Le Cordon Bleu goes for the GOLD!

Saturday we attended another fund raiser for Le Cordon Bleu (LCB) competition cooking team at the school's restaurant Technique-

The fabulous meal - under the overall supervision of Chef Austin Yancey - was extremely similar to the one the team prepared at our place in May- here is the menu:

 

The dinner was wonderful but before we get to specifics - this was a fund raising dinner for the students who compete in various events around the state and the nation- both individually and as teams... so we got to meet  a number of them over the course of the evening and also participated in a silent auction and a live auction

 

the items for auction included:

 

 

you may recall we were the high bidders on the very first dinner for ten auctioned last summer.... see prior post called the big night! ( http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-big-night.html ) it was a lot of fun to see the variations and refinements the team made over the summer on the dishes they cooked for us the first week in May...

 

so without further ado the food!

 

 

and oops! I did miss a course- the hand cut pasta with the truffle sauce was so inviting I just dug right in! LOL--- you can see it in the big night post plated a bit differently but still the same basic dish (sorry! - LOL)

 

(Don Newcomb saves the day- here is his photo! )

 

 

the wines they chose for the evening are listed on the menu and both Phil and I thought the pairings were well done! I laughed an said maybe they learned a bit from us (fat chance- LOL) since we did the pairings for the big night dinner at our place...

 

we had lovely table mates in Julie and her friend Maureen- enhancing the evening's experience; the flowers were also a nice addition.

 

 

I stopped in the kitchen upon arrival to say hi and drop off a gift for the chefs who lead the team (Chef Austin- the big kahuna, Chef Eric Clark who was working the front this evening and Chef Robert (Bob) Benson who was sweating it out in the kitchen with the students most of the time)

 

folks arriving-

tables begin to fill up

the team is introduced before the meal and then focused introductions were done throughout the evening-

 

 

 

directions to the team-

unveiling of the black box ingredients for our final dessert which will be whipped up in the back pursuant to ideas from the diners -

 

the dinner was superb and the auction went well - the dinner for ten sold to a boisterous group for $1000 and the other items raised additional money- a shout out to Michelle Brown from Rational who donated some of the items - she is a big supporter of this team and deserves a mention for her good deeds!

 

just a few more miscellaneous photos as the chefs are presented with gifts from Don Newcomb founder of the Chicago Gourmets-

 

 

 (above) Chef Austin- (below) Chef Eric on the right and Chef Robert on the left-

Chef Robert with Maureen (L) and Julie (R)

 

another coup for the LCBC competition team and their chef instructors- along with Chicago Gourmets, a perfect night!

 

 

the big night

no- Louis Prima never showed up but the folks who did seemed to have a really fun time. 

the Cordon Bleu (LCB) folks arrived shortly after 3 PM - laden with lots of trays and containers and found storage for all -

we went through various china for serving and various flatware - course by course.

we went through the wine pairings and various glasses for each course...

they started cooking! eight chefs or chefs in training in my very own small kitchen and they seemed to be right at home- if they needed something they looked into cabinets and drawers to find it or something that would substitute...

Phil came home from his afternoon concert and brought the ice for the water cooler-

Don & Jim were the first to arrive with the lovely centerpieces that Don had created with flowers from his yard supplemented with tulips and roses from Costco-

Neil had sent his wines here ahead of time but showed up with yet another fabulous bottle upon arrival- more about that later.

and so we began the evening with a perfect 1990 Cuvee Winston Churchill from Pol Roger and a 1995 Gosset-Brabant (from Neil and from my cellar respectively)

our appetizers were fabulous arancini  and some amazing little (beautifully executed) spoon based pea and parmesan crisp thingie - as well as the ginger and carrot foam shooters.

these were passed appetizers and we ate and drank until the last guests had arrived and had their starters - sitting down shortly thereafter...

I know the menu has been posted before but for a refresher- here it is again-

first I will do photos of the table and the flowers and then the team prep and then go back to the courses and finally the wines-

Le Cordon Bleu in my (limited size) kitchen! It hasn't seen this level of cooking ever!

below- the pea puree with the parmesan crisp and mint flowers and a teeny bit of bite with the pepper - super!

 

 

so to start off the meal the amuse of salmon belly tartare with dill crème fraiche and capers and some of their homemade crackers!

 

 

paired with the NSG Clos d'Arlot white from 2000 (still showing very nicely)

 

 

then the next course: followed with a veggies course of chilled summer peas , pancetta, pickled ramps and the parmesan tuille which we paired with the exquisite 2002 Corton Charlemange from Delarche

(sorry no photo- LOL- bottle "went missing" LOL)

 

then the seared salmon course with the dual pairing (for both red and white fanciers) - the hollandaise was made with duck fat and the dish served with a wild rice cake and crispy kale

the wines included the wine of the evening - the 1978 Echezeaux and the 2008 Mersault (photos follow)

the simple salad of boston bibb and chives with melted tomato in lemon vinaigrette was fabulous- and we worked with the same two wines above-

the handcut pasta with truffles was paired with a very nice Corton Renardes from 1996 vintage- also showing nicely with lots of fruit and very young- still lots of time on this one-

the 1982 Bordeaux in the photo was up next for the chicken course of herb roasted chicken with haricot vert and pan jus-

we served the intermezzo of cucumber sorbet with the 1986 Y'Quem Sauternes

which followed into the dessert course of green apple soaked pound cake with a chocolate ganache and almond crumble - which was also accompanied by Neil's surprise wine ! A 1989 late harvest gewürztraminer which was really incredible.

 

and the 1977 Taylor Fladgate PORT-

and a final mini course for all of us groaning from so much good food- a white chocolate and truffle shooter - fabulous ending to an all around amazing meal!

sorry I seem to have been eating while the arancini were being served (no photo) - but here are the champagne pics for the record-

the 1990 Cuvee Winston Churchill from Pol Roger

and

the 1995 Cuvee Gabriel from Gosset-Brabant

 

now- on to packing- for our next adventure! a trip to Peru and Ecuador! will be "radio silent" as my buddy Jen calls it - so it may be a while before we resurface with photos of the journey but keep checking- by early June I should be in full blogging mode!