Cosmos Kitchen

Fun Artical about Chef Hakan

2011-03-26T12:38:00.002-05:00

To see artical in Pioneer press follow link.

Enjoy
www.twincities.com/life/ci_17519806?nclick_check=1

Cosmos featured in a cook book

2011-01-11T11:26:00.004-06:00

Pastry Chef Khanh and Chef de Cuisine Hakan was asked by Geri Wolf to be part of a cook book that she wanted to do for a long time. Without hesitation they gladly joined in. The whole thing didn't take more than maybe two months to complete and the book turned out amazing. It,s called the "The Culinary Mistress" and the thing is because Geri did in sucha short time all the dishes and restaurants are very relevent right now, the dishes that Cosmos are featuring in the book are currently on the menu and there are some restaurants that people havent even be able to visit because they havent even opended yet!

The photography is done by our friend Chris Bohnhoff that have done work with Cosmos before (see previuse postings), and if you like "food porn" then this book is a must, the pictures are world class. The Culinary Mistress is not only a picture/recipes book, it has nice personal stories about each chef so not only do you get to know the food better but you get a little behinde the scene knowledge about the chefs here in the Twin Cities

Fall Items 2010

2010-11-27T16:48:00.008-06:00

New Foie Gras dish, Pan seared foie gras and a Foie Gras tourchon, the theme is Glögg. A Swedish muled wine that is traditionally served with almonds and raisin. We turn the Glögg into Spaghetti, the tourchon is getting crusted with almonds and the raisins are turned into puddings. This is the best Foie gras dish ever served in Cosmos,

Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Tourchon, Glögg Spaghetti, Raisin Pudding, Foie Brioche Crumbles, Lemon Infused Honey dew.

Another dish is roasted beets served with whipped goat cheese and spiced pecans. we like to use all of our produce so in this dish we Incorporated the beet greens and the beet stems, we even used the pickling liquid from pickling the beets. this dish has turned none beet lovers in to beet fans.

Roasted Baby Beets, Goat cheese, Spiced pecans, Compressed beet stem, Fried beet greens, Arugula, Pickled Beet Sheet.

Farm to Table Event 08-15-2010

2010-08-15T14:31:00.007-05:00

The line never stoped

Toyota was sponsoring a Farm to table event that Cosmos participated in. It was a perfect day for it, sunny and warm with a slight breeze but no humidity. We were featuring one of our new dishes at the event. A lemon roasted Wild Acres Chicken breast, with a corn (from The farmers market) and Wisconsin cheese

risotto. We served over 400 people in one hour. Pat from Wild Acres joined us to talk about his farm and we had really great reviews

Tuna Poke

2010-08-07T17:48:00.004-05:00

New dish on our Tasting menu.

Tuna poke mixed with Yuzu kewpie Mayo. Habanero Grilled (and Brulled) Pineapple.

Puffed rice and a sea weed sheet.

Restaurant Week 08-01 thru 08-06 2010

2010-08-06T23:30:00.003-05:00

Another successful restaurant week down the hatch. The picture shows about half of the amount of Beef Tenderloin we went thru this week.
Thanks For everyones hard work.

Tasting menu 07-2010

2010-07-02T17:44:00.006-05:00

A few pictures of some new tasting dishes

Heirloom Tomatoes, Fried Mozzarella cheese Curds, Shaved Balsamic, Bloomed Basil seeds, Tomato Blossoms.

Five Spiced Squab Breast, Squab Leg Confit, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Cinnamon-Date Foam, Sage Brown Butter

Wagyu Striploin, Tempura Fried Rice Cake, Curly Spinach, Asian BBQ Sauce, Lemon Infused Honeydew

Lemon Infused Honeydew

Wedding Table

2010-06-20T17:50:00.007-05:00

On Saturday June 19th we had a newly wed couple that joined us for a kitchen table. The bride did not shed a tear during the ceremony but as soon as she was surprised with a kitchen table by her romantic husband she started shedding some tears. We all had a good time and we would like to share some pictures from that night.

Enjoy

Apricot Stuffed Foie Gras Mousse

2010-06-03T09:49:00.008-05:00

Here we have a Foie dish we came up with for a kitchen table.

