It has been a busy spring and early summer for myself and the staff of the Omni Amelia Island Plantation. As we are in our first year of becoming an Omni Resort, we have been making a lot of changes. In my department, Garde Manger (the keeper of the food, we do all the cold food preperations as well as make cheeses, sausages etc...and peel a lot of fruit), the major changes we have made have been to the presentation of our food. I am quite proud of how far our little department has come and I am looking forward to raising the bar again.
In keeping with that spirit, I thought you might like to see some of the things we have been up to in the kitchen. Below you will find a few of our new amenities, canapes and some brilliant fruit carvings.
First up: Amenities
At the hotel, we offer our repeat guests and our special guests amenities. The amenities are also used to welcome group contacts or other special guests, such as all the folks from Omni corporate headquarters that have been visiting getting ready for our upcoming renovations.
This is an example of the "Study of Oranges"
dreamed up by our Garde Manger Brennan Pickren.
It is made up of a sweet potato orange pana cotta, various supremes of citrus topped with serrano ham, candied orange peel, blood orange fennel tarts, homemade grapefruit soda with yuzu whipped cream and various other seasonal citrus.
This is probably the Garde Manger's most complicated amenity, but it sure is pretty.
An example of a cheese plate, this one is not our standard "Goat, Sheep, Cow," but it gives you the idea. This one has goat cheese, brie, housemade bellini jam, chocolate covered strawberries and some yummy nuts.
Next: Canapes
In the banquet department we make a lot, I mean a lot, of pretty little canapes of various shapes and sizes. These are a few of my favorites. Definitely not the only ones we do, but some of the ones I have made lately.
Goat cheese with bee pollen and fresh honeycomb on little flower shaped crostini.
They make me think of bridesmaids luncheons and girly tea parties!
Beef tenderloin and roquefort butter roulade on focaccia crostini.
Delicious!
A big ole platter of tomato bruschetta crostini with smoked mozzarella creme. So good.
And now...a few pictures of others peoples work.
Featuring my bossman and our newest associate.
First picture: Watermelon basket with birds and flowers.
Second picture: Shrimp tempura roll w/ wasabi quinelles.
All of the above were made by my bossman, Brennan Pickren,
(check out his blog foodbros.blogspot.com)
And now, a few pictures of the watermelons our newest associate carved. I am pretty sure she would be happy to never see another watermelon again, but they were really amazing.
I am looking forward to learning a lot from her.
Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen carvings like these in real life. She is quite good.
Last, but not least, the marvelous cake that the pastry department made for 4th of July.
A giant picnic table adorned with a whole lot of edible treats. Several of the other outlet chefs contributed to the cake, including yours truly...I made the FRUIT BOWL!
Cake fruit bowl covered in fondant and filled with rice krispy treat fruit. The kernals on the corn are candy corn and the apple pie is not really apple it all, it's rice krispy treats. Don't you just want to take a bite out of the burger or a big bowl of the beans. So much fun to make.
And it was absolutely gorgeous.
The aftermath...
That concludes the self congratulatory part of my blog. Look for pictures from Second Monday Dinner Hometown Favorites next week. I am making my mothers, well, Daufuskie Island's, deviled crab and moms version of Savannah Red Rice.
Thank you for reading.
Salted Carolyn
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