A La Cuisine!

Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream, Pain Perdu, and Tea Jelly

I have long been an advocate of having dessert for breakfast, but at England’s The Fat Duck, breakfast is the new dessert.  Amidst the restaurant’s menu of Snail Porridge and Sardine on Toast Sorbet, a finale of Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream seems to fit right in.  After reading rave reviews about this dish, I simply had to try it myself.  But since my chances of dining at The Fat Duck in the foreseeable future are next to zero, I spent last weekend trying to recreate it at home.

As you may have guessed, this dessert is Chef Heston Blumenthal’s whimsical take on a traditional English breakfast.  In addition to the Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream, the dish also includes a sweet and slightly sour Tomato and Red Pepper Jam, caramelized French Toast (or Pain Perdu), a rich and creamy Salted Butter Caramel, and a refreshing glass of Tea Jelly.  The complete recipes for the dessert can be found here and here.

Dinner Series Wrap-up

While the Steelers and Seahawks spent the past couple weeks training for the Superbowl, I was in my kitchen preparing for two big events of my own.  My dinners last weekend may not have had a halftime show, and I didn’t get to douse my guests with Gatorade, but I accomplished what I set out to do, and thought the food was delicious.

Here's a summary of the dishes I served.  It may seem like a lot of work, but it's hardly fair for me to call it that when I had so much fun and learned so much along the way.

Butter-Poached Lobster Salad and Lobster Bisque (not shown)

Succulent lobster, bitter greens, and creamy and sweet lobster bisque.  The star of this dish is Thomas Keller’s famous butter-poached lobster.  After steeping each lobster in water and extracting its semi-raw meat, the meat is gently cooked in a butter emulsion, which loads the lobster with flavour and creates a melt in your mouth texture.

Crab and Avocado Ravioli

This is my attempt at L’Astrance’s signature dish.  Essentially, it’s a very simple preparation consisting of fresh dungeness crab meat sandwiched by two thin slices of organic Haas avocado.  The top slice of avocado is seasoned with lime and orange zest, Fleur de Sel, and almond oil (which helps lubricate the palate just as the avocado begins to melt).  Simple as it may be, this dish succeeds on a very fine balance of ingredients.