Filleted turbo with mushroom sauce cooked and glamorized by Chef Ben Poremba
You have to be gutsy to invite a chef to dinner. Even more so, when it’s Ben Poremba—the Yotam Ottolenghi of the Midwest (Elaia, Olio, Nixta, Parigi, Benevolent King). But that’s what Robin did as she shared the weekend mushroom haul at a dinner party with guests who appreciate wild fungi.
The Showpiece
Ben and Angela (and their kids Omri and Aviv) arrived with three lovely turbo, that he had gotten at Bob’s Seafood. Now I know very little about turbo other than that it’s a round-ish, flat fish. But over the course of the evening, I found that it’s a favorite of top chefs, a “King of the Sea,” with a jaw-dropping price.
Fish and chef bond before the turbo is slathered in olive oil and salt in preparation for the oven.
Nina Ganci looks on with disbelieve as Ben explains that a turbot has both eyes on the same side.
Testing the turbo. After a deep study and some poking and lifting, Ben announced, “It’s done.”
The delicate “surgery” of bone removal.
Robin cooks mushrooms while Ben and his daughter, Aviv, stir up a sauce for the baked turbo. If Aviv becomes a renown chef like Ben, let it be noted that she got her start in her father’s arms making a wild mushroom sauce in Robin’s kitchen!
The turbo is filleted, plated and topped with a chanterelle-white wine reduction.
Meanwhile . . . Back to the Mushrooms
Q Liu, local fashion designer, puts her spin on these sauteing chanterelles. The Chinese pancakes she made disappeared before dinner.
Robin anxiously awaits Ben’s approval of her mushroom dish. She got it!
After being cooked with butter, shallots, sherry wine and cream, these chanterelle mushrooms are topped with parmesan and served over toast.
Chanterelles roasted with thyme and lemon, yet another twist on serving flavorful fungi.
We sat down for a dinner of vegetable salads, mushrooms cooked three ways, and a splendid turbo. And, then, there was the scrumptious finale: four flavors of Gelato Di Riso, that Nina brought from The Hill. Perfect evening!
