It started as a nice gesture from my friend Paul who I met in my Muay Thai kickboxing class. I knew that he was freelancing as a photographer on the side. I have seen his visual photographic work and knew the guy had talent to create amazing photos.
I was in need of professionally done head shots in a pinch like in 2 days. I didn't want to spend the money and had to be creative with it. So I asked if he could do head shots of me one late afternoon. The shots came out amazing and I went to Ritz Camera to get them developed. I was trying out for a reality TV show.
I told Paul that I would repay him in making a life altering meal.
I presented the couple 6 options on choosing what type of cuisines I could cook for them.
1. Asian
2. French
3. Mexican
4. Italian
5. Fusion
6. Seasonal Market Driven Menu
They picked the last option which was an excellent choice. My cooking that I described to Amy Paul's wife is a very organic process. I let the ingredients speak for themselves and cook very simply homey food that awake your taste buds.
I also asked them about foods they liked and disliked. Amy has allergies to wheat and corn. I had to make sure I read all food labels and be very vigilant in my preparation and cooking techniques. I was at my local Asian grocery supermarket and noticed soy is a heavily based wheat product and corn is prevalent everywhere. Yikes this was going to change things for my cooking. I was up for the challenge and I had to tweak my menu.
About 3 hours before dinner it was time to do the shopping for the meal. I went to our local farmers market in Wayne, Pa. I love this market because the vegetables are fresh and brought in by the Amish and they have every vendor you can think of. Butcher, Fish Monger, Farmers, Cheese, Smoked Fish & Meats, Various food boutiques that sell desserts, pizza, donuts, coffee, and Amish food fare. It's open 3 days a week so it's a treat always to visit.
The menu was going to be a 4 course dinner, soup, meat course, seafood course, dessert.
Along the way that changed because I had a preplanned menu that would feature lobster, beef, winter veggies, and lots of extravagant sauces.
That went right out the window some of the ingredients I needed for the meal weren't available so I had to improvise the menu immediately.
I bought the freshest vegetables, new baby potatoes, baby cipollini onions, baby Brussels sprouts, baby carrots, kohlrabi, and broccoli rabe.
The proteins were amazing I had beautiful fillets that were hand carved for me. I purchased some deep red copper river salmon which is very high in omega 3. I also purchased large shrimp that had been deshelled and deveined. I wasn't in the mood to prep my proteins.
Cheese, I purchased a raw milk bleu cheese from France that had an amazing finish after you ate it. I liked the Stilton bleu cheese but the notes of flavor weren't as prevalent as the french cheese. Sorry UK the french won out in this cheese war.
Bananas were going to be my dessert of the evening.
First Course Soup
Kohlrabi Soup
It's the middle of December and it was very cold outside. So I wanted to warm up the meal with a warm and comforting soup. I choose the kohlrabi as the star because it's a turnip and has a sweet flavor to it. I describe it almost as a fresh pear or apple, similar to broccoli stems but lighter, it can be served raw, stir fried, steamed and mashed, or boiled in a soup.
I cheated and didn't have time to make my own chicken stock. So I bought 2 boxes of natural chicken stock made by Kitchen Basics. It's a natural stock and they don't use preservatives or fillers in their stocks. First I prepped the kohlrabi and cut down the thin outer layer of each kohlrabi. I was going to cut the kohlrabi uniformly into cubes, but I decided against that. I wanted the cuts of turnip to be uneven and have a homey feel to each bite. I didn't want it to feel like a restaurant quality soup. I wanted the soup to taste like home.
I par boiled the turnip for about 4 minutes in a separate pot of water from the chicken stock. So that they could cook down on their own. I didn't want the kohlrabi to overpower the stock and really take away from the flavor of the soup. So after the stock was simmering I added 2 tablespoons of tamari soy a wheat free soy sauce to add a umami profile to the soup. Then the kohlrabi that was parboiling was added for 2 minutes in the tamari broth. The soup was finished with a light dash of sesame oil and a fine chiffonade of fresh Thai basil. The sesame oil and fresh basil added a nutty and herbal finish to the soup. The soup was refreshingly warm and I was able to turn a basic soup into a very comfortable bowl of goodness. It was a start of something real good. My thoughts behind the soup was based upon japanese cuisine. It's a very clean cuisine not fussy and they don't have an aggressive flavor profile compared to Chinese cuisine.
