Foodie Fetish

Obama Charity Luncheon

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:14:09 +0000

A few weeks ago, I was chosen to cook a charity luncheon for Barack Obama. Since I felt compelled to honor him and hopefully the future of my country, I enthusiastically accepted. I was given the menu that they wanted to eat. This consisted of Vichyssoise soup, salad with tuna and a lemon tart. Since I found this request a little bland, I added some flavor components to make it interesting.. Vichyssoise, lemon and tarragon drops, chive oil Wheat crouton, mascarpone, walnuts, Iberico ham Spice Ahi Tuna, soffrito aioli, shaved asparagus, tomato, avocado and coriander greens, toasted sesame px vinaigrette Elements of a lemon tart, Lemoncurd mousse, brown butter sable powder, almond gel, lemon zest marshmallows

August In Full Swing

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:33:28 +0000

Alas, the wounded has mended. My spine decided to heal and all is well. This dinner was especially nice because it became a creative exercise, some of the ideas i've had over the last few months confined to my bed, just waiting to explore. These diners were not big dessert people but I managed to provide two small sweet treats. The requests were for a sort of fresh, raw fish- artichokes- mushrooms and beef. We talked about a mango type of margarita so I created a little drink to start off the dinner. MANGO MARGARITA, Reserva De Mi Familia Tequila, lime ginger mousse, mint oil HAMACHI TARTARE, coriander puree, chive oil, sour tomato salt CRISPY SHITAKE TERRINE, cinnamon butter, corn gel, smoked mushroom tea, brioche aromatic ARTICHOKE CHAMPAGNE VELOUTE, foie gras cremeaux, tarragon, lemon peel textures, parmesan ALASKAN HALIBUT, Jasmine rice mousse, saffron young ginger honey, wakame, spice almond crumble AGED SHORT RIBS TWO WAYS, sherry vinegar mousse, soy milk puree, caramel puffed rice, coffee oil, micro arugula LYCHEE SODA, St. Germain elderflower drops, mint tea cream PEANUT BUTTER COCOA LOLLIPOPS

FRAGILE

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:28:22 +0000

With summer in the forecast, I wanted to create a cake with clean, smooth and vibrant flavors. A cake with the potential flavor spectrum to be consumed with tea, a wonderful water, Champagne or Riesling. I always associate lavender with summer and especially the time I spent in the Provence. I once made an almond milk lavender ice cream and I enjoyed it very much. With those flavors lingering in my head, white peach was the first fruit I thought of and didn't bother to analyze another. I made a hot syrup of lavender tea and poured it over cubes of white peaches. I infused it for several hours, drained them and folded them into a white peach mousse with just a hint of Italian meringue less sweetened and a scoop of whipped cream. A thin layer of whipped white chocolate provided a neutral creamy sweet note that meshed the mousses together. I like magdalena cake when it is done well and has enough fat to retain it's moisture. Cold brown butter whipped with honey and ground almonds finalize the magdalena cake. ALMOND MILK LAVENDER MOUSSE WHITE PEACH MOUSSE WITH LAVENDER TEA STEEPED PEACHES WHITE CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM BROWN BUTTER HONEY MAGDALENA

Evolution Of The Katja Dessert

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:46:49 +0000

Being that I can not cook at the moment I thought this story would be appropriate for the blog. I visited London several months ago and met an incredibly talented woman named Katja. We became great friends and spent alot of time talking about food and the whole dining experience and process. In our talks, she talked about how much she adored great German breads, being that she is German, this is one of her avenues of expertise. She spoke of rye and pumpernickels with great adoration. Along the way she also mentioned her dark chocolate episodes. I noticed when she had tea, she found great pleasure in the flavor addition of honey. My wheels started to turn and I thought about these flavor combinations in a dessert. Rye and Chocolate? Well many pumpernickel recipes have cocoa in them, this is what gives them their beautiful dark color. When I got back to Santa Barbara, I started to play with these elements. It was difficult finding a way to combine the rye element with chocolate without the chocolate overpowering the rye. I made a rye mousse by using the chunks of bread tossed in a creme anglaise mixture and adding some molasses, caraway seeds and gelatin. Then I would blend them and fold in the half whipped cream. This produced a nice mousse but it was too light. Then it came to me. I needed a crunch element with pumpernickel notes to enhance the texture and flavor. After numerous attempts, I settled upon an inverted pumpernickel puff pastry. The first attempt fell short, but the second combination was a home run. It was caramelized, very crunchy, and with an explosion of pumpernickel. I made a chocolate cremeaux, with a 70% cocoa using Domori. Lastly, the honey was incorporated as a creme. Honey is hard to use as a predominant flavor because one needs to be able to bring out the honey flavor without making it too sweet. I tried 5 different honeys and none of them worked. Finally I found a local avocado blossom honey that was very bold and did the trick perfectly. In the end, the flavors meshed so well, yet very different and a complete palate experience. So the final dessert is: 70% Domori Chocolate Cremeaux Rye mousse parfait Bisquit de chocolat Avocado blossom honey cream Inverted pumpernickel puff pastry Thank you for the inspiration Katja!

