Happy Saturday!
Well, let's see. Waking up at 8-8:30 and forcing myself out of the house at 9 wasn't the most amazing part of it but whatever. Shopping for food in 6 different locations for ingredients as widely varied as wonton skins, lamb shanks, BC spot prawns, morbier cheese, fresh dungeness crab meat, and panir certainly makes up for that!
The shopping went until 1, and my euphoric state briefly ended with the !$)*^!$)* parking situation known as Nadja's apartment, but once I got in (and had her briefly go into bewonderment at just what in the world I was bringing to her apartment), I was pretty amped up again because Nadja is just that kind of awesomeness.
Awesomeness, to me, is also personified in what I did next - cooking for a party totaling 11 people, for the next 8-9 hours on/off. What can I say? I love the kitchen! But I'm not cut out to do a restaurant, nor am I ever going to fully buy into the idiocy that is molecular gastronomy - I am just here to experience heat, smooth textures, hard textures, boiling, deep-frying, all the stuff that doesn't need liquid nitrogen, a rotary evaporator and at the rate they're going, gel electrophoresis.
Yesterday's party I might go into greater detail on. For now, what I can say is that it was an 8 course dinner, served alongside 6 wines (3 of which, sadly enough, I didn't get to try because everyone else drank through them by the time I got to them! But I'm glad they were enjoying themselves... or were they just getting drunk so as to be polite to me? Well, I'll just pretend it was the former). The dishes were:
1. pea sprout salad with a balsamic vinegar and mint-based dressing, served with baked portobello mushrooms and seared scallops; note to self, apparently pea sprouts don't make a good salad since that wasn't touched much whilst the mushrooms and scallops were... or I should make sure to give them a garlic/steam frying
2. gyoza, made with a stuffing of crabmeat, diced shrimp, cilantro, red vinegar, and scallions, served with three sauces: one made from lime juice, honey, and red chili; another from red vinegar, sesame seed oil, dill, and soy sauce; and a third from sesame seed oil, lemon, honey, basil, and soy sauce... unlike the first time I made gyoza, these didn't get all eaten. Oh well. At least I got to eat these, unlike the scallops and mushrooms which had all disappeared by the time I took a break from the kitchen. And what else disappeared but...
3. tuna goma-ae, made from a mix of steamed spinach using the clam liquid from #4, sliced avocados, and tuna marinated in a combination of miso, soy sauce, and white wine, mixed with a sauce made from sesame oil, honey, soy sauce, and a slight touch of mint. The tails of the spot prawns were served as a ring around the central mixture as sashimi. I later served the heads, deep fried, with salt and a touch of lemon juice. Amazing things.
4. fettucine with a cream sauce served with clams - made by steaming the clams in a white wine, garlic and shallots mixture, and letting the juice perfuse into the white wine; then creating a cream sauce by first making an oyster mushroom saute with garlic to which white wine was then added and reduced, and then whipping cream was added, then adding the clam juice, then tossing the linguine into, and throwing into the mixture a chiffonade of basil as well as the clams
5. lamb braised in red wine and beef broth with garlic, ginger, shallots and carrots, which fit into two pots so I made two types; both had cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and rock sugar added, but the second also had chili powder, slivered Thai chilis and seeded lychee nuts thrown into the mix. I ran out of time, or I would've sauteed mangos with chili powder and a bit of white wine another pan and added it to the first pot of lamb, as well as served a coconut milk and jasmine-tea infused steamed rice on the side. That being said, I plated this on a bed of spinach and bok choy steamed using the clam liquid from #4.
6. ras malai, which is Indian cottage cheese that is hardened. In this case, I kneaded the cottage cheese and cooked it in a syrup of water, almond extract and sugar, and prepared a broth made from half and half and whipped cream, as well as rock sugar. After letting the milk broth cool down, I then added the cottage cheese dumplings, added almond extract and rosewater, as well as a chiffonade of mint, and let it sit in the fridge to cool down. Just before serving, I added a garnish of slivered almonds, which I should've toasted a little before adding.
