Back in January I was contacted by Anne Nisbet, Culinary Director of the International Pinot Noir Celebration to be a guest chef at this year’s IPNC event. I agreed, of course, excited to be involved in such a prestigious and fun event. I was asked to prepare dessert for three hundred and fifty people at an outdoor plated lunch at the Linfield College campus; where the week long Pinot Noir Celebration was taking place. I began preparing a week before, making and freezing White Chocolate Panna Cotta’s forty-eight at a time in flexible silicon molds. The blueberry compote was also a huge undertaking, washing and cryo-bagging over six flats of Viridian Farms berries took me several hours. The week leading up to this event was the busiest of the summer for Ten-01 so far; with several large in-house parties, a block party, and Chef Benjamin doing another IPNC event earlier in the week. By the time I was packed up and headed out on Saturday morning, I was ready to home run this lunch and then relax and enjoy the celebration. I brought my good buddy Mike Perez with me, his talented hands were a huge asset. We set up in the busy kitchen and started to spread out our custards to thaw under refigeration. The panna cotta came out perfectly, the compote; thick and rich. Our course was third in an outdoor lunch; other courses prepared by John Taboada of Navarre and Brian Scheehser of Trellis. Our own Sommlier Erica Landon was on hand to pour wines for each course. We had many able hands to help us plate up, the whole thing was over in about fifteen minutes. We took much deserved naps in the provided college dorm room, recharging for the coming nights events. When we arrived at the Salmon Bake, so did about 500 others. The fire raged a long trench of coals roasting salmon, a sweet smoke filling the air. We ate amazing foods prepared by other guest chefs and drank wines poured by local sommeliers. The event was a smashing success, I was glad to have been a part of it. Check out the pictures Ten-01’s Flickr page.