Make a very plain foie mousse and stuff it with apricot puree that's been spiced with apricot brandy. We designed the plating to look like a dessert, instead of having chocolate tuilles we used crispy duck skin, we burned sugar in the raw on top of the foie and finished up with a very tart pickled ginger foam. So you have All the elements in one dish:

Salt=Duck Skin

Sweet= Apricot Puree

Bitter= Burnt Sugar
Tart= Pickled Ginger

Umami= The Fatty Foie of course

Hudson Valley Foie Gras Mousse, Apricot Puree, Foie Powder, Duck Skin,

Pickled Ginger Foam, Lemon Balm

Roof Top Graden (Step two)

2010-05-28T17:50:00.005-05:00

Roof Top Garden...

Last year about this time we threw around the idea of creating a garden on our roof top at the hotel to produce some herbs and tomatoes. Being chefs, there's a certain fulfillment in not only understanding a product from seed to harvest, but also seeing product make it all the way out to a guest's table as well. We had some decent results last year, but more so learned a lot about what we needed to do this year in order to be more successful.

This year the process has been a lot more involved, and started with some friends of the restaurant working on four 3'x4'x1' beds for us to fill up. Our engineering department set up protective mats and weight dividers for us as well so as not to damage our roof top. Next thing we knew we got the okay from all the powers that be and it was off to Home Depot to haul the 1400lbs of dirt it would require to fill our beautifully hand crafted beds. Once that dirt got in there, you could feel this little bit of excitement in everyone, ideas churning with the endless possibilities of what we could grow. While the kitchen was daydreaming about heirloom veggies and herbs, our engineering department was creating an irrigation system taking water run off from the hotel's air conditioning system and running it down to our summer project. We were all amazed at the amount of water we were able to gather, and thankful that they made watering so easy for us.

Now comes the fun part. We still had the pots from last year, and filled two with tomatoes and devoted one to chives which we hope will come back perrenialy. One bed was devoted to our sister restaurant in the hotel, Bradstreet, where Chef Jesse hopes to become self sufficient with arugula. He's off to a great start with two rows of sprouts, and just planted another row yesterday. Another one of our beds was filled with veggies of all sorts including kholrabi, banana peppers, fennel, radishes, and we even slipped two watermelon plants in there while crossing our fingers. Our other two beds we focused on various herbs that we'll be able to harvest continually throughout the summer, hopefully becoming a little more self sufficient. We've got both purple and regular basil, mint, dill, marjoram, and of course nasturtium. We've developed a fondness for nasturtium over the years, and use it quite frequently for it's nice peppery flavor, and it's bright and flavorful flowers are used for garnish quite often. We also planted a row of cucumbers in our sunniest bed with the idea of setting up a trellace to create a little shade. Those cucumbers by the way, have already sprouted, and and are steadily growing everyday.

We're very proud of what our roof top project has become and look forward to sharing it with all of our guests at the hotel. Even though we're still at the sprout stage, there's a certain excitement in knowing the process has begun, and in a few short weeks we'll be putting the fruits of our labors onto a plate. It should also be said that this project would not have been possible without the support of the rest of the hotel. Our engineering department has been incredibly helpful in ensuring we go about this in the most correct and safest way possible, and without our irrigation system we'd still be breaking our backs hauling stock pots of water back and forth. Our executive commitee has been supportive also, and without there guidance and approval we'd still be working with just those three pots. It's also great to see the support from the rest of the hotel employees, asking if they can go see, offering gardening tips, and their excitement adds to our own.

So if you couldn't tell from this novel, we're a little excited over here at the Graves 601 Hotel, and encourage all interested to join in our excitement. We'll try to keep the updates and pictures coming!

Wagyu Beef Tartar

2010-05-04T18:16:00.009-05:00

Here we have one of our newer appetizers from the menu. It's a wagyu beef tartar that we serve with more unusual parings then regular beef tartar preparation.

Not only is this a beautiful dish but it's also a firework of textures.

Starting from the left we serve,

Wagyu Fat Powder: Rendered fat that we mix with tapiocamaltodextrian, when this powder is eaten it melts back into fat in your mouth.

