A meal for my Princess

Last night I got a creative streak going and I decided to make a 4 course meal for my beautiful wife. I texted her "I hope your hungry... you're going to eat like a princess tonight." Why did I do this? Because I love her and I love to cook. Anyway, here are the dishes that I created. No cookbooks were involved. This all came from my head.


1st course: Sausage "bruschetta".

I took some sweet Italian sausage and cut in on an extreme bias to resemble a piece of bread cut in the same way as you would typically get. The ends were seared in a very hot pan to set the shape. Once both sides were seared the sausage went in to a heated pan in the oven at 375-400 degrees to finish cooking. When done I put a few drops of some chili oil I made on the top. (The oil was made by taking a serrano chili and combining with olive oil in a food processor then straining out the pulp.) Followed were a couple slices of sun gold tomato from our garden and topped with some micro sprouts. There was a nice balance between the sweet of the sausage, heat of the chili oil, acidity of the tomato, and crunch of the sprouts. The acidity also helped cut through some of the fattiness of the sausage. 

2nd course: Pesto filled pasta and beef

The second course consisted of a pesto filled pasta. The pasta was homemade and rolled very thin. The filling was pesto, made with basil from the garden, garlic, peccarino romano, walnuts, parmagiano reggiano, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper. The pesto was piped onto the pasta sheets and the pasta folded over to form little pouches. The idea was taken from the fagotelli La Pergola, where the idea is that the pasta "pops" in your mouth. A sauce was made for the dish. It started with bacon being saute'd in olive oil until crispy. The  pan was deglazed with white wine until the alcohol cooked off. Beef broth was added and reduced down until much thicker. The pasta was cooked for about 20 seconds and then tossed into the sauce before plating. Four very thin strips of steak were seared in a very hot cast iron skillet on both sides for about 10 seconds. The middle remained a little pink to keep the tenderness of the beef. It was all plated with some shaved peccarino romano. It was a pretty complex dish in terms of flavor. The different flavors of the pesto combined well with the beef and pasta. The saltiness of the bacon and the sauce complimented the dish as well without overpowering anything. Overall I thought it was very well balanced.

3rd course: Coffee crusted NY strip, grilled baguette with feta cheese.  

The steak was seared on a very hot cast iron skillet in a little bit of vegetable oil to develop a nice crust. The top was coated with a rub of coffee, cayenne pepper and salt. After searing the steak went into the oven at 350 degrees to finish cooking to medium rare. A sauce composed of coffee, milk, red wine, and chocolate was made and reduced down to put on top of the steak. The bread was grilled and sprinkled with feta cheese. The plate was garnished with a couple edible flowers. The flavors all worked well together. The deep flavors of the coffee, chocolate and red wine went well with the flavor of the beef as well as the salty and creaminess of the feta.The flowers added a touch of color and fun. It was funny because when I told Mel what was in the dish she looked scared. But when she started eating she just kept on saying how good it was.

4th course: Raspberry sorbet with dark chocolate 

For dessert was a simple raspberry sorbet and dark chocolate shaved over top. I don't think I need to say any more about how well raspberry and dark chocolate go together. 

So there you go, my four course meal for my lovely lady.

Nothing like home cookin'

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought that I would post on something I made last night. Mel was at work so I decided to make dinner. It was a chicken breast that I made a cut down the side. Inside I put some fresh sage and rosemary clarified butter that I had made earlier and let harden. I then seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and wrapped it in prosciutto di parma. I then roasted it in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 30 min. I also made a caramelized onion puree on which the chicken was set on. I caramelized a medium onion and added three large cloves of garlic, roughly sliced, toward the end to caramelize as well. I then put it into the food processor with salt, pepper, chicken stock, and crushed red pepper and created a nice puree. While the chicken was cooking I pan roasted some grape tomatoes with salt and basil. Finally I fried some fresh sage to put on top and finished with a little bit of parmesan and green onion.

It turned out really well if I do say so my self. The chicken was moist and very flavorful, with a nice sage and rosemary flavor throughout the chicken without overpowering. The prosciutto added a nice crispy texture and the flavor married well with the chicken. The puree had a nice sweet, caramelized flavor from the onion and garlic, with a slight heat from the red pepper and earthiness from the chicken stock. The tomatoes were sweet and added a nice acidity to the dish that helped cut through some of the richness of the chicken and puree and lifted the dish. Mel said she loved it, after she inhaled it. I think I am going to have to do this one again.