A la Carte Kitchen Week 7

A la Carte Kitchen Week 7


I can't believe it's Week 7 already! Not a whole lot of specialty ingredients--just this specialty product called Activa GS, a 'meat glue' that can stick pieces/chunks of meat together, whether they be beef, chicken, or fish.

This week's menu:
Amuse & Bread: Cheese plate with Date-pecan shortbread and Rhubarb-Fennel Bread
Soup: Roasted Corn and Pearl Onion Soup
Salad: White Asparagus Panna Cotta with Watercress
Pasta: Ramp Pasta
Entree: Wagyu Skirt Steak with Creamed Corn
Dessert: Taste and Textures of Chai & Honey

My parents came with our friend T-san for Tuesday lunch service. Unlike dinner, they get a three-course instead of the six. So they get the amuse/bread, a choice of soup or salad, pasta or entree, and the dessert. My parents got the salad, T-san got the soup, and all of them got the entree. (FYI: My parents were reluctant to come to my school's restaurant, but they changed their minds when I told them that the entree is going to be Wagyu steak this week).

Amuse & Bread (different plating): It was a good idea to serve the amuse and the bread at the same time. The Rhubarb-fennel bread didn't really taste anything special, more like a spice bread. The cheese plate had the Purple Haze Goat Cheese, Rosemary Cheddar, and Barely Buzzed Cheese (from a local creamery).

Soup: Roasted Corn and Pearl Onion Soup. With bacon-onion jam. They made the Ultimate Bacon on top of the onion slices, then pureed everything. Everyone raved about the soup! I took some of the jam home myself, and even my parents liked it.

Salad: White Asparagus Panna Cotta & Watercress. With roasted beets, wild rice, hazelnuts, rosemary parmesan shortbread, fresh peas, all tossed in Tangerine Vinaigrette. Oh, and shaved Purple Haze goat cheese. There were so many components on the salad, it took three of us to plate it on time.

Pasta: Ramp Pasta. They grilled the ramps, pureed them, and incorporated the puree into the pasta. Served with rosemary-cheddar sauce and Parmesan cheese crisps.

Entree: Wagyu Skirt Steak with Creamed Corn. Great flavor, but it turns out they cut the steak a little too thick, and my dad couldn't finish it all--it was too chewy. They really liked the daikon accompaniment on it though--as a matter of fact, on the special occassion that we do eat steak, we always serve daikon-oroshi to go with it. The enzyme, diastase, in the daikon helps with the digestion.

Dessert: Taste and Textures of Chai & Honey. With chai-spiced caramel sauce; terrine made of chai-ginger cake, bay leaf gelato, jasmine meringue; honey macaron with curry buttercream; Shasta gold tangerine curd. Everything was good, I think my personal favorite component of this dessert was the jasmine meringue.