September 2011 Tasting Menu Post Report:

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

Tasting Menu, September 18th - 20th

So here's the finalized menu for the upcoming September contribution to the Summer Chef's Tasting Series...with this menu we celebrate/welcome the coming change of season and feature some autumnal food stuffs...

#4, 2011

Chef's Tasting Menu

Gravlax

house cured atlantic salmon

roasted beets, cucumber crema, american caviar

caraway-dill cracker

Domaine St. Michelle Brut sparkling wine (Washington)

_______

Slow Cooked Berkshire Bacon

snake river farms kurobuta pork belly

celeriac puree, shaved fennel-orange salad, green apple gelee

maple-ham jus

King Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon) 2009

_______

Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin

potato mille feuille

glazed pearl onions & shiitake mushroom "mousse"

espresso-vanilla demi glace

Altico Syrah (Spain) 2006

_______

Gingerbread - Pumpkin

roasted sugar pumpkin ice cream

pickled cherries, chocolate brittle gel, candied pepitas

gingerbread semifreddo

caramel anglaise

Campbell's Rutherglen Muscat (Australia)

TASTING MENU:  $35  with WINE PAIRING:  $50


my culinary team and I have got our hands full to prepare for this menu.  We've already done testing on the chocolate brittle gel, the potato mille feuille and also have been running test on an amuse bouche!  This menu is nearly sold out but some slots are still available

August 2011 Tasting Menu Post Report:

It's taken quite a while to get this post report posted...things have been crazy at the restaurant, what with Hurricanes and power outages and such.  I'm very pleased to announce that the August Tasting Menu was an unprecedented success.  We sold out all three days of the menus run and completed a total of 98 chef's tasting menus!  My team and I want to thank all of our wonderful guests who came in and participated.  We put an enormous amount of time and effort into the tasting menus (from development to planning to execution and production) and it's all worth it when we're able to sell out for three straight days and please our guests.  What's even more exciting is that by the time we were finished with day three of the August tasting menus run we had nearly sold out our September tasting menu, and that menu hadn't even been written yet!  There are still some slots available for the upcoming September Chef's Tasting Menu, but they are going quick...

Anyhow, here's a brief photographic synapse of the August Chef's Tasting Menu that ran Sunday, 8/21/11 to Tuesday, 8/23/11...

For the amuse bouche we put together a clam(s) casino.  This is simply a freshly shucked countneck clam (about the size of a half dollar) on the half shell that is topped with a casino butter (a mixture of bell pepper, garlic, bacon, white wine, butter and other goodies) and baked/broiled.  The resulting bite is fantastic!

First Course:

Tuna Crudo

tomato ceviche, watermelon pickles, micro cilantro

cucumber "soba" noodles

aji amarillo coulis, chipotle aioli

this dish came together beautifully with all the components combining to create a wonderful marriage of freshness, acidity and summer flavor.  This dish featured sungold cherry tomatoes from Beckett Farm right here in Glastonbury, CT!  The aji amarillo coulis is a spicy yellow chile sauce that is inspired by my El Salvadorian team members, many of whom are very fond of this chile. 



Second Course:

Butter Poached Lobster Tail

gold potato blini, celery salad, native tomato marmalade

lobster-tarragon emulsion

This dish was received as a great success and chosen by many of our guests as their favorite course, but I secret was not pleased with our plating on this dish.  For me the plate presented itself as crowded and if I had it to do over again I'd most definitely re-work the plating.  The lobster poached in beurre monte is the star here and this cooking method (slowly cooking the lobster submerged in emulsified butter) highlights the subtleties of lobsters and produces a perfectly cooked meltingly delicious lobster...