March On The Mend

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:31:22 +0000

BLACK TRUFFLES!

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:01:50 +0000

I sometimes receive phone calls to cook a dinner for special occasions, birthdays, wine tastings etc. Not often does someone call and say "We are getting a pound of fresh black truffles from France, can you do something with them"? WHAT! I feel a slight tingling down my spine and that giddy school girl crush feel. YES! The Black Truffles were good but not great, a little dry and not as strong as I have had in the past. Due to the bad kitchen lighting, the photos were not worth posting, Technical difficulties! Here's the menu none the less. They insisted on the soft scrambled eggs dish in the mix and for a more classic style of cuisine to go with the truffles Amusebouche FOIE GRAS CREMA, sauternes drops, salt water, green apple gel, rye crumbs Course 1 SOFT SCRAMBLED ORGANIC EGGS, Shaved Truffles, chive oil, black butter brioche Course 2 CARNAROLI RISOTTO, Black truffles, aged parmesan puree, frothy basil Course 3 HERB ROASTED CHICKEN BREAST, Black truffles, fontina raviolis, chestnut hazelnut and cippolini onion ragout Course 4 SOTTOCENARE AL TARTUFO CHEESE with accompaniments Course 5 CINNAMON PARFAIT, cognac gelee, Asian pear gel GUANAJA CHOCOLATE CREAM, toasted sesame, whipped apple cider

European Trip

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:23:34 +0000

Just got back from a trip to Europe. Will catch up on some dinners soon. Happy Holidays everyone.

October Dinner With Camera!

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:38:07 +0000

First I want to send a warm and grateful thank you to the PERSON WHO STOLE MY CAMERA! Good luck without the battery charger. Plenty of dinners in September, but no photo means by which to capture the kodak moments. I have now filled the camera void and with an upgrade too! Octobers first dinner was very helpful to me. Like all musicians who go through a "Rutt" of creativity, they eventually rise from this unfortunate prison with new creative life and insight. I'm getting there.. A woman begged me for a Toro tartare with ponzu. I was unamused with this request, so I asked her if she minded if I played with the dish a bit. She didn't, so I did. A birthday was in order, so naturally a cake was planned for a proper celebration. He liked chocolate is all he said, I had to fill in the blanks. Amusebouche MOULES BELGIQUE tempura and soup, malay curry, lardons, chimay gelee, white poppyseed Course 1 TORO TARTARE, soffrito aioli ice cream, ponzu gelee, Thai chili ginger oil Course 2 BEET ESCABECHE, hazelnut milk tofu, feta, wheatberry ginger crumble Course 3 FOIE GRAS ICE CREAM, Tortolli pear, tarragon, coffee oil, walnut prailine puff pastry Course 4 AGED SHORT RIBS, Black truffle mousse, Tarbais Herbes de provence pistou, artichoke dumplings, nigella (No photo yet!) Course 5 NICOISE OLIVE CREAM, roasted thyme caramel, pecan Breton Course 6 ALPACO CHOCOLATE MOUSSE, cognac cream, orange peel marshmallow mousse, bisquit de chocolat Maybe its because of the soon to be holiday season, but I have given 3 classes on "Understanding chocolate techniques", in the last week. Acknowledging the importance of Temperature is crucial. Respect the recipe, work patiently but swiftly, use a thermometer and use a high quality chocolate. It's just like a wine sauce, start with a bad wine, you get a bad sauce.

