The tasting menu concept ... is it doable?

[tammylc]

When I first considered this idea, it was back in 2004 .. never did I imagine that someone would be able to do something so intricate and elaborate as a tasting menu in a home setting ...Tammy, I am beyond impressed with your 'vision' and tenacity in making all of the elements work so beautifully!

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*blush*

Thanks! I should note that I'm not exactly working in a home setting. I live in a cohousing community which has shared meals 5 nights a week. It would be exaggerating to say we have a semi-professional kitchen, but it's definitely souped up beyond your average home kitchen, and larger.

*And* we have enough dishes to mean we didn't need to wash up in the middle!

[Gifted Gourmet]

What an inspirational post!  I must have a tasting-menu dinner party . . . SOON!!

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You still have my address, no? I would love to see you do a tasting menu with a focus upon the different types of paprika ...

[Shalmanese]

I'm mildly toying with a 21 course tasting menu for 21 people for my 21st birthday. Seeing your inspirational work tammy has made this seem slightly less crazy.

[tammylc]

I'm mildly toying with a 21 course tasting menu for 21 people for my 21st birthday. Seeing your inspirational work tammy has made this seem slightly less crazy.

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But only slightly, right?

To be sure I'm giving credit where credit is due, I should note here that I had at least 8 people helping at different stages of the cooking and plating. Now I could probably have pulled this off with fewer hands, but it would have meant spending a lot more time cooking. We were able to get a lot done in the 3 hours just before dinner because we had so many people chopping and prepping, etc. And then a bunch more people who did the dishes after so I could go home and fall over.

Edited April 10, 2006 by tammylc (log)

[BryanZ]

I'm mildly toying with a 21 course tasting menu for 21 people for my 21st birthday. Seeing your inspirational work tammy has made this seem slightly less crazy.

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Please do this. I would do 20 for my 20th, but I don't think I have 20 friends.

[bavila]

Thanks for the post Tammy! Having that cohousing kitchen goes a long way. And maybe a babysitter too? When you were posting your plans earlier, I kept thinking, "where will the baby be in all that cooking?"

[tammylc]

Thanks for the post Tammy!  Having that cohousing kitchen goes a long way.  And maybe a babysitter too?  When you were posting your plans earlier, I kept thinking, "where will the baby be in all that cooking?"

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Cohousing kitchen definitely helps. Not the cooking equipment per se, because plenty of home kitchens have 2 ovens and a six burner stove. It's the commercial dishwasher with the 2 minute cycle that really rocks.

My husband was on baby duty early in the day, and we had a babysitter come and look after him and two children of another wine club couple while we were eating.

[tammylc]

Over in another thread I mentioned a scallop dinner I organized for my husband recently, and Alex wanted to know more. It would have been off topic over there, but this seems like a reasonable place for it...

In early June my husband turned 40. To celebrate, we intvited a bunch of friends over for dinner. Despite having 6 children (ages 3 months, 8 months, almost 3, 2.5, 2, and 8) running around, we managed to pull off a surprisingly ambitious menu.

My husband had expressed a while back that he wanted me to cook him 5 lbs of scallops for his birthday. We eventually agreed that 5 lbs was probably too many, but the goal was clear - eat a LOT of scallops (he hesitates to order scallops in restaurants, because the serving size is usually too skimpy). As things evolved into this big dinner party idea, my idea was that each couple would prepare a different scallop course. As it actually happened, we ended up asking one non-cook couple to bring dessert instead, and I added an extra non-scallop course because I had bought food for dinner on Friday night that didn't get used. Here's what we ended up with.

<b>Scallop Mousse in Phyllo Cups</b> (Scott)

This was supposed to be Scott's dish, but then we realized he had left the phyllo cups at home. As he dashed off to get them, I prepared the mousse. Unfortunately, I forgot the salt. Fortunately, once we sprinkled them with some kosher salt, they were better. We ended up with 45 of these tasty little bites, but I forgot to take the picture until there were only a few left. I will keep this in mind for the future as good for an hors d'oeuvres party - they're easy, make a lot, and specifically call for the cheaper kind of scallops ("wet")

<b>Grilled Bacon Wrapped Scallops</b> (Jay and Tracy)

The scallops were marinated in something - olive oil, lemon, herbs? - I don't quite remember. And then wrapped with parboiled bacon, stuck on skewers and grilled. Cooking bacon on the grill caused some major flare ups, but that meant the scallops had a great smoky flavor. We used cheap supermarket scallops for this recipe, assuming that the bacon would obscure any subtle flavor differences. These were very tasty.

