That notwithstanding, New Year's Eve is now an evening we spend at home - we avoid expensive unsatisfying events and I get to PLAY! This year's evening was a 6 course tasting menu of my own devising.
We started out the evening with Hamachi crudo - I managed to score some delicious hamachi from Pacific Fresh Fish, so I sliced it and served it with thinly sliced radish, pomegranate and asian pear. The dressing was white soy, lime and orange juices (since I still cannot seem to procure any yuzu juice) thickened with a little xanthan gum. This course was hubs' favorite of the night apart from dessert.
Next up was probably the most complicated dish. It's home cured gravlax with a crispy salmon skin pillow. I picked up a fresh fillet of salmon (also from Pacific Fresh) which they kindly scaled and skinned for me, managing to keep the skin in one large piece. Perfect for the salmon pillows. Tamara, at Pacific Fresh, also offered to vac seal it for me when she found out I'd be doing sous vide - on the skin that is, the fillet was a standard gravlax cure.
The gravlax itself is pretty straightforward - salt, sugar, spices and dill, tightly wrapped in plastic and turned in the fridge twice a day for about 3 days. perfectly cured and the texture is amazing. The skin however, is another matter. You start by doing a sous vide of the skin for 3 hours. I got this recipe from the Modernist Cuisine collection of books.
Step one is to sous vide the entire whole salmon skin for 3 hours, remove from vac bag and cool. Then cut into squares and carefully brush the edges with a solution of Activa GS and water (transglutaminase) the place 2 squares, skin side out, together, vac seal and chill for 6 hours. Finally, drop the sealed squares into hot oil at 350 degrees and watch them puff and crisp!
This was a lot of work for a garnish on one dish but it really made the plate. The crispness contrasted well with the creamy gravlax and this was one of my favorite bites of the evening.
Next up we had a foie gras terrine with cranberry compote, crostini and champagne.
I made the terrine 2 days ahead by pressing chunks of foie gras into mini-ramekins and baking in a water bath at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Pour off the fat and reserve, chill the ramekins and then pour the fat back over (and around the sides where the foie gras pulls away from the ramekin) to cover. Chill and unmold to serve.
The next dish was the simplest to prepare - it was a filet mignon sprinkled with smoked salt and seared. I served it with trumpet mushrooms, bok choy and a mirin glaze.
Are you full yet? Tired? That's OK, we're nearing the home stretch. The final savory dish was venison. Elk to be more precise.
I sous vide the elk loin and then seared it in a very hot pan to get some caramelization on the outside - gotta love the maillard reaction, right? It was served with a demi-glace (which I had made several days prior and froze in ice cube trays) and cherry sauce and fondant potatoes. If you haven't tried fondant potatoes, go do it now. Trust me. Creamy inside, crunchy outside. What's not to love?
OK and now we finally reach the end of our debaucherous repast.
I saw an episode of Master Chef Junior which had the kids making croquembouche. Well hell, if kids can do it, I can do it better, right? So I made a mini-version with extra tiny puffs, filled with luscious grand marnier infused pastry cream. It's hard to see in the photo but the crackling caramel surrounds the 'tree' in threads as well as being used to build the croquembouche.
Hubs and I will no doubt be working this meal off for the rest of January but it was great fun to make and I like lots of small bites!
Happy New Year and welcome 2016!
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