Thanks to a VERY LUCKY Father’s Day giveaway contest on Facebook, I won myself an exciting FINE DINING experience for my dad and I at Piquant Dining! In a bid to escape the classic ‘who do you love more’ question by parents, it was imperative that I ask if I could bring my mum along too – and they graciously agreed! Oh, that joy and RELIEF I felt, HAHA.
Instead of experiencing this treat in a typical restaurant, my parents and I were very privileged to be invited down to their beautiful home where Chef LT and his Wife played such awesome hosts to us!
We had 2 appetisers; flavourful Smoked Salmon and Foie Gras (both my favourite!!!), an AMAZINGLY TASTY Fillet Mignon (highlight of the night!) for our mains and a decadent Opera for dessert! These were all meticulously prepared by Chef LT AND ME for the course of the dinner so I got to learn some tricks and tips on creating that perfect fine dining experience!
But first, check out this HUGE spice cabinet (and all the magical kitchen tools) that has such an impressive array, it could feed you for years!!!
And here’s Chef LT plus a series of fun shots of us plating our appetisers!
Here comes the star of the show! The sous vide cooking method was utilised here where the vacuum sealed marinated meat were placed in the water of about 50 degree celcius (ask the Chef for a more accurate temperature!) for about an hour!
DID YOU KNOW that you have to dry the meat before searing it? This is because the water on the meat would interfere with our achieving the edge-to-edge perfect doneness of our dish! We then seared the meat using tallow (beef fat) and oil with a high smoke point. That was 15 seconds each side (top and bottom and sides) for about 2 min at a high temperature. This will give you a very beautiful brown colour to whet your appetite! BUT before you get to enjoy, we are going to plate it!
TIP: If you want to try doing this at home, you can use your oven to precook the meat before you sear them. Oven can be set at 100 degree celcius and you can cook the meat inside for about an hour before you seat them! (I found a very useful link here for detailed instructions: http://ladyandpups.com/2015/09/30/how-to-easily-sous-vide-in-oven-with-or-without-water/)
Finally, we are going to end on a SWEET note! The dessert was pretty straightforward though, I had plenty of fun making the ‘dirt garden’ for the cake and piping out some yummy jelly gems! The layers of the cake were distinct and oh-so-flavourful! Especially in love with all the crunchy bits like the yummy nuts!
It was such an amazing experience that I had over at Chef LT’s house! I am really heartened that they graciously accepted my request to bring both my parents along for this wonderful treat! It was definitely THE MOST MEMORABLE cooking experience I had, with so much hands on in cooking and plating a fine dining meal! And I’m sure my parents were definitely overjoyed to have been invited down!
Enjoy such quality meals and service from Chef LT’s warm and welcoming home like me, or bring back a taste of their expertise with their pre packaged sets that you can DIY!
Special note: the steak sauce was HEAVENLY! Do request for this amazing wine reduced sauce when you go!
Check them out here!
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Website: http:piquantdining.com
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Cheers,
Shermaine