Kitchen Trick - Woody Herbs

How much of a pain is it to get the leaves off tarragon, rosemary, etc. In my world it is a huge PITA. So I cast around thinking about how to do it. I came up with this when making tarragon mustrd this morning.

I wanted something like the pile on the right while starting with the things on the left

Step 1 - remove the leafy top bits. The stems there won't hurt.

Step 2 Poke the woody bit from the top through a hole in a colander.

 Step 3 Pull the stem through from the outside of the colander leaving the leaves in the colander

The leaves stay in the bowl, and the woody stem comes out cleanly.

Day in Dinner

We thought it would be fun to do a dinner where each course comes from a different meal - with a twist, of course. This was described to the guests as an experiment in tastes, temperatures and textures.
So after some pretty intense menu planning, and testing we decided upon the following:

The event was a great success. The wow factor of the bacon/egg ice cream really got people talking. Thanks to Heston Blumenthal for the inspiration. The recipes for the various dishes are in individual blog postings. The cooking of the oxtails is shown here. However we served it differently, so I will describe that in the appropriate posting.

Plates were cleaned! One guest asked us all to close our eyes so he could lick his plate. 

I had learned some terrific lessons from my very good friend Chef David Gilbert. 

• Keep an area aside for plating/serving - we added a picnic table to the kitchen for this.
• Sous vide cooking can make food incredibly rich, tender, tasty with little risk
• Make everything, using great ingredients
• Don't be afraid 
• Keep the work areas clean

Working alongside him for the dinner theater was an eye opener. So, as is often the case when stretching myself in the kitchen, I like to channel the "Little Fella". Thanks Dave - and thanks for the gear!