Day 3 - Atera - 9/10/13

11 main course

Without skipping a beat, we are starting the main part of our meal with a fresh and beautiful salad made with:

1- Fresh peaches, roasted corn, artic rose (rosa acicularis)

Such a nice presentation!

Starting the main dish with a really light dish.  Sweet fresh peach with whipped corn puree (white) and roasted corn puree (yellow)

Very delicate dish to eat.  The 2 roasted corn puree has an intense flavor of corn and is so delicious.

Chefs plating the dish by using tweezers to place the rose petals on the plate.

2-Blue Fin Tuna, tomato preserves, sunflower (helianthus annuus)

This dish looks like a flower arrangement!

Love this dish!  fresh tuna with tomato preserve, very simply seasoned with coarse sea salt, olive oil, and lime juice- very well balanced and so delectable.

3- Razor clam, garlic, and almond

I cannot imagine how long and meticulous it took the staff to plate this dish. All the ingredients: razor clam, almond, and garlic are stacked together to form like a flower.

At first look it is impossible to differentiate the razor clam, almond and garlic.  They all looks so similar visually so it is not possible to differentiate between the 3 ingredients!  The only way to tell is to taste it and then as you are chewing it you will discover the 3 different textures and the play of textures was very interesting.  The flavors of each ingredient was subtle but lovely.  I just wish there were more razor clam (so sweet and has a chewy consistency).

4- Sea Urchin, carrot, Nasturtium, tropaeolum majus

Colorful and so beautiful to look at.

I moved the flowers petals and leaves on the top and discovered underneath fresh and succulent sea urchin with carrots sauce.

Love this dish!  So refreshing and satisfying.

5- Diver scallop, fermented cabbage leaf, Hazelnut (corylus avellana)

Diver scallop came next, barely cooked then draped over a sour cabbage with hazelnut butter for dipping.

6- Dried beets, brown butter, blackberry

Simple dish full with flavors and very interesting textures.  The dried beats has a very interesting texture (chewy but soft and tasty) combined with the sweet and tart blackberries and a drizzle of brown butter sauce.

7- Peekytoe crab ravioli, toasted grain dashi

A single peekytoe crab ravioli wrapped in yuba swimming in a toasted grain dashi. The broth was a bit salty but has a very nice aroma.

The ravioli was really to die for.  The crab meat was sweet and very tasty.

Butter and bread

We got a little break between the next course and home made steeped and churned butter (3 days process to make) made from crème fraîche and Winnimere cheese rind.

The second tray is a salted rye bread with a distinct coffee flavor.

Doughnut-like roll basted in Mangalitsa pork fat.

I love this bread!  The crust is crunchy and the pork fat made it so tasty.  I could eat 10 of them smeared in butter but I am not going to, got to save room for a lot more courses.

8- Sepia noodles in chicken bouillon

Another trompe l'oeil dish!  The noodles are made with Sepia.  Sepia is a cuttlefish. Here the cuttlefish is sliced thinly into long strings to look like noodles and then slightly cooked at low temperature for a soft texture.

The chicken bouillon is made with mostly chicken bones and chicken skins.  The bouillon is simmered for hours and then reduced for maximum flavor.

9- Grilled halibut with chamomile, milkweed (asclepias syriaca)

Halibut is fresh with a very nice texture!

10- Roasted Squab, currants, black garlic puree, Bronze Fennel

You should see how they plate this dish.  The chefs use tweezers to decorate the currants and fennel.  The roasted squab is so incredibly succulent and cooked to perfection.

The black dots are black garlic puree.  I really enjoyed this dish.

11- Lamb rack, lamb belly confit, black walnut, Spigarello (brassoca spigarello)

Another beautiful plate to look at and it is also so flavorful!

Everything on this plate is delicious.  The last two savories dishes are incredible!

Lamb rack is flavorful and perfectly cooked, the lamb belly confit is so tasty that I wish I had 10 more bites!

What a way to end the main dishes!

Next.. Desserts