<b>Seared Scallops with Wild Mushrooms and Fresh-picked Garden Lettuces</b> (me, with Tracy's lettuce)

I have made this Mario Batali recipe before, and it was the first thing that came to mind when I was deciding what to cook. Shallots and mushrooms are sauteed in olive oil, then dressed with balsalmic vinegar. While it's still warm, you toss it with the greens, then top with seared scallops. It's a great combination of earth and sea. When I've made this before I've always had to satisfy myself with just criminis and maybe shiitakes for the "wild" mushrooms. But Sparrow actually had some chanterelles today, so I got a few. Don't know that it was worth it, as the balsalmic vinegar hid any unique flavor they might have had, but they did add a different texture that was nice. For this dish we used the shockingly expensive freshly harvested flown in same day scallops from Monahan's, and they had good flavor and texture.

<b>Tomato Basil Sorbet</b> (Scott)

Scott brought over some leftover tomato water leftover from he and Sue's tomato canning last year. He doctored it up with finely chopped basil, sugar, salt and balsalmic vinegar, and the end result was more tomatoey than tomatoes themselves. It was good, and surprising - like eating tomato basil salad or bruschetta in frozen form.

<b>Duck Bangers with Truffled Mash and Grilled Asparagus</b> (me)

So I'd picked up a couple of duck and dried cherry sausages and potatoes from Sparrow with the intention of making them for dinner on Friday. Pondering the price of scallops, I thought that perhaps adding a non-scallop dish to the scallop meal wouldn't be a bad idea. So we ended up with grilled duck sausage and white truffle oil infused mashed potatoes. With fresh farmer's market asparagus on the side.

<b>Assorted Desserts</b> (Tom and Maggi)

Maggi and Tom brought a variety of individual desserts from Whole Foods - strawberry shortcake, strawberry cheesecake, and creme brulee. The individual nature was a huge boon, as we'd exceeded bedtimes in the IJ household, and this way we were easily able to send Scott and Sue off with desserts for later. Here's the cheesecake:

The kids had hot dogs, mashed sweet potatoes and cheese. I wasn't sure what the best way was to organize food for the kids. We ended up feeding them as we ate our bacon wrapped scallops. They were mostly done by the time we were into the salad, but with full tummies they ran off to play (relatively) peacefully while we ate the rest of our dinner. So it worked out perfectly!

We drank three bottles of wine with dinner. While you might tend to think scallops would call for white wines, our preparations on the dishes were really much more red wine friendly - bacon, mushrooms, etc. So I pulled a bunch of things out of the basement that I thought would go. With the scallop mousse cups we had a <b>white Cotes du Rhone, a 2004 from Domaine de L'Oratoire Saint-Martin</b>. For the rest, we poured two different wines so we could compare and contrast (it was a wine geek heavy dinner). I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the <b>2002 Cotes du Ventoux Cuvee des 3 Messes Basses</b>, but it was a lovely Southern french wine. Relatively light bodied with good acidity with berry and green olive notes. Reminded me a lot of the Ermitage Pic St. Loup my wine club tasted in May. I knew exactly what to expect from the <b>1998 Teldeschi Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel</b>. It's a beatiful wine - mellow tannins, lots of fruit, not so alcoholic as many Zins. I bought a few bottles of this more than a year ago, and this was my last one. It may have been the last in existence - my wineseller can't get it anymore. So I've been waiting for a good moment to open it, and this seemed like the right time. Glad I did - it was a nice accompaniment to dinner, and it was good to share with friends.

And, in case you were wondering, even though we gave Eric extra scallops on all his courses, he still didn't feel that he got enough. Me, I haven't been able to look at a scallop since then.