Dennis and Mary Kercher were the hosts for this nights Slow Food Movement dinner at Salud! cooking school at the Whole Foods Market. I have never been to his actual Hidden Kitchen, so this was a great chance for me to finally get a taste of his cooking, which from everything I've read and heard was fantastic. Everything I heard and read was right on..it was amazing.Dennis gave a short lesson on how each dish was made and we got recipes for all the dishes.
We started out with Ratatouille Terrine with Basil Aioli. Oh, it was amazing. Layers of zucchini, eggplant,red and yellow peppers and Basil and Motzzarella cheese all held together with tomato juice and gelatin. 
We were served the Rail Bridge Sauvignon Blanc from Rail Bridge Cellars which is located downtown on 16th St. John Affonso is the winemaker/proprietor. He makes some wonderful wine. He explained how he makes his wine and has a great passion, which is translated into his wonderful wines.Second course was the Fennel & Green Apple Slaw,Kabocha Pumpkin Fingers and Gorgonzonla Fonduta. Julliened strips of green apple and fennel tossed in a vinagrette atop a kabocha pumkin slice(finger) all on top of the gorgonzola sauce.. delicious and again paired perfectly with the wine.
Then we moved on to Billi Bi Mussel/Saffron Soup..so light yet so rich. A light creamed fish stock with saffron and mussels. Served with a garlic crostini. With this they served a little shot of dry sherry which was perfect with the creamy soup.
The main course was Striped Bass Volute on Cauliflower Puree and Shrimp Reduction. Before this course Dennis gave a quick course on how easy it is to fillet a whole fish. He then showed us how he dipped each fillet in White Truffle Oil (YUM) and rolled the fillet around a shrimp.While we waited for the fish to bake we were encouraged to visit and get to know our table mates. Seated to my left was Barbara who was also taking pictures of the food and event, I asked her if she also had a blog but she said she just liked taking pictures. Her pictures are on Flickr @http://flickr.com/photos/bhaven. On my right was Chris who came with me to the dinner. When we arrived 2 women were waiting to get in who happened to know Chris or Punkin as she's known to her friends. They were Judith and Kathy mutual friends of hers. I had not met them before but they made dinner so fun. They were great, they'd been to the Hidden Kitchen before and so they knew dinner was going to be fantastic. Judith loves to cook and even recognized me from the blog..I'm so flattered! Kathy doesn't cook at all, knows nothing about it but loves to eat and try different foods. Some of the stories she told about her food adventures were hysterical.
At this point we were served the Rail Bridge Lattice Cabernet Sauvignion blend..again very delicious.
Soon the fish was baked and we were served the incredible entree. The fish was done just right and truffle oil added just the right touch. Who knew cauliflower could taste so good! Plus that little shrimp inside was a different but delicious touch.
AND Desert.. Trompe L'Oell Poached Egg on Toast.. what? It was a very imaginative and cute desert. Annise Toasted topped with lemon pudding (more like mousse it was so light) topped with Lemon Curd. It looked just like poached egg on toast. Plus it was delicious. Not too heavy or sweet. Perfect. Of course you can't have a Hidden Kitchen dinner without Dennis' famous Creme de Limoncello..It is the best! It finished off dinner perfectly.
I am so glad I was able to make this dinner, it was a lot of fun, the food was amazing and Dennis and Mary and their daughter were gracious hosts. One of these days I'll actually make it to the actual Hidden Kitchen.Here are some random pictures of the evening
2 comments:
Wow! Great review and wonderful pictures. It looks and sounds delicious.
Is that Ann, the gimp, I see helping out?
no, that wasn't Anne. I can't remember her name. It really was awesome food.
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