Gourmet Nights

It goes without saying that I love to have friends round for dinner. It also goes without saying that, like many other city slickers working long hours, I don't often have the time to dedicate to my favourite past-time. So it would seem that my friend Phil Yook has found the ideal solution: invite 10 friends over and get a professional chef in to do the cooking.

Chef Papa Mick Branditz is from Peru where he learnt to cook from an early age. Afer spending time in Miami, he has recently worked at the Hotel Ritz in Paris under the watchful eye of Michel Roth. He's now in the process of getting his own restaurant opened and I have to say, based on last week's experience, I'd like to be one of the first to visit! For now, he's trying out new dishes on friends of Phil's - and this particular evening I have the privilege of being his guinea pig.

The evening started with a champagne reception and mise en bouche of quail legs in a sauce of exotic spices, and a pumpkin soup topped with chorizo. The quail legs were absolutely fantastic and despite trying to remain restrained and refined, we all dispensed with formalities and tucked into them with glee. The soup was creamy and mild, well balanced by the salty bits of chorizo.

The entree was a seasonal salad with buffalo mozzarella and serrano ham. Sounds quite standard but the mozzarella was incredibly soft and creamy, the ham moist. The salad was a simple combination of rocket, pine nuts and purple tomatoes. The latter has been recently created by food scientists in the UK using genes from the Snapdragon plant which boosts the amount of anthocyanin pigments which can help fight against cancer, cardio-vascular problems and memory loss. Read more about them here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/purple-tomato-created-to-fight-cancer-974474.html

For the main dish we were treated to a succulent filet mignon of pork flambeed with pisco and roasted with spices from Corsica and Peru, served with chanterelles and a puree of Granny Smith apples. The apple puree was also flambeed with pisco and spiced up with African vanilla and sugar. An excellent balance of flavours left me yearning for more.

After we enjoyed a cheese platter of Bleu Cendre, Morbier, Saint-Felicien and Tomme De Savoie. All courses were paired with wines but this was my particular favourite, a Bordeaux Superior Chateau Quessard 2006. I enjoyed the creamy Saint-Felicien the most.

For the desert there was a duo of shortbread and pistacio mousse topped with strawberries and raspberries. We topped off the night with a shooter made from the remaining strawberries and raspberries, blended with tequila, lime sorbet, ice, and corn syrup.

I read that Morbier was traditionally made with the remnants of the evening curd, and ash would be spread on top to protect it before the cheesemakers added the morning milk on top to make the whole cheese. Today it is made from just one milking but the tasteless ash is added as tradition. Tradition counts for a lot and Chef Papa Mick has drawn on the influences of his Italian heritage and Peruvian cuisine - which itself takes root from centuries of trade links with Asia, Europe and Africa. There's nothing like great food at a friend's place and the private dining experience was unique. Chef Pap Mick is an outstanding and creative chef with a passion for good spices. I can't wait for his restaurant to open.

Chef Papa is available for private dining experiences in your own home. For more information on this and also for recipes, check out his website: http://gourmet.nights.free.fr/