7. Chocolate fondue made with a 64%/72% mix of milk and dark chocolate, with matcha powder thrown in as a slight accent (didn't really get tasted). This isn't really very easy to screw up, so serve alongside shortbread, Italian almond cookies, sliced bananas and canteloupe, and the leftover lychees and mangosteen and that was good.
8. Cheese course using morbier, a creamy brie-like cheese that has layers of honey and walnut paste sandwiched in between; a French chevre with Provence herbs, a cave-aged Emmenthal cheese, smoked salmon pate, rosemary rainforest crisps, and the standard Carr crackers. Beautiful, smooth ending.
Cecilia once commented that she'd feel bad eating my food because she'd be full by the time the last three courses came out. Well, this time it all came out buffet-style so she'd be free to frolic in whatever she chose. If anything was edible.
The wines that were chosen to accompany were things that are either at maturity or near the end of that maturity period. Two reds, one white, one rose, one late harvest, and one fortified brandy, so as to match with the various courses of the meal (though given the preponderance of seafood, I should've probably used two whites). The wines were:
2000 Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot - this wine went FAST. Someone I know complains about Merlots but I never got to have this. Apparently this was very good and I get the feeling said person is a total snob who will not take a gift from me unless it is a case of Gruner Veltliner
2004 Allegrini Palazzo della Torre - they drank this before I even got to it, so no comment
2006 Gray Monk Ehrenfelser - floral, sweet on the end and a bit sour as well; great aroma that just lets you get lost in it
2006 Gray Monk Rotberger - they drank this before I even got to it, so I can't say a thing on it
2005 Paradise Ranch Whistler Late Harvest Pinot Noir - first time I had it I think I was expecting something much sweeter. This time, it was chilled and with the cheese and it was very mild, and matched extremely well.
Gray Monk Odyssey III - lovely as always. Great with the chocolate fondue because it is deep, coffee in aroma and very heady.
Anyway, enough about my post. Long story short: great evening, good food and wine (well, what I did get to eat and drink), great company, great experience. I would give myself a B+/A- for what I did manage to do, because it did taste really good. However, I would give myself a D/F for planning because I didn't do everything I planned to.
The shopping went until 1, and my euphoric state briefly ended with the !$)*^!$)* parking situation known as Nadja's apartment, but once I got in (and had her briefly go into bewonderment at just what in the world I was bringing to her apartment), I was pretty amped up again because Nadja is just that kind of awesomeness.
Awesomeness, to me, is also personified in what I did next - cooking for a party totaling 11 people, for the next 8-9 hours on/off. What can I say? I love the kitchen! But I'm not cut out to do a restaurant, nor am I ever going to fully buy into the idiocy that is molecular gastronomy - I am just here to experience heat, smooth textures, hard textures, boiling, deep-frying, all the stuff that doesn't need liquid nitrogen, a rotary evaporator and at the rate they're going, gel electrophoresis.
Yesterday's party I might go into greater detail on. For now, what I can say is that it was an 8 course dinner, served alongside 6 wines (3 of which, sadly enough, I didn't get to try because everyone else drank through them by the time I got to them! But I'm glad they were enjoying themselves... or were they just getting drunk so as to be polite to me? Well, I'll just pretend it was the former). The dishes were:
1. pea sprout salad with a balsamic vinegar and mint-based dressing, served with baked portobello mushrooms and seared scallops; note to self, apparently pea sprouts don't make a good salad since that wasn't touched much whilst the mushrooms and scallops were... or I should make sure to give them a garlic/steam frying
2. gyoza, made with a stuffing of crabmeat, diced shrimp, cilantro, red vinegar, and scallions, served with three sauces: one made from lime juice, honey, and red chili; another from red vinegar, sesame seed oil, dill, and soy sauce; and a third from sesame seed oil, lemon, honey, basil, and soy sauce... unlike the first time I made gyoza, these didn't get all eaten. Oh well. At least I got to eat these, unlike the scallops and mushrooms which had all disappeared by the time I took a break from the kitchen. And what else disappeared but...
