Taste: Salt of the Earth


It's hard to believe that this "Taste" marks our one year anniversary. We started last June and have just finished our 13th month of doing it. We look forward to continuing this trend indefinately. This theme was all about salt. I wanted to enhance my food by using finishing salts. There are countless salts available to purchase in all varieties and quantities on line or in specialty stores. I purchased four which I can use time and time again in different dishes.

About the tastings, The smoky rita was a regular margarita but I enhanced it a little by using 50/50 kosher salt and alder wood smoked sea salt. I think that the smokyness works with the citrus of the drink.

The pillow of beef was a homemade ravioli that I made with braised beef brisket and mushrooms. I garnished with sauteed spinach and a homemade chicken demi (highly reduced stock) from some Amish chicken carcasses I had, the dish was finished with Pacific Sea Salt.

The Pacific cheek was poached Halibut cheeks finished with Hawaiian coral sea salt, I enhanced it by doing a demo with fresh of the cobb corn sauce and garnished with fried sweet potato strings.

The last dish was a Ahi Tuna fillet topped with fresh Sea Scallops U-1s which came in just in time. I did a demo with them by showing the scallop shells, cleaning, prepping and cooking. The dish was finished with Sel Grey and fresh herb vinaigrette.

Over half of our guests were new residents so it was good to see new faces.


Smoky Rita
Notes of Smoked Alder and Tequila

Pillow of Beef
Slow and Low

Pacific Cheek
Hawaiian Coral

Brittany Shores
Grey Skies Above