Each year, we gather with a small group of dear friends — the same cast, year after year, with rare new invites — for an intimate New Year’s Eve dinner. It’s a great excuse to let my creativity run wild with expensive and rare ingredients my wife wouldn’t normally let me buy. Indeed, my friends have come to expect as much.
Here, without further ado, are some highlights of the 12 courses from our 2010/11 New Year’s Eve dinner. Enjoy…
Mise en place
Yellowtail sashimi with spicy lemon aioli, wasabi flying fish roe, crispy garlic and chervil salad
Yellowtail sashimi with spicy lemon aioli, wasabi flying fish roe, crispy garlic and chervil salad
Garlic soft shell crab with roasted shimeji mushrooms and sakura denbu
“Duck clouds” — Rillettes with white truffles, plum sauce and truffle scallion potato mousse
Quail breast medallions, crispy wonton, savoy cabbage and Clementine ginger reduction
Duck liver paté ravioli with mashed Kyoto sweet potato, demi glace butter and shoga ginger
Proscuitto di Parma with winter melon and Calpico gels, sugar shards and pickled garlic
Hickory-smoked five spice baby back ribs with "kim chi" red cabbage chiffonade
Dark chocolate-draped madeleines with coffee whipped cream
The cook
skinny girls & mayonnaise 