Thursday Taisting Prep

Halibut Poached in Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Roasted Wild Striped Bass with Fennel Broth
Mussels with Safron and Mustard
The Halibut will be served with a stew of sweet peppers, Piperade and fresh herbs.
The Bass is going to go with a broth made out of:
2TB EVO
1 Cup Chopped Fennel
1 TB Fennel Seed
2 TB Pernord
2 Cups Stock of Bass
Cayenne
Lemon Zest, Supreme and Juice
2 TB Diced Tomato

Spherification

This is our first attempt at making "caviar" out of liquids, in this case, cranberry juice. It works, leaving a subtle membrane surrounding a liquid center. As with anything being jelled, we learned that the base needs to be really strong to yield a great flavor. Used 5 grams Algin to 250 grams juice. The bath was 4 grams of Calcic to 500 grams of water. Tommorow more of our products from Maine arrive, sodium alginate and calcium chloride being on the top of the list. They too, used in relation to one another will produce this same type of product, I just want to see which one works the best.

Pork Belly

Pork "Confit" with Mustard Greens and Pickled Cranberries. Pork Belly that has been marinated "cured" with Salt, Sugar, Pepper, Oranges, Thyme, Shallots and Mustard seeds was confit'd in Duck fat. Once the pork was tender, we pressed the belly for one day, then portioned it out. The fat was scored and seared until crispy. The greens were braised in bacon fat and apple cider. Cranberries were pickled in the following:
12 ounces cranberry
1.25 cups Apple Cider Vin
.5 cups Apple Cider
.5 cups H2O
5 cloves
Allspice
Cinnamon sticks
Ginger, 1tsp peeled.

Maine Lobster

Poached Maine Lobster with Chanterelle Mushroom, Frisee and Apple Wood Smoked "Bacon". The sauce is made from Sherry vinegar that was reduced with aromatics, mounted with cream, egg yolk, bacon and bacon fat. Seasoned with lemon jus, salt and pepper. Fresh Cilantro to garnish.

New Products

This is what we came up with today with the new Textura's "Fizzy". Lime Zest, Lemon Zest both flavored with sugar, with a effervescent "product" added at the end. Amazing, cant' wait to use this stuff in the spring.

Hamachi

Hamachi with "Frisee" and Yuzu
Today we worked with Hamachi again as an appetizer. Today though, I wanted to make a truffled aoili to go with the fish. So we did, then we dressed the Frisee with the aoili, placed the Hamachi on top, fleur de sel, fresh herbs and a Soy/Yuzu dressing.

Vodka Pills

We had read about these the other day, and wanted to see if we would be able to make them. Here they are. This recipe is for a alcohol based syrup, and is neccesary quality as the chemical reation will not occure if the alcohol volume is below a certain percentage. Though, this is really something to work with, the possibilities are really endless. 250 grams of sugar, 84 grams of water and 52.5 grams of Stoli Raspberry is the ratio on these. I made a simple syrup out of the sugar and water, and folded in the alcohol. Once the mixture cooled enough to work with, I poured the liquid centers of my pills into my corn starch mold. The corn starch reacts with the syrup, forming a hard candy outside, but leaves the inside liquid. You have to let the pills set for one day, but after that, you take them out of the corn starch, brush them off, and use them for whatever you wish.

Foie Gras Prep

This is mid stage of my prep of the layered foie gras. First layer was Graham crackers, this is the layer of foie, next is the reduced grape "gelee". Should be ready by thursday...

Hamachi

Hamachi Sashimi Style with Brioche "Cucumber and Yuzu", Breakast Radish and Truffle.

Pork Torcheon

We ran the leftover pork torcheons tonight as our special appetizer. Roasted Onions, Balsamic Reduction, Fresh Herbs and a Pear Glaze made from Pears, Sake, Honey and Olive OIl.

Roasted Sea Scallops

Service

Lamb Rack

Roasted Rack of Lamb with Cranberries, Cauliflower and Onions. This is Lamb dish for Friday night service. We paired the lamb that had been marinated in Rosemary and Garlic with the above. The cranberries were made into a "glaze", the Cauliflower puree'd and the onions were the same onions we used with the pork yesterday. Balsamic reduction and fresh herbs.
Cranberry Glaze: 5 cups port wine, 2.5 cups maple syrup, 5 lemons zest, 5 oranges zest, 40 allspice berries, 40 star anise, 5 cinammon, 14 lemons juiced and 20 cups of cranberries. The liquids and zest/herbs are boiled, and the cranberries added in batches. Cook them until they pop, remove them, and do the same with the remaining. You can use the popped berries for a puree, or a jelly, whatever, as they are infused with the flavor of the poaching liquid.

