Well, we did it again, a major eight course dinner for Holly on Mother’s day.  We invited 5 other people over and had a great time.

Now, on to the courses!

Palate Starter

Carrot and Ginger Sorbet

Tapas

Mild Italian Sausage with sun dried tomatoes in marinara

Stuffed Mushroom with pancetta, goat cheese, spinach and tomato

Black olive tapenade and warm kavash

Cheese Platter

Isigny brie, Kaltbach gruyere, Henning Wisconsin white cheddar, and Dorblu Champignon

with tapenade, honey fig spread, quince spread, apple mint jelly, and roasted red pepper and tomatoes

served with hot sourdough bread

Hot sourdough bread

Salad

Dungeness Crab cake with lime cilantro tartar and chipotle mayonnaise

served with a goat cheese stuffed wasabi pear wrapped in prosciutto in a bed of butterleaf lettuce

Soup

Cream of Asparagus soup

topped with creme fraiche and a garlic rubbed crouton

Palate Cleanser

Lemonade oregano sorbet

 

Main Course

Roasted pork loin over vegetables with a chardonnay/orange demi-glace

Parmesan roasted potatoes and dilled green beans

Dessert

White chocolate raspberry creme brulee

 

Yeah, that’s my plumbing torch in the kitchen…the joy

Latte

Mocha with orange hazelnut biscotti

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun.  Thanks to Brian for the great pictures.  Thanks to Holly for putting up with my crazy hobbies.  Comments, anyone?

This past weekend Holly and I made homemade sausages.  We made a mild Italian sausage with sundried tomato.  They turned out really tasty.  I went down to a local butcher in Bellevue and got some casing (artificial) and back fat.  It’s amazing what fresh herbs, spices, and garlic do to sausage.  The taste is awesome.  

 

Here is my recipe:

• Pork back fat
• Pork spare ribs
• Kosher salt
• black pepper
• crushed red pepper
• red wine
• minced garlic
• fresh italian flat parsley
• sun dried tomatoes
• sugar
• anise seeds
• carraway seeds
• cumin seeds (just a pinch)

I ground all of the seeds, pepper, and salt in my mortor and pestel and then added it to the meat along with everything else (the meat and fat was diced into 1" cubes).  I then let it chill in the freezer until it was almost frozen before I ground it up.  After sitting in the casings for a day it tasted much better than the first night…the seasonings had time to marinate.

Next I want to make a chicken pork pear sage sausage.  I’ll update on how it turns out.