These are the last of the wine dinner dishes from the Cellar Masters dinner that I want to share. In keeping with the poussin's slight light autumn theme, this barramundi plate is another refreshing course based on fall flavors.
We seared small fillets of Australian barramundi and served it over a warm corn puree, and finished it with squash powdered popcorn (by using dehydrated squash powder as a popcorn dust) and a drizzle of homemade peppadew sauce (made by pureeing some peppadew with a little added vinegar and thickening slightly with xanthan gum). The wheat grass is there for garnish, although I think it would be cool to try dehydrating small cuts of wheat grass on the root... like hay... then we could really play around with menu wording.
The dish below was a balsamico granita that Fabian made. The flavor of the syrup he created for it was like candy... you would literally just want to drink it, or use it in a cocktail. For extra texture, Chef K decided to add toasted pine nuts at the last minute... the result, a perfect flavor pairing. If you have never tried pine nuts with balsamic syrup, then you must taste how naturally they go together.
The granita texture was perfect. It was made the traditional way by freezing a pan of the liquid, and scraping it up with a fork every 5 minutes as it continues to freeze.
