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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.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
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-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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And I thought that I wanted Dan Sawatzky to adopt me! Now I'm really bumbed that you didn't move to Sacto!
-------------------- Mike Pulskamp Pulskamp Arts Sacramento, CA mpulskamp@earthlink.net Posts: 165 | From: Sacramento, CA | Registered: Dec 2002
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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!
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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