Fleuret Cake

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:40:00 +0000

I wanted to be clear and focused about keeping this blog just for my FF dinners. But I had to throw this one in. My favorite cake! A year and a half ago or so, I started to produce my own molds that I designed with a friend and Architect Xavier Cobiani. The idea of this design originated from me being a FENCER, of all things. I wanted a cake that was slightly pointed at the tip and narrow just like my foil weapon. Fleuret is the name of my foil in French. After a few designs, it was almost there. Then I said to Xavier, " I want a hole through it". He thought I was crazy. We finally got it. At the time I was working on a milk chocolate mousse combo incorporating salted marcona almond prailine and apples. I decided to make the filling for Fleuret, milk chocolate mousse (Michel Cluizel makes a stellar milk chocolate), Salted Marcona almond prailine, candied lemon peel, caramelized rice krispies cake and creamy Calvados apple gelee.....Just plain goodness!

August Dinner

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:22:32 +0000

Due to a chaotic schedule and an unexpected illness, I wasn't able to accomplish any dinners in July. Early August presented me with an especially enthusiastic group. They were quite eager to taste dishes they had never had. I had a few requests though, gold beets, crab, lamb, dark chocolate and fennel. Realizing the seasonal end to a few ingredients, I incorporated them for a last hurrah. **Special thanks to food photographer Chris Litwin (chrislitwin.com), for the photos of the gold beet, lamb and chocolate dishes. Your amazing!** -Amusebouche GOLD BEET ESCABECHE, goatcheese marshmallow, arugula, thyme powder -Course 1 FENNEL SALAD AND ICE CREAM, Manni olive oil, golden Xuan tea gelee, tangerine peel vinaigrette, *(No photo yet!)* -Course 2 CRAB CAKE, dungeness crab, lemongrass, pea basil pistou, orange powder, Sarawak tomato confiture -Course 3 ARCTIC CHAR, dehydrated cherry jus, spiced duck rillettes, 10C onion flan, cabbage gnocchi -Course 4 LAMB BELLY, Edamame melt, Vadouvan, roquefort chantilly, smoked chanterelles -Course 5 ARAGUANI CHOCOLATE CREMA, malted milk curd, Thai spice cherries, Guinness pearls, bisquit de chocolat Lately I have been perplexed by the monotony of restaurant desserts. Usually, one or more overly sweetened ingredients clashing against the cliffs of boredom. How many creme brulees with berries must we endure before we scream "STOP"! Even though I love creme brulee, something is missing. Is it fear of experimentation with the palate of the client? I'm not sure. A pastry chef in Paris once told me " Use sugar the way a chef uses salt". This was a valuable lesson and one to be constantly aware of. I will be chocolate tasting soon with some Amedei, Pralus and Domori chocolates. The discovery of new chocolates, with various cocoa percentages and flavor elements, will present a new challenge for me. As good as a chocolate mousse with whipped cream can be, I believe it is up to us chefs to discover new flavor combinations, textural innovations, and applications other than desserts. Where will the cocoa pod lure me to next?

June Dinner

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:33:53 +0000

Only two private dinners in June since I was very busy with cooking classes and some consulting. The last dinner was for 8 people with wine pairing with each course. They actually wanted two shellfish courses, one with rock shrimp and one with prawns...o.k. no problem.. The amuse was a small layered cup. It contained soft frozen avocado at the bottom (very cold), next was a tandoori gelee with watermelon juice (cold), then carbonated yuzu cream (cool). Dijon sesame stick. -Course one ENGLISH PEA VELOUTE, pressed cucumber brie mousse, sultanas, hazelnuts and hikory salt, then finished with black truffle aioli. -Course two CARNAROLI RISOTTO, fennel pollen rock shrimp, frothy lemongrass lemon, crunchy bacon paper. -Course three ARGENTINE PRAWN CUBE, harissa ragout with carrots, chorizo and chestnuts (I had some frozen in dark chicken stock from winter), cilantro gelee and pinenut sabayon. -Course four LEFT AND RIGHT PORK CHEEK CANNELLONIS. Left was with cauliflower gel, walnut prailine, vadouvan butter and chard (small glass of Chateauneuf de pape, Chateau la Nerthe "Cuvee des Cadettes"). Right was avocado citrus peel puree, scallion paste, asian pear and micro fennel (small glass of Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Santa Ynez Valley). -Course five 3 TEXTURES OF STRAWBERRY (gel casing, fresh, and strawberry liquid caramel poured tableside), Michel Cluizel milk chocolate steeped with Indonesian cinnamon, hazelnut pearls and mint oil. Already planning another FF dinner in July. Time to get working on new menu. I'll have to take advantage of the beautiful cherries and some chanterelles my friend is currently foraging. Until next time...eat well and Hug a chef!