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Menu
Cocktail Abalone
Latkes with Caviar
Mozzarella and Heirloom Tomatoes
Baby Greens, Local Smoked Salmon, vinaigrette
Sous Vide Cooked Tenderloin, Demi glacé
Warm Chocolate Velvet Cake, raspberries
Assorted Macarons
Sometimes a seemingly simple dinner can be a big hit when it is executed well. We recently cook for a family vacationing in Santa Barbara and prepared the above menu. Folks were over the moon!
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I have been reading my notebooks from my "stage" at the Troisgros restaurant. I have some 25 volumes of hand written recipe notes from my early career. That amounts to some 6,000 recipe notes! The Troisgros restaurant was and still is after 45 years, a three starred Michelin establishment that I spent a month at working in the kitchen in 1981. It's interesting to be reminded of the state of cuisine at that time as it seems timeless to me now. The recipes are in chef's shorthand and presume a knowledge of the style of cooking practiced there. I am reminded of jazz music charts that are but a sketch with the cords to guide you.
Here are a few of those riffs.
Escalope de Saumon au Vermouth
Thin salmon slices, sauteed in butter
sauce beurre blanc with fumet de poisson
garnish turned cucumbers, tomato julienne chervil, tomatoes PSD (peel, seed and dice)
border of carrot puree
Escalope de Saumon "Printemps"
Thin salmon slices, sauteed in butter
petite vegetables, leek, turnips, carrots
Sauce beurre rouge
Cassoulet de Saumon
sauce beurre blanc
tomato julienne, truffle slices, basil chiffonade
Puff pastry "Pot" with handle
salmon in morsels
Darne de Saumon au Moutarde
poached slice of salmon set on pan wilted young spinach
mustard cream sauce with diced pears in sauce
Les Goujonnetes de Sole Jussieu
wide julienne of Dover sole
fish veloute finished with raw lobster butter (from eggs and coral)
with Madeira, truffle, mushroom jullienne, finished with hollandaise
Fillet de Rouget Bordelaise
red mullet fillet poached in red wine
Red wine demi glace with fumet, tomato concasee
finish with anchovy butter and poach bone morrow
Coquille St. Jacques Maison
Saute scallops in butter
dress on ragout of truffle battons, haricot vert, artichoke hearts, petit carrots
sauce lemon butter "monter"
Pigeonneau de Bresse Rôti
squab roasted with garlic cloves, unpeeled
degrease, deglazewith Cognac. add demi glace and reduce
finish with butter an foie gras puree
serve with the garlic
Barbue Braisée Entire
gut, scale and remove gills of the brill
poach in a red wine court bouillon
make sauce as for rouget with marrow
garnish wild mushrooms, lardons, poached eggs. large brioche croutons
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Catering means different things to different folks. It might be a dinner for a few guests in a private home, a beach BBQ, a cocktail reception, the taco truck, wedding and the like. Earlier this month for me catering meant preparing food for private jets leaving the Monterey, CA airport for destinations all over the world.
The folks on the jets had gathered at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance to peruse, enjoy and buy classic cars. Imagine the scene at the airport where there are over 300 private jets, all needing the services of mechanics, fuel attendants, cleaning service, pilots, ground support, flight attendants, chauffeurs, catering and even someone to iron the cloth cocktail napkins. The charged atmosphere, humming and roaring with jet engines is a sexy display of prosperity.
We had one large jet to service that was on the way back to the middle east, somewhere. The order was placed by the flight attendant on their own form and caused some confusion. We made four trips to the airport to make additions as the request was modified and clarified. The order is below. It was and intense three days and nights and we served over 80 jets. That is some high flying cuisine.
Catering Order
Fresh Milk, 1 Liter
Low Fat fresh Milk, 1 Liter
Orange Juice 1 Liter
Mixed Red Berry Juice 1 Liter
Pineapple Juice 1 Liter
Sweet Melon Juice 1 Liter
Lemon Slices 2
Wet Ice Cubes 3 Kgs.
Parsley, Fresh Mint, Lemon Wedges, Chives, Cherry Tomatoes
Caviar, Blinis and creme fraiche for 12
Beef Carpaccio, shaved parmesan 12
Mozzarella and Tomato with Basil Pesto 12
Foie Gras Pate 12
Bread for 8, rolls and garlic bread, butter
Bulk Salad: Rocket, parmesan, pine nuts, sun blush tomatoes
Chicken Caesar Salad, dressing on side
Buffalo Mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil pesto
Carpaccio of Beef, rocket, Grana Padano, Truffle oil
Salad Dressings, Balsamic and Caesar
Tomato Bisque soup, 1 liter
Mushroom Soup, 1 Liter
Toasted Herb Croutons
Beef tenderloin 4
Lasagna with Beef 4
Grated Parmesan
Assorted Steamed Vegetables 4
Baby Roasted Red Skinned Potatoes 4
Mushroom Risotto 4
Creamed Spinach 4
Roasted Butternut Squash 4
Dijon Sauce
Green Peppercorn Sauce
Mini Desserts 6
Strawberry Cheesecake 6
Tiramisu 6
Mixed Berries 1 Liter
Cheese platter: Cheddar, Camembert, Brie, Pepper Boursin
Garnish Walnuts, Dried Fruits
Ice Cream, Individual Assorted 10
Mini Chicken Sausage Rolls 18
Mini Cheese Burgers 18
Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella Paninis 18
Finger Sandwiches 24
Sandwiches: Roast Beef-mustard, Smoked Turkey-Mayonnaise, Tuna-mayonnaise-cucumber, Cheddar Cheese-tomato
Assorted Muffins 4
Plain Croissant 2
Danish 2
Pain au Chocolate 2
Far Free Greek Yogurt
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Menu from Sideways Reunion
We recently were part of a dinner produced by Chef Frank Ostini of the Hitching Post fame and Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat fame. The production was aided by Chef James Sly of Sly's in Carpinteria, CA and myself. The dinner was a donation to Direct Relief International. I am posting the full menu here for the historical record. Please see my earlier post for all the details.
