Guest Chef Abe started the evening with 'The trip begins', a selection of intense tastes presented in capsules... including dehydrated tomato sauce, powdered green smoothy, and dusty mix cheese. The 'pills' were accompanied by a line of dehydrated feta (served with a straw) and a rolled filo (joint) filled with basil pesto, all washed down with a purple haze cocktail with cassis and cranberry. Bold start to the evening.
Pulling ideas from the White Album, Sous Chef Vanessa provided us with three tiers of tasty cheese balls (blue, herbed, and spicy), incrusted with nuts and pretzels and presented on beet blinis (oh so U.S.S.R.). Her cocktail was inspired by Ambrosia salad, with custom ice cubes of fruit salad and marshmallows. Very fun! The chefs also spent some time working on their own tie-dyed napkin designs, to enjoy later on in the meal.
Next we moved to the table for some suburban dip, a cheese fondue presented in Sous Chef Christine's MIL vintage fondue set #legit . The chefs dipped bread, broccoli, apples, olives, tomatoes, sliced meats, and (vegetarian) meatballs into the delicious boozy cheesy dip. To compliment the fondue, SC Christine create a cocktail based on the same white wine and kirsch, with a few dried cherries to pull it all together.
Always a flexible group, we adjusted the menu so we could enjoy Sous Chef Deans tie-dyed soup without delay. Composed of three soup purees (potato leek, butternut squash, and spinach), the beautiful dish was garnished with cubes of lemony apples. Everyone cleaned their bowls! To carry on the colourful theme, SC Dean made us beautiful Groovy (tequila) sunrises.
Next up, the always inventive Sous Chef Amy presented us with Flower Power, a dish full of floral elements with custom cheeses and jellies. The chefs were free to experiment with their own flavour combinations, selecting a cheese (rose, chive and sichuan pepper labneth; honey goat cheese with lavender jelly, and sharp cheddar half moons in thyme chamomile jelly) and a cracker (homemade cheese crackers, butter saltines, and gluten free chia crackers). Continuing with floral flavours, we sipped some 'Make love not war' jasmine martini, a combination of jasmine tea, orange blossom, and gin.
For the main dish, Master Chef Leah looked to the Beatles, hippy cuisine, and the art of french cooking for ideas. Oat flour crepes were stuffed with a collection of local vegetables, served with an old cheddar sauce and tomato peach salsa. In honour of the fab four's favourite sandwich, the crepes were topped with fried quail eggs. To start the bra burner drink, chopped peaches were flambéed in brandy and then mixed with white wine and elderflower soda.
Last but not least, Sous Chef Dallas went back to the USSR and created blueberry stuffed pirogies with a blueberry sour cream sauce. If that wasn't enough, SC Dallas also made homemade dulce de leche (so good!) to fill wafer sandwiches - a deliciously light way to end the meal. We sipped on her cold boozy coffee, as the meal wrapped up and we started to plan our next event.
Next up Master Chef Christine!
Theme and date to be decided.
Until then!