What a great vacation. Jeska and I are on our honeymoon, it's 8:05AM, and I'm done sleeping early due to jetlag, so I thought I'd post a few pictures and such. Yesterday, we went to the PNE and rode on fair rides all day. We must have waited 30 minutes to ride Coaster, their signature 50 year old wooden roller coaster. What a thrill! I've been a roller coaster junkie since a young age. When I was maybe 12, my family went to florida and I got to ride on Kumba in Busch Gardens maybe 12 or more times in a row because there was next to no line up. That sort of thing definitely has an effect on a developing mind. Unfortunately that was maybe the last time I've really gotten to ride on roller coasters.

Until yesterday.

Just look how excited I am:


I hope to do a massive food post after the honeymoon, but I wanted to show you a few pictures from Tojo's, where we ate the first night of our honeymoon

Dunganess Crab with hand cut cucumber, lemon vinaigrette, and cherry blossoms


Sablefish wrap. The sablefish was wrapped around mango, King Oyster Mushroom and Asparagus. This was wrapped in a paper thin layer of wood (cedar?), and the whole thing was wrapped in writing paper. Which they... set fire to? I'm not sure the cooking process of this one, but the flesh was so perfectly cooked, with just a hint of smokiness, oh man. Amazing.

Anyway, we got about 10-12 courses... ok, reviewing my pictures, I see I have pictures of 12 courses but I know that I was so caught up in the moment that I missed at least 3 more, so yeah a very extensive omakase menu. Oh, and about 6 bottles of the most amazing Sake I've ever tried too.

OK, time for the breakfast part of the B&B&

I'll post more soon.

Oh yeah, I'm spinning at Godizus tonight. Hope to see some of you there!

Well, I've been hesitant to talk much about my wedding plans on my personal blog, but yesterday I finally received this in the mail:


It's my Bragard Top Chef Jacket that I am going to be married in. At first we thought it would be around 200 bucks, but after shipping and tax it was more like three hundred, but oh man. It is SO soft.

Right now it is being tailored. I'll have to post a before and after picture once it comes back in a few weeks.

In other news, the heirloom tomatoes have started. I was in ecstasy yesterday cutting up these:


The prevailing logic that I've heard is that if you want the same tattoo for four years, you should do it. That picture may be the first study for the tattoo that I've wanted for the past four years. I want a full colour picture on my arm of heirloom tomatoes on a cutting board, with a few slices and a cook's knife. Too bad I don't have a grand to drop on a tat just at the moment.

Well... it's been a week since my mom was here. The meal that I prepared for her when she was here turned out very well. I have some pictures:

Amuse: Thai Coconut Soup with tempura sunflower sprouts

As you may recall, I was having trouble figuring out the accompaniment with this amuse. It was the chef who provided the idea for tempura sunflower sprouts, and they worked very well indeed. Unfortunately, my guests forgot to get a picture of the initial presentation, so they photographed the aftermath instead. Jeska was a bit late arriving, so I sent her out a single, which they did manage to get a shot of:

(hooray edible flowers!) I was disappointed that my tasting menu didn't have an opportunity to use these beautiful tempered glass plates that we have, so when the time came to send out this single amuse to Jeska, I saw my chance and I seized it. Aren't these pretty? Anyway, moving on:

First App: Foie Gras torchon, Manchego, Vanilla Poached Strawberries, Ginger Beer reduction, smoked sea salt.

The closer plate is out of focus, but you can see the further one more clearly:


Not sure that this worked quite as well as I hoped. Oh well.

Next was:
Second App: Roast Beef Spring Roll with Spicy Okanogan Apricot sauce- Fresh, rice paper wrapped salad roll with beef prime rib, horseradish aioli, mint, cilantro and sunflower sprouts

Sadly, this course doesn't seem to have been documented visually. :(


Salad: Orange, Yellow and Purple Heirloom tomatoes- served with thai basil sprigs, black lava salt, and panko crusted fried fresh mozzarella

That was followed by:
Intermezzo: Watermelon and bubbly shooters

Again, unfortunately this doesn't seem to have been photographed, but I think it went over very well.

Entrée: Maple-Tamarind Glazed Pork Tenderloin Medallions, truffled green pea puree, pomme dauphinoises and roasted baby heirloom beets

This course turned out SO well, I'm quite disappointed that it wasn't photographed. :(

And finally:

Dessert: Lemon Cheesecake with rhubarb sauce and saké-mirin stuffed local raspberries

This plate presentation is my nod to the 1980s. The truth of it is I was extremely busy, and didn't have enough time to create something a bit less clinical/minimal/nouvelle cuisine. I was laughing about this as I plated it, but I guess it kind of works. It just seems very... ridiculous... I guess.