Mung bean Salad: Cooked mung beans mixed with pickled ginger, shallots and truffle oil. Nice aldente beans.

Wagyu Tartar: Finley diced Wagyu beef, Tangerine olive oil. The most tender beef tartar we have ever served.

Daikon Radish: Finley diced daikon radish marinated in a Miso-sesame oil vinaigrette. crunchy daikon radish.

Tobikko: Salty Flying fish roe that pops in your mouth

To get the plating perfect every time we had a company manufacture a special mold for us. it's a five compartment square mold that we first did in acetate so we could determine the right amount of each ingredient.

Waguy Beef Tartar, Mungbean salad, Daikon Radish,

Flying fish roe,

Wagyu fat powder,Carrot-Ginger Coulis. Sesame Crackers.

Parsley Root Cake

2010-01-24T14:42:00.008-06:00

We've put a new item on our menu as a vegetarian entree. We are very pleased with this one and even before putting the dish on, we had people say "it's the best vegetarian dish they have ever tried". Some times when you eat a vegetarian dish it feels like it's missing something but our parsley root cake does not leave you with that feeling. This well balanced dish is made with slow roasted parsley roots that we turn into crispy cakes. Once the parsley root is cooked and chilled we blend it with egg yolks and cottage cheese, not only does the cheese add moisture and flavor but also a lot of protein that sometimes is hard to come by when you are a Vegetarian. We then bread our parsley cakes with parsley bread crumbs to add more of the parsley flavor and crunch when you pan sear them.

Parsley Root Cake, Black Rice Puree, Red Pearl Onions, Roasted Bell Pepper Marmalade

Rick Nelsons Kitchen Table Article

2009-11-26T20:05:00.004-06:00

Click on link below to see the Article.

You need to read half of the article before you get to the Cosmos part.

Thanks and come in and join us for the kitchen Table. If you mention the blog and you are dining at the kitchen table we'll make you an extra complementary course.

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/71813977.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUbP:P:Q_V_MPQLa7PYDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-25T19:34:00.009-06:00

We do a big all day menu at Cosmos on Thanksgiving. This year we went "New School" on the Turkey. We broke down the bird in pieces and did the following with the different parts.

Legs: Cured overnight with herbs salt, pepper. Confited them for 5 hours and picked all the meat off the bone and mixed the meat with toasted pistachio, Sauteed onions and sage for stuffing.

wings: Roasted till crispy and served a' naturel.

Carcasses: Roasted of for stock that eventually is turned into gravy

Breast: When butchered we leave the skin from the thigh attached to the breast. We then cut a sliver down the breast meat length wise and stuff that with the confit-pistachio mixture and wrapping the meat and skin all the way around. Now you have skin all the way around the meat and meat all the way around the stuffing. When we cook it the skin will be crispy and all the juices from the meat will stay in the meat, plus the fat from the confited dark meat will melt out in to the breast meat and make it super juicy and flavorful.

Wild Acres Turkey, Pistachio Stuffing, Turkey Leg Confit, Mash potato, Cranberry Compote, Gravy

Shrimp Roll

2009-11-25T18:08:00.013-06:00

This whole dish started with a Bloody Mary relish. The relish is made of tomato, celery, red onions and spicy Clamata juice. From there we tried a whole lot of different variations.

We quickly decided that shrimp would be the perfect flavor to go with the relish. We made the shrimp roll by finely chopping up the raw shrimp, and mixing it with lemon zest, pimentone and transglutamines. We then roll the shrimp up real tight in plastic and cook it sous vide at 131.2 degrees for 45 minutes.

We started a new creative process in the Kitchen and the Shrimp roll was the first product of this rule. The idea is that we are always going to keep developing one new dish. This means that the whole kitchen is getting involved in one dish and we'll keep tweaking and experimenting with the dish for two whole weeks before we will serve it. Then once the dish is finalized we'll move on to a new one and continue the process. We hope that by doing this we'll always keep moving forward with new ideas and everyone stays involved.

We kept the flavors fairly basic and the last variation of the dish is...

