Whitefish and Pineapple Mille Feuilles

Whitefish mousse
Pineapple marmalade
Fine herbs
Bulls blood

Tomato Water with Basil Caviar

An old creation that I never found the time to put up...

Tomato Gelee with Basil Syrup, Olive Powder, and Dried Lemon Zest

There comes a time...

...when I believe any artistic and creative person hits that wall where they are just uninspired. That's where I think I am right now. Don't get me wrong, I have ideas, plenty of them, but I'm in no position to implement them and they're not ideas that would go well in my restaurant. That, I think in itself, is a sign that change is necessary. But hopefully, I will overcome this wall and come up with new yummies for you to look at. Wish me luck!

so...

My camera is in the shop, so no pics for a while...

Sweet Onion Foam with Bacon Caviar and Potato Crispies

Sweet Onion Foam with Toasted Panko Encrusted GL Cheese Center

And add some iSi spuma magic and roasted red bell pepper powder....

Crisp Braised Pork Belly with Balsamic Peach Puree

So, I took the compote from yesterday, which was mostly peaches cooked down with some balsamic and champagne vinegars, and pureed them to get a nice puree/sauce. This was especially tasteful...

House Ham with Peach Compote, Goat Lady Cheese, and Toasted Hazelnuts

This one isn't as pretty as I would've liked it to come out, but it made for easy presentation and tasted great.

Bacon Battered Asparagus and Hollandaise

So, I'm back from Germany and back at my usual fun in the kitchen. Some friends recently came in for their 1 year anniversary (congrats Sam & Natalie!). I threw together a little play off of your bacon wrapped asparagus with some hollandaise. This here is horrible and quickly taken picture of bacon battered asparagus with hollandaise and thyme served in an egg shell. You probably can't see it, but the egg is sitting in a sockle of salt and egg whites. I made a sandy mixture of salt and egg whites and molded it with a ring mold and set the egg shell into the salt. I then baked it and the salt sets and makes for a nice egg holder. Some random technique I saw somewhere... Sorry for the bad picture...

Drinking in class....

Ah, you gotta love school where you're supposed to drink for a grade... But in all honesty, everyone thinks it's wonderful to be able to drink wine all day, but after about 20 wines and having to analyze them very precisely, you get tired of wine and quick. Your taste buds get retarded. But you get used to it and get better at tasting the little nuances in wines.





One of the beautiful classrooms we used while in Austria.


And yeah, that's all in a day's work...

Vienna, nothing short of amazing...

Germany: I

So, it's been a week since I've arrived in Germany. It's been a blast so far and the locals are so cool. I've made a lot of friends on this trip and have been working with the most amazing wine experts. This dude, guy Bonnefoit has tasted and analyzed 9,000 wines just for Germany and has put it into a reference text. That's on top of France, 13,000 and Italy, a crap load more wines. That guy is amazing. 20 years of work in just the German wines.

.



Go Germany!



Bier, Veis Bier, Malz Beir. Pils. I've learned a lot of beer in my time here, can you blame me?

Gone to Germany....

Hello all, I'm heading off to Koblenz, Germany for a month. I'm there studying wine at a wine school in Koblenz. We'll be traveling throughout Germany, Austria, France, and Switzerland doing tastings and vineyard tours. It's a wineschool located in Germany, but I'll be tasting and learning about every wine region in the world. I'm excited and anxious as can be. Also, sorry for not posting lately, my computer's in the shop, but I'll do my best to upload the page with pics from Germany if possible. Take care to everyone and I bid you farewell.

BV

Smoked Snapper and Tomato Mousse En Croute

This was really nice. I used a little bit of molecular gastronomy know how to make a mousse that was full of bold flavor but was as light as air. It was delicious, if I do say so myself.

Also, notice anything a bit different? Yes, I got a new "real" camera so I won't be taking any more pictures with my phone. Exciting, yes?

Roasted Red Fish and Carrot Espuma with Toasted Pecan and Dill Crumble

Weird sounding? Yes. Tasty? Yes. I think one of the fun parts of being a chef is creating new flavor profiles and opening people's eyes and taste buds to new and exciting flavors. Give them something out of the ordinary and surprise them with how good the unfamiliar can be....

Cucumber Noodles with Tomato and Mint Gelee and Lemon Vinaigrette

I loved this little dish. It's clean, fresh, pretty, and in season. Oh, and even better... simple. I came up with the idea the other day. I used my mandoline to get strands of cucumber to cut into juliennes (cheating? no, just a shortcut). But in the process I realized that the long strands could be like a vegetarian noodle substitute. For some reason I pair cucumber and tomatoes together almost synonymously. The mint was infused into the tomato juices for the gelee for an added freshness. Finish it all off with a simple lemon vinaigrette with some fine olive oil, fleur de sel, and a sprig of micro basil. Beautiful...

