i did a dinner party this past weekend. here is the result with comments.
1. bagna cauda foam with vegetables and crostini
you can read about the bagna cauda foam recipe i am developing here:
this dish included raw vegetables over a bed of foam. the feedback from the diners was that the foam was bland. it needed more kick to it. that was a disappointment, especially as a first course. what i did wrong was that i scaled the olive oil x2 from the recipe but forgot to scale the garlic, anchovies, and salt.
2. parsnip and apple soup with pickled apples and thyme
the recipe was from MCH + i added thyme. instead of the chicken stock called for in the original recipe, i used white miso dissolved in water (about 22 grams of miso per cup of water).
the soup was most excellent! the diners really liked the consistency and flavor combo of the soup. i felt i was on recovery mode from the first course.
3. crab salad with mayo, grapefruit vinaigrette, grapefruit jelly, grapefruit pieces, tarragon, chives, avocado
this is from a heston at home recipe. great flavors. the regret i have about this one is that i could have done a better job with the presentation. it would have been nice to include the CS avocado puree instead of pieces of avocado.
note to self: "buy the sieves so you can make the CS avocado puree". complaint to self: "when are you gonna stop buying kitchen toys?"
4. chilean sea bass with saffron cream sauce and asparagus
i equilibrium brined the chilean sea bass with 1% salt for 24 hours, sous vide @ 122F for 25 minutes while i was making the sauce. the asparagus was cooked 4 minutes at sous vide @ 190F and then quick chilled the night before and reheated before service. the fish skin was then seared over a hot skillet. i've got the searzall but don't feel confident searing stuff with it. i tried it once when testing this fish and the skin came out too dry.
one word for this dish: AMAZING! the fish was moist and juicy. the saffron cream sauce was so good that some of the diners were requesting a spoon so that they could scoop it up. i was not happy with the asparagus. i thought they could have been more al dente. presentation wise, next time i will put the fish over the asparagus with the spears sticking out.
here is the recipe:
5. wine poached pear with vanilla gelato
this is the recipe from CS. i used baby pears. the diners REALLY and i mean REALLY liked this. it was like a home run with bases loaded. it was described as over the top. some diners were bringing the bowl to their mouth so that they could slurp up every last bit of this incredible wine reduction sauce. the gelato was a nice complementary flavor to the richness of the sauce. kudos to CS for developing this amazing recipe!
6. bardo by chocolate
this was a flourless chocolate cake with just chocolate, eggs, butter, a little sugar, and a little salt. i got the recipe here:
this cake has been described as a cross between a mousse and a truffle. if you like chocolate, like i do, this is the ultimate! the cake was made to celebrate the birthdays of four of my friends who have november birthdays.
i have been experimenting with different types of sugars that do not produce a blood sugar spike. the sugar used in this cake is tagatose sugar which has the unique property of being a low glycemic sugar with the ability to caramelize. for cold desserts, such as the gelato above, i use xylitol.
the cake was originally called 'chocolate oblivion'. i called it 'bardo by chocolate' as a play on 'death by chocolate'. if you are not familiar with buddhism, the bardo is the state of consciousness after death and before reincarnation.
i included three strawberry transformations as an experiment: 1) compressed strawberry, 2) carbonated strawberry, 3) cointreau infused strawberry. the first two were unmemorable but the third with the cointreau infusion was very flavorful.
