It is a one-night only dinner, held in the Windows of Damansara restaurant, 1st floor, KDU University College. Decor, music, service, attire, menu, food and entertainment must all concur with the Theme of the restaurant.
Well, the group leader for mine chose a 'Under Construction' theme...
And so, I cooked accordingly.
My bestie Eve came and she shot many delightful pictures that did more-than-deserved justice to the food and the event itself.
All following pictures are courtesy of Evelyn Tea. Thanks dearie!
This was the table set-up. Despite my hesitations, it looked beautiful.
Amuse Bouche:
A cold, savoury shooter made of red watermelon with Thai aromatics, reminiscent of Tomyam soup, crabmeat marinaded with coriander, lime juice, kaffir lime zest, julienned Thai basil leaves - deepfried.
The Appetizer (From Right to Left: I have a BIG sinking feeling, service placed it wrongly)
In the middle:
Bamboo Charcoal Noodles, chilled, marinaded with soy sauce, sesame oil and white sesame;
Mesclun salad with a basic vinaigrette;
Bottom: Carpaccio of Octopus (not PAUL!), braised in a mixture of Sake, Soy sauce, Rice vinegar and brown sugar, tossed with some orange zest and chilli flakes.
This here seems to be favourite of the table:
Soft japanese egg tofu coated in a minced chicken & roasted green pepper mixture, wrapped in julienned Phyllo pastry, deepfried and served with sweet Thai chilli sauce.
I had a ball of a time making the above, the Maguro tuna (one of the most expensive items on the menu) from a very helpful Sushi Chef Yap in Jaya Grocer, Empire Subang Gallery, who also kindly provided the Octopus.
This was basically a play on words which inspired the name for the appetizer "Building Blocks", which consisted of little 'blocks' of firstly raw maguro;
diced celery which was vacuum-packed in a green apple and white wine vinegar pickling liquid; Roma tomatoes which were pulsed with a little tomato puree, and then suspended in a muslin-lined conical strainer, yielding a clear tomato 'consomme', to which, agar-agar powder was added (coagulent) and then diced.
Prior to service, all items were tossed together with some lemon zest, salt and a little olive oil.
The soup, "Smoking Hot" was a play on the smoked duck, by which I couldn't find any halal smoked duck, and therefore introduced the smoke flavour, by smoking some wood chips and flavouring the consomme with them during the clarification. It's a little greasy, as I forgot to degrease further. :(
It's served with a chicken liver mousseline: Chicken liver, marinaded with 5 spice powder, lightly poached in a little sweated shallots & red wine liquid, pulsed with some cream, with some whipped cream folded in. We later wrapped it in wonton skins and deepfried it. Should have given more to the guests, feedback says it tastes like pork pate. :)
I had a beautiful, flavourful brown stock made of shank bones, which we reduced to 1/3, added in the Guinness, and covered the Frenched lamb racks, 200C, 35 minutes, with mirepoix and clarified butter. We then rested it for more than an hour in its juices, seared it a little before serving it with the cooking liquid, reduced to a thick, shiny Jus.
Baby carrots were kinda out of season at the moment, and so I only had 1 for each guest.
Served it together with some lentils and mixed beans stewed in the lamb stock, baby Roma tomato confit with a red wine vinegar glaze and Enoki mushroom tempura.
This was Barramundi, slashed, seasoned with salt & pepper and Cajun seasoning, flash-grilled on a smoking grill, then slowbaked in the oven. Served with beetroot, peppery arugula, feta cheese, red onion salad with an orange-cumin vinaigrette.
Couscous was cooked with butter, fish stock and then orange zest and dill were stirred in.
Last minute, I realised I had no sauce (AGAIN!)for the fish, and so came up with an adlib variation of Beurre Blanc, where I reduced orange juice, white wine vinegar and shallots, then monteed in cubes of cold butter.
Dessert wasn't as spectacular as I hoped, the portions were cut too big, and the marshmallow filling was a little flat, but it did taste good. A bit decadent, as the previous dishes were lighter and more inclined to being acidic.
The Rocky Road was deconstructed and reconstructed into a dark chocolate fudge pie, coffee biscuit base (bitterness to balance the sweet), Turkish delight and marshmallow layers. I then introduced the nuts by making a peanut nougatine, for crunch value, together with the milk chocolate bombe (frozen mousse), which had rum and white wine (sabayon). Later, we sprinkled Strawberry Pop Rocks on the chocolate mousse for the Fun factor, and a mixed berry compote, where I monteed butter into the red wine reduction for a more velvety, silky finish.
This was decorated with a sparkler on a potato cube, just to pretty things up a bit. (Originally was supposed to be stuck into a Dome-shaped bombe, but hygiene & practicality called for a different measure.)
It went well, Evelyn said the kitchen was so quiet (good thing!) and HerrGerhard did not say anything during service. Things were a little shaky in the beginning, as we all strived to gain the tempo and timing (like an orchestra), fine-tuning all our instruments, but it all ended peacefully. :)
So, that was my dinner. Many others before and after it, which had their highlights as well, but this is all for now.
*Phew*
Relief and happiness. :D
yum.. I want more of the marugo tuna..nomnom.
ReplyDeletehow u all make the fake brick wall?
ReplyDelete