There's no question that the changing of the seasons aided in inspiring this menu. The September Chef's tasting menu was yet another smash success and was the final Chef's Tasting of the year. We now have to prepare for the holidays and also are getting ready for a menu overhaul in October. We also use the downtime to test ideas and recipes for future menus. We will definately continue to do monthly chef's tasting menus at some point next year but we've not set an actual date as of yet. I'll keep you in the know.
For now, here's the September Chef's Tasting Menu Photographic Recap...
For an amuse bouche we did miniature aroncine stuffed with a chorizo sausage from Snake River Farms called Kurizo, it's a basque style chorizo. This was paired with a roasted tomato coulis and was light yet fullfilling and carried big flavor. Brian (mono blanco) did a lot of the testing, conceptualizing and production of this on his own which was a great help to me
We made our own Gravlax for the first course on this menu. It takes a few days to cure the salmon but the process is relatively simple....
the salmon(skin left on) is coated on both sides with a cure(consisting of salt, sugar and spices such as carraway, coriander & white pepper) and topped with sprigs of dill and a bit of Aquavit(a swedish/danish/norwegian alcohol similar to a vodka that's been infused with carraway and other spices and herbs such as fennel)
the entire salmon fillet is then wrapped thoroughly in plastic to completely seal the fillet and all the curing agents within
the salmon is left to cure in the refrigerator 3 days (the "packages" are turned every 12 hours to ensure even curing)
after the 72 hour cure the packages are opened and the cured salmon fillet(now Gravlax) are rinsed thoroughly under cold water. Below is a cured and rinsed side of salmon
lastly the we press finely chopped dill atop the cured salmon fillets and the Gravlax is ready for use/consumption
First Course:
Gravlax
house cured atlantic salmon
roasted beets, cucumber crema, american caviar
carraway-dill crackers
this dish consists of diced roasted beets topped with diced gravlax then topped with a fresh horseradish aioli, american paddlefish caviar and pickled red onion. The sauce is a house-made creme fraiche infused with cucumber water. Carraway-flatbread crackers were served with this course. This of course is a cold dish
Second Course:
Slow Cooked Berkshire Bacon
snake river farms kurobuta pork belly
celeriac puree, shaved fennel-orange salad, green apple gelee
maple-ham jus
the pork belly for this dish is cured for 3 days before being braised/confit in a rich chicken stock for about 12 hours at a very low temperature. Once finished cooking the pork bellies are removed from the braising liquid and pressed before fabrication. The braising liquid(what we now refer to as ham jus) is then strained and reduced to a glace and used in the final sauce on the plate. The final components on the plate in addition to the pork belly and maple-ham jus are celery root puree, crimson beet mostarda, micro chervil, orange supremes and a shaved fennel-orange salad.
Third Course:
Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin
potato mille feuille
glazed pearl onions & shiitake mushroom "mousse"
espresso-vanilla bean demi glace
the potato mille feuille is made with russet potatoes, clarified butter and salt, that's it... The potatoes are sliced paper thin and layered into a mold with butter being brushed between every layer. The "mille feuille" is then cooked for about an hour and then immediatley pressed upon completion and allowed to cool completely before the press is removed and the potatoes are fabricated. What you see below are pics of the "mille feuille" after cooking(removed from the mold) and being fabricated/tested.
the fabricated potatoes are pan fried at service to produce a crispy exterior and fluffy, layered interior
the final dish was finished with a fried shallot ring and an herb salad dressed with an intense red wine vinaigrette
Fourth (Dessert) Course:
Gingerbread - Pumpkin
roasted sugar pumpkin ice cream
pickled cherries, chocolate brittle gel, candied pepitas
gingerbread semifreddo
caramel anglaise
the chocolate brittle gel is an item that we had to test when conceptualizing the menu. We used valhrona chocolate in the final product and I was very pleased with both the intensity of the chocolate flavor and also the texture which was rich and velvety
we added some candied orange zest to the final plating and made a gingerbread spiced brown butter sable crumb to anchor the sugar pumpkin ice cream. This dessert served to welcome in the new season very well
our guests were sent home with a Mocha Macaron (chocolate macarons with espresso buttercream filling)
we also gave all of our dog owning guests a specail peanut butter bone with carob ganache for their furry friends/hairy children. Unfortunately I forgot to capture a photo of the dog treats. Below is a shot of our plating/service chart from one of our services, we use this to track our guests progress through the coursing and also to monitor our timing and execution.
And that's it for this years tasting menu series
we'll be doing plenty of testing in the coming months and I'll update the blog with our happenings within the kitchen
