photo/cooking trade with my assistant eric

for quite a while my assistant eric webster and i have talked about doing a trade: he'd teach me how to cook and i'd teach him more about photography. this weekend we finally did it! given eric's pre-career-change history as the kick-ass chef at calistoga ranch, i've been understandably excited! i had two main cooking goals: 1. learn to break down a whole chicken and 2. learn how to make gnocchi. eric, josh and i cooked/ate/photo'd and had a grand ol' time from 2pm-3am and my dear friend jen even joined us after work for the dinner. the whole thing was a huge success and a complete ball. i highly recommend calling eric if you ever need a great assistant or private chef!

our menu:
leek, beet, crouton and purslane salad flavored with butter, oil, thyme and garlic
butter glazed gnocchi with nettle/walnut pesto and baby artichokes
seared/roasted soul food farms chicken on a bed of swiss chard with fingerling potatoes, glazed baby turnips, and baby brussel sprouts
individual chocolate cake/souffles made with dark valhrona chocolate

here's a small photo documentation of our fantastic 13hr cooking/eating/photo extravaganza from raw to gourmet:

i broke down these 1.5 of these 2 soul food farms chickens after eric demo'd the process

eric beating eggs for the gnocchi

whisk in sauce

josh prepped these stinging nettles for the nettle pesto (it was awesome!)

"riced" potatoes with egg mixture just before adding flour to make gnocchi dough

eric rolling out gnocchi (my logs fell apart, gnocchi is surprisingly delicate!)

the fantastic beet/crouton/purslane/leek salad. unfortunately i don't have any photos of the gorgeous perfectly delicious gnocchi/baby-artichoke/nettle-pesto dish since we were so enraptured with eating it that the camera never came out!

our awesome chicken

perfect tiny brussle sprouts

closeup of a perfect tiny brussel sprout. you'll just have to trust me that the chocolate cake/souffle was so divine that they were all gone before the camera came out!