So yesterday I was invited to a Sunday dinner amongst friends and was totally surprised to find out that it was actually a surprise going away party for my upcoming departure. Yes, I'm leaving San Antonio once again and returning back to Colorado in the next few days. Leslie Horne (who is the maker of Aurelia's Chorizo
..http://aureliaschorizo.com/... Amazing by the way) and Troy Knapp (Executive Chef of the Hyatt Hill Country Resort) got together and invited an all star cast of local foodies to send me off in style. The biggest surprise of my arrival was that I had been given the task of cooking the main course for everyone which was to be a traditional paella...Now for those who don't know, this is the signature dish at our restaurant downtown "Las Ramblas" located in the Hotel Contessa and we serve over 250 of these a month (much smaller portions of course). Leslie and I met at a local paella challenge a few months back and I enjoyed her Spanish chorizo so much that we started serving it in the restaurant. I've known Troy for a few years and can always expect him to host a great party or bust out a flamenco guitar at any moment which of course he eventually did.
As I was ushered into the kitchen and handed a clean apron, they began to show me all the ingredients provided for my paella challenge. Opening the refrigerator I found smoked pork belly, chicken thighs, black mussels, littleneck clams, head on shrimp, spanish chorizo, calamari, and of course 2 bags of calasparra rice sitting on the counter. After securing some onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes, paprika, and saffron I enlisted my sous chef who was happily drinking in the crowd. Once he was given an apron as well (Yeah, I totally made him help) we went into the back yard and fired up the propane tank with an enormous paella pan waiting for our arrival. After some quick knife work and stock preparation we started to build the flavors one ingredient at a time. The smoked pork belly was rendered in hot fat and then set aside. Next the chicken thighs were caramelized in the pork fat and removed. The head on shrimp got a quick dance in the pan before we started to make the sofrito. Red peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, paprika, saffron were all cooked together before we added the calasparra rice.
The rice was toasted before adding the first baptism of stock which was fortified with the chicken bones, lobster shells, shrimp shells, and vegetable scraps. Now the hard part began which required socializing, enjoy a few glasses of wine, snacking on some great tapas, and monitoring the temperature to ensure the rice was cooking evenly. Once the rice started to swell, we would add a few more ladles of stock and slowly simmer again and again for about 20 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking process, we started to garnish the paella rice with all of our reserved proteins. At the very end of the dish, I cranked the heat up to finish reducing the liquid and begin building the famed
soccarat, a crispy almost burnt caramelization that occurs on the bottom of the pan ... After a final nod of approval between my sous chef and myself we started serving up plates and enjoying the fruits of our labor. I felt truly honored to cook for this amazing group and also throw down with my sous chef Joseph Carrejo one last time. This was a great way to close this chapter on my career and begin moving on to the next.
As a chef, I truly love cooking for others but even more so when it's people who share my passion. - Brother Luck
So this dish has been evolving in my head over the last 3 or 4 days and I've finally had some time to put my thoughts on the plate. I'm thinking the dish will pair better with poached pheasant breast and making the arancinis out of pheasant leg confit to utilize the whole bird. Overall I'm happy with this dish and will continue enhancing the flavors over the next few weeks before it's hits a dining room table. The foie gras torchon is sliced and garnished with foie gras powder (foie fat from poaching liquid solidified overnight and mixed with tapioca maltodextrin). The arancinis (meaning little oranges resembling their color and shape) are hand rolled spheres of creamy risotto with chopped duck confit folded in at the last minute. The quail breast are glazed with a blood orange reduction and underneath is a mixture of rabbit pancetta, pistachios, sweet corn, portabello mushrooms, and red bell peppers. Pickled fennel, red onions, and fronds garnish the dish with fresh blackberry to balance the fat and acidity. 
What
is a torchon???? Upon one of my sous chef's returning my copy of The French Laundry cookbook, I was inspired to make a foie gras torchon and add it as a component to a new dish I've been writing. Torchon literally means dish towel referring to the technique of
wrapping the poached foie gras in a side towel and hanging in the refrigerator
overnight. This is such an easy way to prepare foie gras and showcase why it's considered a true delicacy. After asking some of the cooks what does torchon mean I thought it would be worth a few minutes to share the process. After soaking the foie gras in milk overnight to remove any extra blood, it's marinated
in kosher salt, white pepper, granulated sugar, and pink salt overnight. The foie gras is then
shaped into a cylinder using parchment paper and then tightly bound with
cheesecloth using butchers twine to secure on both ends and also a few ties around the center to hold it's shape while cooking. I poached the torchon in seasoned chicken
stock for just under 2 minutes and then quickly placed into ice water to stop the
cooking process. After a few minutes of chilling, I wrapped it tightly in a dish towel and
secured again with butchers twine on both ends. The foie gras torchon is now
hanging in the cooler overnight before I will slice into and begin finalizing my new dish. Stay tuned.....
My sous chef Nick Lachman had a great idea to start making pancetta out of the rabbit bellies after we finish butchering them for the restaurant. The creative think tank has begun and we've started some great discussions about incorporating this technique into a dish component. With the addition of "meat glue" aka transglutaminate, we can transform these miniature bellies into one large piece that is cured and hung just like a pork belly. Here they are being cured beforehand to see what is the best process.
