MMMM…Cold Smooth Banana Bread…?

 

“Banana Bread Ice Cream, Cumin Peach Puree

Banana Bread Croccante, and White Chocolate Panna Cotta”

I dont know why but my mind has been turning to desserts lately. I do really love warm banana bread, but I knew that it would make an awesome ice cream too, and I was right. The white chocolate panna cotta was really soft and acted as like a dipping sauce. I really like the way the peach and cumin flavor came together with the banana bread and white chocolate. There is a little sprinkle of sechyaun pepper made to be enjoyed sparingly with the dish.

Shabu Shabu…Ooohhh That Just Sounds Silly

Tableside Vietnamese Pho

with 

“Wygyu Shabu Shabu,

Local Oyster Mushrooms, and Soba Noodles”

When I came into work today I had  little trouble figuring out what I wanted to make for the soup. I must have stood in the fridge for at least 10 minutes and I still did not have a clue what to make. Then I turned around to leace and I saw the mushroom cabinet. I opened it up and saw some beautiful oyster mushrooms that are from a local farmer. Since I have already made hot and sour soup, and drunken shiitake soup I wanted to go a little different.. Then it dawned on me that I have had a pho recently that was just wonderful. The plate above is what is presented to the guest and then the steaming hot broth is poured in the center.

There are two things that pho and shabu shabu have in common. The first is the really hot broth and the second is that the hot broth is there to cook rare or raw meat. The differnce is that pho has the meat placed in it at the last second and shabu shabu is on the side and dipped one at a time by the guest. There are actually entire restaurants devoted to this practice using everything from beef to vegetables.

The Pho that I made has flavors of ginger, cinnamon, and clove , and aromas of allspice and oyster mushrooms. The guest was given a japanese spoon (the one in the blog before this one, sorry dont know the real name), and the “tongs” (also don’t know the name of these but I use them for garnishing usually). The “tongs”were meant to be used to dip the beef into the broth and the spoon to get some of the broth and garnishes. If you can not tell from the pictures the meat is sliced thinly and talso the plate is garnish with shiitake “bacon” and fresh cilantro.

Just Way Mother Nature Intended

“Chilled Carrot and Coconut Soup, and Garden Grown Spearmint”

I walked into the walk-in today and saw this bag of spearmint. I knew right away that I wanted to use it. The taste was so fresh. I looked around and deciede to do a carrot juice and cocount soup. The combination was awesome. I had the guest take a small bite of the mint leaf to overwhelm the palatte and then I told them to shoot the soup. I did try to tempura fry the mint but the strong fresh falver that the mint had was so much better just the way mother nature intended it to be. But the tempura batter looked great.

Local Yams. Sweet.

Tableside Local Yam Soup

with

“Vanilla Pickled Peaches, Cocoa and Espresso Grind,

Chevre Mousse, Lavender Oil Powder, and Peach Chip”

Besides the bouillabase that I made I also had to make a soup. We had these local grown sweet potatoes (the same ones that I used for the ruille in the bouillabase). I wanted to use vanilla but I did not want the flavor to be too strong and I also wanted to cut the thick starchyness of the soup, so I lightly pickled the peaches in a vanill broth. The rest you can take for yourself.

No Rules. No Questions!

Today I came into work and my sous chef said that we were low on fish so I should make a bouillabase with the shellfish that we had. Well, that is all he said. He did not give me any rules so I made my own version of bouillabaisse. I still held back a little because I have to respect my chefs’ style but I am overall very satisfied.

“Bouillabaisse”

“Butter Basted Shellfish, Halibut Brandade,

Heirloom Tomato and Saffron Broth, and Sweet Potato and Habanero Rouille”

One guest got his plate and said “this is not what I was expecting but, It’s great!” That is all you need from a guest is an empty plate and and a smile. Thanks Chef Dawson!