I spent the day making various finger foods for John and Debi’s party; he and I had worked out a vague plan so I contributed 4 things to what turned out to be an incredible night of food, champagne, and dancing. We made pie crust, and with my half I used a muffin tin to make little shells. These got filled with grated gruyère, then caramelized onions, then a pinch more cheese, then pine nuts and finished baking at their place. I puréed shrimp with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce, then assembled and steamed the shu mai at the last minute so they’d be nice and hot. Blanched chestnuts, aduki beans, and uneboshi paste also became a purée, and it went into little wontons that I fried in coconut oil- crazy good- like little vegan bean donuts. Last I made duck sushi; 2 seared breasts that had marinated in clementine juice and soy sauce, sliced and put on John’s sushi rice, then finished with the marinade reduced in the same pan (fat poured off) along with sliced kumquats and honey.
John made kabocha purée with ricotta salata in his mini tart shells (their muffin tin is smaller, so they were really little) as well as tofu sushi with BBQ sauce, tuna spread on toast with tomato, rice balls with black tahini baked until crispy, and two fillo rolls: one with the tuna filling, one with radicchio and truffle oil. We drank a lot of champagne.