Chilled Sorrel and Arugula Soup with Ricotta Creme Fraiche

Meh...

Salmon Tartare with Celery Leaf Salad and Broken Spicy Soy Sauce

Salmon scraps, again... Oh well, let's make the best of it. So the salmon was just tossed in some of our house olive oil. It's spicier than most so that adds to the spiciness of the dish. The celery leaves and julienned carrots are tossed in some rice wine vinegar. The sauce, which makes the dish, is just chili oil, soy sauce, and ginger. The separation of the soy and chili oil make for a really nice plating. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Espuma with Toasted Hazelnuts and Citrus Shavings

So, what do you do with leftover cauliflower soup? You turn it into a foam. It was a nice light cup of cauliflower foam with the hazelnuts to add some crunch and the zest for a kick. I like to dry out my citrus zest when I use it as a garnish because it's easier to work with and falls where you want it to and still retains the flavor.

Cauliflower Soup with Chive Oil

This dish was a play off the classic vichyssoise but I used cauliflower instead of potato. Otherwise, the recipe is the same. I really like the color contrasts.

Salmon Ruelle with Cucumber and Arugula Puree

Not my best work, but it was pretty at least. The cucumber and arugula puree also had mint, honey, and lemon juice in it. It was very spicy and nutty, went decently with the salmon. It looked nice because the puree was underneath the salmon but just the juices would seep out and it made for a nice color contrast. It was overall though, just blah. I can do better. I'll do better....

Orange Scented Salmon Tartare and Cucumber Ribbon

I really liked the visual impact of this bite sized delight. It's both visually appealing and fresh. The key word is: FRESH!

Salmon Tartare with a Broken Tomato Vinaigrette

Very simple, clean, and fresh. Spring time is here!

Chilled Duck Confit Salad with Sherry Balsamic Dressing and Citrus Shavings

My chef had some wonderful Black River duck legs left over from a wine dinner. So I slow cooked them in olive oil (unfortunately I couldn't justify using duck fat for amuse...) with some garlic, thyme, rosemary, and orange peels. The rest is pretty basic. Although for the vinaigrette, I reduced equal parts of sherry and balsamic vinegar with about .5 parts duck glace which was cooked out from the confit process. This helped to add a really nice rich and robust flavor to the vinaigrette making it more than just another oil and vinegar dressing.

Watermelon, Cucumber, and Lime Gelee with Black Sesame Seeds

So, got some nice sweet watermelons in for amuse. I juiced the watermelon and layered it over a thin layer of cucumber and lime gelee. The end product was what looks like a mini slice of watermelon with the rind on. Just a fun and cute idea that was tasty and perfect for Spring.

Dessert Egg with Carmelized Brioche

This dessert's been in my head for a while. It didn't go perfectly as planned, but plan B didn't come out too badly. There will be a reprise of this dessert sometime in the near future, believe me...

So, the egg white is a coconut and vanilla panna cotta while the yolk is mango and ginger puree. The brioche was toasted and then dipped in simple syrup and seared to get a crispy sweet layer of caramel.

This was only a trial, the next iteration will be better and more involved.

Oven Fired Shrimp with Kimchee and Sesame Oil Puree

House Cured Bacon with Artichoke Puree and Micro Arugula on Toasted Brioche

House Cured Bacon with Artichoke Puree and Chive Oil

Spring Salad of Cucumbers, Grape Tomatoes, and Pickled Red Onions

Just something fresh for Spring!

Soft Shelled Crabs are in!

He looks angry....

Halibut Brandades with House Remoulade and Micro Greens

I didn't actually make these brandades, they were still in the freezer from a special dinner a while back and I need a few amuse for some special guests. Looks pretty good though, eh?

Citrus Apple and Halibut Salad with Ginger Beet Sauce

I usually automatically throw brunoised shallots into any fish salad or seviche or whatever just for that added crunch that people love when they eat something with a little less texture. Today I wanted to stray from that and used green apple instead. The sweet flavor went well with the halibut, but it also had a nice crunch factor that I wanted. The better part is that the apple has a clean and fresh finish unlike shallots which would linger after eating.

Also, the fluid gel sauce is compliments of Linda at Playing with Fire and Water. This recipe is absolutely perfect, but one suggestion is to double her recipe so that there is enough volume in the blender so the sauce blends itself, rather than needing to poke at it with a spoon. Doing so allows the sauce to blend on its own and you're able to really puree the heck out of it, resulting in a smoother textured sauce.