Spice wine poached beef tenderloin, braised short rib, rye berries, rye, pickled sultanas

A belated post of x-mas food (course 4)

Spice wine poached beef tenderloin

Bring red wine, stock, and winter mulling spices to a simmer. When fragrant, poach a tied tenderloin until barely mid-rare (c. 130F). Remove from the liquid, cool, and reserve. Reserve the poaching liquid.

Braised short rib

Marinate the ribs in oil and whole warm spices. Braise as usual, using stock, glace, and reserved spiced wine poaching liquid, until tender. Strain liquid and pour off excess grease and reserve.

Rye berries

Boil rye berries until tender in the reserved braising liquid. Reduce the excess liquid and return to the berries.

Pickled sultanas

Dissolve sugar in simmering vinegar. Pour atop sultanas, cover, and reserve, allowing time for the sultanas to re-hydrate.

Assembly

Sear the reserved tenderloin, and bring to medium, basting in butter and aromatics. Garnish meats with reserved components, carrot puree, rye bread tuille, and wilted tatsoi.

Cod, potato puree, candied kumquat, cippolini, meyer lemon, suncoke chip

Course 3 from x-mas dinner...

Candied kumquat: Begin with a solution of ~ 20% sugar; bring kumquats to a boil in a solution, then drain and shock immediately. Bring to a boil repeatedly, gradually increasing the sugar concentration and shocking each time. Cool in final syrup and reserve.

Meyer lemon puree: Robocoup cored meyer lemons (with rind), season with salt and sugar. Reserve.

Potato puree: Blend cream and butter with 50/50 mix of yellow and russet potatoes. Reserve.

Sunchoke chip: Thinly slice sunchokes. Blanch in 250 F oil, cool, then refry at 350 until golden. Cool and reserve in airtight container.

Assembly: Sear the cod and cippolini, basting with butter and garlic. Garnish with reserved components and parsley leaves.

"BBQ" scallop, coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger beads, arame

From x-mas dinner

Coconut milk and lemongrass infusion: Sweat onion and garlic in oil, then add the coconut milk. Hold just below the simmer, adding lemon grass. Season with tomato puree, soy sauce, and powdered ginger. Pass and reserve.

Ginger beads: Bring water, sugar, and roughly chopped ginger to a boil. Cool and shear in sodium alginate. Make spheres in a calcium chloride bath and reserve.

Arame: Revive dried arame in water. Dress with rice vinegar, mirin and honey. Reserve.

Scallop and assembly: Make a rub from smoked pimenton, cayenne, coriander, sumac, salt, and flour. Coat the scallops in the rub, sear, then baste with butter and garlic. Garnish with reserved components.

Kings Hawaiian Bread Pudding, Rum Gel, Nutmeg Ice Cream

Sorta like egg nog...

Rum Fluid Gel: Rum and agar agar are combined with sugar and allowed to set. After firm, process in robot coup until a gel is achieved.

Nutmeg Ice Cream: Infuse standard base with nutmeg, spin, reserve.

Bread Pudding: Remove and reserve the crust from 3/4# of Kings Hawaiian bread. Cube and allow to dry slightly. To six eggs add 1.5 cups each of milk and cream to create the royale. Flavor with almond and rum extract. Mix the royale and bread together and bake at 350 F until barely set (about 45 minutes). Sear the reserved crusts, toast, and process into crumbs.

Assembly: Arrange elements on plate. Garnish with bread crumbs, nutmeg, and cranberry compote.

Roast cod, fried brandade, purees of parsley and meyer lemon, artichoke

Last year I started getting into using seafood at Thanksgiving based on readings of primary texts. This year I incorporated salt cod into the dish, as I suspect that our friends in Plymouth must have supplanted the fresh cod they caught with that which was stored for later use.

Parsley Puree: Blanch parsley leaves for about two minutes, until tender but still bright green. Shock in ice water, drain, and transfer to blender. Blend, adding a few ice cubes if puree is too thick. Pass, and reserve.

Meyer Lemon Puree: Quarter lemons and remove pips and core. Puree in blender, adding simple syrup to facilitate the process and to add sweetness. Season with salt. Pass, and reserve.

Fried Brandade: Soak the salt cod in fresh water, changing the water occasionally. Refresh the water again and bring to a simmer for five minutes, until the fish is flakey. Drain; flake the fish removing any bones and skin. Work a bit of baked potato into the fish, then work in cream and olive oil until the brandade is achieved. Cool. Add some chopped parsley and roll into a torchon using plastic (below). Freeze. Portion into slices, then dredge in flour, egg and bread crumbs. Reserve frozen.

Artichoke: Clean the artichokes. Poach in oil with aromatics, cool, and reserve.

Assembly: Gently color fresh cod in pan. Add butter, thyme, and garlic and baste. Add the artichoke hearts and finish in the oven. Deep fry the frozen brandade croquettes in 350 F oil. Drain. Arrange components on the plate, finishing with the meyer lemon and parsley purees.

The torchon of brandade:

Beet soil trompe l'oeil: geophagia edition

Working on yet another iteration of the avant-pop project known as Tactile Dinner...if you want to donate to the cause or check out the next performance click on over to our indiegogo page.

Here's the first draft on a soil dish. Beets are finely grated, mixed with black coloring, and dehydrated until it reaches a (surprising) loam-like consistency. Puffed millet help mimic potting soil (picture below). In the picture above, the photo-realism is kicked up by the addition of nigella seeds and a sprinkling of leek ash.

Poached pluots

Poached Pluots: Blanch the pluots in rapidly boiling water for 5 seconds. Shock and slide off skins. Arrange in a single layer in a shallow sauce pan. Add water, sugar, vanilla bean, and cube of candied ginger for a poaching liquid. Poach just under the simmer until tender. Remove pluots and cool to room temperature. Reserve liquid.

Pluot ginger glaze: Reduce pluot poaching liquid at rapid boil by 2/3 to 3/4 with additional candied ginger. Cool...this will set from the pectin. Reheat for application.

Spiced walnut: Toast walnut pieces. Glaze in butter, sugar, and cinnamon/cardamom/warm spices.

Raspberry coulis: Bring berries, scant water, and sugar to a boil. Puree and strain through chinois.

Assembly: Glaze the room temperature pluots with reheated glaze. Arrange on bed of walnuts. Garnish with gingered-mascarpone, sliced candied ginger, raspberry coulis, and lemon verbena.

Summer Gazpacho and herb garnishes

Nothing really new to write about a classic summer gazpacho...but the plated garnishes always look so nice. Pics from a client's house this evening...always also like discovering cool plates that add unexpected appeal.

And skin your tomatoes damn it.