Of Food and Art: January 2010

My first blog. This is exciting! I don't know how this site will evolve but I will start with food. There will be lots of photographs of food - food from some parties, from the gourmet club dinners, or just plain exciting food that I come across.

Let's start with the great and fun EGCC (Eastside Gourmet Cooking Club) dinner on September 19, 2009. We had a memorable Thomas Keller dinner where we tried our hands at some of the most amazing dishes from his book, the French Laundry.

And here's a glimpse of some of the EGCC members ...

Powders. Oh, the vibrant colors of fruits, vegetables and spices ground to powders!

From left to right: red onion powder, citrus powder (lemon, orange and lime), beet powder, fennel and mustard powder, carrot powder

Let's drink!

Now let's get to the food.

First, we had Parmigiano-Reggiano Crisps with Goat Cheese Mousse. John had some challenges making this dish but after a few tries, he got it to work. Great job, John. Woo-hoo!

Next up, cornets!

Salmon Tartare with Sweet Red Onion Crème Fraîche served in cornets. Yumm!

Here's one in a deep bowl of salt.

And here's more, this time in bowls of salt and pepper.

This is a wonderful appetizer! Jean went all the way with this one, including the origami lilies!

Then another appetizer, of course! This gourmet club loves to eat. Shrimp with Avocado Salsa. So colorful and refreshing! Thanks, Trish!

So we finally make it to the table and start with Thomas Keller's Whipped Brie de Meaux en Feuilleté with Tellicherry Pepper and Baby Mâche. Connie and Doug made this beautiful course that is a great combination of textures and flavors.

We then had some quail eggs, French Laundry's Soft Poached Quail Eggs with Applewood-Smoked Bacon. Look at Connie's striking presentation!

So now it's time to have Thomas Keller's version of Ceasar Salad. Tony was the creative master for this dish. It's called Parmigiano-Reggiano Custards with Romaine Lettuce Anchovy Dressing and Parmesan Crisps.

It's now time for the first of two main dishes. We start with Red Mullet with Palette d'Ail Doux and Garlic Chips. This was a real challenge. So many components to this dish and so many steps for each component. You start with the parsley coulis base to the egg and garlic palette, then the fish, then this is topped with parsley salad, then crowned with garlic chips!

Now we move on to the second main dish, a hearty cassoulet. Although this is not a French Laundry recipe, it still is a Thomas Keller one which he adapted for All-Clad's slow-cooker. So here it is, Slow-Cooker Cassoulet.

Let's have dessert! What's more appropriate than Îles Flottantes? So here it is, Slow-Baked Meringues with Crème Anglaise and Bittersweet Chocolate, another recipe that involves numerous steps. There's the Crème Anglaise base, the meringue, the surprise chocolate mousse inside the meringues, the thin chocolate cookie, shavings of chocolate, some sprig of mint, and, last but not the least, mint oil.

Here's Chef Dean laying the groundwork. Uhmm, this will take a while.