Evening 01
The First One
Slow-roast salmon, a starter you place, a dessert you pour.
The one to start with. A lacquered salmon on rice that looks like the plate at the place with the good lighting, a starter you do not cook, and a dessert you pour at the table in front of her. It is the shortest Timeline in the book and the one we get the most photos of.
- Cost for two, drinks in
- $87
- Active time, all courses
- 49 min
- Courses
- 4
- Allergens
- Fish, Milk, Soy, Wheat, Eggs, Tree nuts (check the biscotti; the amaretto is almond-flavoured)
starter
Burrata with Peaches & Hot Honey
A torn ball of burrata collapsing over ripe fruit with a chili-honey drizzle is the highest ratio of "how did you do that" to actual effort that exists in food.
The card →
main
Miso Butter Salmon
A glossy, lacquered fillet on a bed of rice looks like the $34 plate at the place with the good lighting.
The card →
dessert
Affogato
Hot espresso poured over vanilla ice cream in a glass, at the table, in front of her, is the best dessert theatre-per-second in existence.
The card →
drink
The 7:30 Spritz — and The 7:29
A pale pink drink in a frosted glass with a rosemary sprig standing up in it looks like it came from the cocktail bar where the bartender has a mustache.
The card →
Start at 5:30. Hands off from 7:20. Stove mode follows the clock while you cook.
The 7:30 Timeline
Read it bottom-up if you like; cook it top-down.
Done before she arrives
Why it works
The oven plan
425°F from 5:40 for the broccolini only, in at 5:55 and out at 6:08, then OFF. The oven is cold and empty from 6:08 to 7:35, which is why you can shower and set the table with no timer running. 325°F at 7:35, salmon tray in at 7:50, out at 8:12. The bread for the burrata is served torn rather than toasted so nothing competes with the fish for the oven, and the affogato uses a kettle. One tray all night.
One slow oven and two courses that never see it. The burrata is five things set on a plate at 7:42, the affogato is a kettle at 8:40, and the salmon goes into a 325°F oven at 7:50 and forgives ten minutes either way. The stove is used twice before 6:15 and never again. From 7:20 the only kitchen actions left are one oven button, one slide, one timer and one pour, which is why this is the evening to run first.
Before you shop
One list, four cards
One lime does the salmon: half into the glaze, half into wedges. The spritz is grapefruit, so one grapefruit plus the bottle of juice. The salmon glaze and the burrata both want honey, but they are different bottles: plain honey for the glaze, hot honey for the plate; do not swap them. Flaky salt for the burrata; the same box lasts a year and shows up on four of the six evenings. Ice cream: one pint, into the freezer the second you walk in. Grapefruit argues with a few common medications; if she has mentioned one, the same drink with orange juice is nearly as good.
The reveal
The plate and the table
The burrata goes out first at 7:45 on the wide plate between you, and at 8:15 two dinner plates: rice slightly off-centre, the fillet leaning on it glaze side up, broccolini in a line, scallions on the fish only, lime wedge at two o'clock. The affogato is two clear glasses on saucers with a biscotti leaning on each, poured at the table, hers first. The table was set at 7:20: two plates, two forks, two knives, two glasses, real napkins, water poured, one candle, the overhead light off and the lamp on.
The whole evening, on your fridge.
This Timeline is in the Playbook with five more. Or start with the free one: The First Bulletproof Dinner.