I've made this often for dinner parties. It is made in advance and is easy to plate at the last minute.

Layered Crab and Spinach Terrine

From the California Culinary Academy

Crab Layer

1/2 pound crab meat, picked over and flaked

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 large eggs

Spinach Layer

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons flour

1/2 cup whipping cream

2/3 cup half and half

1 1/4 pounds cooked spinach
Drained and squeezed to remove excess moisture

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sugar

salt to taste

Sauce

Mix together,

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely minced roasted red pepper
1 clove of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste.

Chives for garnish
. Preheat oven to 375°F. For the crab layer: In a medium bowl combine the crab, sour cream, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir in eggs and set mixture aside.

For the Spinach layer: Melt butter in a heavy saucepan until foamy. Whisk in flour and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Whisk in whipping cream and half-and-half. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer slowly 10 minutes. Stir occasionally, scraping down the sides and around the bottom as necessary. Mixture will thicken as cooks.

Remove from heat and stir in spinach. Let cool. Stir in eggs, one at a time then add black pepper, nutmeg, sugar and salt.

To assemble the terrine: Grease an 8 cup loaf pan/terrine pan with butter. Spoon half the crab mixture in the bottom and cover with all of the spinach mixture. Spoon remaining crab mixture over the spinach.

Set the terrine in a baking pan and pour 1 inch of hot water into the baking pan. Bake uncovered until golden brown and puffy. Approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Cool on a rack and then refrigerate.

To serve, run a knife around the edge and invert on to a serving platter. Slice about 1/2 thick slices and place two on each plate.
Decorate plate with a lettuce leaf and place a dollop of the sauce on the lettuce leaf. Garnish with a few chives.

Oh boy, that IS an ambitious undertaking.

Like Ann T, my first thought was a terrine of some type, something that can be made ahead and does not require heating, or something you could make individually ahead of time, perhaps served in individual ramekins or turned out of individual dishes, like a timbale.

So, how many courses? Will there be 5 or 4? Is the owner/restaurant going to make one or supply dessert or bread as the chef is a guest only this time?

I'm assuming there will be a main entrée and a dessert, but can your first course include a salad or soup, or is it more an appetizer?

If you decide to have a fish or seafood main/entree course, then you won't want seafood as a first course, so a cold soup would be nice in July, especially with fresh local vegetables if they are available by then.

Have fun, it sounds amazing.

Annie

Ann T. that terrine looks wonderful. Yum!

There will be 4 courses including dessert. It's subject to interpretation but usually the 1st course is seafood of some sort though last night it was a spring vegetable, free form lasagna with fresh lasagna, baby spinach, ramps and grilled asparagus and a lemon dill cream sauce. 2nd course is usually a salad and/or soup pairing though it's very liberal. Sometimes the 1st course is a soup and/or salad. Best soup I've had was a chilled fresh artichoke soup with roasted garlic mascarpone. Sigh..... 3rd course is the main dish and 4th course is dessert. Oh and I forgot to mention, we each have to bring an hors d'oeuvres platter for before dinner. The dinners always include a cocktail hour with 4 or 5 types of butlered hors d'oeuvres. I'll probably do my tuna cucumber appetizer for that.

The restaurant owner will supply the wine. Our dessert person is going to make the bread as well. Whatever I make will use fresh, local ingredients as much as possible. Great seafood is readily available as are a wide variety of local heirloom vegetables and locally raised beef, lamb, pork and poultry.

We're a very tight knit group since we've been dining together for quite a while though our only interaction is at the wine dinners. The chef is a quiet, gentle, generous, humble man with an amazing talent. We have all been wanting to do something to show him how much we adore him and his talent. I am so excited to participate!

What a wonderful evening that will be! I'm sure the chef will be so appreciative. I might suggest a Lobster Strudel that they used to have on the menu at Arrow's (in Ogunquit). It can be prepped at home and baked on site.

Have a wonderful time!
Alexa

Lobster Strudel

1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup dry vermouth
4 each egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup parsley, snipped
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
12 ounces lobster meat
8 each phyllo dough sheets
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Cook onions in butter until golden. Add vermouth. Boil until reduced to 1/3 cup.

