My brother and his wifes’ birthdays are within the same week, so during the celebration of my brothers birthday he asked me if I could make us all dinner for her birthday. Of course I said yes and after some debate about how I would pay for it and how he did not want that we decided on a what was gonna happen. I had a budget of 100 dollars to feed 4 people. This is not that bad at all but, I really wanted to impress them and use some good ingredients so I thought to myself that I would just go to the store and get what I wanted and if it cost more than I was budgeted then I would just pay for the rest. I kind of knew what I wanted to do but I decided to just shop around anyway. What I made for the dinner is this. For the first course there is no picture.
First Course
“Herb Salad, Dill, Pomegranate and Balsalmic Vinaigrette,
Bacon Lardons and Black Mission Figs”
Second Course
“Tallegio “Stuffed” and Sorrel Wrapped Key West Pink Shrimp,
with Celery Root Puree, and Celery Seed Vinaigrette”
For the shrimp I devained and shelled them and then cut them in half just enough to pound them out for the tallegio stuffing (the shrimp were 10/15 ct. so they were pretty good size). I then rolled them back up and wrapped them in the sorrel leaves and poached them SV at 107F for about and hour. The texture of the shrimp was incredible and the combination of the sorrel and celery was great but, the shrimp did lose their heat quite quickly. The celery root puree had a little bacon fat from the lardons in the salad and, the celery seed vinaigrette was mostly celery seed infused oil with just a splash of pinot grigio vinegar and fleur de sel to open it up.
Third Course
“Pan Seared K.C. Strip, Fingerling “Potato Salad”, Mustard Greens,
and Green Olive and Fennel Bulb Burre Blanc”
Well I wanted to do a dish that had components that all of us know and, do a “twist” so I chose to do the dish based on meat and potatoes (come on this is Kansas City). The potatoes were blanched, seared then coated with butter and presented with roasted white cipollini onions, and fresno peppers (the peppers made the flavor of the entire dish and is was not the slight heat but the wonderful chile flavor that they posses). The burre blance is reduced fennel bulb creme pureed with green olives and mounted with ungodly amounts of butter.
I spent 85 dollars. Can you find a dinner using all organic products at a restaurant, three courses, all for 21.25 a person. If you know where I can please tell me because next time we are going there! Happy Birthday Cassie and Thanks Bro!
