I really love cooking from scratch… everything tastes so much better when you make everything yourself. Allan’s mom and her husband were coming over from Vancouver Island to meet my parents… and Allan and I decided to create a fancy five-course meal to serve them. As if it wasn’t pressure enough just to have the two parents meet!

I think the best way to tackle this post with the sheer number of photos is to put all the prep photos first and leave the five “finished” photos for the end I will post the recipes later tonight in the Comments section. So, here we go!

The key to cooking a multi-course meal, in my opinion, is all about the prep work. Making sure you double-check your ingredients, making sure you prep anything the night before that can be prepped… and having as much pre-portioned and pre-chopped up the day of the meal before you start cooking. You don’t really want anything sitting there getting cold… you want to serve it fresh right off the stove onto the plate as you go. I decided to prepare the chocolate creme brulée the night before.

The first step was making the chocolate decoration… and tempering chocolate with a candy thermometer. This is the temperature chart I followed… it’s a bit tricky but once you get the hang of it, it’s fairly easy. You have to raise the chocolate to a high temperature, cool it with an ice bath, and heat again to a medium temperature… then your chocolate is tempered and easy to work with!

My pantry was definitely overstuffed with supplies.

The creme brulée was cooked and then cooled overnight. The next morning I woke up and simmered the apricots for several hours (for the puree) and Allan and I candied the walnuts for the first course.

The next step was to start preparing the soup… peeling, cutting, and weighing the butternut squash. Then sautéeing them in shallots and butter, cooking with chicken stock, and then adding spices. The soup also had to be blended, strained, blended again, and then served. Served with freshly grated nutmeg!

While this was happening, we started making the chicken mousse in the food processor (note.. having an electronic scale is a life saver!). I cooked up several pounds of Pacific Wild Dungeness crab fresh from Granville Island here in Vancouver in white wine, butter and other spices… which was then added with a little bit of chicken mousse, parmesan, and chives to make the crab filling for the ravioli.

Allan made the fresh pasta while I cut the rounds for the ravioli and added the stuffing, and sealed the edges.

Meanwhile… getting the clam chowder ready by prepping the veggies, potatoes and leeks… and cooking the clams in white wine and fish stock.

I really loved the clams we got from Granville Island… very similar to littleneck clams but sweeter. Then I made a roux for the clam chowder and waited while it thickened up and cooked the veggies. (Note… make sure to add the clams just before serving, you don’t want them to get tough).

Next was making the prosciutto-wrapped halibut.

We wrapped the very thinly sliced prosciutto around the halibut and sealed it in with a sage leaf for aroma and flavour. The halibut needed to be seared before being baked in the oven.

The last thing to worry about was the dessert of course.. in the interest of time I bought a few little sweets to go with the creme brulée. I got some marshmallows from Vancouver-based Butter Baked Goods… and rolled the vanilla marshmallows in candy cane pieces and the coffee marshmallows in a chocolate-sugar mix. I used little Christmas plates and also attached chocolate-covered marshmallows onto stainless steel skewers. The last step before serving was to torch the chocolate creme brulée.

We set up my dad’s old work table in the middle of our living room and stole my mom’s linens to make a Christmas spread. It was a little hokey but hey, we made do As for the parents meeting the parents… well we think it went rather well! This is a photo of Allan’s mom and husband Terry sitting at the table talking to my folks. Both sets of parents seemed to get along well and both had good things to say after. We kept them busy with the food

And last but not least… the photos of the finished meal!

ALLIE AND ALLAN’S FIVE-COURSE CHRISTMAS MEAL FOR OUR PARENTS

Course One: Seared Qualicum Bay Scallops with Apricot Puree and Candied Walnuts

Course Two: Creamy Butternut Squash Soup topped with Pumpkin Seeds, Chives, Parmesan, Freshly Grated Nutmeg, and Pumpkin Seed Oil

Course Three: Dungeness Crab-Stuffed Ravioli topped with a Maple-Candied Dungeness Crab Leg, in a Mushroom-Parmesan Sauce… served with Seared Beef Tenderloin in a Balsamic Vinegar-Shallot Marinade

Course Four: Prosciutto-Wrapped Halibut with Clam Chowder

Course Five: Chocolate Creme Brulée topped with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Chocolate Decoration, with Raspberries in a Mango Coulis served with assorted sweets (Coffee and Vanilla Marshmallows, Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow, Peppermint Bark)

Phew!