Everybody loved it, which is great. It's funny to me how many burgers and fries I did in the midst of cooking this meal. The place where I'm working is pretty cool like that- we've got a pretty killer foie gras torchon, and our house smoked duck is awesome, but the real money is in the burgers and *dun dun DUN* brunch. *shudder*

My favourite part of this meal was the few times during service that I could hear my mom's laugh out in the dining room. It was amazingly good to see her. So wonderful to spend even a little time with my mom. The next day I showed her around the neighbourhood and we pretty much hung out. It was great fun, as could have been expected, after almost a year away.

What I really didn't expect was the melancholy that I felt after mom went back home. I mean, I've had my moments of homesickness, and for sure, I miss my parents. But after mom left, it was on a different level. It didn't really hit me right away. We went for an underwhelming meal at a restaurant called Milestones, and what was lacking in the menu/decor/setting/etc was more than made up for in company. Jeska and I, mom, and a bunch of family having a lot of fun. We parted ways at around sunset, and I got up early the next morning to go to work.

It wasn't until after I got off work that BOOM, all of a sudden I realized that I miss my parents more than ever before. Is this normal? If so, what is it going to be like after I go home for one week?

Anyway, fortunately the feeling seems to subside after some days, but it was rough for a while. I suspect that I will need my friends to distract me once I get back in September. Party time, ok?

Looks like I'm going to be spinning in one week at Organix. I've got a bunch of new music, so watch out. Also we've got some specials for tomorrow. Hmm... what to do with halibut cheeks and ling cod? I've got some smoked duck fat that I reserved, and I'm trying to infuse some vinegar with juniper. Lets see where that leads us. Halibut Cheek "Gravlox"...? hmmm.....

Hm, what can I say, I've got a bunch of stuff saved up to talk about.

The other night we had some customers in that ordered the drill and loved it- an adjective that they used to describe their experience was 'exciting'.

I love it. This makes me happy. This is why I am so enjoying my position now.

At least one of the courses that they got was this:

orach leaf, green and white asparagus parmesan-fiddlehead tart, seared foie gras, and beet-balsamic ice cream and grilled medallion of beef tenderloin

..

that's right- ice cream with steak.

omg.


So anyway, yeah, still loving it. Check out this special that Chef and I developed for this week, since fiddleheads are about:

Fiddlehead trio- Parmesan-Fiddlehead Tart, Sauteed in Butter and Garlic, Tempura battered with Mirin, Soya, and Sesame


Love. :)

I wonder if roasted red pepper ice cream goes with steak...?

In other news, new plates next week. woo!

Oh yes, you KNOW you love it! :) This is my feature menu item this week. We've gotten in some gorgeous 16/20 Shrimps, which I have poached in a court boullion and chilled. Then I've marinated julienne of daikon, cucumber and carrot in cilantro, mint, lime juice and a touch of fish sauce. This is my thai "slaw", which I've wrapped in a thin slice of cucumber and garnished with Maldon Sea Salt (the salt is a bit melty in this pic, but oh well). Finally I've popped some black wild rice to sprinkle on the plate as a garnish as well.

So things are going pretty well at work. We now have three matts working- chef, sous-chef and our new intern is also named matt. It's a bit confusing, but at the same time, it is so exciting to have all this new talent in the kitchen. Chef and I are definitely on the same wavelength when it comes to plate presentation. I wish I had gotten a few more pictures last night. All week we're running a salmon plate (we got shorted on Mahi-Mahi :( ) which is pan seared, then roasted with cilantro puree, then served with corn cakes, grilled corn and a smoked tomatillo katsup. The presentation of that dish is super hot. :) Definitely makes me a happy boy.

Now, I don't know if I've raved about the tasting menu we have on our a la carte or not, but I've always thought that it was my favourite thing about working at the pgng. Basically, we have an option where people say we'll eat whatever you bring us, and we put together a 5 course tasting menu on the spot for them. We call it the Chef's Drill.

It's always exciting (especially on a monday or tuesday if it's slow and we have time to do some extra special), and we often get new ideas for our specials. Usually pans will do a fish or shellfish first app, then grill (that's me!) will do a meaty second- then we send a sorbet, and grill and pans collaborate on the main.

Last night we had a drill main that blew my mind. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, but here's what was on the plate:

Herbed Potato Rosti, with Raspberry Infused Breast of Brome Lake Duck, Pan Seared Sea Scallops with Chipotle Compound Butter.

Sounds good, and the presentation was even better.

As you might expect, with new responsibilities it's not all sunshine and roses. It's always difficult to adjust to a position, and this one is fairly demanding. Aside from the burns and cuts that we all love so much, it's the mental strain that is tough. Monday and Tuesday were both really heavy on the grill, and on Monday I got buried. Ask any cook, and it is those moments when the "heat of battle" metaphor starts to really kick in. It is exhausting, and when the customers end up waiting for their food, it really takes a tole. Such was the case on Monday.