Cheers
Chef Michael Hutchings
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It's Concourse week in Monterey. Over 200 private jets fly in for the car show. I am helping my friend Kurt Grasing prepare and deliver catering for some of those jets. The menus are anything from a bag of popcorn to filet of beef. There is something very sexy about Jets sitting on the runway burning that terpintine-llike fuel, the fancy limos pulling up in the hospital and bustle at the private terminals. The very rich are just like you and I. They don't have to go through security they pull right up to the airplane have anything they want to eat and take off and get where they want to go short order.
There was an art to preparing food for airlines. It has to be seasoned a bit more strongly because the high altitudes change the taste perception. The packaging has to be geared to the Jets because they all have different galleys and different equipment so they can finish cooking the food during flight. Of course you can't forget anything because you can't pop out of the planet 35,000 feet and go to the nearest convenience store to get a spoon or a salt-and-pepper shaker or whatever you might need.
Chef Michael Hutchings
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As a kid growing up in Anaheim, CA, the tomato choices at the markets were basically roma, cherry and beefsteak. To get a tomato that tasted, well, like a tomato, you had to grow it yourself. I recall talking to a tomato grower from Nipomo, CA. He was Merlin Lee of Patricia Lee farms. He grew tomatoes that, well, tasted like tomatoes. They were green house grown with a hydroponic method. He used seeds that in the 1980s cost some $800 per pound and imported minerals from Europe to fertilize the plants.
They were so good that Marks and Spencers of Great Britain sent a buyer out to inspect the operation. They were better than tomatoes from Holland or the Canary Islands, where the winter tomatoes were being grown. The downside was that M&S wanted some 2,000,000 pounds over a three month period in the winter and Patricia Lee Farms only produced that much over the entire year. When Merlin was looking for great tasting tomato seed, suppliers could only offer seeds for tomatoes that could bounce off a wall when ripe!
Segue to today...
There are more varieties of heirloom tomatoes, vine tomatoes, assorted cherry and mini pear tomatoes than you could imagine. The above pictured tomato, indigo apple tomato, was at the local farmers market yesterday. I had to do a double take to be sure it was a tomato. I will use it on a dinner I am cooking tonight for a client. The top six heirloom tomatoes are Brandywine, Gold Rush Currant, Super Snow White, Beams Yellow Pear, Black Cherry heirloom, Cuban Yellow Grape.
By the way, they tasted just like a real tomato.
Tastefully
Chef Michael Hutchings
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Boston cream pie is not a pie. This version sports a sponge cake layered with pastry cream, coating of buttercream and a pouring ganache glaze.
The ganache glaze is easy to make. Simply heat one quart of heavy cream and pour over chocolate (62% or more cacao solids), stir to mix and allow to cool then pour over the pie.
The Chef's tip on this one is to line a round cake mold with a strip of acetate sheet cut to fit the mold and build the layers of cake and pastry cream. After the cake has chilled, unmold and set on a glazing rack. Pour the ganache over to coat the cake and add finishing touches with a step spatula.
Tastefully
Chef Michael Hutchings
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I made a rhubarb pie last week for a wholesale client. Drop me a line for the recipe. It's very simple. Pie dough, custard mix, blanched rhubarb, streusel topping.
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Christine Dahl pastry made eight wedding cakes this past weekend. It's wedding cake season!
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Sometimes you go frontwards at other time, backwards. This past weekend we went Sideways. Actually Sideways came to us. Direct Relief International had an auction dinner held by Chef Frank Ostini (Hitching Post II, Buelton, CA) and Jim Clendenen ( Au Bon Climat winery, Los Alamos, CA). A few of the cast and crew of Sideways joined the guests at a dinner to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iconic coming of age movie. Actor Paul Giamatti and director Alexander Payne greeted guests at the dinner.
Chef Frank Ostini enlisted the help of Chef James Sly (Sly's restaurant, Carpinteria, CA) and myself (Michael's Catering, Santa Barbara, CA) to help stage the dinner. I prepared two passed canapés (baked abalone and a lobster sausage) and an array of over 800 petit fours. Chef James offered local smoked salmon on black brioche, Black River caviar on buckwheat brioche and garnishes for the entree as well as logistical support.
From Wikipedia: "Sideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows two men in their forties, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County Wine Country.
Payne and Taylor won multiple awards for their screenplay. Giamatti and Church, as well as actresses Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh, playing local women who become romantically involved with the men, all received accolades for their performances.
Sideways won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was nominated for four other awards."
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