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cooking, food porn, menu, recipe

Six courses with Jeska, Kendra and James

Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin with Parmegiano-Reggiano, Arugula, Capers and Lemon

Chanterelle and Taleggio Strudel, Taleggio and Truffle Cream Sauce

Micro Green Salad with Rhubarb Froth, Heirloom Tomatoes and Wild Blueberries

Cherry and Grand Marnier Sorbet

Tea Smoked Yellowfin Tuna Seared Rare with salad of Avocado, Green Apple, Haricots Vert, Umeboshi and Wasabi Vinaigrette

Mascarpone and Fresh Fig with Raspberry Leather Brulee and Aged Balsamic

Wow, that was remarkably low stress, considering. Not only that, but it only took about 2.5 hours to complete, which is pretty good for at home. Kendra and James came over and both helped with prep and dishes, and of course, with the eating. ;)

I'm happy to say that the Carpaccio was a total success. You know that it is a success when your guests are nervous and unsure when you place the plate in front of them, and they are instantly converted. It took just seconds to demolish this. The recipe is quite simple- Clean beef tenderloin completely so that there is no fat or silverskin on the outside. Lightly freeze the meat so that you can cut it extremely thinly with a very sharp knife. If you have a meat slicer, that is best, because you want paper thin slices. As you can see from the picture, my slices aren't exactly paper thin, but that's ok. Now squeeze half a lemon over the meat, and allow to cure in the lemon for about one minute. Now shave parmigiano over top, sprinkle with capers, EVOO and salt and viola! Delicious.

The Chanterelle and Taleggio strudel kind of exploded on me a bit. I don't think I cooked enough of the juice out of the mushrooms before I rolled it up. The taste was fabulous nevertheless. Here's my recipe, improvised as it is:

2 lbs Fresh Chanterelles
.5 sweet onion fine diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
4 oz sherry
some butter, EVOO and chillie flakes
5 leaves phylo pastry

First clean the chanterelles very carefully, brushing off any detritus from the forest floor. Mine were super dirty, so I dunked them in water. If you do this, pat them dry with a towel afterwards. Sweat the garlic, onion and chillies in some butter and EVOO. When they just start to turn golden, add the Chanterelles and turn the heat to high.

When I did this step, the chanterelles lost a bunch of moisture right away and started to boil in their own juice. I didn't want them to overcook, so after a bit, I took the chanterelles out with a perforated spoon and placed them in a strainer while I reduced the liquid down to almost nothing before adding the mushrooms back in. At this point, I added the sherry and thyme, and seasoned to taste. Cook until the sherry is mostly evaporated. This is where I stopped, but my strudel blew up. I would say that perhaps I should have kept the mix on a simmer for a while to continue drying it?

Lay out the first leaf of phylo on a clean and dry countertop. Brush it with melted butter, and put another sheet on top. Continue until all five sheets are glued together with butter. Now spread your mushroom mix over the top, leaving plenty of room around the edges to seal. Cut the taleggio into pieces and put them on top, and roll the strudel up. Bake at 325 until golden.

For the sauce, I had a bit of taleggio left over, which I melted with some butter. Then I added a touch of whipped cream and some black pepper. When it was all combined I took it off the heat and added a few drops of truffle oil.

For the Rhubarb froth, I was hoping to get some Lecithin from a Chef friend of mine, but unfortch I couldn't get a hold of him. I ended up using about 1/2 tsp of egg yolk in about 3 oz of pure rhubarb juice. I had to add a bit of icing sugar too, because it was too sour. It turned out pretty frothy when I hit it with the immersion blender.

For the avocado salad, I blanched the Haricots Vert and iced them down right away. I chopped the beans, then I peeled and small diced a green apple and mixed the two together. I added a few squirts of wasabi paste, some umeboshi vinegar, a pinch each of sugar and salt, and a splash of lime juice. Then I halved, cored, peeled and thinly sliced an avocado. I spread out the slices on a piece of plastic wrap, and seasoned with some flake salt and a splash of lime juice. Then I scooped a generous amount of the salsa on top of the avocado and used the plastic wrap to cinch the avocado into a ball around the salsa.

For the raspberry leather brulee, I just used some 100% real fruit dried fruit snacks from the grocery store. I cut them into nice shapes with my leaf cookie cutters, and took the creme brulee torch to them.