First Course: Cucumber & Truffle Carpaccio with Bucheron Olive Oil, Verjus, Fleur de Sel, Chives
Second Course: Filet Mignon Wrapped in Speck Duxelles with Truffle, Potato Cake, Creme Fraiche, Truffle Carpaccio Painted Bordelaise Reduction
Jupiter aligned with Mars. Our Creative Cooking Crew challenge for the month of February was to put an imaginative spin on “meat & potatoes.” A gift of Truffle Carpaccio arrived in the mail. My dear friend and savvy cook, FA, was coming to town. Meat. Potatoes. Truffles. Sounds like a party. Dinner party.
85th Academy Awards Governors Ball Menu Kale, Grilled Artichoke, Radicchio, Pine Nut, Golden Raisin Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
With 19 Oscar menus under his belt, Chef Wolfgang Puck has created another inventive bill of fare for the 85th Academy Awards Governors Ball including old favorites, signature smoked salmon creations, and several fashionable new dishes. This year’s menu includes many vegetarian and vegan offerings, as well as items like Kobe Burger with Aged Cheddar & Remoulade and Chicken Pot Pie with Black Truffle. The Chef shares his menu in photos on a page called “A Taste of the Oscars”here. (Check out those Huckleberry Macarons!) But it was the vegan Kale Salad that immediately caught my attention ~ bright winter color and various textures pair with smoky artichoke and a sunny sweet Meyer lemon vinaigrette. I served the salad as a meal, unlike at the Governors Ball, where some 30 to 35 dishes will be served as small bites to over 1600 people.
And The Oscar Goes To:
photo credit: wolfgangpuck.com
Raw kale is a bit chewy and not exactly tender, so it is best sliced thin, taking care not to press down and bruise the beautiful curly edges. Mildly bitter and peppery radicchio is also thinly sliced. I used fast & fabulous packaged grilled artichoke hearts from Monterey Farms which are available at Whole Foods Market. Without a recipe, I prepared this salad from the photo ~ tossing kale with radicchio, artichoke hearts, lightly toasted pine nuts, and golden raisins with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. The plate was garnished with a few Meyer lemon wheels and a sprinkling of nuts and raisins.
Old School Style
Thick Bone-In Pork Chops
Pickled Sweet Cherry Pepper & Garlic Sauce
I remember these pickled sweet cherry peppers from my childhood. They’re slightly tart and mildly spicy. In the ’60s, my mom would serve them on her relish tray. When I saw this recipe for pork chops topped with cherry peppers at Saveur here, I thought of my dad. That very evening I picked up a jar of peppers and stopped at the butcher shop on the way home from work. The recipe comes from Bamonte’s Italian-American restaurant in Brooklyn, NY and has been a favorite on their menu since the 1950s. Bamonte’s is one of Saveur’s TOP 100 in the Travel Edition, chronicling the greatest gustatory hits of journeys abroad and close to home. They say, “Each one is worth going out of your way for.”
Pan-Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops in a Korean Seaweed Soup
Traditionally this satisfying soup is savored by Korean mothers who have just given birth as a restorative meal, to replenish vitamins and nutrients. Consequently, it is also enjoyed on one’s birthday, as a way to commemorate that special day. Here, the addition of some gorgeous huge Atlantic Sea Scallops definitely adds to the celebration!
This soup, miyeok guk or miyuk guk, is simple but super-flavorful and the scallops add a luxurious component. It’s made with seaweed known as miyeok in Korean/wakame in Japanese, lots of garlic and ground pork in an ocean-y broth. It is garnished with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, a sprinkling of crunchy sesame seeds, while a restrained amount of Korean red chile flakes called gochugaru adds a lively quality. The scallops are seasoned with Kosher salt and seared in a hot pan with just a bit of canola oil to let their natural flavor shine.
Pan-Seared Branzino (Mediterranean Sea Bass) Fuyu Persimmon “Pico de Gallo”
The fuyu’s shape and size, plus its firm but supple texture is somewhat reminiscent of a tomato…which gave me the idea to try it as a substitute for that unseasonal fruit in a wintery version of pico de gallo. The Korean market where I often shop has huge displays of both fuyu and hachiya varieties of the persimmon, in season October through February. This salsa fresca is savory but has a hint of honey-apple sweetness. It has bracing acidity from the fresh lime juice and medium spiciness from the jalapeno. In addition to making a bright refreshing topping for this sea bass we thoroughly enjoyed it paired with a crispy-skin salmon too.
