Apologies for the radio silence this past week. I was completely consumed by the We Are Ona event in Paris. Six days of working fourteen-hour shifts with an average of five hours of sleep have put me in a state of delirium. This event has probably been the most demanding experience I’ve ever gone through; cooking a 100-person lunch, turning it into a 100-person dinner for three days, and finishing with a final lunch on the fourth day.
I’ve never taken on a project this size and it was quite overwhelming. I’m still processing the experience but overall it went well and the response was positive. My culinary background is not as tenured as most;I worked only a few months in a single restaurant. When doing events and pop-ups, I always learn so much. They challenge me in areas where I feel I can always improve. For the Matter and Shape series, I was lucky I had the help of some talented and experienced chefs and cooks. I can’t thank them enough for all of their work this past week.
When developing this menu, I thought about dishes that could be easily executed and still look beautiful when made in massive numbers. Cooking for this amount of people is challenging and very different from cooking for a few friends at home. How you structure the menu and think about dishes needs to be focused around easy execution and simple plating. Though I thought I had planned accordingly, there are many things I feel like I could’ve done better and things I might have reworked. Nevertheless, I was happy with most of the flavors of the dishes.
I will be sharing an additional post this week to get things back on track. In the meantime, I wanted to share my menu and two of the recipes from the recent event.
MENU:
Carrot Pulp Muhammara, Seeded Crackers, Pomegranate Molasses Walnut Sesame Crumble
Sunchoke Tartelette, Caramelized Shallot, Pickled Apple, Nigella Seed
Oyster, Smoked Buttermilk, Sorrel Oil, Caviar
Marinated Armenian String Cheese, Nasturtium, Kohlrabi
Sea Bass, Carrot Juice, Ginger, Sumac
Endive, Apricot Labneh, Sourdough
Mushroom Manti, Tomato Broth, Yogurt
Bulgur Pilaf Stuffed Cabbage, Red Wine Reduction
Poached Trout, Confit Leeks, Watercress Sauce, Tarragon Oil
Apple Fennel Sorbet
Phyllo Mille Feuille, Brown Butter Cream, Pistachio Labneh, Rose Sugar