I got off work, still a bit stressed, since my prep list for the next day was as long as my arm, and slouch back up the street home. As I went to put the key in my door, I heard Jeska inside on the phone. I only listened for a moment, but it sounded like she's distressed- perhaps she's just gotten an exam back and is crying and stressing on the phone with her mom.

To my shame, my first reaction was not- "OMG, I better go comfort Jessica", and rush in and listen to her stressing and freaking. Sometimes, it seems... you just don't have the strength. I decided that I needed a pint of brew first. I was still so tightly wound that I couldn't deal with more stress right at that moment.

I went down to Ginger's and ran into none other than trmanning, fresh from Japan. He's just visiting though, so it was good to see him. I explained my situation, and he seemed to sympathize. So, 30 minutes later, I feel better and rush back home.

Turns out I was mistaken all along! Jeska got 6 points above the class average on that exam. Woo! Go her! Boo on me! ;)

I had one more thing to share with you all today. As you may already know Ideas in Food is my favourite food blog. About a week ago, they posted a fantastic, basic recipe which I boiled down even further on Sunday. Here is thier version: Please Try This at Home.

For my version, I just took a chicken, split it down its back, and placed it on a bed of seasoned, roughly chopped rapini. Then I roasted the whole thing at 350 degrees. The whole thing took about 5 minutes of preparation time, and cost under $10. And was so CRAZY delicious I can hardly even believe it.

I say try it!

So, I don't like the pictures I got of our new feature menu that started yesterday, but I really like the presentation of this one:

Grilled Vegetable "Tower", Beet and Roast Jalapeno Coulis, Big Crouton

I created the coulis, at Matt's request. Everything else was his creation. A bit more current, I think.

I'll say this though- I hate our plates. Seriously, I don't think those stupid swirls were EVER fashionable. guh.

Then again, our old chef hated them too. He's been pushing for more contemporary plates for as long as I've worked there. I'm sure that was a symptom of the problems that caused him to leave. I hope that the company realises this and gets us some sexier gear.

In response to the anonymous commenter who asked why I wasn't considered for the sous-chef position, I'm not that upset. I'm fairly certain that it was one of Matt's conditions for working was to be able to institute his own sous. The way the hierarchy works in our kitchen, sous-chef and grill chef are not far apart. In fact, I expect that they are going to try and get me on salary in the next weeks. We are losing, in total, three salaried cooks, and one other line cook. Matt and Matt are going to be chef and sous- I expect to fill that third position, although i'm not sure that I want to be on salary.

Oh yeah! In other news, looks like i'm doing a good job on the grill:
Review of my restaurant

Although the restaurant is very busy, our server is attentive; but she doesn't quality-check our main courses. Fortunately, there is no need to. The medallions of beef tenderloin ($36) are cooked perfectly, as is the salmon in phyllo pastry ($27)
...
On to dessert, a pecan apricot tart ($8) and flourless chocolate espresso cake ($9). The tart is served with a tiny scoop of ice cream, which it doesn't really need, but who am I to turn away ice cream? The chocolate cake is the best version of a flourless cake I've ever had—the texture is silky, almost mousse-like, and the hint of espresso keeps it from being too sweet.

Wow, I'm certain that this review was written my very first night on the grill. Since we change our flavour of mashed potato every night, it makes it pin-pointable, and I think we did rosemary last friday. This means that I cooked their steak, AND that I made the desserts that they are raving about. woot! Go me!

Well, I'm the new grill chef at work, that's pretty cool. I bought me a few super sweet knives too. Love for new steel.

Also, I wanted to brag about my new GOLD STAR on VideoSift.com. Check me out: http://djsunkid.videosift.com/

I just spawned my collective, which is focussed on Italian-American Culture. You can find that here: http://goomba.videosift.com/ I'm especially proud of my godfather/videosift mashup for the group avatar.

Another couple of collectives that I'm into are http://cooking.videosift.com and http://obscure.videosift.com . Check'em out.

I've been tagged to do my top 5 worst culinary disasters, but I'm not up to it right now. Instead I wanted to share some food pics with y'all.

To start, I've got some great pictures from this past Sunday, when Jeska and I went to visit Kendra in the middle of nowhere in the Annapolis Valley. She was a wonderful host, and it was a lot of fun putting together some nice eats at her gorgeous house.

We started off with one of my favourites: Fresh Spring Rolls. I've done them with Smoked Mackeral before, and it is so awesome that I decided to try it again. This time, I had some beautiful little kiwiberries, so I decided to make a coulis with them to go with the rolls.


