Plum tart and fancy dinner

Last weekend, I cooked a 4 course meal for my in-laws to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. It was my first attempt at a fancy dinner since starting culinary school and it was a lot of prep work, but I was quite pleased with the results. I cooked each course (except the 1st one) to order so they would be nice and hot.

First course: Cream of mushroom soup
One of my favorite things I've learned in school is how to make cream of "fill-in-the-blank" soups. Move over Campbells! Never again will I eat soup out of a can! It's a basic chicken veloute with sliced white mushrooms simmered in the veloute and a touch of cream. I took a page out of Curry House's book and served the soup in teacups.



Second course: Seared scallops served with a mango and jicama salad
The mango and jicama salad was dressed with a little rice vinegar, salt, cayenne pepper and sugar, and garnished with green onions and chopped cilantro.



Third course and main entree: Sesame and panko crusted halibut with spring pea risotto and a mango lemongrass reduction
The halibut fillets were dredged in a little flour, panko and finally black and tan sesame seeds and then quickly seared on each side. I love fresh spring peas (they come in the pod and you have to shell them yourself) and I love them even more in risotto! For the reduction, I used the leftover mango from the salad, pureed it and cooked it down slowly with lemongrass, mirin, a little sugar and a pinch of cayenne - delish :). It paired very nicely with the halibut.



And last but not least, dessert!!! In my last post, I wrote about how much I missed my Kitchenaid, so I decided to make a plum tart for dessert (recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart). My neighbor gave me a jar of homemade plum jam the other day, so I used it in the tart and substituted pluots for the plums. The result was pretty amazing if I say so myself :).



So with my plum tart cravings satisfied, I feel content to let the summer season go and embrace the fall season and all the lovely foods it brings. Time for butternut squash soup and pumpkin pie!