November 12, 2011 Lunch – Leftover Veal and Mushroom Ragout and Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup Dinner – Greenhouse Bistro Chicken Liver Paté

November 12, 2011

Lunch – Leftover Veal and Mushroom Ragout and Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup Dinner – Greenhouse Bistro Chicken Liver Paté

I ate leftover soup for lunch with a client/friend and noticed something worth mentioning, although it is obvious.  Your pre-conceived perceptions make a big difference in your experience of tasting food.  When I asked my friend what his first impression was of the soup, he said, “I immediately noticed the curry like taste of the soup.”  I immediately realized that he connected the strong flavor of fresh ginger with curry and he was really saying that he tasted the flavor of the ingredients in the soup.  My first impression of the soup was that of the texture of the ragout; its chunkiness and the firmness of the lobster mushrooms.  After I had gobbled up all the chunks of meat and vegetable, I took a spoonful of the soup and tasted its compelling ginger and pumpkin like squash flavor.  This tells me two things.  We often hold pre-conceptions when we eat and those pre-conceptions influence how we taste any given dish.  In some ways, the truer taste is that of one without any pre-conception, like my friend’s who did not make the dish and had not eaten it before.  He tasted the flavor components.  I was trying to see how the stew ingredients held up upon re-heating and was trying to taste the texture of the stew.  So in some ways a person who has not ever tasted a dish has a better chance of getting an accurate impression of its taste profile.

I also ate a piece of toasted German rye bread with melted Swiss Gruyere cheese on it and drank a glass of the Wellington Roussanne White with my soup. 

Dinner – I noticed that the most interesting part of the meal was the complimentary appetizer served as an extra at the beginning of the meal. The appetizer plate included a slice or two of a freshly made soft yet grainy chicken liver pate with bits of truffle coated by a thin layer of aspic.  A perfect rendering of the traditional French dish, but with the added flavor of freshness and tenderness. I realized when I ate a creamy fresh Crème Brulée for dessert that softness of food on the palate seems to be one of the distinguishing characteristics of Executive Chef Ann Sesler’s style of cooking.  I love that characteristic because it allows one to taste the active combination of the ingredients, from how the aromatic truffle flavor mixes with the chicken liver’s tartness to how the egg and cream combine in the Crème Brulée. 

This inclusion of a little appetizer at the beginning of the meal also introduces the surprise factor into the meal and offers an insight into a restaurant’s food philosophy.

Here is how I described the complimentary appetizer served with my first meal at the Bistro on October 29, 2011: 

            “The complimentary appetizer of a thick, creamy pumpkin, green chile and potato soup was served in an interesting slope-sided shot glass.  The spicy bite of the green chile was complemented by the slight sweetness of the pumpkin and the smoothness of the creamy soup and chunks of potato.  The soup set the tone for the evening’s meal and introduced the restaurant’s food vision: the perfect blend of fresh seasonal ingredients presented within the context of a traditional country recipe employing the sophisticated preparation of a classic French Cuisine potage.  To further set the tone for the meal, the soup was served on a plate labeled “Paris” with an image of the Eiffel Tower on it.” 

The pounded, grilled chicken breast in the Chicken Paillard with a dill, caper and lemon sauce had a golden brown color, yet was not overcooked or dried out inside.  Also, the vegetables with Romesco Sauce were terrific.  I ate a piece of cauliflower and it was just a piece of cauliflower without any real flavor, but when I dipped a piece of cauliflower into the Romesco Sauce it took on a completely different flavor when coated with the sauce with its spices, tomato and almond suspended in Spanish olive oil.  I was instantly transported to Spain.

Dessert was the same.  A fresh crème brulèe with its thin crust of lightly browned crystallized sugar and its indescribably soft creamy custard was also a transforming food experience.  The texture of the custard below the crust changed from firm at the top to a creamy liquid by the time I scooped up the soupy liquid on the bottom of the bowl.  Every bite was delicious but the last bite of the liquid at the bottom was really interesting because I could taste the elemental mixture of egg and cream flavors; one of the most essential and uniquely French combinations of ingredients in French Cuisine in its most elemental form.  Terrific and very, very French. 

Bon Apetit