Tuna Salad

                 

                                        “Tuna Salad”

                 Ahi Tuna “Mousse”, English Pea “Mayo”,

                              “Pickles”, Carrot Crostini.”

One of the things that I love to eat is tuna salad. When I was a kid I hated it but now I love it . I have been wanting to do a twist on tuna salad, but what I have been wanting to do was a hot dish and very different than this one but, I did not have the right part of the Ahi and it is much easier to do a cold amuse when you are really busy. The English pea “Mayo” is not mayo at all it is just the texture and consistancy of mayo. The cucumbers pickled for two days and were really good a real medium between kosher like pickles and sweet pickles. If everyone in the world did not like spicy food I would have made them spicy but all of our clientele is weak and old so I do not ever get to make things spicy. Actually if you see an amuse that has jalapenos on it I probably did not even get to put it on the dish. Overall I was happy with everything except the carrot bread because it took al lot of touble because of the moisture content of the carrot.

Fresh Ahi

                               

                                          “Seared Ahi Tuna,

                                Chilled Carrot and Lime Soup,

                      Grilled Ramp Salad, Micro Mint, Tarragon,

                                        Hot Leek “Marmalade”

My Chef was doing a benefit dinner tonight and she was serving Ahi. She gave me some to use for the amuse. This was the first time that I had ramps and oh my god they are incredible.  I was happy that I convinced the servers to pour the soup table side so the guest were able to the presentation. Everything on the plate was served cold and the marmalade was the only thing that was hot (there is no sugar in the marmalade). I really liked the flavor of everything and the fresh mint was nice too.

                                   

Corndog Dessert!

           

                      Blueberry Pancake “Corndog”

                           Strawberry “Ketchup”

                           Pinneapple “Mustard”

This is also a dish that I wanted to do for a dessert amuse. I was on pantry and dessert tonight and I apologize for the presentation and not having a lot of components but I was busy the last two days being two stations.

Spanikopita…

          

                                                       “Spanikopita”

                                                    Spinach “Malfatti”

                                               Pine Nut Feta “Fondotu”,

                                                               Fillo”

This idea came to me last week. Malfatti is a spinach like gnocchi but is much softer and everything is done by hand. The chopping of the spinach (fresh) and the hand crushing of the potatoes. From what I was told in Italy is that Malfatti actually means random or ununiform (that is why the cut them in random shapes). The sauce was great and smooth with a nice pine nut finish.

                        

Grilled Asparagus and Proscuitto Classic Right?

                                

                     “Grilled Asparagus, Crispy Prosciutto,

                         Castello Vetrano Olive ”Crumbs”,

                Marcona Almond and Caramalized Olive Oil”

I have always liked the flavor of proscuitto with asparagus and this was a great way to do a twist on the classic (twisting classics is one of my favorite things to do). The salty olive “crumbs” added a great moistness to the dish. I wanted to put almonds on the plate because they would accent the grilled flavor of the asparagus. The caramalized olive oil really tied the whole dish together.