I broke down a full chicken, roasted and reduced the bones from stock to jus, dry brined a breast and thigh for 24 hours, blended the thigh with mirepoix and crimini mushrooms, stuffed that into the breast, and seared it in the smaltz that was rendered while making the jus.
While the ballotine finished in the oven, I made my carrot puree and finished the jus with butter, thyme, and shallots. Plated with some micro greens.
I’m going to admit that I rolled my eyes a bit when I clicked on the photo because the plating and small portion size seemed a little pretentious. But then I clicked into the comments and saw OP was a pretty chill dude/dudette who was just excited about something nice they made, and promptly felt like a judgy asshole.
Anyway, this looks objectively nicer than 99.5% of what I eat and probably tastes delicious, so nice job and sorry if you caught any subconscious negative vibes!
(alcohol may have been involved in this comment 😅)
I appreciate this comment quite a bit. I make meals for myself and try to have fun with things and see what options exist for me at my current skillset.
Do I want to eat like an elf every day? Absolutely not, I’d starve or be chained to my stove all day. But is it fun to know how to do the fancy plating for special occasions? Definitely.
Regarding the portion size, if you were receiving these dishes in a fine-dining establishment, this would be a single course in a multi-course meal. Depending on the amount of courses, you might not even finish this. That’s why you’ll sometimes see dishes where you’re thinking “you’d need 11 more plates of this to actually feed someone.”
Well… that’s because it would, in fact, be part of a 12-course meal. 😊
This one would likely be part of a three or five-course meal, in my estimation. And of course at home, you usually eat the nice plate and then make a second plate with less concern for presentation. Or like I do when I have a dinner party: every guest gets elegant presentation; for myself, I blend up the food, pour it into a dog bowl, and eat it with a soup ladle at the stove. 🤣