Third Course:

Braised Boneless Shortribs

sweet corn polenta cake

local goat cheese stuffed squash blossom

roasted mushroom pan jus & horseradish bubbles

this dish featured boneless beef shortribs from Meyer Ranch slow cooked in a porcini mushroom & veal jus.  The finished shortribs were served with a pan seared corn polenta cake (featuring local corn from Ferrari Farms in Glastonbury, CT), roasted cremini mushrooms, fresh horseradish bubbles and a goat cheese stuffed squash blossom tempura.  The goat cheese we used for the squash blossom was from Beltane Farm in Lebanon CT. 

Fourth (Dessert) Couse:

Vanilla-Mango

mango sorbet & salted vanilla-caramel ice cream

strawberry fluid gel

vanilla olive oil cake, candied pinenuts, mango "tartare"

this dessert featured the flavors of mango and vanilla and the components of the dish were developed to accent or contrast them.  I also presented variations in temperatures (hot/warm olive cake and cold ice cream/sorbet) & textures (crisp pinenuts to smooth sorbet).

 

The meal finished and we presented our guests with a Chocolate-Passionfruit Macaron (below).  The macaron cookie shells are flavored with a fine belgian cocoa powder.  A valhrona chocolate & passionfruit ganache is sandwiched between 2 macaron shells.

and for those guest with canine friends/furry children we sent them home with some hand made dog treats as I'm a fanatical dog lover.

That completes the post report...again I'm very pleased with the success of this tasting menu and look forward the September Tasting Menu which is right around the corner (September 18th - 20th).  The menu for the September Tasting is completed and will be posted very soon!

Thank you all

Foccacia

Over this past weekend I got an urge to do a bit of bread baking.  It's something that I hadn't done in a few years and so I thought, why not?  One of my most favorite breads is foccacia, and so that's what I was going to make.  Around the same time that I got the starter working the facebook posting went up on the page about memorable bread services, what a coincidence!  The beauty of this little bread baking test is that I was able to both stifle my bread baking urge (or at least scratch the itch) and also feed our entire staff on Saturday afternoon and that's always a plus.  I kept it simple and tasty, or as my Pastry Chef (chef Higgins) in culinary school a whole bunch of years back used to say "friggin' delicious".  Check out what we ended up with.....

a good foccacia begins a day before any rising or baking will happen.  The first task is to mix the starter (flour, water, yeast and sugar) and allow that to "ferment" for 24 hours

The next morning I've got to "feed" the starter.  The starter is fed cornmeal, bread flour, olive oil, salt & sugar.  This re-energizes the yeast and kicks things into overdrive

Once the starter has been fed (the flours, oil, salt and sugar added to/mixed into the starter) the entire dough is placed into a storage container and covered.  The dough is kept in a warm area (about 80 degrees is optimal), I kept it above our convection oven in the kitchen

After 2 hours you can see the dough has risen to double it's original volume

Once the dough had doubled I "knocked it back", a term used in baking that essentially means knocking all the gasses (from the rising) out of the dough or punching it back down to size in layman's terms.  At this point the dough was portioned out and balled.  These dough balls then were left to rest for 30 minutes

After the half hour rest the individual doughs were pressed/stretched out into oiled and cornmeal-dusted half sheet pans and again allowed to rest for another 30 minutes

During this final resting period the toppers/garnishes were readied.  The day prior (after preparing the starter) I had caramelized some onions and also oven roasted some tomatoes (seen on the sheet pans).

Once the half hour resting period was up the dough is dimpled (you press your fingers into the dough to form divots) and oiled with olive oil

Next I laid the oven roasted tomatoes onto the foccacia, but I left some without for those who don't appreciate tomatoes (weirdos)

Some chopped rosemary, crushed red pepper flakes and grey salt (or sel gris) was then sprinkled over the dough

Lastly I spread a bunch of caramelized onions over the foccacia and then it was off to the ovens at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes

Gorgeous golden brown foccacia fresh out of the oven, the aroma was irresistible!

Check out that beautiful "tunneling", this is from the gases created by the yeast, it's a sign of a great foccacia

That was it really, just an exercise in bread baking that helped ease my soul while also helping to feed the J. Gilbert's family before a busy Saturday night.