Ok!  So in the big hooplah of my six course dinner, I was unable to take as many pictures as I would have like to for documentation.  Actually I only took one picture.  There were others who seemed to be taking pictures however I haven’t recieved any of them yet.  So I’ll share with you the one picture I was able to take of the magnificent pizza that I prepared.

preserved white truffle and cauliflower pizza

So I had the wonderous opportunity to get to do a dinner for Heather and a few of her law school friends on NYE.  The best part was the theme ingredient truffles.  In the six course indulgence I was able to use truffles in almost every way imaginable.  So rather than going into details about how much I truly love truffles in every way shape and form, I’ll go ahead and skip to the mouth watering menu for all you fanatics.

First Course

Truffle Salumi with Sicilian and Black Cerignola Olives.

Second Course

Winter White Truffle Pizza with Cauliflower, Ricotta, Quadrella De Buffala, and fresh Oregano.

Third Course

Mixed Green Salad with Truffle Honey viniagrette.

Fourth Course

Risotto with Asparagus, Fresh Burgundy Truffles, White Truffle oil and Grand Cru Pecorino Romano.

Fifth Course

Roasted Pork Loin Rubbed with Oregano Salt, Sauteed Haricot Verts and a Truffled Pan jus with Demi-Glace

Sixth Course

Boschetto De Tartufo Cheese served with Membrillo (Quince Preserve)

This was a very happy menu for me to be able to create and for my guests to be able to eat.  At the end of the meal I ended up blushing when one of the guests recommend a round of applause.  Truly it was my honor to be able to create so many wonderful combinations for the guests.

I am so sad to have let this blog lie stagnant for so long, I truly apologize to any and all who were hoping for more new and exciting things to read about over the last several months.  I have decided to make it a new years resolution that I will be posting and adding on a more regular basis, whether it be reviewing restaurants, talking about exciting food i’ve made for dinner parties, or Heather talking about wine new and old.  I bid you all a happy New Year and may 2009 bring you as many (if not more) of the joyous and blissful moments that 2008 had.

wishing you health and wealth for a new year

Ok so I had a friend stop by the restaurant the other night and I decided since it was slow that I would knock his socks off with a dinner he wouldn’t soon forget.

Tastes for fun

first course

TRIO of CROSTINI’S

#1 Pulled Pork with East Carolina Mustard barbecue sauce

#2 Salted Cucumber with Roasted Cioppolini Creme Fraice

#3 Goat Cheese Toybox Cherry tomato and Pesto

second course

HALIBUT CRUDO

Thinly sliced halibut Drizzled with Lemon Juice, Chile oil, fleur de sel, roasted hazelnut, and cracked black pepper.

third course

ARUGALA AND MELON SALAD WITH DUCK PROSCUITTO

Arugala tossed in olive oil and vinegar with salted Melon and house made Duck Proscuitto.

fourth course

Warm Summer Soup

Smoked Chicken, Garbanzos, Yellow corn, and Swiss Chard in a summery savory broth.

fifth course

LITTLE GEM ROMAINE SALAD

Little Gem Romaine Lettuce, house Ranch dressing Bacon, and Avacado.

sixth course

FRESH SUMMER RISOTTO

Fresh Corn, Heirloom Tomato and Maine lobster Risotto

seventh course

BONE IN 22OZ. RIBEYE

Painted Hills Ribeye sliced and served with Chimmichurri, Red Wine Shallot Sauce, Horseradish Creme Fraice, Bearnaise, and Blue Cheese Butter.

eighth course

DESSERT TRIO

Assortment of Cherry Tarts with Cherry Sorbet, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Mango Coulis.

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake with Bruleed Banana.

Chocolate cake with Whiskey Icing and an Almond Shake.

I honestly think this menu was a wonderous creation and all that were able to sample it’s beauty were deeply enriched by the experience. This may seem like alot of food however each plate was shared between 3 people.

So there has been a lot going on here in the lives of Shawn and Heather — mostly involving work (which is boring to write about) but also involving some amazing opportunities!  We have some backlogged posts that we’ll be putting up in the next few days, so that should be something to look forward to

 

In our few spare hours together, Shawn and I headed out to a great restaurant right on University Ave in Palo Alto.  I know what you’re thinking “Why would you go to Palo Alto when there is all that delicious food in San Francisco?”  Well, we trekked out on Cal Train because there is not much food more delicious than that prepared by Armando “Tiny” Maes!

We arrived at the Cal Train station and walked a quick 2 blocks to the restaurant.  We arrived around 9pm, and it being Stanford’s spring break, it was a little on the quiet side — which was perfect!  We sat down at our little table for two and were presented with an AMAZING wine list.  I forgot how much I loved California restaurants!  The wine list was complete, but it had a lot of reasonably priced options.  We ordered a wonderful bottle of Lake Sonoma Cab-Sauv from Little Alexander for $44.  It was a wonderfully developed Cab, which paired nicely with all of our food, but it was not overpowering.  Shawn has a better palate than I — and immediately read the nose of the wine as reflecting flavors of black currant and toasted oak.  Low and behold, that is exactly how the bottle described the wine!  Since I am still developing my wine palate I wasn’t able to pick up the black currants (but then again, I’ve never had or experienced a black currant) — but I was able to pick up the blackberries and a wonderful tobacco undertone.  Overall, it was a wonderful wine and was quite a steal on the reasonable price point!