Next up, another variation on a theme that I've done before: Seared King Oyster Mushrooms, draped with Norwegian Blue Cheese, served with Ginger Beer Reduction and Essence of White Truffle.

Notice the "action" shot. Whee, fire! :)

For main course, I managed to snag some sailfish from work- total score. We got some cashews and ended up with: Sailfish Filet Crusted with Cashew and Green Curry, Jasmine Scented Basmati, and Nova Scotia Smoked Bacon Sauteed Bok Choy.


Finally Kendra had some perfect home made apple pie. It was a totally awesome night.

Moving ahead to wednesday, since C and I are the only ones that are going to be left, we were made responsible for the weekly specials which start every Wednesday. Yesterday was our first. I figured I may as well get some pics of what we came up with. See if you can pick out which details are mine!

Appetizer -- Pan-Seared Tuna with a Purée of Roasted Garlic and Parsnip and Propellor Gingerbeer Reduction

Fish -- Roasted Salmon Filet Glazed with Miso, Ginger, and Garrison Red

Fowl -- Grilled Breast of Pheasant with Smoked Jalapeño and Tomato Coulis

Meat -- Grilled Medallions of Beef Tenderloin on a salad of Mixed Greens with a Spicy Grapefruit Vinaigrette

Pasta -- Ditali tossed in a Blue Cheese Cream Sauce with Asparagus, Pan-Seared Scallops and Essence of White Truffle


It all turned out quite well. Now what about next week...?

Unbelievable. As every cook knows, New Year's Evening is the red letter evening for the entire restaurant industry. If you aren't completely booked solid, with a waiting list on NYE you are probably doing something wrong. And yet, somehow, I managed to get NYE off this year. For the first time in the 7 years I've been cooking. In fact, I know it was this long, because the last NYE I had off was when I was in cooking school.

So what is a cook to do with his unexpected freedom? Why, cook a 6 course tasting menu for his family, of course!

AND get photographs for the internet. First, allow me to introduce my family- we posed for a cheesy family photo after dinner, and I think it is a good way to start out the post.

Here's us. That's me, second from the right, between my mom and my girlfriend glapaloopscap. My sister Heather and her boyfriend Duncan are on the left, with my lovely parents in the middle.

I really threw together this tasting menu only a few days in advance, and I had quite a few criteria for supper that I was trying to fufill. I wanted to be able to try a few new flavour combinations, create a mini-tasting menu around my mom's proposed large entree. But, Heather and Duncan need to be out by 8PM, so it is crucial that my courses be all but completely prepared in advance. I had some practice with this when I did my 9-courses a few months ago. Furthermore, shellfish and red meat are out, since my sister is a vegetarian, and doesn't care for shellfish. And I didn't want to saddle my mom with a huge disaster to clean up.
So here's what I came up with.

Chioga and Golden Beet Chips with Hot Juniper and Blueberry Gelee

For the gelee, I needed to use a heat resistant gelling agent, of which there are several, but the alginate agar-agar is by far the strongest/best. It creates jellies that remain cohesive at temperatures of up to 180 degrees fahrenheit. So to create this jelly, I combined 250ml of fresh blueberry juice with about a tablespoon of ground dried juniper berries, and brought this to a boil in a small saucepan. Meanwhile, I soaked 1 tablespoon of powdered agar-agar in cold water, which I then brought to a boil to dissolve the agar. Straining the blueberry-juniper liquid, I then combined it with the dissolved agar, and poured into a plasticwrap lined mould. This I then refridgerated.

For the beet chips, I first peeled and then sliced some beautiful heirloom beets that I got at the farmer's market. The trick is to set your mandolin to just the right thickness. You don't want the chips paper thin or else they won't hold their shape when fried, but if they are too thick they won't crisp up properly. Next, rinse the chips thouroughly to help prevent the colours from bleeding together in the rings of the chioga chips. Now pat them well dry on paper towel and you are ready to fry them.

To fry beet chips, you want oil that is at 250-275 degrees fahrenheit. Swirl them around with some tongs, turn them over a few times, and when the bubbles stop, they are done.

Since my mom was doing the main course, and we were going to her kitchen to put together this meal, it was important to have as small a "footprint" in her kitchen as possible. This course was a study in economy, when it came time to plate. I filled her kettle with water, let it boil and poured it into a small plastic dish. I measured the temperature with my stem thermometer, and added a bit of cool water until the temperature was 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, I cut off some of the Gelee, and put it in a ziploc bag. I pushed out all the air, and sealed it up, and submerged the gelee in the hot water for about a minute. Ta-da! It's like ghetto sous vide. :)

For the next course, I decided on Carpaccio of Blue Fin Tuna with a Ginger-Soy Froth, Mesquite Smoked Dijon and Parsley "Paint".
The story behind this course is interesting. I suppose it might even be close to a deconstruction. Basically, my old, VERY traditionalist chef from Rome taught me Tuna Carpaccio, with cucumber, lemon, capers, dijon, parsley and pepper. His version has the dijon and parsley on top of the tuna, and is WAY delicious. I basically took the flavour combination that he taught me, and took the presentation out of the .. i don't know... 60s maybe? When Claudio sees and hears about the kind of food that I make now, he tells me that I'm "ruined" and that he "wasted years" training me. What can I say- he's Italian? I don't know if all Italians are melodramatic like this, but let's just say that this course definitely "flies in the face of" my training under him.

