CHEF'S TABLE
So here at Chef's Table, we invite you to meet the Chef behind the scenes. At Chef's Table, you'll discover everything from Kurt's favorite new recipe and fascinating food news to party-planning tips and entertaining features and gifts. So pull up a chair, pour yourself another cup of coffee and get ready for the real scoop!
Always on the prowl for new ideas
Entertaining has been the heart and soul of our business for its nearly 21 years. The sheer joy of pleasing people through food and creating the environment to deliver that food is my inspiration. It is a heart driven craft.
When entertaining at home my menu planning starts with a focus on one special item. I am always on the prowl, eyes wide open, to new ideas. It could be a new piece of china, flatware or glassware recently added to my personal collection. It could be a peak of the season ingredient discovered on my Saturday foray at the Farmers Market. I love to feature an eye pleasing and palate teasing first and last impression and I believe you eat with your eye first so the stage must be appropriately set to be inviting.
My most recent find instantly started my creative juices flowing. I could not get home fast enough to start playing! Should I build a first course? Should it be an appetizer offered to guests with champagne before dinner? Or an amuse bouche? How about for the dessert course or simply for demitasse coffee with petite sweets on the side? So many options, all of which I am sure I will eventually try.
I show it here with a seasonal favorite combination: chilled spring pea soup with a mini crab, avocado and arugula crostini. You might consider it for a first course at a dinner party or a passed item at a cocktail party. The possibilities are limitless. Have fun experimenting with your own favorite specialty items! You will find the recipe for the chilled spring pea soup with a mini crab, avocado and arugula crostini in the Recipe section.
Mini Crab, Avocado and Arugula Crostini
Cut bread in your shape of choice, brush with olive oil and toast in the oven 10-15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Dungeness Crab Salad
½ lb. fresh crabmeat
4 T shaved fresh fennel
4 T. chopped scallion
1 T. chiffonade of arugula
1-2 T lime juice to taste
¼ to ½ C yogurt to bind
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together
Avocado Puree
Mash 1 avocado leaving it a bit chunky with
½ tsp finely chopped jalapeno or to taste
1 T finely chopped cilantro
1 T lime juice
Finely grated zest of ½ lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together. If making in advance, place the avocado pit in the puree to
keep it from browning and cover tightly.
Place an arugula leaf on each crostini, top with crab salad and finish with avocado
puree.
Garnish with a fine chiffonade of arugula.
Serve the crostini as a side to the soup sip!
Chilled Minted Spring Pea Soup Sip
2 C fresh organic peas shelled or frozen Organic Columbia River Petit Peas
1 ½ cups organic chicken stock
3 T finely chopped shallots, sautee in extra virgin olive oil
4-5 fresh mint leaves or to taste
Lemon juice, salt and white pepper to taste
Cook the peas in the boiling stock for 3 or 4 minutes until just done. Strain the peas, saving the liquid. Blanch the peas in ice water just to set the color and stop the cooking.
Blend the peas, stock and mint to smooth consistency. Chill immediately and serve ice cold.
Pour into cups, garnish with a dollop of yogurt or cream fraiche and garnish with fennel fronds or chive.
This season's entertaining feature is THE GLASS DOME:
Showcased here as an "edible" centerpiece, this antipasto style starter is displayed down the table bordered by bear grass. It certainly adds an element of surprise to the start of any meal. If prepared prior to guest arrival, the room temperature food items are kept fresh, allowing you to enjoy time with your friends and not in the kitchen.
There are a myriad of uses, such as presenting an amuse bouche, a palate teaser, to set a tantalizing tone for the evening. We make edible domes to conceal a special course in order accomplish the same element of intrigue and surprise. Now you can create the same without making the dome.
How about for a dessert? An orange-saffron poached Seckel pear dipped in chocolate, wrapped in an orange zest ribbon adds an element of aroma when the lid is lifted. Or mimic the dome with a pyramid shaped dessert for a wow! factor. A pyramid-shaped cheese, like Acapella from Petaluma's Andante Dairy, served with organic honey dripping from a piece of fresh honeycomb will leave your guests talking!
The possibilities are endless, let your imagination guide you!
