The popular Fig & Olive restaurant has just released a cookbook to make your own dishes at home...
After a decade of popping eight restaurants nationwide Fig & Olive founder Laurent Halasz announced at last Wednesday’s Fashion Island dinner event about his long-awaited cookbook, Fig & Olive: The Cuisine of the French Riviera. A plethora of
these olive-oil-accentuated dishes are inspired by the founder’s
gastronomically talented mother/co-author Francine
Halasz.
While waiting at the lounge for the nightly agenda I imbibed
on this delightful, fruity cocktail called the Rosselini. It was candidly
filled with passion fruit vodka, freshly squeezed blood orange juice, and fresh
lime juice. Minutes later we were nicely assigned to the
Nice table - interestingly
referred to the southern city of France where this sponsored airline was offering a sweepstakes
to the Fig & Olive guests. Once seated, we were introduced to 4 playfully executed course
items along with wine pairing. The first 3 consisted of some slight twists of
the ones listed in the Halasz's cookbook.
Our servers brought in a soup bowl initially filled with
panko flakes, thyme, and cubed butternut squash - until they poured in their
luxurious, velvety chestnut and butternut squash soup.
As if we practiced for unwrapping Christmas presents, this
dish vivaciously revealed an earthy and zesty sea scallops papillote. If done by the cookbook, salmon would have been added and thus would
have become by-the-book the main entrée.
Never had I chewed on filet mignon so effortlessly until the
roasted veal filet mignon arrived
fashionably late. I give full credit to
the sous vide
technique via a
circulator for eliciting excellent tenderness to this herbaceous, salivating
beef. If it’s followed by the cookbook, since chances of the circulator found in
a home kitchen are slim, grilling may have sufficed.
Although not pictured nor written in the book, the poached pear in spiced orange juice wowed
the entire party with its sparkly, cinnamon-y essence softened slightly with
the light whipped mascarpone.
What dish are you going to try from the Fig & Olive cookbook? Seriously, I am
looking forward to whipping up their chive mashed potatoes. The one I’m willing to leave my cooking comfort zone is the
sea bass mascarpone.
{FOOD TIP: Foods
done sous vide still bestow a badge of rarity, even in higher tiered
restaurants. So refrain from questioning the hard-to-cook-right filet mignon
and enjoy ordering it.}
CHECK IT OUT: Fig & Olive at Fashion Island, 151 Newport Center Dr, Newport Beach,
CA 92660. See other locations HERE.
#figandolive
#figandolivecookbook
Xo, Fia Raboy
#TheATKTeam
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