As requested by many of you, here are photos from the dinner party last night. My apologies to those of you who have accused me of ruining their diets!
We served 9 "courses"...6 of which are seen here. Several changes were made to the original menu that I posted. Instead of the tiny pizzas, we did shrimp toasts and we slightly changed the second chicken course - it ended up being a poached chicken and wild cherry "sausage" sliced onto an homemade cracker base.
The next course was a dayboat sea scallop served in a real scallop shell, topped with a sweet ginger, cilantro and strawberry papaya (a type of papaya not strawberries and papaya) salsa, nestled in a puddle of beurre blanc (white wine, butter & cream sauce).
That was followed by a roasted corn, sweet red bell pepper and jalapeño bisque with a tequila sour cream garnish, sprinkled with minced chives.
Next was a brioche (sweet bread) round spread with herbed goat cheese, topped with smoked pheasant, yellow and orange seedless watermelon balls and microgreens tossed in a cabernet vinaigrette. These first courses were accompanied by a Clos du Bois Sonoma County Chardonnay and a Grgich Hills Napa Valley Fumé Blanc.
Not pictured is the intermezzo or palate cleansing course which was a tart lemon sorbet served in a clear glass dish (think the top of a martini glass) nestled in a freshly picked lemon leaf.
The entreé was a medallion of beef tenderloin (filet mignon basically), served with 3 multicolored baby potatoes and a panchetta demi-glace with a sprig of thyme. The entreé and vegetable courses were accompanied by several old fabulous Cabernet Sauvignons, Petit Syrahs and Pinot Noirs.
The vegetable course was wild mushrooms (crimini, ****ake, chantrelles and enoki) simmered in a tawny port, butter and shallots, served in a poppy seeded puff pastry shell with steamed asparagus, drizzled with hollandaise. This photo is Clay (my husband the chef) using a propane torch to carmelize the hollandaise before serving.
And finally the piece de restance, my gold leafed chocolate box that I piped full of dark chocolate mousse, dressed with 3 raspberries and callebaut dark chocolate shavings. This was a huge hit, especially with the gold leaf, no one could believe that they were actually EATING 24 carat gold! - again, many thanks to Ron & Kristi Percell for supplying me with the gold leaf!!! This course was accompanied by a Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noirs Champagne. You can't really see in the pictures but the dessert plates have a gold rim to them so it looked fantastic.
Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
Kimberly, now how close to heaven is this, girl? what an accomplished artiste you are! I can see the look on your guests faces now.
Posted by Arthur Vanson (Member # 2855) on :
Just an impromptu little snackette then? Sounds wonderful!
Posted by FranCisco Vargas (Member # 145) on :
That is TOTALLY AWESOME!! Posted by Dave Utter (Member # 634) on :
Where's the Beef?
seriously, though. It looks good. I love cooking, almost as much as I love eating.
and I really enjoy trying new things.
Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
Somehow or other, that just doesn't look like purple hull peas, cornbread, fried okra and corn on the cobb! Nice though! Posted by William Holohan (Member # 2514) on :
Kimberly, Looks absolutely scrumptious...as I sit here eating my Chef Boyardi cold out of the can.....
Seriously, you should get a seasons worth of links passes for that meal.
Posted by Mike Pulskamp (Member # 3475) on :
And I thought that I wanted Dan Sawatzky to adopt me! Now I'm really bumbed that you didn't move to Sacto!
Posted by Dawn Ellis (Member # 3529) on :
Thanks for sharing this Kimberly. Just exquisite.
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
wow! i wanna have you feed me from now on! i'm sure you totally won over those guests! i would learn how to cook but it just never tastes as good as when someone else prepares it...i prefer to be the receiptant of such fine cuisine! Posted by Mark Yearwood (Member # 2723) on :
All I can say is...WOW!! Next, we'll be seeing you on Food Network!
Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
Mmmm.
Posted by Tony McDonald (Member # 1158) on :
My sister in law just sent this photo....it reminded me of this post.
[ July 17, 2004, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Tony McDonald ]
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