Clay and Soil

“Sour Cherry and Cilantro Sorbet,

Bacon Caramel Dipped Cornbread,

Mole “Soil”, and Pineapple and Avacado Anglaise”

This is a dish that I have been wanting to make for a while. I have had a version of this written down, but I have not had time to make it until now.

I served a smaller version of this for the dessert amuse and the guests, all of the staff, and I were really shocked by the flavor combination. It was completely devoured by everyone.

The micro green garnish is basil cinnamon and the cornbread is seasoned with cinnamon and cumin. The tuile on top is bacon caramel and cocoa nibs.

Friends of James Beard Dinner

“Octopus and Scallop “Scroll”,

Green Apple-Celery, Radish Granite,

Ginger Air, and Sprouted Wasabi”

On Sunday we did a James Beard Foundation benefit dinner, my chef invited all of the other chefs that were nominated for the Midwest division last year for Best Chef Midwest. The other cooks and I were asked to make a dish for the after party upstairs. I took it as an oppurtunity to impress some great chefs.

The octopus was poached in a stock made with lemongrass, ginger, cardamom, clove, tangerine, lime, lemon, and mirepoix. I really let the flavor of the octopus be slightly softened and highlighted with the flavors of the broth. The whole thing was poached at 107F sv for about 45 min. then cooled and brushed with olive oil, lemon juice, and fleur de sel.

Ummmm?… Thats Hard

“Beet, Citrus, and Cranberry”

Tonight we had a reservation that said ovo lacto vegetarian. Which I guess means maybe fish or some egg, but no lacto or meat. About 40 minutes before they were gonna sit I mentioned it to my sous chef and he told me if I wanted to I should whip something up. I tell you what to make something that does not look or taste like a “normal” salad and not use lactose, meat, (I wanted to prepare for only vegetarian, and in fact they were pretty much vegan) or BUTTER! is kind of difficult on the fly.

We had a lot of beautiful citrus in the walk in today and the next thing that I saw was beets. I thought I cant go wrong now. I poached the beets sv in OJ. The dots on the plate are cranberry and beet puree (awesome), on all of the larger circles of beet are tangerines soaked in anise seed simple syrup, on the smaller circles are just clementines, and the whole plate is covered with micro citrus and cinnamon basil. To finish there is some olive oil foam across the plate.

Sugar and Salt

“Roasted Butternut Squash Ice Cream,

Coconut-Truffle Upside Down Cake, Molasses Soy Gastrique,

and Opposite Almonds”

We did a lot of parties last week that used butternut dice for the salad. We only us the tops of the squash so we can get a nicely shaped cut, so this means that we had about 30 lbs. of bnsq bottoms. We peeled them and de-seeded them and cryo so the wouldnt rot.

Yesterday my Pastry Chef and I got together and wanted to make ice cream from the bnsq. He told me to go ahead and make the dessert amuse with it, and therfore this is the pic of an enlarged amuse.

In the cake there is a little white truffle oil and several types of coconut (milk, fat, sweetened). I cooked it and since there was so much fat that is really took on a nice sear after slicing and did not dry out at all. The opposite almonds are; a light caramel toffee with fleur de sel and raw almonds, and the almonds on the plate and under the ice cream is dark caramel (could have been darker), roasted almond slices and smoked lava salt. To tie the dark richness of the ice cream and cake with the toffee was the strongly flavored molasses and soy gastrique.

Twisted!

“French Onion Soup”

Accompanied By

Roasted Shallot Dumpling, Gruyere “Blanket”,

Brown Butter and Toast Puree

Served with

Carmalized “Funyun”

I have always loved doing twists on classic dishes (as you know if you frequent this blog) and my sous chef said he was gonna make a batch of beef stock from all of the scrap leftover from the parties last week. He mentioned a that I should make a French Onion Soup.

So I did.

This is the pic of the Carmalized “Funyun”. It is an onion cracklin that is coated with caramalized onion powder, salt, sugar, and cayanne pepper. It was served on the side and was meant to be eaten like bread with the soup.

Under the “Blanket” of gruyere there is a dumpling made of roasted shallot and garlic puree that is steamed then deep fried. On top is dehydrated gruyere and on the side of the bowl is brown butter toast puree that was gratineed.

The French Onion Consomme was still very dark when served tableside and it had an awesome deep beef, herb, and onion flavor. When all components were eaten together everyone in the kitchen and the guests that ate it said it tasted just like a really good French Onion Soup.

Oh Yeah and I forgot to mention that on Saturday afternoon my phone rang and it was chef Grant Achatz himself. I got the job!! I will be working at Alinea within the month.