Inspiration from an art show

A three course dinner

For this dinner I started by marinating a 6oz piece of wild Alaskan salmon in grapefruit, orange, lime juice (also lightly peeled the zest and broke it up to release its oil for an aromatic touch), vegetable oil, lemon thyme, salt, pepper and parsley. I let this sit for roughly twenty-twenty five minutes.

While the salmon marinated in the refrigerator, I turned and started on the veg chopping and prepping the asparagus, and citrus salsa with grape tomatoes, shallots, lemon thyme, parsley, orange, lime and grapefruit juices and segments. For the asparagus I put some salted water on to boil and trimmed them to the desired length and blanched them until they were firm in the center but soft on the outside. I wanted to cut the asparagus in shorter pieces to use as a bed for the fish while leaving a few wonderful pieces longer to use as a garnish of sorts. With the veg working, the salsa composed I turned to sear the fish and start on the salad and cheese plate.

The salad is made up of mixed greens (radicchio, red leaf, endive, green leaf, arugula and baby spinach) tossed with fresh herbs that match the ones used previously in the marinade and in the salsa (lemon thyme and curly leaf parsley). Now, I like to prepare my own mixes of the various green to be able to control certain flavor profiles wanted in what ever it is being created. The store mix is always fine to use just try to check them thoroughly and make sure it is a reputable company.
Try to purchase locally and if ever possible purchase your greens at farmers markets for an unbeatable level of quality. The cherry tomatoes used in the salad were picked up at the Santa Monica farmers market.

"They tasted like CANDY"!!!!!

I found them to be lovely for the salad and having them be so ripe and sweet enabled me to use them to balance a slightly more acidic vinaigrette than usual.

For the Vinaigrette: take the three different citrus fruits and squeeze them dry!!! If you prefer a sweeter vinai use more orange then lime or grapefruit. For this particular version the bitterness of the grapefruit and the sharp acidic grip of the lime was left to shine. This was set up to mingle quite nicely with the soft brie from France. With the flavor profiles set and the mission laid out I next added fresh chopped herbs, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. It does not have to be emulsified just stir it all together let rest and re-stir it before use. For an added touch take the vinaigrette and mix in small diced fresh tasty tomatoes. This will, depending on the flavor profile of the tomatoes, either soften your vinai with a sweet enhancement or build a stronger acidic base. So play with it how ever you like but what ever you do don't forget to mix it all together with greens, salt and pepper. Mix, Plate, Eat and Enjoy.


The cheese plate was a smaller version of the salad with the addition of sliced multi-grain baguette and citrus salsa.







"Le fromage sont tres bien", can actually be heard when eating it.

With the Salad and the cheese plate happily completed my attention was brought back to the Salmon. With it developing a lovely golden crisp around its edges I decided it was time to place it in the oven. The oven was preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit prior to this whole engagement. With it cranking away the fish only took 3-5 minutes to finish (depending on how you want it). I prefer my salmon more on the rare-medium rare side...so much in fact one could foresee it flopping out of the pan.
After pulling the salmon from the oven. Start by tossing the salad together and placing it off set from the center of the plate. Next reheat the white asparagus toss with herbs, salt and pepper. Place the smaller batons as a foundation in front of the salad and hold aside the larger cuts for garnish. Then put the salmon onto the base of white asparagus. Garnish with citrus "salsa" and asparagus. For a touch of elegegance lightly drizzle some vinaigrette on the outside edges of the plate.

Pop the Cava and enjoy a glass with your meal.

Coming Soon

Putting left over product to use

Seared Chicken Breast with sauteed arugula, wild mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes. The Sauce is an arugula foam.

For the foam, I made a mushroom chicken stock then pureed a handful of fresh arugula. Strain the mixture and while still warm, I used a immersion blender to emulsify the broth with cold cubed unsalted butter. The foam will not hold for more than 2-3 minutes but I find it to be more conventional then adding soy lecithin as a binder.

Just another sunday afternoon

This is a Chicken dish I paired with a very inexpensive pinot noir from California by Trinity Oaks.

The younger tanic wines are fun to use with seared chicken breast, mushrooms, arugula and avocado as I did here. The ending result was fantastic.

Pinot noir is a very "light" red in comparision to the other varietals one can pick up at the local wine shop or supermarket. To lighten the load of this particular wines young characteristics I chose to match the dish with seared champignon de savages (wild mushrooms ex: oyster, shitake, cremini and chantrelle). I find this mixture awesome when sauteed with garlic, onions and arugula.









As a beautiful addition to the plate and palate. I chose to use very delicious heirloom tomatoes and an awesomely ripe avocado.