the liquid is reduced by half.
Stir in the lemon juice, cream and mustard and cook until it's thick
Season with salt and pepper to your taste
Add chervil
Place the salmon on a platter, cover with sauce and mushrooms, garnish with chervil if desired.
Enjoy
Chocolate Cheese Cake by Chef Jackie, served with
Wellington Criolla Port
The guest enjoyed the meal, even the kids liked it and if you can get a kid to get pass meatballs and spaghetti, that's the ultimate compliment.
* This winery got bought out and is long gone. 😟
Cheers, Alex
