The annual dinner at Hearst Castle for the Central Coast Wine Classic was held on July 7. The dinner featured wines of the central coast of California and three outstanding chefs from Hawaii, Roy Yamagouchi, D.K. Kodama and George Mavrothalassitis. Click here for biographical information.
The following day, chefs Kodama and Mavro did a cooking class and luncheon at the Avila Beach Golf Resort in Avila Beach, California. I had the privilege of being the host chef and taking care of all their needs to do the demonstration and luncheon for 100 guests.
The menu started with a wild salmon that was slow poached in olive oil and set on a lomi-lomi salmon sort of sauce. The interesting aspect was that the salmon in the sauce is a Hawaiian version of gravlax. The final garnish of salmon caviar gave the dish a luxurious finish. Smoked salmon would a possible substitute for the salt cured salmon.
Ostrich was the next course. Locating ostrich meat was not easy. Twenty years ago, it was positioned to be the next beef. Breading pairs of ostrich were being sold for $20,000. It never took flight, pun intended. Now production is low and coming mostly from Australia and a few location in the US. Price for the "oyster steak" was $24 per pound wholesale. The ostrich was marinated in a pesto sauce and sauteed then roasted. The ostrich can be substituted with hangar or flank steak.
Dessert was a duo of a sort of Hawaiian beignet and a mango tart that used guava, mango, passion fruit, caramel and raspberries to dress the plate. I made a lemon curd and a meringue nest to decorate the plate and hold a French vanilla ice cream. The luncheon was a great success and brought the tropics to our California shores.
Tastefully
Chef Michael Hutchings
Michael's Catering, Santa Barbara
Chef D.K.'s Seared Ostrich
Dessert Duo from Chef's Mavro and D.K.
