1 family. friendly food. » Seastar cookbook

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Seastar cookbook

Finally.

“Finally” was the first word that came to my mind when I got an email from Norma announcing a “celebration in honor of Chef John Howie’s new cookbook: Passion & Palate: Recipes for a Generous Table.” Chef John Howie is the owner of Seastar restaurant and raw bar (as well as Sports and Steak) which has been, and still is, one of our favorite restaurants since we move to WA about 10 years ago. I’ve been waiting for this cookbook ever since.

So, yeah, finally. He wrote a cookbook.

The launch party was a lot of fun with some of my favorite dishes:

Raw, fresh oysters with shallots, grapefruit and pomegranate seeds

(The recipe is in the book.)

Scallop ceviche with mango-kiwi relish (It’s in the book!)

Sushi… I love their pickled ginger (That red pile in the front)—it’s the best!

(And what do you know? They are all included in the book!)

Chubby oysters in a creamy leek sauce and silky deviled eggs with Ahi tartare (It’s in the book!)

I believe this was a Mahi Mahi ceviche with pineapple relish. Yum yum.
(And if I’m right then… It’s in the book! Page 55)

Shots of porcini soup with truffles cream (You guessed it, it’s in the book.)

All this beautiful food spearheaded by Chef Howie

Superb wines were poured by the charming sommelier, Erik Liedholm (Fantastic suit, BTW) from champagne to sauvignon blanc to an esoteric wine/grape I never heard about before and can’t remember it’s name, to pinot noir, and moscato—Wow—I tried them all.

But I especially liked this really smooth and somewhat buttery Stoller Pinot Noir, and what do you know?

No, it’s not in the book (Or maybe it is?) It’s close to home, from Willamette Valley, OR

A tower of desserts: Lemon poppy seeds cookies, White chocolate Irish cream truffles (It was so soft, like a baby’s butt!), Chocolate hot chili truffles (I Love, love chili & chocolate together), and Ginger snap cookies.