cooking away, no time to write, Yuri is here for lunch!
I have been inspired this week by the community of chef's, food enthusiasts, and wine lovers that I am so fortunate to know. We hosted Julien Charvet this week for two cooking classes at LPG, and the classes were fantastic: informative and fun, and delicious food. Julien is a chef in Avignon, with whom I took cooking classes last fall, and he came to Newport to initiate a series of classes. We made artichoke stew, barigole, and roasted duck breast with whipped potatoes, and poached pears for Wednesday's dinner. For lunch time class on Thursday, we made beggars' purses filled with crab and salmon, cod brondade, with gorgeous glazed carrots...molten chocolate cakes with ginger syrup...I know, I am drooling just thinking about it. We learned so many great cooking tricks fro Julien, and we had a lot of fun doing it. He will be back in June for more classes, so watch the website for a schedule!
As if that weren't enough to satisfy, I headed to Jamestown Fish last night for dinner with friends, and if you have not yet eaten there, run don't walk, the dinner was incredible. I started with a smoked salmon appetizer, so fresh and light, with a glass of Vietti Roero Arnies, crisp, minerally, delicious. Matt kindly spoiled us with a plate of sashimi served with seaweed salad and a green tea sauce, the fish was so fresh and delicate, and the presentation stunning. Then the halibut, pan roasted, served on a bed of perfectly roasted root vegetables and a broth that was simply out of this world. I may have licked the plate. We finished up with a sampling of desserts homemade ice creams, sorbets, Piedmont style flan, and poached pear, and each one was even better than the last. The care that Matt takes to present food that is fresh, visually beautiful, and delicious is something to experience. It was amazing, start to finish!
All of this has me in the kitchen, inspired to create something delicious for you... today's soup is Robolita, a tuscan vegetable soup the panini is prosciutto with black olive tapenade the pizza has roasted red peppers and taleggio I am working on a bacon and spinach quiche and a shitake mushroom quiche...
to take for dinner, the chickens are roasting and the galette is on its way, and I have a few servings of roasted duck breast with mashed potatoes!
Next week, we are added tartine...Julien gave me this suggestion and I think it is a great one.
Hope you find something that inspires you to cook, too...as always, eat, drink, and think;)