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Catering gig #2 was last night and I was able to pull it off with a lot of flair and a lot of exciting food. I received a lot of great feedback on my food which was great and I was even given a great referral for some more catering gigs, big time stuff too! My favorite line of the night was from a gentleman who asked me if I hard any cards, which I responded yes and he asked me for all of them.

I started prepping and cooking at 3:30 PM. First 4 items were out right at 6:30. I was finished at 8:45 with time to spare and I had their kitchen clean by the time their limo came to pick them up at 9:30. I had my car packed up and left before they did! Also, I was $250 under the food budget of $500.

I changed a few things from the “Final Menu” post so here goes.

Drink:

La Medina- Didn’t have time for the caviar idea, it was too crazy.  Was a hell of a shot though. Fresh white  raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, and a touch of lemon and simple syrup.

Appetizer:

Marinated Olives- Marinated in Extra virgin olive oil, Pimenton dulce, 3 herb (rosemary, thyme, oregano), topped with Sel De Mer salt

Mini-Heirloom Tomato Confit- Roasted these little tomatoes for a few hours topped with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Removed the guts then reduced that mixture then strained and poured it over the plated tomatoes on baguette and sprinkled some olive oil and served

Pork Tenderloin Slider- I had to switch from Halibut to the Tenderloin for this because the Halibut was too thin. The tenderloin was a no brainer anyway because it’s round, duh.  Anyway, I served this with a tarragon and lemon mayonnaise. There was some purple sweet pepper served as well as a purple heirloom tomato on top of the mini-slider buns. I used the herbs de provence brined tenderloin.  Awesome

Bacalao (no picture)- I took some fresh cod and placed it in salty water for an hour then I took 4 limes, 1 lemon, and 1 Valencia Orange and squezed the juice and place the sashimi sliced cod in that mixture for an hour. I plated this over some avocado and place them over a bed of microgreens.

Sopressata on Rain Coast Crisps with Ubriaco Alla Birra Rossa Cheese- I placed a rain coast crisp on a cookie sheet then placed a medium diced slice of cheese on top then I placed the sopressata on top and baked them for about 6 minutes at 300F until the cheese melted. I plated them with an individual microgreen on top.

Herb Focaccia Topped with Red Coconut Curry Sauce (no picture)- Large diced herb focaccia with my red coconut curry sauce.

Brined Pork Chop with Carrots Anglaise on Crostini (no picture):

Main:

Grilled Fresh Sockeye Salmon with Red Coconut Curry Sauce-  Grilled this skin down on the BBQ at 500F for 7 minutes. Topped it with red coconut curry and microgreens.

Halibut Anglaise- 2 halibut filets pan fried anglaise style.

Heirloom Tomato Salad- There were 6 different varieties of heirlooms on this plate and I added mozarella and pesto to the mix.

Dessert:

Fig with Candied Ginger and Sugar- I added Valencia orange zest to this.

Honey Comb (no picture)- Fresh honey comb that was harvested earlier that morning.

Grilled Peaches with Reduced Balsamic- I took a 10 ounce bottle of balsamic vinegar and reduced it to about 2 ounces total. I grilled the peaches then poured it over the top, no need for whipped cream or anything else. Perfect capper to the evening.

I had a great time with this gig. I flew solo on this and had an enormous well stocked kitchen to work in. I hope there are more opportunities that come like this because I did put a lot of work into this and I did bust my ass. I went out of my way to find great ingredients in order to incorporate them into each dish and that’s what helped me the most. Simply calling something a pesto means a lot more when I met the person who grows the basil and they sell it for a great price…..Farmers markets…getting the job done once again!

Eric