Dinner Party

I had a dinner party last weekend. I am slowly getting back to this and I think my skills are starting to get back to where they used to be. Took me a while.

Anyway, I served three things.

The starter has seared scallops served on a lightly curried cauliflower puree, topped with some lumpfish caviar and a parmasan cracker for some saltiness. I think it worked very well, especially the cauliflower puree. The hint of curry worked quite well with the natural sweetness of the scallops.




For the main course, I made a Chinese flavor sweet and sour beef short ribs (hoisin, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar). I served this with some sauteed carrots and polenta fries. The meat was very tender after 2.5 hours of braising. Overall I am happy with the dish.




The dessert was a warm chocolate pudding cake with vanilla ice cream on top. No pictures...I forgot. Another success.

The taste was great. Again, the presentation probably could have been improved...

An old "update"

I haven't updated my blog for a while now...here is something I experimented with a while back (Canadian Thanksgiving) and turned out quite well. I made green onion cakes (Chinese dim sum item). It was quite successful, though I had to be careful not to flatten the cakes too think or the dough breaks and all the green onions leak out. It was basically the way I thought it should be, so I am pleased.



I also made my own won ton soup, with shrimp, bamboo shoots, dried shiitake mushrooms, and "wood ear" fungus. The broth is made from a home-made chicken stock enhanced with shrimp shells. It worked out great. There is no comparison to the ones you get at Chinese restaurants here.

Dinner party

I've been busy and it's been a long time since I have made some updates. Here are a few dishes that I made for a dinner party last weekend:

Escargot with garlic parsley butter in puff pastry:



The main course was five-spice duck breast and mushroom risotto:



There was a problem with the temperature of the duck, unfortunately. It got cold while I was slicing it. I should have warmed things up again in an oven after slicing. Otherwise it was
cooked just right.

The dessert was chocolate banana spring rolls served with black sesame ice cream:



Overall, it was okay but not my best work. But it's been a long time since I have done anything so this is not bad, I guess.