Hosts:  Amy and Len Norman

Menu:

Gruyere Cheese Gougeres

Warm Fruitwood-Smoked Salmon with Potato Gnocchi and Balsamic Glaze

Venison Chop with Pan-Roasted Butternut Squash and Braised Shallots

Lemon Sabayon-Pine Nut Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Cream

I am a big believer in the addage "Anything worth doing is worth doing right."  Cooking Thomas Keller truly puts that belief to the test.  His exacting details and focus on the importance of steps that most cooks would simply avoid, will literally make you want to strangle TK (as we have come to call him) at certain points of the preparation process.  By the end of making a Keller meal however, that emotion evolves into a genuine sense of admiration and appreciation for the processes and the man behind them!

Amy and I drew the low number and were therefore responsible for presenting the first meal - not an envious position, but we did have full range of the book to make our selection.  Since we settled on Valentine's weekend for the meal, we tried to select courses that reflected the season and its available ingredients.

Amy and I learned a great deal about planning, sourcing, producing and ultimately enjoying a very fine meal with each other and a great group of friend through the process.  We stayed on course with each dish aside from a blueberry/blackberry/respberry blend in exchange for the huckleberries in the venison sauce and were very pleased with our results.

A few very valuable things that we learned that we will definitle be using in the future:

How to execute a proper reduction.

How to correctly make a sauce from bones/stock

How to make make gnocchi from scratch.

We both agreed that the salmon/gnocchi appetizer was our favorite overall and the gnocchi was the most fun to make.  I have attached a few photos from the preparation and dining phases of the meal.  More photos/video to follow.