Whisk a tablespoon or two of butter mixture into beaten eggs. Slowly add egg yolks to butter and onion mixture. Add parsley, salt, and pepper. Add cream cheese and cook, stirring until cheese is melted. Fold in lobster.

Thaw phyllo dough according to package directions. Place 1 sheet phyllo on work surface; brush with butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon bread crumbs. Layer a second sheet, butter, and crumbs and repeat two more times, to end with a stack of 4 sheets.

Mound half of the lobster mixture lengthwise on phyllo 1 inch from the edge. Roll phyllo into 2 inch thick roll and place on a cookie sheet. Repeat process to make a second roll.

Brush roll tops with melted butter. With a serrated knife, make partial slices in roll before baking or freezing. Bake at 35O° for 15 minutes, then at 450° for 5 to 10 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes. To serve, cut in slices.
Serves 4

I haven't made this yet, but saw this write up on Chowhound and so looked up the recipe to try this summer when our tomatoes are ripe.It can be assembled ahead and just topped with pastry to bake at the last minute:
In Tom Colicchio's "Think Like a Chef" there is a recipe for a "Caramelized Tomato Tart" that never fails to impress. It's built like a flan with a caramel in the bottom of a ramekin, then a clove of garlic, roasted tomato and some caramelized onions, topped with puff pastry and baked, then turned out for service. The caramel turns into a sauce, the pastry adds great texture and the garlic, onions and tomato work wonderfully well together. The whole thing seems like it should be too sweet, but with good salt and pepper (and I always like to add cayenne) it's well balanced.

A brilliant thing about the dish is that though it does take some time to prep (caramelizing the onions, roasting the tomato, knocking out the caramel, etc) you can do it ahead of time, assemble the tart sans pastry and hold it at room temperature for several hours then add the pastry and bake it right before you serve.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carmelized tomato tart

I wish I could go, that sounds like a great evening! I don't have recipes, sorry!, but you might also peruse the Top Chef recipes, they are amazing in presentation and I expect, taste.

When you wrote that the kitchen is small for 4 cooks, my first thought was Carpaccio, with fine chopped shallots, capers, gherkins and some really good pumpernickel or toast points. A balsamic reduction made from a high quality vinegar would be lovely with it.

If you wanted fish/seafood, gravlax would be nice also. Pair it with the same condiments as the beef, substitute a mustard sauce for the balsamic.

It sounds like you will have a great evening and fun planning this. To be approached is certainly an honor!

You're too funny, peppi, all that raw food! I like rare but not kickin' or swimin'...

Yum, I love carpaccio.

If you have your tuna/cucumber appetizer I'm sure you won't want seared tuna for a first course too, so there goes my recommendation on that, LOL.

I've seldom met seafood or fish I didn't like, but scallops are always impressive and delicious. I have a recipe for skewers of salmon and scallops, but they don't seem as impressive as this:

Scallops with Sprout Salad and Cranberry Horseradish
Dipping Sauce.
8 ounces cranberry sauce
1 tablespoon horseradish
2 tablespoons oil
8 ounces medium scallops
Salt and pepper
1 cup alpha sprouts
Snow pea shoots, for garnish

In a small bowl, combine cranberry sauce and horseradish. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Season scallops with salt and pepper. When oil is hot, add scallops and sear on both sides until browned. Remove from heat, but keep warm.

Divide sprouts among 2 plates, and make a bird's nest on each plate with the sprouts. Spoon cranberry sauce mixture into the center of the bird's nest. Garnish with snow pea shoots. Place scallops around the bird's nest and serve immediately.

The sauce can be made ahead and the sprouts arranged, then the scallops seared at the last moment and served, or seared and then held and added to plates at the last moment before serving.

Annie

Sounds like it will be a great evening. I'm sure the chef will be thrilled!

This is very nice and can be made ahead of time as well.

