Benjamin Henion

Here is what we encounter on a daily basis. The picture on the left is of the resorts lake and golf course at about 3pm today. It looks like a lovely day to be out golfing or BBQing right? Well we do in fact have a party that plans to be outdoors at 6pm tonight, and if you look 90 degrees to the right of picture number one, at the same time the right photo what you would see. Now of course we have an indoor back-up plan, but setting up both places requires breaking down both places. We want nothing more that perfect weather for these groups, but mother nature tends to tease us into believing the weather will cooperate. Maybe this threatening looking cloud with just pass on by and by 6 the sky will once again be clear. My guess is that the party will be having an indoor BBQ tonight .

With a case of plantains just asking to be used and some leftover Monkfish , I threw together this amuse. I marinated the Monkfish in a chili oil, added a bit of garlic and grilled it. I made a simple pineapple -rum sauce with some shallots and a touch of stock. The green is a poblano puree which also has a strong, crisp cilantro flavor to mellow the pepper flavor. I sauteed the diced plantains with nothing more than diced onion with salt and pepper. This amuse does its job well. The one bite leaves your mouth watering for more. All in all it is a very South American style dish to start off your dinner.