Dinner Party

Dice, dice, dice.

Kitchens are fun and a kitchen like my sister and brother in law's really inspires. It's roomy, bright and airy and filled with fun amenities including a big cooler and freezer, gas burners, convection oven(!!) and massive prep space! Who wouldn't want to cook here? So I did with my cousin-in-law Drey, exec chef of Palencia in San Francisco. We decided on a 7 course "tasting" since both of us miss this style of cooking (I've been missing it since I left the job last month and Drey has been missing it for a while since Filipino cuisine, Palencia's specialty, boasts only family style offerings).

Loving the convection oven

Yes! gas burners!

Sis and bro-in-law's kitchen in Milpitas, CA


So we began by blind picking courses out of a hat to determine which cook will do which course. Then we followed with menu planning and shopping and, ended up with some nice items like figs, fennel, braeburn apples, mint syrup, crab, pork tenders, and salmon, among other things. Then finally, on to cooking and creating. This is the menu we came up with. To bad not all dishes had photo ops. Everything went really fast!


Amuse
Creamy herb custard, red potato crisps, chive


Starter
Duo of crab-avocado-mango salad with white wine vinaigrette andfennel and braeburn apple salad dressed in mint syrup vinaigrette. (no photo)


Starch
Sun dried tomato risotto, asiago cheese

Sea
Pan grilled king salmon, sweet potato puree brussel sprouts-zucchini medley, sweet onion balsamic confit

Intermezzo
Honeydew soda, sea salt. (no photo)

Land
Slow pan roasted pork tenderloin, brown rice pilaf, grilled portabella, wine soaked figs, balsamic oil and plantain chip. (no photo)

Dessert
Dark Chocolate-mascarpone mousse, cocoa nibs and toffee, apple cinamon beignet, peanut butter coffee sauce, boysenberry jam.


Good times!