Something I rarely get to do when I cook for Allan and I, is make a proper meal with courses. Usually we cook up something relatively quick for dinner, and even when we do make a nice lunch or dinner, we rarely make appetizers or dessert.

This weekend, I was determined to cook up a proper 3-course meal: appetizer, entree, and dessert. My plan is to post my recipes for these in the comments below when I get home tonight. For now, you can check out the pictures to get an idea of the process.

On the Menu:
1. Appetizer – Butternut Squash Velouté with Parmesan & Black Truffle crisp, topped with wild mushrooms
2. Entrée – Handmade Spinach-Striped Wild Mushroom Filled Ravioli, with a Filet Mignon topped with sundried tomatoes with red wine jus
3. Dessert – Fresh Lemon Mousse topped with home grown raspberries

We headed to Gourmet Warehouse (one of my favourite stores) and Granville Island and we were set to start cooking!

Up first, the soup. Halve the butternut squash, clean out the seeds and chop the flesh into cubes.

Sauté the squash in some butter and shallots. You’ll see in this picture the fancy new “Scanpan” saucepan that Allan bought us from Gourmet Warehouse! In LOVE with it! It’s titanium with a ceramic non-stick surface so it is non-toxic, unlike Teflon. It’s also very light and a pleasure to use, and made in Denmark.

Add hot vegetable stock and cover, let simmer. Add cream, seasoning, fresh herbs, and then transfer the squash to a blender. Blend, add more stock/cream as necessary for the right texture. Strain for smoothness (for a real velouté) or if you like texture, you can serve it as it is.

Sauté wild mushrooms with butter and parsley for the topping. Grate some black truffles for the Parmesan crisp.

Use real Parmigiano Reggiano for the crisp. Sprinkle onto the pan, top with black truffles, cook over high heat, and then flash under the broiler to brown.

DONE: Appetizer – Butternut Squash Velouté with Parmesan & Black Truffle crisp, topped with wild mushrooms

Next up, the entrées.

Start by making regular pasta from scratch. Use good Italian ’00′ pasta flour and extra large eggs, and high quality olive oil. Knead until pliable.

Steam the spinach for the spinach pasta, and then transfer to a blender. Puree, add the eggs and flour, blend again… and then when thick, pour onto the counter and knead in flour until you have the right consistency. Use a pasta maker or rolling pin to make long thin sheets of pasta.

Use a good assortment of fresh wild mushrooms for the filling. I used local Chanterelles, Portobello, Shiitake, and Enoki mushrooms. Chop the mushrooms very finely. Also chop up some leek.

Fry up some pancetta for the topping. Sauté the filling in oil from the pancetta, butter, herbs, and seasoning and let all the water evaporate.

In the meantime, start making your red wine jus. Use good quality red wine, good quality balsamic vinegar, beef stock, shallots, garlic and a full sprig of rosemary. Add in stages and let reduce until dark and thick. Strain.

Start making your cream sauce from scratch. Use good Parmigiano Reggiano, lots of herbs and seasoning, butter, and a good thick cream. Stir in a good amount of fresh basil just before adding pasta to the saucepan.

Keep on making that pasta… use the pasta maker or a knife to make thin fettuccine-sized strands with the spinach pasta.

Lay on top of the plain pasta sheet to make stripes. Run it through the pasta maker to smooth down. Use a cookie cutter or pasta cutter to make the shape you want for the pasta. I used a round cookie-cutter here. Keep going until you’ve cut out all your pasta. Save the waste and roll it out so you can use it to make pasta again later. Spoon generous amounts of filling into the ravioli and dip your finger in water, run around the rim of the ravioli, and then press the two sheets together. Press firmly to seal the edges.

Boil up the pasta! I was very surprised how well our pasta turned out. It didn’t fall apart in the water at all! Very happy!

DONE: Entrée – Handmade Spinach-Striped Wild Mushroom Filled Ravioli

DONE: Entrée – Filet Mignon topped with sundried tomatoes on a bed of spinach with red wine jus (not pictured because I forgot it for the pic …)

Hopefully the day before you’ve made dessert Here’s how to do it.

Start shaving off some lemon rind (for flavour and colour). Make your lemon mousse from scratch… whipping cream, eggs, vanilla, fresh lemon juice, and lemon rind. Fold in homemade sweetened whipped cream.

Add good quality lemon curd.

Pour into serving bowls. Pipe some of the extra whipped cream onto the top.

DONE: Dessert – Fresh Lemon Mousse topped with a lemon slice and home grown raspberries

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the story! I’m hoping to post my recipes in the comments when I get home