Philosophically, I struggle with big big meals between two trends: 1) reuse ingredients in as many dishes in as much as possible and reincorporate flavors, and 2) have a good amount of novelty in each dish. For example, I might pick arugula in my salad and also use arugula later as the main green in a sauce. Curious what people’s thoughts are here.

Cooking and my boy are my great loves in life, and I’m going to do this during my spring break so very labor intensive dishes are okay!

He’s vegetarian and don’t care much for tomato. I don’t eat dairy as a structural ingredient for the most part, but we feel fine eating bivalve mullosks.

I’m looking for an overarching theme but the overall pacing looks like this:

6:30 High-concept appertizer + Apertivo
6:50 Little soup or someth
7:00 Moderate course
7:30 Fruit

7:30 Entertainment intermission

8:00 High-concept appertizer (Like a one biter)
8:30 Cocktail
8:45 Heavy Course
9:00 Salad

9:10 Smoke Break

9:20 Dessert
9:30 Coffee

I really really like citrus, and in general my recent cooking interest has been using fruits in a savory way. It being Winter wrinkles that plan somewhat. Tentatively, I wanna end on scallops over some sort of risotto. I see the whole budget being about $60 + $20 of various drinks.

Kinda thinking about making spiced limoncello and using that six different ways. Just gotta pick a central theme.

  • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    i might not be qualified to help you here but for my money a french onion soup with properly sweet sauteed onions is a great start to a meal. you could experiment with replacing the gruyere with a vegan equivalent, but I also suspect it would be tasty naked (and this is something you could easily vary by bowl)

    • bubbalu [they/them]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      10 months ago

      o7 I am autistic. Realistically everything is going to come out 15-75 minutes later as the night progresses but its nice to have a fantasy to depart from :p

  • CloutAtlas [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    10 months ago

    If you want some high concept hors d’oeuvres, try deviled quail eggs. They’re tiny and adorable.

    Vegetarian, you could season it to match the rest of your meal

    • bubbalu [they/them]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      10 months ago

      Alas i live within the Prefigurative boundaries of the Future Great Lakes People Republic so I don’t have access to raw-edible seafood.

    • bubbalu [they/them]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      10 months ago

      Lol it’s nothing that fancy. I made something the other day that was just saltines with garlic sauce on top and artfully arranged capers and sezchuan peppercorns. Then a blade of arugula artfully stuck into it.

      My idea was that these courses would be one or two bites and based around the plating or aesthetics more than the food itself.

      • EndOfHerstory [she/her]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        Ah, okay. Since you’re into using fruits in a savory way, I’ll share this idea I’ve had for a while (but haven’t tried yet):

        Peel some grapes, saving the skins. Soak the peeled grapes in some sort of marinade (salt, vinegar, oil, herbs… could be anything you want, really; although simple is probably better?). Dry the grape skins completely, grind them into a powder along with some salt, msg, citric acid (or whatever seasonings sound good). To serve, wrap each grape in long, thin slices of… something that functions like prosciutto? Avocado could work, chilled roasted beets could be good… Then top with the powder (lots on half the plate or something) and maybe a tiny cheese crisp or some other crispy element for a garnish.

        Edit: you could also slice the leftover peeled grapes really thin to use as a garnish in other courses.

  • MattsAlt [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    10 months ago

    You could do a lot with citrus as those are in season during the winter months. That or pears / apples. A nice citrus forward salad has been something I’ve done in the past for a home Valentine’s menu. Pomegranate is another. A lot would lend themselves to multiple courses too.

    For example, a pomegranate reduction sauce for the main and then the seeds on their own in a salad or in desert. Citrus supremes with a salad or appetizer and then the juice in the cocktail.

    I might be wrong but I think I’ve seen people dissolve away all the connective tissue in a grapefruit supreme to use the little juice capsules as faux caviar. I’ll have to search for it