Dinner #12: We FINALLY try our hand at an Asian themed menu

Menu
Sept 22, 2018

Appetizers
Yaki Onigiri
Pickled Cucumbers

Course One
Balsamic and Soy Sauce Glazed Chicken

Course Two
Enamame, Kale, and Cashew Salad with Sesame Honey Dressing

Course Three
Homemade Udon Soup

Course Four
Miso Black Cod

Course Five
Japanese Cheesecakes

Beverages
Grapefruit and Lychee Cocktail
Thai Basil and Shiso Leaf Mojito

So maybe like us, you've been thinking that since the Mediterranean menu, we should try an Asian-inspired menu. 

Were you thinking that? No? Just us then, okay. 

Well, we had been wanting to do an Asian-themed menu for a long time but we didn't really know where to start. Should we concentrate on just one type of cuisine (like Thai, as a totally random and not biased at all example) or do we do a different cuisine per course (or does that make it too Asian fusion)? As we began thinking about what we wanted to serve, it started to lean more towards different cuisines per course - but I really hit a roadblock with planning out the dessert. I struggled to find something that would be technically challenging as well as largely palatable. I felt like most the desserts that I thought of from my childhood would require specialty equipment or specialty ingredients (in an even more niche way than usual). Eventually, we landed on Japanese Cheesecakes, which are the cheesecakes which were all over Instagram at the time - tall wiggly things that looked divine. I wanted to make two, one vanilla and one matcha. 

So the appetizers would be a pickled cucumber salad and yaki onigiri (which was deliciously fried rice balls), which we thought was a good balance of one hot appetizer and one cold. Turns out even one hot appetizer can be stressful, but yeah, significantly less than two. 

Course One was a throwback for me - Balsamic and Soy Sauce Glazed Chicken. So has more fusion notes than anything else because this is actually a recipe I made a lot while I was in grad school, and one of the few things I could probably make now without referencing the recipe too much - and it is a tried and true classic for this Olson household. It was super fun for me to share it with our guests as it has so many memories for me - which is pretty rare for us because we usually pick the recipes to fit what we are thinking of...which means we are usually making the recipes for the first time. That also explains why we always learn so much when we do these things. 

Course Two was the course of prep work - it wasn't much to behold when it was done because it was basically just a salad, but oh man, shucking all those edamame was a ton of work! However, with the bell peppers (red and yellow), green onions, cashews, and kale, it was really nice to see all the colors and textures meld together. Course Three was also the course of a ton of prep work as it was Homemade Udon Soup - John made the broth and the noodles from scratch! So yeah - back to back prep-a-lot courses. 

Course Four, the classic John showstopper course, was Miso Black Cod, and of course, it was a showstopper. It was everything you wanted it to be. And, well, that's kind of where the good food of the evening ends. 

Remember those cheesecakes I was talking about earlier? Yeah, so what I didn't tell you was that they are basically souffles. Why I didn't tell you that was that I didn't really know that beforehand either...so when I tried to be prepared and make the desserts the night before as I typically do that fell flat. Both physically and metaphorically. As only a brother would, my brother proceeded to tell me that the matcha cheesecake was the worst thing I had ever made :) <3 :)