Food

Cooking comes fairly easy to me but coming up with a menu is a difficult task. Coming up with an inventive new menu to dazzle my friends and presenting a satisfying meal on the table lead to one same question: What can I cook for dinner? Finding culinary inspiration can be a challenge, particularly when there are only 4 most common types of protein to choose from: chicken, beef, duck, and pork. Since I been entertaining a while now, it is hard to make it fresh and new for every single dinner party so it is a bit of struggle to come up with new ways to prepare the meats. In the end I decided to go with an amuse bouche from the French Laundry, and a 4 course-dinner. Let's start!

This recipe is from Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. Check out the menu we had at the French Laundry in 2006

This recipe is not difficult to make but it is very time consuming. I really enjoyed making and everyone enjoyed it so it is definitely a keeper

First course: Pan seared Foie gras with balsamic reduction and served with roasted butternut squash.

Hoa forgot to take a picture but since I made this dish quite often I just reused one of my picture. I actually served it with roasted butternut squash because it is the holidays!

I drizzled the Foie gras with a balsamic reduction sauce and served it with Sauternes that Phuc brought.

Second course: scallops and shrimp gratinée on a bed of mashed celery root and celery emulsion

The picture is not great! You can not see the celery emulsion sauce but this will give you an idea of how I presented this dish.

Hoa only took 1 picture of this dish when it is was served. This picture is a work in progress...

I had too much in my mind that I forgot to make a gratinée. The dish could be a lot better with the gratinée because it adds a nice crunch.

This picture is from when I was making the dish just for Hoa and Kevin. Here you can see the gratinée on top.

Third course: Crispy pork belly with bordelaise sauce and served with caramelized endives

This is a really special dish for me! The recipe was from my mom. I gave it a little twist by serving it with a bordelaise sauce and served with caramelized endives. This is what I was talking about coming with a new way to serve a dish.

The pork belly is crispy and so unexpected. This dish was probably the star of the evening.

The last dish of the evening was a pan seared duck breast served with peppercorn sauce on a bed of ratatouille.

The duck was cooked perfectly and we all love the ratatouille. The peppercorn sauce was also very good and went very well with the duck.

Maily knew I was going to cook all day so she offered to bake all the desserts for me.

Panna Cotta with raspberries, upside down pineapple cake, recipe from the French Laundry, and Sticky toffee pudding cake.

I love the panna cotta so fresh and simply delicious!

You can not go wrong with sticky pudding served with ice cream..