3. tuna goma-ae, made from a mix of steamed spinach using the clam liquid from #4, sliced avocados, and tuna marinated in a combination of miso, soy sauce, and white wine, mixed with a sauce made from sesame oil, honey, soy sauce, and a slight touch of mint. The tails of the spot prawns were served as a ring around the central mixture as sashimi. I later served the heads, deep fried, with salt and a touch of lemon juice. Amazing things.
4. fettucine with a cream sauce served with clams - made by steaming the clams in a white wine, garlic and shallots mixture, and letting the juice perfuse into the white wine; then creating a cream sauce by first making an oyster mushroom saute with garlic to which white wine was then added and reduced, and then whipping cream was added, then adding the clam juice, then tossing the linguine into, and throwing into the mixture a chiffonade of basil as well as the clams
5. lamb braised in red wine and beef broth with garlic, ginger, shallots and carrots, which fit into two pots so I made two types; both had cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and rock sugar added, but the second also had chili powder, slivered Thai chilis and seeded lychee nuts thrown into the mix. I ran out of time, or I would've sauteed mangos with chili powder and a bit of white wine another pan and added it to the first pot of lamb, as well as served a coconut milk and jasmine-tea infused steamed rice on the side. That being said, I plated this on a bed of spinach and bok choy steamed using the clam liquid from #4.
6. ras malai, which is Indian cottage cheese that is hardened. In this case, I kneaded the cottage cheese and cooked it in a syrup of water, almond extract and sugar, and prepared a broth made from half and half and whipped cream, as well as rock sugar. After letting the milk broth cool down, I then added the cottage cheese dumplings, added almond extract and rosewater, as well as a chiffonade of mint, and let it sit in the fridge to cool down. Just before serving, I added a garnish of slivered almonds, which I should've toasted a little before adding.
7. Chocolate fondue made with a 64%/72% mix of milk and dark chocolate, with matcha powder thrown in as a slight accent (didn't really get tasted). This isn't really very easy to screw up, so serve alongside shortbread, Italian almond cookies, sliced bananas and canteloupe, and the leftover lychees and mangosteen and that was good.
8. Cheese course using morbier, a creamy brie-like cheese that has layers of honey and walnut paste sandwiched in between; a French chevre with Provence herbs, a cave-aged Emmenthal cheese, smoked salmon pate, rosemary rainforest crisps, and the standard Carr crackers. Beautiful, smooth ending.
Cecilia once commented that she'd feel bad eating my food because she'd be full by the time the last three courses came out. Well, this time it all came out buffet-style so she'd be free to frolic in whatever she chose. If anything was edible.
The wines that were chosen to accompany were things that are either at maturity or near the end of that maturity period. Two reds, one white, one rose, one late harvest, and one fortified brandy, so as to match with the various courses of the meal (though given the preponderance of seafood, I should've probably used two whites). The wines were:
2000 Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot - this wine went FAST. Someone I know complains about Merlots but I never got to have this. Apparently this was very good and I get the feeling said person is a total snob who will not take a gift from me unless it is a case of Gruner Veltliner
2004 Allegrini Palazzo della Torre - they drank this before I even got to it, so no comment
2006 Gray Monk Ehrenfelser - floral, sweet on the end and a bit sour as well; great aroma that just lets you get lost in it
2006 Gray Monk Rotberger - they drank this before I even got to it, so I can't say a thing on it
2005 Paradise Ranch Whistler Late Harvest Pinot Noir - first time I had it I think I was expecting something much sweeter. This time, it was chilled and with the cheese and it was very mild, and matched extremely well.
Gray Monk Odyssey III - lovely as always. Great with the chocolate fondue because it is deep, coffee in aroma and very heady.
Anyway, enough about my post. Long story short: great evening, good food and wine (well, what I did get to eat and drink), great company, great experience. I would give myself a B+/A- for what I did manage to do, because it did taste really good. However, I would give myself a D/F for planning because I didn't do everything I planned to.