I also added the Soy-Ginger because hey- raw tuna with soya sauce? Slam dunk flavour, right?

For the froth, I used 200mL soya sauce, 50mL water, a sprinkle of dried ginger, and 2 tsp of soy lecithin. I combined all of those ingredients in a measuring cup, and then blitzed it up with my immersion blender. Woo!

For the Parsley "Paint" I basically shoved Italian Parlsey into my juicer by the handful. Out came this awesome, brilliant, tasty liquid. Perfect for plate garnish.

For the Mesquite Smoked Dijon Mustard, I simply put a few drops of liquid smoke into an ounce or so of dijon mustard. I started with two drops, mixed well and tasted. Basically I added drops until I could just BARELY detect the smokiness on my palate. Probably about 10 drops, but of course YMMV.

Not only a fantastic course, but with the pink, mustard and green, the colour combination made plating a breeze. I used an artist's paint brush to apply the Parsley, then thinly sliced the semi-frozen tuna and arranged the slices. Then I used a spoon to make three swooshes of mustard on the side. I squeezed a bit of lemon juice on the tuna, and then added a dollop of my soy-froth. Easy peasy, as they say.

For my next course, I had my heart set on reproducing this course:
Avocado Balls stuffed with Umeboshi and Wasabi dressed Granny Smith Apple and Green Bean, Micro Salad with Baby Tomatos and Smoked Salmon "Snow" As you can see, I didn't manage to get a good picture of it the last time I made it. It is fantastic, and looks great. I decided to bring everything necessary for that course, including the plates. The Avocado balls were to be constructed, so that all that was to be required to do is place them on the plates, dress some micro salad and put that on the plate, and then garnish with the tomatos and smoked salmon snow. And take some pictures, of course. This did not take time at all. Perfect, since we were under the clock. Well, I think it was mission accomplished for this one:


Another angle:


As always, I brought a sorbet. I decided to go with the grapefruit-sambuca sorbet that I have made several times at work. Again, it was a simple matter of scooping out the sorbet and serving. No time added to the meal. I did take a picture, but come on- sorbet isn't really that exciting to look at, right?


Anyway, for the main course, my mom did a Maple Roasted Ham, which my dad carved at the table:

(my sister had baked haddock). She also steamed broccoli, and had roasted sweet potato and squash puree. I got one "plate up" photo, but the point of this course wasn't about presentation. It was just delicious, home cooked feast.


For dessert, to offset the potential heaviness of the Ham, I thought about a light, fruit dessert. Given the time of year, I decided to try to incorporate clementines, so how about a Clementine Kiwi cup, with Chestnut Whipped Ricotta and Aged Balsamic?

Welll... that didn't quite all work out. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to construct the chestnut whipped ricotta, and then I forgot to put the Aged Balsamic when plating. It probably didn't help that by the end of the meal, I was about a half a bottle of wine deep. Anyway, a Kiwi Cup of Curd is a good idea, generally speaking:

But DON'T use this recipe for mandarin orange curd.

180 grams butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2/3 cup strained mandarin orange juice
3 large eggs

No. No. No. This would be fantastic if you were using 2/3 cup of Lemon Juice. But that is because Lemon Juice is SO strong. You don't need much of it. For Mandarin Orange Curd, you need WAY more juice, less butter. Or something. In any case, the curd really fell flat. Oh well.

If I had more time, I would have shelled out the chestnuts that I had roasted earlier in the day- blended them up my food processor, then whipped about 1 cup of ricotta with one egg yolk and 1/2 cup or so of sugar. I was going to fold the chestnut puree into the ricotta, and place a quenelle of the mix next to the kiwi cup. I think that a bit of spun sugar would make a nice garnish for this plate as well. Everybody really enjoyed it anyway.

So there you have it. My NYE supper.

Comments?

Four years ago, my mom got sick on Christmas Day. As a result, christmas dinner got postponed until boxing day. This turned out to be such a good thing that it has become a new tradition in our family. On christmas day, you're supposed to relax, right? Who wants to spend all this effort to put together a huge meal? We now do our turkey dinner on christmas eve instead. That way, we open open our presents on Christmas morning, and there is plenty of leftover turkey for lunch. Then, I make pizza for supper.