The Tannery’s Crab Crème Brûlée with Pickled Cucumber and Melba Toast
adapted from Paul Flynn via The Afternoon Show and Paul Flynn: Irish Food
Serves 4 as a starter

“Any time you have something creamy, you need something sharp to offset it. This is why we serve pickled cucumber with this dish. You need something to cut through the cream, and the pickled ginger is the starting point of that,” says Paul Flynn. One of the keys to this dish is its lovely creamy consistency, so keep an eye on your oven temperature: “You put it into a low oven because you don’t want the eggs to soufflé, you want them to gently set, like a custard.”
400 ml (1 3/4 cups) cream
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped (or grate it directly into the custard mixture with a Microplane grater)
2 tablespoons pickled ginger, drained and finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
150 g (1 cup) picked white crab meat, finely chopped
50 g (1/2 cup) freshly grated Parmesan
pickled cucumber, to serve (see recipe below)
Melba toast, to serve (see recipe below)
lemon wedges, to serve
Place the cream in a bowl with the eggs, garlic, pickled ginger and some salt and pepper and mix well. Add in the crab meat, ensuring there is no shell, and mix well again. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to allow the flavours to infuse for at least 30 minutes, but ideally up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
Ladle or pour the mixture into the ramekins, making sure you get an even amount of crab in every ramekin, as the crab tends to fall to the bottom. Place the ramekins in a roasting tray. Fill the tray with warm water until the water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place this bain marie in the oven and cook for 45 to 60 minutes (check after 40 minutes). When cooked through, the mixture should be set but still have a slightly wobbly consistency. Remove the ramekins from the bain marie and allow to cool ��" the crab crème brûlée should be served at room temperature.
When ready to serve, sprinkle a very thin layer of Parmesan on top of each ramekin and brown under the grill. Serve with pickled cucumber, really thin Melba toast (“sort of a retro addition that you don’t see very often”) and a lemon wedge. “So there you have it,” says Paul. “The Tannery crab crème brûlée ��" my classic.”
Pickled Cucumber
1 cucumber
pinch of salt
50 g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
50 ml (1/4 cup) white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce
Slice the cucumber as thinly as you can (a mandolin or food processor’s slicing attachment is perfect for this job). Place the sliced cucumber in a bowl and sprinkle with a little salt. Set aside.
Bring the sugar, vinegar and chilli sauce to the boil and reduce for 30 seconds. Take off the heat and allow to cool completely. Once it’s cool, pour the liquid over the cucumbers and stir gently to coat them all. This will keep in the fridge for 2 or 3 days ��" any more and the cucumber loses its colour.
Melba Toast

Toast slices of white bread and remove the crusts. Slice the bread laterally to make two slices that are half the original thickness of the bread. Rub off excess bread from the untoasted side, then cut diagonally into triangles. Place the untoasted side under the grill until the edges curl.
The Tannery Restaurant

We have our date July 19th. Restaurant is supplying all the food. We have to have our food orders in a week before. They are also supplying two prep cooks to help with prep.

Tentative main course is:
Lollipop lamb chops with an apple-quince reduction, poached quinces, chipotle mashed sweet potatoes, and an appropriate summer green veggie.

We will meet several times to discuss the menu and wine pairings. We are emailing like crazy with ideas for dishes.

Since all the cooking will be done on the premises, I'm a tad nervous. I've never cooked in a commercial kitchen before and my only experiences cooking with gas is at our vacation place and the side burner of my gas grill here at home. I'm going to take the day off so maybe I can rummage around the kitchen and get comfortable before my colleagues arrive.

I love flatbread appetizers and always order when on the menu and is a great platform for seasonal ingredients. It could work passed or as 1st course. Great because served room temp.

My current fave served at a local restaurant is flatbread with wild mushrooms and asparagus.

For July maybe goat cheese and caramelized onion and fig, or tomato jam, maybe arugula and balsamic glaze. You could also do seafood...

Oh Maggie - you are inspiring me! Last summer I made a tomato marmalade to go with a bacon bread pudding (new recipes - marmalade is a keeper, the bread pudding not so much) and I think it would be great on a flatbread with bacon and..... something. The bread pudding had fontina in it.... maybe crispy bacon, fontina and tomato marmalade?

I can't wait for tomato season so I can make another batch and start experimenting. THANK YOU FOR THE IDEA!

Alexa

Sounds good. Hope you share the tomato marmalade wen you make ... Would love to try. Made a tomato jam a few years ago and loved it but forgot where I got recipe.

I was thinking something with tomatos as well. The tomato tart sounds really good and after reading about the main, may be a great lead in. It should pair up with wine nicely and should allow for an easy segue into the next dish. You could make them on the smaller size.