And then the food began to come .. and oh, the food!  It was delightful!  Scrumptious!  Amazing!  Tiny sent out fried risotto balls — and, as readers of this blog know — I have been searching for such things done well!  Well, here they were, perfect.  They were a decent sized, coated in a perfectly crispy crust, and when you bit into it the risotto was still creamy and delicious.  Everything was perfectly seasoned and the risotto was bright green!  Shocking!  I asked Tiny what was in it — NETTLES!!  Seriously??  It made for a delicious fried risotto ball with a touch of cheese on the inside.  We also had some delicious spanish chorizo and marinated artichokes and parmesan, and a WONDERFUL beef carpaccio with truffle oil and arugula — mm, melt in your mouth!  Also, we had 3 littly tiny perfectly grilled Monterey calamaries done absolutely perfectly.  Finished the appetizer extravaganza with a warm pork rillete served with croutons — very flavorful!  All was delicious.  But, that was just the first course …

They had to bring over a second table for all of our food!  Tiny came to join us for artichoke and kalamata olive ravioli, rabbit pasta with truffle oil, and a DELICIOUS cheese baked pasta!  I can’t even begin to describe the richness of these dishes.  The truffle oil made the rabbit pasta perfect.  The raviolis produced a perfectly balanced flavor.  And what is better than crusty baked cheese??  When asked about the size of the pasta, Tiny told us that it was “Guitar Strings.”  WHAT??  Apparently a number of years ago a friend gave him this pasta contraption that is strung like guitar strings — you put the pasta sheet on top, press down, and there are your fresh guitar strings.  Amazing.

And then came the entrees!  I thought the pasta was our entree — but no!  Tiny came out with a delicious rabbit served in this wonderfully flavorful gravy of potatoes and bacon.  The rabbit was SO FLAVORFUL and just fell right off the bone.  The second entree was a whole roasted branzino, which Tiny showed me how to properly eat a whole fish at the dinner table (be shocked, for those who know me and my phobia).  He showed me how to take off the skin, perfectly separate out the bones on the spine, and sever the head from the body.  When that part was finally over, what was left was a perfectly cooked, fresh, and clean branzino.  The flavors of these entrees were just so FRESH and so REAL — things that are hard to find.  Nothing was covered in a sauce, rather, the ingredients were able to shine.

And, since a good meal always ends in dessert .. we had a banana bread pudding, a marscapone cheesecake, and a flourless chocolate cake — served with creme fraiche.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more!  Tiny makes the desserts as well, which were all perfect and were all delicious.  The chocolate cake was perfectly satisfying — dense and rich — and the other desserts were equally rich.  The bread pudding was crisp on the outside, but had a wonderful sauce and was perfectly moist and spongy on the inside.

And the wine went well with all of it — especially that chocolate cake!  While we were fortunate enough to dine with the chef and have our choice of everything on the menu, there wasn’t a thing that wasn’t up to snuff.  Everything was perfect, and that wasn’t just because it was prepared for us.  A great chef makes a restaurant — and Tiny is making Lavande.  DEFINITELY worth the trip!!

Lots of delicious food experienced in SF this past weekend — and some good wine to boot! 

how to make roux

8 ounces flour

8 ounces butter

over medium high heat melt butter in saute pan.

add flour and stir until well incorporated.

stir and cook for 5 minutes (or until a nutty aroma has formed)

transfer to small dish and cool in refrigerator.

place in tupperware container or freezer safe bag and freeze.

use as needed

Will hold in freezer for 3-6 months

Ok so here’s a recipe that I acquired through Chef Alton Terry, to date it is one of my absolute favorites!

Creamy roasted Vidalia Onion Soup with Smoked Gouda. (garnish with a small dallup of creme freche and some chopped scallion)

4 Vidalia onions peeled Whole

2 cloves garlic

1 quart heavy cream

1 quart half and half

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

fresh thyme
salt to taste

1 cup gouda

1/4 cup roux*

olive oil

salt and pepper

preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit

place onions in roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil salt and pepper. Place roasting pan in oven and cook for 15-18 minutes allow to cool and chop coarsley. In a stock pot (or appropriate soup making vessel large enough to hold 1 gallon of liquid) over medium high heat, saute minced garlic cloves in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 30 seconds and add cream and half and half. Add white pepper and thyme and bring to a boil (careful not to let it boil over) once boiling add onions and simmer for 10 minutes. Return to high heat and whisk in roux in small portions, allowing soup to thicken with each portion, when desired consistency is reached stop adding roux. Now with another vessel ready use a blender to blend in small batches (alternatively if you have an immersion blender this would cut out the hassle of blending small batches), return soup to heat after blending and whisk in gouda. Serve immediately with garnish.

While I was out at The Wine Cabinet last weekend they were tasting the Hinman Vineyards Pinot Noir, and I picked up a bottle $13.99.  Hinman is the second label out of the Vineyards in Oregon — they released their reserve wines under the Silvan Ridge label. 

The Hinman wine is composed of grapes from a number of vineyards in Oregon.  Blended together, its a rather fruity wine but it does have a healthy dose of acidity.  As you can guess from the fairly low price point, it isn’t the most complex pinot.  It is fruit forward, a simple bouquet of cherries and berries, with a touch of black pepper.  I have to admit, that I’ve been slowly drinking the wine for the past week.  On Day 1 I found it to be a decent wine, with a fresh simplicity.  However, by day 4*5, I’m finding that the fruit is overdeveloped and an acidity has come to dominate the wine.  Overall, I didn’t find this wine to be especially exciting.

Update:  Yes, I realize that leaving a wine for 4 days is not the best idea, and that it will change the character of the wine.  I think the comment below best illustrates that.  However, I didn’t love the wine on Day 1.  It was decent — a young pinot noir.  It just wasn’t my type of pinot.  I like a little less fruit, a little more complexity, and a little more undertone of smoke or pepper. 

So, I realize that while this isn’t my preference for a pinot, it may be yours!  If you’re looking for a young pinot noir with a strong fruit flavor, then it is a decent find.  I am a big supporter of Oregon wines regardless — so give it a try and see for yourself  

*Pumping the air out each time and sealing.