Cook to Ride

As part of our fundraiser, Taste of Spring, I auctioned off a gourmet dinner, and last night, the winners of that auction item cashed in, so to speak.

The dinner was the highest bid on auction item, so I wanted to do a really great job. The hostess decided upon salmon, which is something I have cooked a lot of, so I felt pretty confident I could pull off a good meal.

I started my prep earlier in the week, starting with making a fresh pea soup. It was a recipe I had not tried before, so I wanted to make sure it was good. The recipe was simple, though time consuming. It was a simple soup of sauteed shallots, water, a potato and peas. I decided to change the water to chicken stock, for starters, and I added a bit more potato. I simmered it, and then it was time to get out the immersion blender to puree it. I probably would have been better off letting it cool and running it through the food mill, and if I make it again that will be my plan of action. But even after a food mill, I'd run it through a sieve, as I did this time, to make sure I get all the "solids" out. I also added just a touch of lemon zest to boost the flavor. It was light, but it was good.

On to hors d'oeuvre prep. I inadvertently bought black olives with pits, so before I could tackle the tapenade, I pitted olives. Glad to have a pitter-- made the job pretty simple.

I make a very simple but flavorful tapenade with black olives, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and a little olive oil. I whipped that up in the Cuisinart in a flash. Delicious. I served that with a goat cheese spread, and it was a hit.

One hors d'oeuvre had to be made at the event, but I think it was worth it. I made little phyllo cups and then filled them with chopped pears, Camemzola cheese, topped with a pecan. They were lovely and I thought delicious. (Yes, I tried one-- quality control.)
I also served some really good aged Gouda, and that constituted the hors d'oeuvres.

As I wrote earlier, first course was the soup. That was followed by a simple salad with Balsamic vinaigrette. I did put a little truffle salt in the dressing, and it added just a hint of a little more depth of flavor. Probably not identifiable to the diners, but I think it added a nice taste.

Dinner was salmon, roasted potatoes and roasted asparagus. I oven poached the salmon. I cut 6-8 ounce servings and wrapped them in foil, topped with some dill, lemon slices and a scallion, and sprinkled them with white wine. I also made a lovely sour cream dill sauce. I ladled a bit of that on the fish after it was plated.

I found the smallest potatoes I could find and initially roasted them in a moderate oven, then turned up the heat. They were crisp on the outside, tender on the inside. Perfect.

Since the oven was small, I roasted the asparagus first, sprinkled with olive oil, a little butter and lemon, and served them cold. Not my first choice, but since this was a home oven, not commercial, it was what had to be done.

My friend Rene contributed the dessert. She made lovely individual lemon pots de creme and lavender creme brulees.

Jerry was my sous chef and waiter, and we worked beautifully together. Since the dinner was for eight, it was relatively low stress and our timing was impeccable. As the guests finished dessert and sipped port, we cleaned up the kitchen, said our good nights, and headed home.

We will see this couple again, as they were also the high bidders on Jerry's aerial tour of the Bay.