New February Menu at The Kitchen

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The Kitchen - February 2010 Demonstration Dinner



- First Course -

Fresh Pasta with Prosciutto
Preserved Lemon, Chives, Chervil
and a Crispy Egg

This course is so simple yet so amazingly delicious. It's the kind of food you dream about. We'll take fresh, house made pasta - most likely a wide egg noodle style pasta like pappardelle - and serve it atop a buttery sauce of house preserved Meyer Lemon mixed with the fresh herbs like chervil and chive. We haven't decided quite yet if we will serve real Italian Prosciutto or the amazing Fra'Mani Sopressata Salami that hails from Oakland, but rest assured you will have some crispy pork goodness to add great flavor and texture to this dish. The final piece to tie it all together will be the crispy tempura fried egg yolk to break apart on top, adding depth to the whole dish. We will use cage free, free-range eggs from either chickens or ducks, depending on what's best from our producers that week. We like to get the duck eggs, which are from Contreras Ranch in Half Moon Bay, but Randall says ducks don't lay as many eggs in the cold weather, so we'll have to take what we can get. Either way, this dish will be rich, creamy and so satisfying!


- Second Course -

A Salad of Belgian Endive and Suffolk Lamb
with a Dressing of Thai Chilies, Kaffir Lime
Coconut and Mint

When we use endive on our winter menus we always get the only endive cultivated in the US, and it happens to hail form right here in the Central Valley. Rich Collins, who pioneered the cultivation of endive in the States, and who is still the only producer here, brings us this wonderful product through his company, California Vegetable Specialties. The endive is crisp and crunchy and flavorful with just a touch of pleasing bitterness. We are serving it with ground lamb meat from Suffolk Ranch, a small family farm in Northern California. Now, if you've ever had Larb, a Thai dish with ground pork or chicken served cold in a sort of salad, this is Ranadall's riff on that dish. The lamb is cooked down in the Thai Chilies and mint and lime along with other herbs and spices and served with the endive for a lively dish just bursting with flavor.


- Sushi ~ Sashimi ~ Crudo -


- Third Course -

Shima Aji 'Striped Jack', Maine Lobster
and Giant Florida Rock Shrimp
with a Fresh Wasabi White Soy Miso Butter

The star of the show on this course is a very special fish called a Striped Jack, part of the Skip Jack family coming to us from Japan and New Zealand. We'll be serving it just barely seared rare to highlight its wonderful fatty, meaty flavor and texture. This is an extraordinary product that Randall and Noah are excited to share with you, so be sure to get extra! We'll be serving this with super fresh butter-poached Maine Lobster and our favorite Giant Rock Shrimp from off the gulf coast of Florida. The sauce component tying the whole thing together is a whimsical and ethereal mixture of real fresh grated Wasabi, White Soy Sauce and Miso whipped into a butter. This dish has tangy, rich, buttery and salty elements all tied together beautifully.


- Fourth Course -

Grilled Beef Tenderloin
with Potato-Mushroom 'Mille Feuille'
Black Truffle and Cabernet

This Fourth Course may feature a beautiful all-natural beef tenderloin out of California or Montana, or perhaps a Wagyu tenderloin from Northern CA. Randall has yet to make the final call. In any case, it will be extremely tender and flavorful, cut-it-with-a-fork beef. The preparation is fairly straightforward - grilled beef served on a Mille-Feuille of potato and mushroom. Mille-Feuille means a thousand leaves in French, and it's the term for a creation that has lots of very thin layers. So in this version, we have tiny shaved layers of potato interlaced with mushrooms (black chanterelles and some cultivated Japanese varieties most likely) along with a bit of cream. The final touches are our signature Cabernet reduction and a black truffle butter accented with bone marrow.


- Dessert Course -

Warmed Orange Custard Cake
House Made Lace Cookies
Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

This Orange Custard Cake is one of Nancy's signature recipes that she has perfected over the years, and we are using citrus at the peak of season. All our oranges are coming from Twin Peaks Farms and are picked especially for us. We will also be doing a little candied orange along with homemade lace cookies. In addition, Bobby's famous Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet will tantalize your palate and is a lovely way to finish up the evening. Go ahead and get another scoop!



We look forward to the pleasure of your company in February!

Best wishes, The Selland Family