Seafood Night II (Son of Seafood)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab 

The best place to start is with the best quality ingredients you can get!!

Super fresh rianbow trout - we had a half spare, I had it as sashimi with some citrus soy, melt in your mouth!

Still moving when I picked them up! Packed 'em in ice, and back to the lab!!

Octopus, curling from the heat of the pot, cooked with red pepper corns, sherry vinegar, and a fair amount of salt!

I always get a bit of stage fright when we do a virtually completely new menu, and I'm learning that an extra pair of hands in the kitchen is no bad thing, because without exception something will always take longer than you think!! Especially if you've tweaked it to improve it!! Got to be very careful with last minute tweaking!!

Last weekend we had the usual lovely mix of people, including Vic and her hen party, that was organised by the lovely Sarah!!
(BTW: Thanks for all your fantastic comments on the night, guys, and I hope you have a lovely day on the day!)

They put in a request for a seafood menu, and since they gave me 3 months notice I thought I'd oblige!! Here's what we made for Vic and the rest of our guests:

~ MENU ~

Devonshire Crab & Palm Heart Salad w/ 

Breakfast Soldier Croutons,

served w/ Garlic (Turkish) Bread & Palm Heart Sauce.

Flores del Mar

(Hot and Cold Seafood Salad w/ Octopus, Orange, Paprika, Squid & Whitebait & Borage)

White Fish Ceviche & Edamame

Basil Infused Grapefruit Amuse (V)

Stargazy Pie & Chips 

Gutted we didn't get a shot of the dish, with Langoustine claws popping out!!! Will have to make it again, and make sure we get the shot!!!

~~~

Orange and Vanilla Pannacotta, w/ Butter Pastry Biscuits & Balsamic Pearls

Topped w/ Cointreau Strawberries

Black Olive Ganache (V),  Salted Lemon Fudge (V)

 

~~~

At the end of each evening, if people want to leave a comment they can!!! Here's what folk said:

THAT WAS COOL!!

: ) PEACE AND LOVE  V

Merto & Michelle

Thank you for the lovely evening.

Haven't been at a supperclub for

a while & realised why i really

liked it in the first place.

                           Amazing pie!!

Merto & Michelle

Food was amazing! The amuse bouche was so refreshing, the way the basil develops on the palette is simply divine!
Kate

Interesting food.

Very well cooked + tasted great.

Great relaxed atmoshphere aswell

AMAZEBALLZ! - ferdie: massively excited writing!! ; )

Beautiful food, presentation.

Awesome!!

Thanks Sarah

"The octopus was AMAZING the best octopus I've ever had", Vic

REALLY ENJOYED THE
FOOD (CRAB WAS MY
FAVOURITE) AND THE
FACT THAT EVERYONE AT
SAME TABLE
Pedro

I must thank Danielle of the New Zealand Tourist Board, for being really helpful at the end of the night, and great to sit and chat away to with a glass of wine once we'd cleaned the kitchen down and tidied the main hall!! Very engaging! Hell, otherwise Sarah wouldn't have got in and we might have got to bed at 1AM instead of 5AM!!!!! Aye caramba!!

Mental note would love to return to Queenstown in the winter instead of the summer like last time!!! Sigh . . .

Was a cracker . . . .

Big hugs from ferdie!!!
XXX