Cooking for a Cause

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of being the pastry chef for a very special dinner.  My good friend and fellow chef Paul Johnson is going on a mission trip with his family and church to Moldova this summer.  To help raise money for the trip, he auctioned off his services in the form of a five course meal for six people.  The auction ended at $600!  The night turned out wonderful with great food and the chance to get in the kitchen cooking for such a wonderful cause!  Check out the wonderful creations we made!

Chefs for the night: Me, Paul Johnson and Kristen Beasley

Sous chef Kristen plating the amuse bouche

Amuse Bouche: Gouda stone ground grits with rendered pork belly and bourbon glazed apples

 

First Course: Market salad with heirloom tomatoes and carrots, shaved golden and red beets, radishes, and blood orange vinaigrette

Second Course: Tuna and avacado tartare with soft-boiled quail eggs, wonton crisps, radish sprouts, and pickled ginger

Chef Paul plating the fish course

Third Course: Poached Chilean sea bass with roasted corn citrus salsa, charred leeks, and bouillabaise foam

Fourth Course: Reverse-seared North Carolina bison with black garlic risotta, asparagus puree, sauteed baby carrots, and Merlot wine reduction

That's me plating up dessert!

Dessert: Chocolate mousse and caramel jelly cake, almond financier, cherry-Port compote, Port reduction, and sour cream ice cream

Mignardise: Strawberries and cream with toasted hazelnuts

Our happy diners!

Hope you enjoyed the feast for your eyes! 

Dessert Trials

The past few weeks have been super busy!!  The best part was trying out some brand new desserts!  A good friend of mine is going on a mission trip this summer and decided to auction off his awesome chef skills to raise some money for the trip.  Six course dinner for a good cause anyone?

Well, it's been a while since the two of us were in the kitchen together.  So I couldn't resist offering up my services to throw down some yummy dessert.  Four desserts went head to head to see which one would win out.  Thanks to some lovely family and friends who were kind enough to lend me their taste buds, we narrowed it down to the chosen one!  Here they are:

"Nutty Banana" - Brown butter cake, caramelized banana, rum ice cream and candied peanuts

 

"Samoa" - Chocolate cake, toasted marshmallow, chocolate tuile, caramel ice cream, toasted coconut 

 



 "Oh, Honey" - Cornmeal almond cake, almond bark, citrus lime crisp, honey ice cream, candied citrus zest

 

AND THE WINNER IS...

 

"Chocolate Covered Cherry" - Chocolate mousse and caramel jelly cake, cherry port compote, almond financier, sour cream ice cream, port reduction

Can't wait to see what the guests think of the dessert.  I hope they have just as much fun eating it as I did making it!!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/14005447/?claim=rmyz3gnq4f5">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>