K Kruger
Senior Cook
Got in from Vegas on Friday afternoon and found out I was cooking for a party of 11 for the next evening. Managed to hit the store and get a couple butts on by 11pm Fri night (rubbed with (in order of volume) thyme, onion, sage, marjoram, extra hot NM chile, sugar, coriander, sumac, garlic, green, white and black ground peppercorns, and cinnamon. Stretched it slightly with some Szeged paprika).
Prepped the rest Saturday. Dinner started at 6:30 with this app:
Chilled grilled shrimp cocktail
[16-20 white shrimp, straight brined, then peeled and marinated in evoo with lime juice and zest, a little garlic and thyme. Grilled then chilled. The cocktail sauce I made out of diced tomato, tamarind paste, fresh pineapple juice, flesh from one mango, a hunk of Vidalia, a hunk of red bell pepper, a roasted ripe jalapeno, lemon juice, lime juice, ginger, horseradish powder, salt and pepper and a little honey]
Then chilled soup (cuke with an avocado-chive garnish):
Next, a mixed greens salad tossed with calamondin-aji amarillo vinaigrette, topped with red bell julienne, Vidalia julienne, and hand-picked blue crab lump meat; drizzled with a little more dressing:
[The lettuce was mainly butter lettuce, a great one with crab, plus a little baby romaine (red and green), a little frissée, and a bit of radicchio. The dressing: a dried aji amarillo reconstituted in boiling water then peeled, split, seeds removed, mashed into calamondin juice (a sour orange juice) whisked with a tiny bit of minced garlic, a little minced Vidalia, salt, white pepper, and a tiny bit of honey, then emulsified with Morea evoo with a hand blender.]
The entrée: Raz el hanout-dusted sea scallop, grilled, then served atop a cauliflower purée, with chopped salt-wilted baby spinach, and a sauce of reduced Sauvignon blanc and fresh pineapple juice.
[Not shown (mistakenly deleted the pic), a beef dish served the same way for a diner who does not eat scallops. For this, I simply seared a small piece of flat iron steak at the same time I grilled the shrimp. I cooked it only to very rare then chilled it. For service, I sliced it into 1/4-inch x 1/2-inch x 1/2 inch pieces, tossed with a little of the same spice blend, then heated indirect at the same time I grilled the scallops. I mounded the beef on the plate atop the cauli purée and dressed and sauced the plate the same way as I did for the scallop. Raz el hanout is a blend of spices one finds in Moroccan cuisine. The blend is made by--and specific to--the spice vendors who make it. It rarely contains herbs but can contain upwards of 15 spices. I make mine with over 25, including the standard additions of mace, cinnamon, allspice, coriander, cardamom, plus the less familar (in the US) cubeb, grains of paradise, long pepper, rosebud, lavender, orris root, African bird pepper--and several other items--plus a little bay leaf.]
The main course: pork pulled into large pieces (rather than shredded), tossed with finishing sauce for reheating, then topped with a caramelized onion/pineapple-based sauce made with a little tomato, lots of tamarind paste, garlic, thyme, bay and honey, finished with lime. The pork was served over lightly sauteed triangles of grits made with minced andouille and Mahon cheese. Not shown, a side of warm Napa slaw (Napa, shredded and braised with onion, red and orange bell peppers, and dusted with minced toasted pecans.
Click images for larger versions.
Prepped the rest Saturday. Dinner started at 6:30 with this app:
Chilled grilled shrimp cocktail
[16-20 white shrimp, straight brined, then peeled and marinated in evoo with lime juice and zest, a little garlic and thyme. Grilled then chilled. The cocktail sauce I made out of diced tomato, tamarind paste, fresh pineapple juice, flesh from one mango, a hunk of Vidalia, a hunk of red bell pepper, a roasted ripe jalapeno, lemon juice, lime juice, ginger, horseradish powder, salt and pepper and a little honey]
Then chilled soup (cuke with an avocado-chive garnish):
Next, a mixed greens salad tossed with calamondin-aji amarillo vinaigrette, topped with red bell julienne, Vidalia julienne, and hand-picked blue crab lump meat; drizzled with a little more dressing:
[The lettuce was mainly butter lettuce, a great one with crab, plus a little baby romaine (red and green), a little frissée, and a bit of radicchio. The dressing: a dried aji amarillo reconstituted in boiling water then peeled, split, seeds removed, mashed into calamondin juice (a sour orange juice) whisked with a tiny bit of minced garlic, a little minced Vidalia, salt, white pepper, and a tiny bit of honey, then emulsified with Morea evoo with a hand blender.]
The entrée: Raz el hanout-dusted sea scallop, grilled, then served atop a cauliflower purée, with chopped salt-wilted baby spinach, and a sauce of reduced Sauvignon blanc and fresh pineapple juice.
[Not shown (mistakenly deleted the pic), a beef dish served the same way for a diner who does not eat scallops. For this, I simply seared a small piece of flat iron steak at the same time I grilled the shrimp. I cooked it only to very rare then chilled it. For service, I sliced it into 1/4-inch x 1/2-inch x 1/2 inch pieces, tossed with a little of the same spice blend, then heated indirect at the same time I grilled the scallops. I mounded the beef on the plate atop the cauli purée and dressed and sauced the plate the same way as I did for the scallop. Raz el hanout is a blend of spices one finds in Moroccan cuisine. The blend is made by--and specific to--the spice vendors who make it. It rarely contains herbs but can contain upwards of 15 spices. I make mine with over 25, including the standard additions of mace, cinnamon, allspice, coriander, cardamom, plus the less familar (in the US) cubeb, grains of paradise, long pepper, rosebud, lavender, orris root, African bird pepper--and several other items--plus a little bay leaf.]
The main course: pork pulled into large pieces (rather than shredded), tossed with finishing sauce for reheating, then topped with a caramelized onion/pineapple-based sauce made with a little tomato, lots of tamarind paste, garlic, thyme, bay and honey, finished with lime. The pork was served over lightly sauteed triangles of grits made with minced andouille and Mahon cheese. Not shown, a side of warm Napa slaw (Napa, shredded and braised with onion, red and orange bell peppers, and dusted with minced toasted pecans.
Click images for larger versions.