This year, I did two different pizzas, one fairly traditional italian, and a delicious mushroom pizza similar to the cellar bar and grill's mushroom pizza. My pizza sauce was some of the caned tomatos from last year, with some salt, fresh basil, and olive oil. The crusts were these President's Choice italian flatbread. These make great pizza crusts, believe me.



For the veggie pizza, I smeared the crust with the sauce, then thinly sliced button mushrooms to create another layer. Next, I pan seared some sliced zucchini and added them around the pizza. For the next layer, I used pieces of dried mozzarella that I cut into thin chunks.. (uh.. maybe 5mm*10mm*50mm - If somebody can come up with a better description of that shape, please let me know)

These chunks scattered around the pizza, I scattered some thinly sliced tomato which I further cut into little triangles, and some onion cut the same way. Finally some ground pepper and olive oil.


For the Mushroom Pizza, I basically melted down sliced mushrooms until they become almost spreadable. I used shiitake, portobello and button. In all, I probably started with close to 4 cups of sliced mushrooms. Not to worry though, they reduce down almost like spinach.

I started out with a bit of butter and olive oil in a pan, added the sliced shiitakes and let them get a good start. Then I added some finely diced garlic (Yes, finely diced, You may recall that I strongly disapprove of mincing or crushing garlic), and let them sautee for a while. Next I add the sliced button and portobello, and keeping stirring as they cook down. Note that it is a good idea to add some salt earlier on, because it helps to draw the moisture out of the mushrooms, which in turn helps cook them. When they finally start to dry up a bit, I splashed them with a few ounces of port. I let that simmer until almost dry, and ta-da! If you're not careful, you'll eat all of this mix before it ever gets to the pizza. WOW.

The pizza was simply this mix, spread onto the pizza crust (with sauce), a sprinkling of oregano, and then grated cheese, as opposed to the chunks of cheese like the other one.

Great.

The other culinary creation that I wanted to share with you was the Shellfish Salsa that I created for the boxing day potluck that I'm going to this evening.

I don't have time to give the full recipe just at the moment, but remind me to type it out later. I do have these pictures to show however. The shellfish are mussels and shrimp, BTW.


Anyway, it was a wonderful christmas with my family, and I hope everybody else had a great time as well.

That's right- Christmas Lobster!

While I didn't get a Christmas bonus this year, per se, the restaurant is closed for three days, and there is no way that the lobsters would make it, so we passed them out, along with a whole bunch of other food.

From Food Porn

So today, I got to treat my father and myself to some so SO delicious lobster. Let me tell you, the smokey, charred taste of barbeque is SO excellent with lobster meat.

To BBQ lobster, first cut the lobster in half, and remove its brain and digestive tract. Season with salt and pepper and hit the grill.

I served the lobster with some melted butter with chopped fresh tarragon. Let me tell you, tarragon butter is AWESOME with lobster.

It was really fun to take apart lobster with my dad. We had beers and sat at the table together and it was really enjoyable. It was the sort of simple, pure meal that is excellent on the virtue of its very simplicity. No sauce. No side dishes. Just me and my dad eating delicious lobster. What a wonderful thing on Christmas Eve.

Happy Christmas everybody. I hope you are all as content as I am today.

Well, I did my demo for the chef, and it looks like we are go for froth to be incorporated on our NYE menu. Here's a gallery of photos from that demonstration:

It must be said: I love taking pictures of my food:

From Food Porn

Furthermore, I love getting comments, and this funky tool tells me that I've gotten quite a few- thank you!

( Top Commenters in my LJ: Thank you! )

Well, I said that it would be over the top, and it was. I've got a photoessay, I've got pictures, I've got recipes, I've got a LOT of typing to do. It's 12:19AM right now, and I have been working on these photos since 9 to get them ready. How long-winded will I be today? Will anybody actually read the words, or do you all just want to see the pretty pictures?

My purpose for this entry is threefold- a story about how my day went- what worked, what didn't, etc; a record of the recipes I used, for my own reference, and in case somebody else wanted to try some; and of course a photographic spectacle of the meal.

The day was crazy. I was in the controlled panic of a competition chef from 9AM pretty much through straight until 11PM. As I worked through the prep list, slowly getting further and further behind, I just kept pushing myself.

By noon, it's looking pretty grim.

...

OK, enough of that- I was going to try and give at least a summary of how I was way behind, and try and figure out how I managed to pull up my bootstraps and be mostly ready by 7 o'clock. But even just thinking about it is totally stressing me out right now. SO lets just do a montage version-

Here's me:

Shelling Pistachios as fast as I can

Cutting up a Pumpkin in about 1 minute and steaming the pieces immediately

Fumbling with CDs to put on something fast to keep me jumping

Poking a Periwinkle with a fondue fork- this isn't working...

turning from the stove to the cutting board to the sink to the juicer to the fridge and back to the stove

Shelling Chestnuts as fast as I can (faster faster faster!)

