Last weekend I hosted October’s Secret Kitchen dinner. I think it was definitely one of the best yet and having this feeling after every dinner implies to me that I’m progressing. This month, after September holidays, I felt like I have to get back in shape with the cooking. Some new equipment made it a nicer transition: a new Kenwood mixer (a gift from my grandparents), a juice extractor and even some new serving dishes. Another change I made is that I worked almost alone for the prep time which consisted of two days of almost 15 hours on my feet each day. Then on Friday and Saturday I obviously cooked from morning till midnight again and felt pretty much exhausted.
The dinner itself included some of my personal favorites and some new experiments. I found it the hardest to come up with the Fish Stew dish which I tried to remember from the flavors of a dish I loved in “Kiko Restaurant”. I was afraid to underwhelm with this experiment – it was the most risky dish for me, but I loved what came out after calibrating the seasoning to the right “tune”.
Big Thanks to: Nachman Shelef for the wonderful pictures, Hagar, Sharon, Noa, Yael, Omer, Irit, Itzik and all my guests who joined and enjoyed themselves this time! These were the dishes (followed by some more pictures), hope to see you next time!
The menu, Click to enlarge.
Cucumber Mojito: Cucumber, mint, rum, lemon, celery juice on ice.
Apple Martini: Gin, dry Vermouth, Amaretto, fresh apple juice, lemon juice, egg white and nutmeg.
Amuse Bouche: Salty cream puffs / Salmon roe / Chives
Three types of bread: White with raisins, whole wheat with walnuts, rye with olives.
Homemade herbs butter / Indian coconut and coriander chutney
Shell pasta filled with spinach-bรฉchamel and blue cheese / Tomato salsa / Parmesan / Pumpkin and sage / Greek hard cheese
Thai Chicken Ball / Green curry lemon grass and coconut foam / Pickled onions / Steamed bun / Turmeric mayonnaise / Peanuts, chili and coriander
Fish and mushroom Japanese style stew in a hot clay pot / Pearl onions and mushrooms / Salmon and Corvina / Nori Seaweed / Aromatic rice
Pork tenderloin cooked sous-vide / bacon marmalade / leeks / cream fresh corn / Beef jus / Crispy bacon
Pork substitute: Veal tenderloin cooked sous-vide with apple marmalade instead ๐
Pallet cleanser: Hot and cold carrot / Caramelized carrot soup / Raw carrot sorbet / Carrot marmalade
Tapioca in coconut milk and ginger / Lychee-Chili ice-cream / White chocolate ganache and wasabi / radish sprouts
Crazy Profiterole / Creme Patissier / Nectarine in thyme syrup / Peanut ice-cream / Salted caramel / “cacahuates japoneses” / Kahlua Whipped cream / Hot dark chocolate sauce
The girls crew!
More pictures on the Facebook page (“like” us if you haven’t already):
