EPTSo, as a bit of background, i am a professional chef in Minnesota currently working at a fine dining french restaurant and part of my job occasionally consists of coming up with specials, tasting menus, amuses, etc. If i can remember to take pictures of the food i am going to upload them here along with the recipes if anyone should feel ambitious enough to try them out. If you guys have any questions about either the dishes, or just cooking in general, i will try to answer them in the replies below.
So without further ado the first dish "Gnocchi with deconstructed pesto and chanterelle mushroom"
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1Whc5.jpg)
So the "pesto" in this dish is actually basil gel, pine nut and parm puree, and olive oil powder, and the recipe is as follows:
Basil Gel:
1 bunch basil
boiling salted water
ice bath
Agar Agar (can be substituted with gelatin, although you won't be able to serve it hot that way as i did in the restaurant)
blanch the basil (about 20-30 seconds) in boiling water then shock it in an ice bath, blend with just enough water to allow it to turn in the machine, strain through a chinois or other fine sieve. return liquid to a pot and add .5% by weight and bring to a boil, pour into mold and allow to set. cut into small dice and reserve.
Olive oil powder:
1 part olive oil (quality matters here)
3 parts tapioca maltodextrin (by weight)
combine the maltodextrin and olive oil and whisk till left with a fine powder, reserve.
Pine nut and Parmesan puree:
200g pine nuts
400g milk
100g rinds of parm cheese
combine ingredients and cook till the milk tastes significantly of parm. add all the nuts to a blender, and pour in enough milk to just allow the mixture to turn. Blend till smooth and silky and strain through a chinois or fine sieve.
To complete and plate:
6-7 Potato Gnocchi per diner (store bought or home made, cooked)
Burre Monte (butter melted, but with the emulsion kept should be plenty of instructions online or basic cookbooks on how to make this)
3-4 chanterelle mushrooms per diner
the deconstructed pesto ingredients
thyme (picked, fresh)
slat and pepper to taste
heat the mushrooms with some butter in a pan, add salt to taste and lightly sweat. drain the butter and add a few teaspoons of burre monte and add the gnocchi, heat through. To the plate add 3-4 drops of puree and 5-6 small cubes of basil gel and 2 small piles of olive oil powder, plate the gnocchi and mushrooms in center of plate and sprinkle with thyme. add a crack or pepper if desired and serve.
Wow, every time i write down a recipe it always seems longer then in my head, oh well more will follow and sooner then 1 year from now i promise.