Poking a Periwinkle with a skewer- a HA!

Literally running to Pete's Frootique to get the last ingredients

Running home, and right back out again to borrow plates from the Prince George

Calling Phil to tell him sorry I can't make it to the wine tasting, just meet us here

looking: all my burners are full, every pot, every measuring cup, and I've got pappadums in the oven. Now how am I supposed to cook rice?

Now maybe we can do a shot of the prep list getting crossed off, one item after another... and finally all that is left is Spinach Dumplings (supposed to be done by 12:30). It is now 7:12PM - my cellphone rings- it's Phil- pan right and he and sonya are standing outside. Everything is done except the dumplings, but I've got the first 2 courses already plated, so we can chat and drink wine and eat the first two courses while I put together the dumplings. Simple!

Yes, the montage version is much easier to deal with than a blow by blow.

So now that guests have arrived, let's talk about how the meal went- a much less stressful tale, believe me!

( More pics, and recipes are here )
OK, I've just spent three hours on this post, it is 3:37AM There are still two more courses to write up, but I'm done for now. Perhaps in the morning I'll do the rest. But for now- Sleeeeeep!

Oh yeah! PS- Happy Birthday Jesse!

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.

( More pictures. )

Mission accomplished! Not only did I cook Jeska a wonderful birthday dinner, and do something nice for my dad a week late for father's day, but I also got PICTURES! I did five courses, and got pictures of all of them, except the sorbet. Jeska and Dad did all the work, as usual; all I did was pile some stuff on a plate, as is my chefly duty. No, but seriously- having people to help you is absolutely essential to making good food, and they were awesome. Even though I was supposedly cooking for them, in reality it was more like they were cleaning up after me. ;)
( Dad's Day food pr0n inside! )

Let me be the first to say it- the Sobeys store on Queen street is bringing their game. It used to be that that store really just played second fiddle to the Superstore that is only a block away. In the past few months it seems they've stopped trying to compete with the superstore, and now they are competing with Pete's Frootique! They have nicer herbs, better selection of fruits and veggies, and their fish counter is to die for. For example, yesterday I walked into the Queen Street Sobeys and found these:

This melty looking fruit is a bit of goodness from Brazil known as a cherimoya (here modeled by the lovely glapaloopscap. Now I've read about these puppies for ages, but had never before gotten to try them.

Moving on in the store, I find that to my delight, Quahogs are back in season!

( Quahog pic )

No, superstore doesn't have them, but here they are at Sobeys. Quahogs are special kind of clam found in nova scotia and new england which has sweet, slightly tough meat, and they are huge. They are like pasta clams only bigger and slightly chewier. I love Quahogs. (FYI: pronounced co-hog)

Now, ever since about November, I've wanted to try out this flavour combination that I heard is supposed to be really good. Apparently Vanilla goes really well with Shellfish. Does that make you go like WTF? Yeah, me too. So here's what I plated last night- Vanilla Scented Quahogs with Fresh Jalapeno and Cherimoya Sauce. This is absolutely stunningly good.
( Click for food pr0n )

So somebody commented in food_porn about the maldon sea salt in the picture of the sammitch that I posted yesterday, asking if I would recommend she try some. My answer to that question is a resounding YES! Artisanal salts, especially fleur de salt and flake salt. For myself, I've been going CRAZY for my little box of flake maldon sea salt for months now.

The thing about flake salt and fleur de sel is that they make fantastic garnishes or finishing touches. They look great, season your food, and add an interesting element when you eat them- a little crunch and delightful explosions of salt flavour in your mouth.

When I was at Gio they brought a big hunk of himalayan pink rock salt to the table when they served their scallops, and the server grated the pink salt right in front of you. Very very cool.

If you are new to the wonders of the artisanal salts of the world, see if there is a gourmet store in your city where you can go and try different salts. Himalayan Pink, Hawaiian Red and Black, salt from Maldon and Trapani. French fleur de sel and sel gris. In Halifax we have Stefan's Global Gourmet on Prince Street, but I got my Maldon at Pete's Frootique.

I definitely recommend getting a bit of flake salt (ie maldon) to take home and try. Put it on tomato slices just by themselves; make a simple pasta with olive oil and chilies and garnish with a pinch; sear some tuna, slice and garnish with your new salt; make a mesclun salad and dress with olive oil and some flakes- try it for yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Salt has always been about enhancing the flavour of your ingredients, and these salts take that to the next level. If used properly they heighten awareness of the natural goodness of the ingredients you are using, putting ingredients that people take for granted, and making them sublime.

