For the fourth course I wanted to use an avocado foam, which I’ve made with success in the past. I decided to pair it with polenta and make a kind of deconstructed nacho. I prepared the polenta, but didn’t want to stir it for an hour, so I mixed it with a good salsa, poured it into individual ramekins and baked it in the oven. This didn’t turn out so well as the polenta didn’t cook all the way through and was extremely dry.

For the second layer I put down some shredded cheese and had guests take turns with the blow torch to melt the cheese. I quickly made the avocado foam, but think I added too much milk and there wasn’t enough fat to create a good, thick foam. So the third layer ended up being a watery, anemic mess.

Not a good tasting (or looking) dish, but the blow torch part was definitely a success; all the guests came running to look once they heard the deep whoosh of the butane start.

See Molecular Gastronomy Party for the complete menu.

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For the third course I wanted to make the infamous pea “ravioli”. Unlike the mint spheres, the pea ravioli were free from… and VERY hard to make into perfect spheres. If I put the teaspoon into the calcium bath it glommed onto the spoon. A fast drop from above the water wasn’t much better as it turned into spaghetti-like strings. A slow pour was the closest we came, but they were still misshapen blobs with tails (most of them were shaped like sperm).

To spice them up, I spiked the water bath with truffle oil, but the truffle flavor didn’t come through enough. They needed more salt and more… something. One guest had a brilliant suggestion of making them (next time) with tarragon.

So even though they didn’t taste too exciting, it was a very cool sensation biting into the “ravioli” and having them burst open.

See Molecular Gastronomy Party for the complete menu.

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This course was originally going to be chorizo cream spheres in cider, a second recipe from “My Molecular Cuisine Kit”. I had the foresight to try this recipe out ahead of time and the results were disgusting; the cream mixture got very thick when spherified and it was the texture of wet cat food. Ugh.

I had already purchased bottles of Val de France sparkling apple juice so I decided to re-tool the recipe, and mint spheres sounded like they would go well with the cider.

I started with a simple syrup of mint leaves but the flavor wasn’t strong enough so I added some mint tea. Then the color was too brown so I added some green food dye to boost the color. I mixed 500ml of the mint syrup and 5.2g sodium alginate with an immersion blender, poured into 1/2 sphere silicone molds and froze for 2 hours.

Once frozen, the 1/2 spheres were dropped into a calcium bath (36oz water mixed with 5g calcium chloride). As they melted, they morphed into perfectly round spheres, like magic. And looked a lot like olives. The spheres were then rinsed in clean water and dropped into shots of apple juice.

The drink had a refreshing burst of sweet mint set against the carbonated, slightly sour cider.

See Molecular Gastronomy Party for the complete menu.

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This was a recipe from “My Molecular Cuisine Kit”, which involved heating honey with some water and agar agar. Within seconds of taking the honey off the heat there was a swarm of crazed bees outside my door trying to get in. I never really knew what was behind the saying “make a beeline”, but now I understand.

The recipe said to drop the honey mixture from a pipette into a very cold container of grapeseed oil. We tried this over and over again, even adding more agar agar but unlike water and oil, honey and oil really do seem to mix.

We totally scrapped that recipe and at T minus 30 (T being party time) went hunting for a different one. My friend found this one and disaster was averted. It was a more traditional spherification technique using the combination of sodium alginate and calcium chloride to form the gel-like skin upon contact of the two ingredients. This time when we dropped the honey mix from the pipette beautiful little pearls formed. Because we didn’t have time to let the mixture set, ours were a little on the opaque side, but I kind of liked that.

The Camembert and a goat cheese brie were baked at 350° until the cheese started to ooze out. The combination of crusty French bread, gooey cheese and the delicate, clean burst of honey when the pearls popped was delicious.

See Molecular Gastronomy Party for the complete menu.

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I must be insane. Last night I threw a molecular gastronomy party with 11 courses for 15 people. I was cooking for two full days and was exhausted by the end of it. But it was wildly successful, with a great guest list and lots of playing with food. Here was the menu:

Baked Camembert with honey pearls
Mint sphere in cider
Pea “ravioli” with truffle oil
Deconstructed nachos
Asparagus with soft poached egg & mustard lemon emulsion
Quinoa coated shrimp with sweet chili sauce
Duck confit with arugula “spaghetti”
Salt-block seared steak with chimichurri air
Blackberry mousse with effervescent lime sugar
Vietnamese coffee ice pops
Sous-vide sage & mint chocolate lollipops

More posts about each course to follow…

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consumed 6/3/11

To celebrate two years of sobriety, I had a few friends over for a summer dinner party. This was the menu:

Zucchini Bisque – An old favorite from a Cuisinart recipe booklet. Easy to make and can be served hot or cold–perfect for hot California evenings.

Arancini (balls of risotto stuffed with mozzarella & peas) – I still haven’t mastered making these yet; they always end up as huge, crumbling balls, but they are delicious and I was able to make and fry them several days in advance.

Prosciutto & Gruyere Pinwheels – Easy to make ahead. Cheese, pork and puff-pastry… what’s not to like?

Asparagus w/ Mayonnaise Verte – Counteracts my tendency to serve all meat dishes; my standby when veggies are needed.

Dry Ribs – My absolute favorite. Crisp and salty on the outside and meltingly tender inside.

Panzanella – Toasted cubes of bread in a balsamic vinaigrette. The arugula and cheese are just an added bonus.

Shrimp Salad in Endive - Crunchy, sweet shrimp on crisp, slightly bitter endive.

Gnocchi w/ Roquefort Cream – French gnocchi (made with Pate a Choux) baked in a luxuriously rich Roquefort sauce.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts – Not your typical bacon wrap; these have a sweet mayonnaise and spicy chili coating.

Semifreddo – A great, creamy, frozen (or half-frozen) dessert. I couldn’t find marionberries (my favorite), but the blackberry substitute worked out fine.

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