I think you will enjoy this menu. The salad is one of the best I’ve had in a long time. The citrus dressing works perfectly for the Anjou pears and blue cheese. The tilapia is truly outstanding and the New York Cheesecake with Dark Chocolate Ganache is very simple to do.

Inspiration for the tilapia dish came from a great restaurant called The Dunes, owned by one of my favorite chefs, Jean George. I had the good fortune to eat there several years ago and had a great dish similar to this. This is my version. It sounds a bit strange to pour a broth around the mashed potatoes, but the blending of the potatoes with the broth is truly incredible. Enjoy!

In This Menu:

• Tilapia with Wasabi Potatoes and Miso Broth
• Anjou Pear Salad
• Cheesecake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Wasabi Whipped Potatoes

• 1½ pounds of Deli mashed potatoes
• 1 small bag of fresh spinach
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi powder mixed with 2 teaspoons orange juice (water is fine, juice is better)

Bring 1 quart of water in a medium saucepan to boil. Add spinach. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes, drain, and run spinach in cold water immediately to cool and set the color. Place cooked spinach and wasabi in food processor and pulse, scraping sides frequently until spinach is fairly smooth.

Heat potatoes in microwave, loosely covered, for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until potatoes are ready to serve. Place potatoes in a large bowl and add spinach-wasabi mixture. Stir the spinach into the potatoes until you have a consistent color. Keep warm.

For the asparagus:

• ½ bunch asparagus, washed and trimmed
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• Coarse kosher or sea salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil (in Asian section of our store)

Blanch the asparagus in lightly salted boiling water for about 3 minutes or until crisp-tender; do not overcook. Remove from heat and refresh under cold water; drain well. In a small saucepan, toss asparagus with remaining ingredients until evenly coated and warmed through.

For the fish:

• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• ¼ cup black sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 4 fillets of tilapia
• ½ cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°. Mix sesame seeds with bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in small bowl. Lay fish on a cookie sheet or baking tray with an edge. Brush each fillet with half of the olive oil. Set remaining olive oil aside. Sprinkle Panko mixture liberally over each fillet. Lightly dab the remaining olive oil on top of bread crumbs to help it brown.

Bake fillets for 12 minutes. Remove from oven.

To plate:

Put about a 3/4 cup scoop of the potatoes in the center of a shallow bowl. Carefully place fish on potatoes. Pour ½ cup Miso broth around potatoes. Top fish with 4 asparagus spears. Serve immediately.

For the dressing:

• 2 teaspoons minced, fresh ginger
• Juice of one navel orange
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Put ginger in a small bowl with the orange juice. Add sugar, salt, and black pepper. Slowly drizzle oil into juice while beating with a wire whip continuously until all of the oil is gone.

For the salad:

• 2 cups ice water
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 Anjou pears
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup blue cheese
• 4 small handfuls of your favorite lettuce blend

Mix ice water with lemon juice in a small bowl. Cut pears into quarters and remove core. Slice each quarter into three slices. Place slices in the acidulated water (fancy chef term for water with lemon!). The lemon will keep the pears from turning brown. In another bowl toss the lettuce with about 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Have four plates ready and place equal amounts of the dressed lettuce in center of each plate. Remove pears from water, drain, then place in same bowl you tossed the lettuce in. Add the walnuts and blue cheese to pears. Add dressing and toss to coat pears completely. Stack pears on top of lettuce and serve. Serve immediately.

1 New York Cheesecake from our bakery

For Ganache:

• 1 cup good quality, dark chocolate
• ½ cup heavy cream

In a double boiler, melt chocolate. Add cream and mix well with a wire whip. Remove from heat and ladle over center of cheesecake. Serve immediately.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Chef-Inspired Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.