Chef's Tasting menu - 11-19-2022

Before everybody get busy for the holidays we are having friends over for a tasting menu.

Group picture!

The tasting menu include a trio of starters, followed by 5 course and ending with 2 desserts.

First Course: Arpege Egg

Arpege egg "hot-cold egg".

This dish is the creation of Alain Passard, the famous French chef and owner of the 3 Michelin star restaurant L'Arpege.  The dish is also served at Manresa as an amuse bouche.

The dish is hot-cold because of the contrast between the warm poached egg yolk and the cold whipped cream, the other contrast is the saltiness and the sweetness of the Maple syrup.

You will need to dip your spoon all the way to the bottom to get all the contrast in one bite.

Crab Toasties with roasted Asparagus with poached quail egg

This dish is still part of the first course

Lightly roasted asparagus is drizzled with an orange vinaigrette and served with a poached quail egg.

A crab toasties is served together with the roasted asparagus.

The group enjoying the first course

2nd Course: Hamachi

The Hamachi is served on a bed of diced avocado and tomatoes and drizzled with a ponzu, ginger and honey sauce and served with fried wonton.

 I love this dish!  The sauce has a lot of umami and the Hamachi combined with the richness of the avocado is really delicious.

3rd Course: Scallop soufflé

My soufflé did not rise as I intended but all the flavors are there and it is still delicious.

Everybody loved the mushrooms soup together with the scallop soufflé.

I also served a piece of toasted bread with canned foie gras and sautéed mushrooms to be eaten with the soup.

The foie gras was rich, flavorful and decadent with the soup.

4th Course: Beets and Leeks.

This dish is from the French Laundry.  It is a butter poached lobster dish that has been on the French Laundry menu since the beginning.

Thomas Keller said this dish was inspired by Jean Louis Palladin, a French chef that introduce French Nouvelle cuisine (approach to lighter, more delicate cooking and emphasis on food presentation) to the Washington elite.

This is what Thomas Keller said about the dish: "I think Jean Louis Palladin’s contributions are sometimes overlooked. His quest to revive the farm-to-table relationship was something that had a profound impact on me. His modern interpretations and flavor combinations while unique; were recognizable, such as his beets and leeks dish. Each component was identifiable, yet each flavor combination was new,"

True to French Nouvelle cuisine, the dish was light but so flavorful. 

5th Course: Pasta

Rigatoni with braised short ribs, roasted cherry tomatoes, wilted spinach and sautéed mushroom.

This is definitely a comfort dish that warm your heart.

6th Course: Pan seared duck breast

Pan seared duck breast served with a creamy mushroom sauce topped with sautéed assorted mushrooms.

This is the last savory dish of the evening. 

The duck breast was tender and the mushroom sauce was delicious.

7th Course: Desserts

Panna cotta with passion fruit and tiramisu.  We also have a tarte tatin but we were having too much fun and forgot to take a picture.

We managed to drink 1 bottle of champagne, 4 bottle of white wine, 3 bottles of red wine, and 1 bottle of port.

It was a really fun evening with lots of lively conversations.   We were glad to see that everyone enjoyed the food and had a great time.

NEXT.... Behind the scene

Filed under: Dinner Parties