Auction of Washington Wines 2010

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Auction of Washington Wines held their annual charity event at Ste. Michelle Winery again this year which raises money for Seattle's Children's Hospital.  I had the opportunity to work at this 3 day occasion which featured food and wine from Washington State.  They raised $1.4 million this year!  On Thursday, August 19 the first event opened with the Barrel Auction & Picnic with the Winemakers.  This event featured many Washington wines, and creative food selections provided by the chefs of Tulalip Resort under Executive Chef Perry Mascitti. 

Tulalip’s Blackfish Wild Salmon Grill (which I oversee) featured a lightly smoked sockeye salmon with a rub made of five peppercorns, orange peel & anise, and finished with an Apple Glaze for a cooling affect.  This was served over a fresh homemade spring roll filled with diacon, bean sprouts, English cucumber, apple, carrot, Thai basil, zucchini, napa cabbage and laced with a sauce made of hoisin & gochujang (a Korean red pepper paste).  I had intended to have a 3” chive for a garnish but forgot to load it on the truck.

Five Pepper, Orange Peel, Anise Crusted Sockeye Salmon wtih Apple Glaze & House Spring Roll

Working in the Blackfish tent we ran into a little problem shortly after opening a 4:00.  We had a beautiful $5,500 outdoor Viking grill (I want one for my backyard!), which suddenly stopped working on three quarters of the cooking surface.  Last year, the Viking grills worked perfectly, so we were caught off guard when it went down this year.  We quickly rolled another grill into the station, and we limped along until that grill came up to temp.  It's always nice to have people lining up for your food, but not when it's due to faulty equipment.  Thankfully the guests were very gracious and engaged in conversation and wine tasting while they waited a few extra minutes for us to get back on track.  

I loved hearing from people, “We were told that we had to come try your salmon!”  And I saw a number of faces coming back for seconds and even thirds, which is always a nice complement.  Knowing the caliber of the Chefs here I know that all of them received similar adulations for their food as well.

We do a lot of off property events each year in order to contribute to various charities as well as to promote the resort.  Two years ago when we were doing the food show circuit I heard a lot of comments like, “You guys really do this kind of food in a casino?”  But this year at events I'm hearing more and more often, “We’re always glad when we see Tulalip is one of the food providers. You guys always do such a good job.”  That puts a big smile right on my face.  It makes me proud to work for a company which provides us with all the resources, both in product and labor, which we require to do a fantastic job. 

Everything was made by hand for this event.

Chef Brent Clarkson of Cedars prepared Pecan Crusted Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto over Raspberry Beurre Blanc accompanied with Micro Greens Chef Dean Shinagawa of Tulalip Bay prepared Star Anise Braised American Lamb over Macadamia Nut-Cherry Jasmine Rice with Thai Curry Sauce and Crispy Taro-Green Papaya Salad Tulalip’s banquet Chef Gerry Schultz and Garde Manger Chef John Pontichelli prepared an assortment of delicious side dishes-- Skewered Caesar Salad - very classy, all the ladies loved this one! Angel Hair Bird’s Nest with Sesame Dressing Watermelon Cocktail with Yellow Watermelon Parisian garnish Exotic Fruit & Ginger filled Baby Pear Yellow Gazpacho Cucumber Shot Potato Salad stuffed tri-colored potatoes, featuring Baby Red, Baby Yukon Ggold, and Baby Purple potatoes carved and stuffed Pastry Chef Nikol Nakamura featured an assortment of desserts-- Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes   Goober Bars Brownie Cheesecake Pops   Lemon Whoopie Pies Each Chef prepared 1000 servings of their dish, plus several of us prepared 500 items for the Gala Dinner event a few days later.  We had an army of skilled crew who worked a ton of overtime with us this week to pull it off and still keep regular business running.  Many thanks to all the crew who worked so hard to make it happen. Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts All the above took place at the Barrel Auction & Picnic on Thursday.  Then there was the Gala Dinner event a few days later on Saturday.  Chef Perry had designed a gorgeous plate called "Two Lambs Dancing in the Moonlight" which featured Lamb Shank wrapped in Filo over smoked Peach Coulis and a Lamb Napolean layered with Safron Potatoes over Pea Puree with Onion Jam and Mint Foam.  I brought my camera but we got way too busy trying to serve 500 people from 2 ovens!  This made for an extreemly stressful and painful evening.  We had several other things go wrong on us just before the time to start plating.  In the end we were successful at pulling this off, but it was brutal getting there.  Since I didn't have time to take pictures, here are a few teasers.     Prepped 550 of these beautiful little bastards!  We asked two different produce companies if they could do this for us and they both basically said, "Oh, hell no!"

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