This week we had a conundrum… is 2 courses of seafood astronomically redundant?? More on this later… More importantly, this week our little blog reached 10,000 views. I realize some blogs get those numbers everyday, but I’m actually happy that most of the views are from people we actually know, which makes it harder to get the numbers, but for us more satisfying.
This week we have, our accompanist for Pax Christi Chorale, Simon joining our trio for MND. We have known Simon for many years, but always manage to learn something new about each time we chat with him.
Once we had a bit of glad handing and general catching up, we moved to the table and started in on seared scallop with pea puree, pancetta crisp and parmesan foam.
This is a striking looking appetizer, the bright green, from the peas, with the angular crisp, the lovely sear on the scallop. Good thing we had scallop shells on hand, for the plating. As wonderful at it looked, the taste surprised even me. This is a very balanced dish. When doing a test run, Shawn came in with a spoon and asked me to taste something. Being the trusting sidekick I am, I asked “what is it?” “Parmesan foam…” he replied. I expected that it was just for decoration, but instead discovered that it adds a light, airy, cheesy element to the plate.
For our main, we decided that scallops and fish live together, in the ocean, so two seafood courses is just right. We served Roasted sea bass, with artichokes, barlotti beans and a cepe veloute, accompanied by 2009 Henry of Pelham, Speck Family reserve reisling.
The sea bass was amazing! I liked having the different flavours around it. With barlotti bean puree, whole beans, baby artichoke hearts, and rolled pappardelle, this was like a bag of bits and bites…. no two bites needed to be the same. The lightly sautéed romaine, under the fish gave a bit of crunch and flavor.
For dessert, we changed up an old favorite, and served Coeur a la crème with blackberry sauce.
This was lovely finish to the meal. Light and fruity, which will see us through rehearsal this night. Of course we had Steph’s favorite Peaceful Slumber tea along side. I have to say after questioning if we had too much seafood on the menu, I think the arc of the meal turned out just right.
Congratulations on reaching 10,000 hits on your blog. You deserve it! The writing is engaging, the photos beautiful, and the food mouthwatering. Here’s to ten thousand more views to a great bog. xoxo
As usual your menus sound amazing!
I can practically taste the fresh pea puree with the scallops.
Lang may yer lum reek or, in English, long may you be able to continue coming up with these amazing menus!