The “Play With Your Food” Dinner
- aperos:
- pear and hazelnute madeleines (pear & hazelnut)
- cruidites with onion dip
- home-smoked swordfish rillettes
- wasabi peas
- lollipops on fire (bourbon sweet potato fritters, served on smoldering cinnamon sticks)
- alliterative salad: papaya salad with pickled peppadew peppers, stuffed with goat cheese
- duck burgers on home-made brioche rolls, celery root remoulade, apple chutney, aioli
- home-made corned beef on home-made rye
- parmesan custard, romaine, anchovy dressing, parmesan crisps
- Meryl’s intense chocolate tart
- lemon cayenne cookies
The lollipops were meant to adapt an Alinea idea to human scale. At Alinea, they make three gels – bourbon, sweet potato, and brown sugar – skewer them, and then dip them in tempura batter. The fritter is less refined, but it’s much easier. It’s surprisingly hard, though, to ignite cinnamon sticks.
The papaya salad was supposed to have persimmon, too. But I tasted the persimmon as I was slicing it, and decided that persimmon, while lovely, is not really fit for human consumption. The green papaya wasn’t green, either, but the spicy fish sauce dressing worked anyway.