Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Lambcetta

We ordered in whole lamb saddles. As we were butchering we noticed the wings of the lamb looked exactly like bacon. Lacking a smoker we decided to work on a pancetta recipe. Here they are curing. After 2 days they are already starting to stiffen up. Should be ready in about 2 weeks.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Service


We have been extremely busy with the weather getting better. Who says the economy is in recession? But I haven't had a lot of time to blog. Here our grill cook is plating our menu salmon during service. I took a brief moment to shoot before going back to my own plates. He is plating a salmon dish the I put on the menu when I first started st the restaurant. We have upped the ante on the plate by garnishing with some local chive blossoms I really love this time of year for food.

I stole my wife's camera

Yes, I did it. But using a camera phone is really unprofessional. This is a new picture of our Butter Poached Shrimp. You can really see a difference and I plan on using the better camera until I can afford a nicer camera for my wife. This way I won't get dirty looks for taking hers.

Caramelized Yogurt

We caramelized yogurt for a special this week. It was a new technique for me but worked out really well. The idea is to cook the yogurt sous vide for 24 hours at 180 degrees. Well, I don't have my vacuum sealer yet and wasn't sure how to start. Ziplock bags work really well. We pressed as much air out of the bags as possible and sank them into poaching water at around 190. We covered the bain with plastic and foil in order to prevent too much water loss, and placed it in an oven set around 190, I think. Either way 12 hours later and 2 broken ziplock bags we still had our desired results.
I know it doesn't look too pretty. It reminds me of foie gras and had the consistency of melted and cooled cheese if that makes any sense. But the flavor base was right. We took about equal parts cooked and uncooked yogurt and ran it through a blender with some salt, sugar and yuzu juice. Wow, the flavor was awesome. Creamy, smooth with slight brown butter taste.

Much better. We used the caramalized yogurt with Harissa Grilled scallops and grilled ramps which just hit the market hear. It is an awesome dish and I can't stop eating it.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Steak and Eggs

I am a big fan of breakfast food. I am a big fan of breakfast food for dinner. I saw a picture of a method of poaching eggs on Ideas In Food. It was a picture of an egg pursed in saran wrap. I thought it was really brilliant and this spawned my thoughts of breakfast for dinner. Add on top of that a real craving for hashbrowns and you get a complete dish.

We got in Harris Ranch all natural ribeyes. Great quality and all natural. I broke of the Cap where are the best parts of the ribeye are. Using Activa I "glued" the muscle into rounds and cut steaks. We seared them and served with with a truffled poached egg, hashbrowns and sauce perigueux. Wow what a first course. Here is a picture. I will have a better camera tomorrow and I will post a more detailed picture then. But I couldn't wait.