Well, I didn’t make it to the next round of project food blog. 
But, I had my dinner party anyways. Everything turned out great. Minor mistakes- (1) I accidentally added the sugar for the zeppolis with the flour, which made it scorch a bit, and absorb a ton of oil. But they were still tasty. (2) I could only find aged fontina. It didn’t melt nearly as well as it should have.
But, in a nutshell, everything came out nicely. Considering I had a 3 hour power outage right smack in the middle of prep last night.
Luxury Dinner Party
Appetizer
napa flatbread, point reyes blue cheese,
pinot noir saturated shallots, fontina, arugula
Main
braised duck tacos, chile rajas, ancho honey mustard sauce
tuna tartar tacos, fried wonton skins, garlic ginger mayonnaise
Dessert
zeppolis, chocolate espresso dipping sauce
Napa Flatbread
pizza dough, flat
5 shallots, julienned
2 tbsp honey
2 cups pinot noir
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
Reduce on medium heat 45 minutes until jam consistency.
Brush pizza dough with olive oil, grill 30 seconds each side.
Top with fontina, arugula, shallots, blue cheese. Put in oven 7 minutes at 400 degrees.
Ancho Honey Mustard
3-4 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded
3/4 cup orange juice
2-3 tsp minced garlic
1/2 c whole grain mustard
Reduce orange juice and chiles on medium high heat to half.
Cool. Puree in blender.
Transfer mixture to bowl and stir in mustard, honey, and garlic.
Chile rajas
1 anaheim
1 poblano
1 red pepper
Roast until charred. Remove skin. Cut into strips.
Braised Duck
4 duck legs & thighs
Season with kosher salt.
Heat pan on medium high heat. Sear duck.
Using same pot, add
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves
1 shallot
1 tbsp black peppercorns
½ cup brown sugar
1 bay leaf
Add water to cover. Cover pot with aluminum foil, than top with lid.
Put in oven at 300 degrees for 2 ½ hours. When cool, remove skin and shred.
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| yes, I am that childish! |
Garlic Ginger Mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves
2 oz fresh ginger, peeled
1 tsp lemon juice
2 egg yolks
½ c canola oil
½ cup olive oil
In food processor, ginger, garlic until minced.
Add egg yolk, soy, lemon juice.
Turn on processor, drizzle in oils.
Wonton Skins
heat peanut oil to 350 degrees
deep fry wonton skins, 10 seconds.
dry on paper towels
Tuna Tartar
½ lb tuna, sushi grade, ¼ inch dice
Zeppolis
1 vanilla bean
½ c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs sugar
1 stick butter
¼ tsp salt
1 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs
canola oil
In bowl, mix vanilla, sugar, cinnamon.
In saucepan on medium-high heat, mix butter, salt, 3 tbsp sugar and water. Boil.
Remove from heat, stir in flour.
Put back on heat, and stir until ball forms.
Dipping Sauce
1 part nutella to 2 parts espresso
Mix well.
Ancho Chile Pepper
8 Comments
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Uh-oh. Poultry porn. Did that get you in trouble? Are those Crate & Barrel whites? Love them. Wow, this party is so local to me. C&B, Point Reyes Blue…yet I'm not there.
Very nice dinner party – great job! I'm sorry you didn't advance though
Looks great…I'm sorry you didn't go on to Challenge 3, but you did a FAB job with your party!!
What a terrific meal! I'm sad…=(…this meal should be in round #3! Still, I'm super glad you shared this…now I only wish I could have been one of your dinner guests….
It looks delicious. A job VERY well done! I wish that had been my Friday night dinner
Looks great! Lucky guests!
sorry to hear you didn't make the next round, but your dinner party looks amazing and your guests were certainly winners for being able to attend!
It was great and I am so honored that you chose me to come. Thanks so much for having me!!
PS I added your bloggy button to my sidebar