Scallops

Roasted Sea Scallops with Cauliflower, Almonds and Soy.

Planning for tommorow

I am hoping to make this layered terrine tommorow. The idea is something like a "smore", with layers of graham, foie and a gelee or marmalade made out of oranges. For marshmallows I want to make a cream, or individual puffs and decorate the plate with them. Tonight I will start the marmalade and foie prep, tommorow morning we will put everything together.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Cipollini Onion, Apple and Asparagus. This is the finished pork that we started on earlier today. We pounded the tenderloins out thin and then layered them with sliced apples, pancetta, peanut, sesame, paprika, cummin and corriander. Once they were layered, we rolled them into torcheons and poached them for 10 minutes. The roulades were then cooled, sliced, and roasted in a pan to temprature. The apples came into play with the glaze we made yesterday, and a addition of asparagus today, rather than mache. I used a bit of the Pear/Thyme Emulsification on the plate, along with some smoked paprika and fleur de sel.

Pork Tenderloin Prep

Cipollini Onions

These are Cipollini onions that we roasted for the pork dish. They are started with brown butter for five minutes to grab some color, then glazed with honey, finally roasted with rosemary for 30 minutes at 300 degrees.

Pork Tenderloin

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple Glaze, Chipollini Onions and Cabbage.
Glaze: 1 cup apple chopped, 1 cup apple juice, 1/2 lemon, 1 stick cinnamono, 8 allspice berries, 4 cloves.
This is a adaptation of Kuntz's recipe, but without mustard or butter. He adds the whole grain mustard and butter at the end for an emulsification, but that really wasnt the route we wanted to go. We wanted a sauce that was both thick and sexy, the most important part is only simmering the ingredients for 15 minutes, straining them, then reducing the liquid for something super clear.

Before and After

Roasted Beet Salad with Pinenuts, Goat Cheese and Asian Pears. I have had the idea for a long time now, but had not had the inspiration, until today. We had recieved extra large beets on the delivery, something that we had not anticipated. Once I did see the beets, it was obvious that this was a chance to really play with the sizes and shapes we would be able to get out of them. We roasted the beets, peeled them, cut them into 1/2 by 3" pieces, and carved out the bottom. Once the beets were cooled, we pipped in a goat cheese mouse so that it was hidden. On top, a variety of spices and seasonings, pears, chives, pine nuts, volcano salt, red sea salt, balsamic vinegar reduction and a vinaigrette made out of pears, white wine, thyme, mustard and extra virgin olive oil.

Prep

Scallops

Roasted Diver Sea Scallops with "Parnsips", Frisee and Pine nuts. This dish came out nice. We used some of our soy glaze as a sauce, as well as the pan sauce from cooking the scallops. The parsnip puree worked well, crispy parsnips ontop of everything. The salad is wilted frisee and pinenuts sautee'd with olive oil.

Leg of Lamb

Roasted Leg of Lamb with Parsley Root and Mint. We broke down the leg into individual sections and marinated them in orange, rosemary and salt. The parsley root was cooked in milk/cream and then puree'd in the Vita Prep, the mint made into "oil". A small salad of orange supreme/zest and pasley.

Foie Gras Torcheon

Foie Gras Torcheon with "Strawberries", Balsamic Vinegar and Brioche. This is our torcheon of foie for the evening. I had wanted to whip the foie into a mousse and serve it on a spoon, but after cutting into this one, I discovered how beautiful the torcheon was. The strawberries were made into a gastrique with 1 qt strawberries, 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups red wine, 1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar and corriander seeds. Balsamic vinegar is reduced to a glaze, the brioche is toasted and cut into "jenga" and a baby mache/frisee salad with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Changing

We are going through a lot of changes all of a sudden at work. And, it seems that as difficult as they may all be to over come at this exact moment, I know that things are getting better. I can see the people that I've worked with now for almost six months, the ones that really care, do care. They are never late, they work clean, they never say no or complain. Over the next months, our busy season, I want to do something that is very simple. Cook good food. I want to work on dish's, one by one, making the most out of the ingredients that we are purchasing. This is my goal, for the next half year, improving what we've come up with conceptionally, simplifing, purifying. Now that the pieces are falling into place, I am going to be able to do this, just wait and see...

Bay Scallops

Bay Scallops with Tomato and Fennel Broth. This is how I wanted to run the scallops, simple, fresh, showing them for what they are naturally. The scallops shells work as a small soup "cup" to hold the scallop, the broth, celery, leek, fennel fond, and espellete powder.