There is always a first time…

It was few days ago when I had the pleasure to try what I would like to be my future job; but let’s start from the beginning.
Some time ago a friend of mine told me about the birthday of a friend of his, nothing peculiar so far; the nice part came when he told me that he was thinking of gifting him a dinner. Nice idea, no? You get to sit with your friends, drink good wine, chitchat, listen to good music and eat a meal especially prepared for you. The bottom line is that he wanted me to prepare that meal.
Pointless to say that I was very happy of this opportunity; my first dinner as a cook! I, in the kitchen cooking, plating and so on; them enjoying the results in the living room.
It was a very nice experience indeed. The kitchen was quite well equipped in tools and space but a cook’s knives are irreplaceable, don’t you think so too? Thankfully I already learned to travel with some of my equipments whenever I have to cook at a friend’s place.
It took me a couple of days to figure out the menu to prepare. I opted for a combination of traditional, regional and seasonal elements.
It’s asparagus time and Germany is quite a good producer of them (especially the white ones but I prefer the green). Strawberries are another hit of the season. The specimens coming from Bornheim are a nice orange read, roundish and of a wonderful smell; so aromatic, they are amazingly good!

What was on the plates then?? They asked me to prepare a three courses dinner so here they are:

Appetizer – Fennel Salad with Walnuts and Orange Supreme, Panelle and a Prawns Bisque au Champagne;

 

Main Course – Linguine with a coarse pesto of Thyme and Olives over Green Asparagus and Orange-Poached Prawns;

 

Dessert – Strawberry bowl with Sage English Custard, Riesling-Butterscotch cream and biscuits of Reims.

Worthless to say that I was late as usual! Argh!!! The dinner was served with a bit of delay from the planned time.. (well, 30 minutes is not as bad… could have been worse). The dish that caused a bit more troubles was the pasta. The stove wasn’t so powerful so the water needed ages to boil (even if it was warm).
All together the dinner was a success! I enjoyed being able to take care only of the dishes all time long, without always jumping from the living room to the kitchen (as it is use when I am part of the guests). The bad side of this? My sore feet.