Turkey Week

Good morning everyone! As Thanksgiving approaches, many people ask how best to prepare the turkey. My favorite method is to 1. Debone the turkey 2. Brine the turkey 3.Roast the turkey.
Deboning the turkey is important for two reasons. 1. The white meat cooks a lot quicker than the dark meat . This means that the white meat dries out while the turkey legs and thighs are still cooking. 2. You can roast the turkey carcass and make your stock and stuffing ahead of time. To debone the turkey, I like to start off by seperating the legs first. Taking a nice sharp boning or chef's knife, cut through the layer of skin between the leg and breast. Pull on the leg and continue following the knife through the skin until you come to the leg joint. Cut around and finally through the joint (It should give easily) and repeat with the other leg. Next, locate the breast bone. Take your knife and slice slowly right down the bone and continue to slice further into the meat following the breast bone. Don't worry about going through the breast bone, it should hold fairly well. Keep slicing through the meat until there is no more to take off, I like to also take part of the wing bone (airliner) because it gives me something to hold on to while slicing.
Brining the turkey is done to ensure that the moisture in the bird stays intact through a wonderful process called osmosis. There are two ways to do this; 1. liquid brine and 2. dry rub. For poultry, I prefer the dry rub. Take some garlic, parsley, thryme, sage, rosemary, and salt and run it through a food processor. This takes a lot of salt! Add salt until the mixture pulls from the side; it should be green with no leafy herbs sticking out. Next lightly cover your turkey with the mixture (this is now a concentrated salt and tends to be very very potent) and let marinate for 12-24 hours. After it has marinated, rinse off the surface with water and then pat dry with a towel.
Preheat the oven at 400 degrees. Place your turkey breasts on a roasting pan and do the same with the legs in a seperate pan. Cover your turkey pieces with butter or oil and place in the oven to cook. The breasts should be done in about 1 hour and 15 minutes depending on the size. To check, place a thermometer inside the thickest part and wait until it reaches 160 degrees, remove the breasts from the oven when it reaches this temperature. Repeat with the legs, only pull them when they reach 165 degrees. The oil should help brown the meat and add flavor, if the meat gets too dark, lower the oven temperature. You now have the best turkey ever!!!!Please let us know how this turns out for you.

The two tastings

Hello and thank you everyone for coming to our two wonderful food tastings. The tastings provided a platform in which we could present an array of different food items that would not otherwise be provided in the Columbus area. Both of our tastings provided tasty seasonal items that appeased the palets of our guests. A very special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Segna for hosting our parties in their fairly new and very beautiful home; their hospitality and kindness were greatly appreciated. The turnout for both tasting events was very good and the oral feedback after the first tasting helped us hone our skills so that the second tasting went off without any problems. We appreciate everyone's input whether it is positive or negative so feel free to drop us a line. We will keep posting updates on future events and menu upgrades (we will try to stay as seasonal as possible) and our website should be completed by the end of the week. Again, feel free to drop us a line and we will try and answer everybody's questions in a timely manner. Bon Appetite!

12 November '06 Hors D'Oeurve tasting menu

Beet and goat cheese spoons

The classic pairing of ruby beets and white chevre sprinkled with hazelnuts and olive oil, presented in a contemporary form

Grugeres with Roquefort spread

Cheeseballs melt in your mouth favorite stuffed with blue cheese

Beef burgundy in steamed new potatoes

Hearty slow braised beef stuffed inside with slow new roasted potatoes and served warm

Sesame pork satay with spicy peanut sauce

Pork skewers coated with sesame seeds, seared, and then served with a spicy coconut-peanut sauce as served in the Far East

Bay scallop ceviche

A South American favorite using citrus juice which “cooks” the scallops without heat. Mixed with cilantro, jalepeno, bell peppers, cilantro, and served with an avocado mousse and tortilla chips

Chorizo and manchego stuffed mushrooms

Spanish sausage stuffed in mushrooms with onion confit and topped with Spanish dry cheese; our version of beef stuffed mushrooms

English pea hummus with lavash

A Middle Eastern dip, using English peas instead of the classical chickpeas, pureed with tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and served on a flatbread cracker

Prosciutto wrapped vanilla poached pear

Cured Italian ham wrapped around a slow poached pear, salty mixed with sweet, and served with a sherry gelee (sherry jelly)

Tarragon chicken tartlets

Grilled chicken mixed with tarragon, grapes, walnuts, celery, and a dijon-mayonnaise sauce and served in a toasted filo tartlet

Chocolate-hazelnut cakes

A classical French pairing of chocolate and roasted hazelnuts served warm with a rich chocolate sauce

Welcome

We are an up start full service caterer bring a new level of dish selection and quality. Feel free to contact us by email cali.catering@gmail.com or give us a call 614.360.1905.