Saturday Night Tasting Menu at Home

Tasted Saturday, July 12, 2008 by dmoritz with 483 views

Introduction

Saturday night we decided to cook ourselves a fabulous restaurant worthy tasting menu with wine pairing. Turned out to be an absolutely awesome dinner.

Flight 1 (1 Note)

We kicked it off with a course of a large sea scallop, seared in a soy/ponzu glaze with a paste of lemongrass, ginger and garlic. Followed this with gnocchi in a lemon and parm broth, which is a very refreshing dish. These were both paired with:

Flight 2 (1 Note)

Next up was our first ever attempt at cooking foie gras. We bought goose foie gras and seared 30 seconds on each side. We then toasted the bread in the goose fat. Finally topped it off with a Port wine reduction sauce with taragon leaves. This was an outstanding dish, and dare I say, as good as any foie gras I've ever had. We were patting ourselves on the back for this :) Paired with:

  • 2004 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru 89 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru

    Nose shows peach, pear, and honeysuckle. Palate seemed to fall short of what I hoped for, likely due to the lack of enough acidity. Was much better as a pairing with foie gras than as a stand alone wine. Definitely served its purpose as part of a great wine pairing dinner.

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Flight 3 (1 Note)

It was finally time to get to some meat. For our fourth course, we cooked one lamb chop a piece. The lamb chop had a crust of panko, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Nicely cooked to about medium rare, it was an absolutely sensational pairing with the Carlisle Syrah. Next up was a small medallion of filet mignon. Simply seasoned with salt and pepper, it was cooked to perfection, and super tender. A fine way to wrap up the main courses. They were both paired with:

  • 2005 Carlisle Syrah Cardiac Hill 95 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley

    Decanted one hour. Inky dark in the glass. Nose shoots out of the glass with gorgeous aromas of dark berries, vanilla, pepper and meat, with a distinct blood orange that I've often associated with this site. Big and powerful on the palate with sizable tannins that make me believe this will age very nicely. Wonderful finish. Thoroughly enjoyable.

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Flight 4 (1 Note)

Ready to burst, we managed to find some room for dessert. Can't say we cooked the dessert, but purchased a small decadent chocolate cake to share, which paired great with our Port.

  • 1994 Quinta do Crasto Porto Vintage 92 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Decanted 4 hours. By the time we got to this, it was our fourth bottle and we were on our sixth course...so we were feeling pretty good. Nice end to a great meal. Still quite youthful and very intense on the palate. Very nice fruit. Really enjoyable.

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Closing

All in, the dinner took about three hours from start to finish, and provided as much pleasure as any restaurant dining experience. Another reminder of why I love cooking.

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