San Rafael | Caliblini Personal Chef's Blog

Last dinner on the Titanic

By polina, on April 15th, 2012%

“Inside this floating palace that spring evening in 1912, warmth and lights, the hum of voices, the gay lilt of a German waltz – the unheeding sounds of a small world bent on pleasure” – First-class passenger Lady Duff-Gordon

On April 14, 100 years after the first technological catastrophe of the modern era, sinking of the Titanic, we attempted to recreate a part of the last dinner served to the first class passengers. The original menu from the first class dining saloon survived, and the authors of the beautiful book “Last Dinner on the Titanic. Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner” did a great job of restoring the recipes, based on memoirs of the survivors, period recipes from upscale restaurants and hotels, and educated guesses. They also restored the menus from the a la carte restaurant and the second- and third- class dining rooms.

The first class menu included 11 courses, with a few selections in each. For our small party of five that would be too much, both cooking and eating; I decided to make a few dishes from that menu as close to the original as I could, in memory of the chefs and cooks who went down with the Titanic on that terrible night, and serve it in the period style and using the period dinnerware.

Many thanks to my dear guests for their company, excellent wines, photographing the food (I would never manage it myself, running around serving eight courses of small portions), and help with the dishes, that are, in the best Edwardian tradition, not dishwasher safe.

R.M.S. Titanic

Dinner menu
April, 14, 2012
First class dinner saloon

Canapé a’l Admiral
Consommé Olga
Chicken Lyonnaise
Asparagus salad, champagne saffron vinaigrette
Beef fillet Forestier
Cheeses and salumi, fresh fruits
Madagascar vanilla ice cream
Chocolate pudding

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Rafael, CA

Today’s menu

By polina, on February 8th, 2012%

Today’s clients are thinking about switching to a vegetarian diet, but they are not ready to go completely vegetarian yet. Meanwhile they try to eat less red meat, more vegetables and grains.

I enjoy shopping our Marin Farmers Market for them.

Here is what I made for this week:

Lentil soup

Cod in tomato-parsley sauce
Farro pilaf

Quinoa with tofu and mushrooms

Cannelini beans with sausage, kale and tomatoes
Whole wheat penne pasta, garlic, olive oil

Vegetable pot pies
Sautéed cauliflower

Coq au vin
Sweet potatoes gratin

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Rafael, CA

All my favorite fall fruits

By polina, on November 8th, 2011%

Now is the magical time when all three of my favorite fruits come together at the market at the same time:

Figs are going out, the few still available are overripe, beginning to dry out, but still delicious. At this point, don’t use them for cooking – enjoy them fresh while they last, or, if you are lucky to have a large tree, dry some for the winter.

Grapes are at the peak now. Super-sweet, juicy and wonderful as an accompaniment to wines and cheeses, in salads, or just eat them straight.

Persimmons are just coming in. My favorite Fuyu variety, that is not tannic and can be eaten still firm and crunchy, is good and sweet already. It’s great sliced as a part of cheese and fruits board (think soft, sharp cheeses), sliced into salads, chopped into salsas, baked in a pie, or just eaten out of hand.

I don’t even mention apples as my favorite fruit, they are too common, and everyone’s favorites. But I eat a lot of apples now, when most varieties are at the peak: bake pies and tarts with Granny Smiths, Pippins, Honeycrisps, and tiny tart crab apples; slice Fujis, Honeycrisps, Rome Beauties, Empire, and McIntosh to serve with wine and cheese (lots of pairing options here), sauté Pippins and Granny Smiths to serve with savory meat dishes – poultry and pork work very well with apples; store some, wrapped in paper, in a box in a cool place, for the winter.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Rafael, CA

Terrine of grilled eggplant and fire-roasted peppers with tomato confit

By polina, on October 18th, 2011%

Good bye, summer!

They are probably the last ones of the season, and I’ll miss them terribly. But at this weeks farmers market an almost six-pound bag of slightly overripe organic heirloom tomatoes was $5, and they were of absolutely beautiful, sunny orange and red varieties. I had to take them home, and now everything I eat has tomato sauce on it. I also put away a couple of bags of tomato confit in the freezer for later.