OK, so I totally ran out of initiative last night- after an hour and a half of washing dishes, who wants to make another million dirty dishes? We seriously need a dishwasher. Anyway, I ended up just making a fiddlehead and bacon fried rice. It was good, if a bit salty, but nowhere near the sophistication that I was planning. Here's my fiddlehead fried rice:



The bone marrow totally didn't work out. I was hoping to do a nice presentation of the marrow, probably pan seared and served along a rectangular plate, with cubes of grapefruit-champagne gelee alongside, each with a chip mohawk- i was hoping to do golden beet and artichoke chips.

Out of all of that, all I did was the gelee, and it is SUPER delicious:



One of the coolest things about digital cameras is the HUGE RESOLUTION. Scrolling about the food porn i've been making at super high res has been way fun. Check out this detail from the gelee pic:


Even THAT is reduced by 50 percent. Remember my springrolls pic from yesterday? EXTREME CLOSEUP!

Jeska and I took a bunch more pics yesterday, but I think she is planning on blogging them, so I'll leave it to her. Hint: at least one of them is CUTE, ok.

So Jeska just left for work, and she is carrying a nice samich I made her out of some leftover ingredients from last night's extravaganza. Samiches aren't all that pornographic, but I think I managed to capture the tastiness of this one fairly well.



This samich has Yerba Mate smoked Portobello, Watercress, Yellowfin Tuna, Caraway Havarti and Local greenhouse tomatoes with Maldon sea salt. The bread is boring, store bought whole wheat bread. Oh well.

In order that the tomatoes wouldn't leak out all their delicious juice and make the samich soggy, when I packed the samich up for jeska, I put them in a seperate bag so that she could add them at lunchtime:

Well, all this talk about food pr0n lately, and i've been just itching to do some of my own. I love looking at this stuff in cookbooks and magazines, and haute cuisine is my living to begin with, so it follows, right?

Well, Jeska and I had some guests over this evening and I decided that since we have the digital camera from last week, why don't I try my hand at some of my own food pr0n. I've actually managed to get plenty of great ingredients to work with, plus some nice plates my sister gave me ages ago.

1st course: Smoked Mackerel Spring Rolls with Pomegranate-Carrot Froth

O. M. F. G. OK, so these spring rolls are totally delicious, but.. MAN! Check out the picture! I have to say, for my first attempt at food pr0n, I'm VERY pleased with this result. I like how you can see the reflection of the food in the plate. Of course, the crisp, vibrant orange and yellow of the edible nasturtium goes perfectly with the froth and carrot julliene in the rolls. I really need to buy a digital camera. Oh yes, the spring rolls are stuffed with: Fresh Mint, Carrot, Daikon, Cucumber, Smoked Mackerel and a few drops of lime juice.

2nd course: Fiddlehead Flan with Yerba Mate Smoked Portobello and Black Pepper

The recipe for fiddlehead flan is identical to the one that I posted a while back for rapini flan, but substitute fiddleheads instead of rapini. The name is kind of a play on words because the black pepper refers to the bell pepper that is garnishing the flan, as well as the freshly ground pepper that is seasoning the dish. I went to great lengths to try and cut the flan into a beautiful leaf shape with this cookie cutter that I got about a month ago, and I was largely successful, but it didn't come through in any of the pictures I took. In the end, I wish that I had used red pepper curls instead of black. While black does seem more exotic, the thing is that this dish really needs to have more colour.

3rd course: Rambutan and Grand Marnier Sorbet

I love rambutans. When I was peeling them to make the sorbet, this presentation just immediately called me, by saving the shells, it almost becomes a re-construction, which is all the rage these days, even as desconstructionism was hot a few years ago. The blueberry garnish was sort of a group idea- as I was scooping the sorbet into the rambutan skins, somebody mentioned that it looked like an eyeball. Everybody quickly agreed, and then somebody came up with the brilliant idea of using a blueberry to complete the effect. Uunfortch, the only blueberries we had were a bit freezer burnt, accounting for the colour of this one, but it still made a great finishing touch to an already very freaky looking dish.

The fourth course was the tuna salad that I've described here before, but I ... *blush* overcooked the tuna. :( My beautiful yellowfin tuna, utterly brutalised all the way up to medium-well.
Luckily, with the umeboshi dressing and maldon sea salt, the tuna was still edible, but not at all photogenic, so no pics of the salad yet.

I have plans for more pr0n tommorow, so stay tuned. I have a very delicious gelee setting in the fridge, and a bunch more ingredients to utilise- Rhubarb, Baby Pak Choi, Double Smoked Bacon, Beef Marrow, Artichokes, Local greenhouse tomatoes, baby new golden beets...

Not sure yet how this will all come together, but at least I'll be able to get a photographic record.