A night out while staying in, Mel's Birthday Dinner

Yesterday was Mel's birthday. So seeing as we weren't going to be able to go out to eat, I cooked an 8 course meal for her. Here is what I made:

The first course was blistered cherry tomatoes, basil, brie sauce and crispy prosciutto. The tomatoes were blistered over charcoal on the grill. The brie was melted with cream and milk with thyme and rosemary. The prosciutto was simply cooked until crispy. The saltiness of the prosciutto complimented the tomato while cheese and basil are classic pairings with tomato. The rosemary sprig adds just a touch of earthiness to the tomatoes.

The second course was a take on the Catalan calcots, giant green onions charred over a hot grill (traditionally over old grape vines in Catalonia), then wrapped in newspaper to steam. It is served with romesco sauce. Technically these are cebolitas, as they were to closest thing I could find to giant green onion (sometimes they can be found at farmer's markets). The sauce was tomato, lots of garlic, almonds, bread, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and paprika. It adds a zestiness that contrasts the sweetness that comes through the onion when cooked. The bread is used to sop up the sauce or as a vehicle to eat the calcots.

  Third up was spicy Italian sausage dumpling in a miso-dashi broth. Go figure, Italian sausage marrying with a Japanese broth/soup. But it works. In the sausage was mild/sweet Italian sausage that was mixed with shallots and sriracha hot sauce. It was wrapped in wonton wrappers and then added to the broth to poach. It had this spicy, savory, sweet flavor that was (somewhat surprising) really well balanced.

This was a marinated chicken on "mashed patatas bravas." The chicken was marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dried Italian herbs in a zip lock bag with the air removed. It was then cooked in the bag in boiling water. The mashed potatoes were my patatas bravas mashed. I boiled then fried potato wedges and tossed them in my spice mixture. I added some cream and mashed them. The brightness of the lemon added a brightness that contrasted the heaviness and spiciness of the potatoes.

Fifth course was a lightly seared steak with a chocolate-red wine sauce and a parsnip puree. The steak was seasoned with salt and pepper, then lightly seared in my cast iron pan and finished on the grill over a low coal. The sauce was dark chocolate melted in red wine with some salt added. The puree was parsnips, a little potato, olive oil, salt, pepper. The brightness of the parsnips contrasted the deep tones of the chocolate sauce. The steak was cooked to medium rare (medium well for Mel). The flavors balance each other nicely.

This was a baked couscous with capers, lemon, mint, and tomato-chili sauce. The sauce was tomatoes, poblano chili, pine nuts, olive oil. The couscous was cooked in boiling water then tossed with the caper, mint, lemon juice and zest. The sauce was added to the bottom of the cocotte and the couscous added on top. It was topped with grated Parmesan and baked at 400. The sauce bubbled up from underneath as it baked and coated the couscous. It was missing a little salt when it was tasted, but once added turned the dish into a winner. The sauce is light, and the lemon and capers brighten everything up. The mint adds an interesting flavor that works well with everything else.

This is a white gazpacho. It is a cold soup. It is made with cucumber, white grapes, almonds, Greek yogurt, soaked day old bread, olive oil, red wine vinegar. It was blended in the blender and then strained through a mesh strainer and chilled in the fridge. It was a nice, light soup that was nice after the heavier, bolder plates in front of it. It really cleaned the palate to get ready for dessert.

For dessert was a blood orange sorbet with a raspberry sauce, frozen raspberries coated in sugar, chocolate grated over top with a little sugar sprinkled over top and a mint leaf. It was great finish to the meal. It was sweet and bright and the flavors blended well together.

So there you are, the 8 course, smaller plates, meal for Mel. It was a fun night and we had fun eating in. She really enjoyed all the courses. But best of all was we could do it together.