Tomato confit

Makes a lot

1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
10 cloves garlic, peeled
5 sprigs oregano
5 sprigs thyme
5 pounds ripe (or slightly overripe, undamaged) tomatoes, or as many as you can fit in your roasting pan, cored
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil, spread onion, garlic, and herbs in the pan. Place tomatoes on top of onion mixture, stem side down, fitting them close together. Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bake about one hour, or until tomatoes char on top and blister. Let cool a little. Remove oregano and thyme. Puree vegetables in blender, working in batches, adding liquid from the bottom of the pan as needed. Store in a refrigerator, or freeze in locking bags or in ice cube trays. Use on pastas, eggs, beans, thin with stock to make tomato soup, braise fish fillets in it, or make my simple version of a vegetable terrine, while eggplants and bell peppers are still in season, and the weather is grill-friendly.

Terrine of grilled eggplant and fire-roasted peppers with tomato confit

Makes 1 4-cup container

2 bell peppers
3 small Italian eggplants
Olive oil for grilling
Salt, pepper
2 cups tomato confit
2 bags unflavored gelatin

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Place peppers on the hottest part of the grill, char on all sides, turning occasionally, until almost all the skin blackens. Place in a covered container and leave until cool enough to handle.

Slice eggplants lengthwise 1/4 inch thick. Brush with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper. Remember that the vegetables will be served cold, so stronger seasoning will help them shine. Grill, turning once or twice, until soft and nice grill marks are created.

When peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the skins – they should slide off easily – and cores and seeds. Work over a bowl to catch the juices. Slice peppers lengthwise.

Line 4-cup Pyrex container, loaf pan, or terrine with plastic wrap. Put a layer of eggplant slices on the bottom, with the best grill marks facing down – this will be the top of the finished terrine. Top with a layer of peppers. Repeat, finishing with a layer of eggplant, with the best grill marks facing up, in case you decide to serve the terrine in the mold.

Divide tomato confit into two roughly equal portions. Bring one to almost boil, add any pepper juices to it. Sprinkle gelatin on cool confit, let sit two minutes. Add hot confit, mix well. Pour tomato-gelatin mixture over the vegetables in the mold. Pierce in a few places with a bamboo skewer, to let the tomato flow under and around the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Turn the terrine over to a cold plate, remove the mold and plastic, slice to show the colorful layers, and serve with more tomato confit, if desired.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Rafael, CA

Fall menu from the farmers market

By polina, on September 23rd, 2011%

It’s officially fall. No matter how hot it gets during the day, you can feel the fall in the early sunset, see it in the beginning foliage colors, and of course, taste it at the farmers market.

The corn is still sweet and tender and heirloom tomatoes abundant, but apples have already arrived, and zucchinis are being replaced by winter squashes.

Here is what I made on the first day of Fall:

Butternut squash soup with chai spices

Salmon with chimichurri sauce
Brown rice and beans

Peruvian-style chicken with sweet onions and lemon
Spicy corn ragout

Chicken Marsala
Orzo with arugula and pine nuts

Acorn squash stuffed with quinoa and vegetables
Cucumber salad

Rosemary and garlic lamb chops
Garlic mashed potatoes

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Rafael

Market find: candy stripe figs

By polina, on September 12th, 2011%

These pretty “candies” come from the farmers market and are actually a variety of figs, properly named Candy Stripe. Lighter in flavor than popular Black Mission figs and with a hint of citrus, they go well into sweet-savory dishes.

Quarter them for arugula salad with almonds, figs, and sherry vinaigrette; or cut a cross on top and insert a dab of goat cheese, season with a drop of honey and fresh ground black pepper; or wrap them in prosciutto slices; and enjoy the flavor of the early fall.

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Location:San Rafael,United States

Organic menu for my San Rafael client

By polina, on November 24th, 2010%

These clients are special: their diet is gluten-free, dairy-free, they have multiple food allergies and restrictions, and they prefer all-organic food. I put a lot of work into planning their menu to add variety within their strict dietary requirements. Fortunately, they are not vegetarians or raw eaters

This is an example of a three-entree personal chef menu that I have prepared for them:

Salad:

Zucchini and daikon with basil and lemon vinaigrette (my and my clients’ absolute favorite!)

Entrees:

Chicken saltimbocca (with sage, prosciutto and mushrooms; no cheese)

Braised beef (Mediterranean herbs, garlic, onion, white wine)

Rosemary scallops

Sides:

Rice pilaf with mushrooms

Brussels sprouts with gremolata

Orange-glazed carrots