Vegetables
The next part of the meal was going to be a meat and fish course with sides and sauces. I nixed that idea and decided to serve them together. So the theme was turf and surf because I remembered Paul and Amy took a vacation to the the lower part of the outer banks in the Carolina's. The vegetables usually take the longest so I worked on prepping the new potatoes and cippolini onions. I had to boil the potatoes down for at least 20 minutes to soften them. The cippolini onions were par boiled in hot water for 2 minutes then shocked in ice water for 3 minutes to stop the cooking and retain there flavor. After the vegetables were shocked I removed they from the ice bath.
I wanted to do something different with these vegetable sides. I looked towards my Mediterranean influences in my cooking and combined rosemary, thyme, salt, and olive oil and made a light dressing with it. I drizzled this over the potatoes and onions and baked them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I tasted them and they did not need any further seasoning. C'est magnifique on the potatoes and onion bake, the olive oil and the herbs infused into the potatoes.
Next was the preparation for the broccoli rabe and the brussels sprouts and baby carrots. I used the same technique in cooking these vegetables. The rabe had a only one ingredient that the carrot and sprouts didn't have. I sauteed the rabe with olive oil, garlic, hot red pepper flake, and then added chicken broth to spike up the flavor of the rabe. I added a nice dollop of pulgra European butter to give it a luxurious sheen and flavor. The addition of the butter at the end put a luxurious sheen on the vegetables and made it taste like nothing else.
I sauteed the sprouts and carrots the same way and deglazed them with chicken broth and finished them with the European butter.
Preparations of the vegetables were very Mediterranean influenced with the fresh herbs and European butter.
Surf
The salmon was prepared very simply with salt and pepper and I pan seared it first on both sides. Then finished it off in the oven. I served the salmon with a red Thai curry sauce on the side. The sauce was very complex and I added fresh lemongrass to it and fresh Thai basil to enhance the herbal aroma of the sauce.
I also added sauteed shrimp with old bay seasoning to accompany the salmon. Amy told me Paul liked seafood so I wanted to make sure we had two elements of seafood for the evening.
Turf
The filets were pan seared with salt and pepper and were finished cooking in the oven. I wasn't keeping track of the time on the filets but I made sure I touched them to feel their temperatures . I wanted to hit a perfect medium mark of doneness. Halfway about 4 minutes into the oven I topped the filet's with the fromage damberge bleu cheese. The bleu cheese melted and created an amazing crust on the filets. To finish the filets I deglazed the pan that the filets were cooking with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, fine chopped shallots, beef broth, salt, and pepper. The sauce was finished with a slather of european butter and I adjusted the seasoning accordingly. The combination of the melted bleu cheese, cabernet sauce, and perfect temperature of the steaks being cooked to a perfect pink made this a definite hit. I love having steaks when I dine out so I wanted Amy and Paul to taste a dish that reflects all the good steaks I have ever had. I'm going out on a limb and saying this was the best steak I have ever cooked and ate.
After a delicious meal the couple was stuffed and dessert wasn't in the cards.
Dessert
I goofed up and was going to make banana tempura with wildflower honey topped off with handel ice cream.
Paul couldn't have fried food and oops the tempura mix had wheat in it sorry Amy. Yikes I wanted to have a killer dessert to end this. So I asked Amy if she had rum and brown sugar. She had both items I decided to improvise and make my other go to dessert bananas fosters. So I used the high fat European butter and started cooking down the brown sugar in a saute pan. Once the caramel was cooking I added the bananas to saute for about 2 mins. The piece de Resistance was the adding of the rum. I added the rum and flambeed the bananas for about a minute and a gush of fire was atop the bananas. Once the alcohol burned off I served them piping hot over ice cold vanilla ice cream. The sauce instantly caramelized when it hit the ice cream and formed amazing hardened caramel streaks. This added a crunchy element to the dessert which I haven't had before and made this an over the top dessert. Amy said it was the best bananas fosters she has ever tasted. I had to concur with her on this.
Great evening overall had by myself and the participants. I'm proud to say I still have the skills to cook a life altering meal. Stay tuned for pictures of the event.
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