Shrimp Roll,Compressed Cucumber, Celery Ribbons, Cucumber Rind-Horseradish Froth, Lemon Pudding and Red onion Chips.

Scallop Ceviche'

2009-11-01T17:09:00.009-06:00

You might realize by now that we like plyable foods at Cosmos. We recently made a Scallop terrine' by mixing scallops with a little bit of transglutamines and pressing it overnight in a square mold. We then cook the scallop terrine, Sous vide at 131.2 Degrees F. Once cooked and chilled,we then slice the scallop into thin "sheets". Lastly,ceviche' them in fresh lime juice for about 15 minutes. To get that nice lime flavor infused.

When plating, we are able to shape the scallop "sheet" however we want to. It's a real nice way to get the guests wondering where the scallop is and thinking,"How did they do that?"

We are serving this plyable scallop with puffed pork rinds,( which would be an awesome bar snack on it's own), Pomegranate-Galanga root "Spaghetti", and a picante' chorizo mousse.

Scallop Ceviche', Picante' Chorizo Mousse, Puffed Pork Rinds, Pomegranate-Galangaroot "Spaghetti", Cilantro Yogurt, Black Sea Salt, Micro Cilantro

Cosmos Ocean Flavors

2009-10-23T19:57:00.008-05:00

This idea began with a chef's table we had not too long ago. The McDonald's were here and we decided to do a deconstructed boulliabase for their menu. Throwing new twists on classic dishes is something we like to do at Cosmos and a boulliabase is the perfect opportunity to present this classical dish in a whole new way.

Although we have a lot going on component wise, it all ties together nicely and still reminds you of the comforting dish while appearing like you've never seen it before. The protiens consist of a seared diver scallop, confit of Halibut, broiled langoustine, and the mussel is cooked in a broth we've called lobster essence. The essence consists of lobster stock that we then beef up with extra fennel, white wine, a touch of orange, and Pernod. We then tie it all together with sous vide baby fennel, preserved tomato, grilled bread, fried fennel fronds, and a saffron aoli.

The result is tastey and comforting like the original, but is presented in a whole new manor. We've used different techniques and ideas to make something we can call our own.

Allspice Torchon

2009-10-23T18:48:00.013-05:00

Our F&B director Vinny is always good at making us try all of the tasty finds he comes across in his line of work, and often encourages us to use them in our dishes. He recently found an allspice flavored rum that is like no other spiced rum we've ever tasted. As we all tasted it downstairs in the bar, faces lit up, and everyone seemed to have the same revelation on their faces... foie torchon. From here the plan was set in motion, marinate the foie for a night, wrap it the following day, poach it in the liquor, and hang it tight. Unfortunately this was happening during restaurant week and we marinated the foie for three days. Needless to say our torchon was a little boozy. Logically we decided the foie shouldn't marinate so long, and our second batch spent only one day in the rum resulting in not enough flavor. We've found a happy medium at two days, and are very happy with the finished product. We reduce the poaching liquid afterwords and use it as a binder to coat the edges in a salty toffee when plating also. All in all I'd say it was a success, the allspice and foie marry well together and between the crunchy coating and silky torchon, the texture is nice also.

5th annual SOS Event (share our strength)

2009-09-14T15:30:00.011-05:00

Graves 601 Hotel Ballroom:

This is one of the most longed for Charity events in the Twin Cities. We gather about 13 different chefs from around the area that provides a five course tasting menu for ten people. this is a awesome way to show of your restaurant and skills for other chefs but also a very unique experience for the guests. It all takes place on the 5th floor at the Graves 601 Hotel ballroom. Each chef has there own little "kitchen" set up right in front of the Guest so they can see every move.

Cosmos: Chef Hakan Lundberg and Pastry Chef Khanh Tran did their debut at this event this year and they served some seasonal items and some "signature" dishes from cosmos. The event went very smooth and they received standing ovations in the end of the meal. It's a pretty stress full dinner so we did not have much time for snapping allot of pictures but please enjoy what ever we had time for.

Carrot and Ranch

2009-09-10T22:02:00.003-05:00

This is a fun little treat, maybe we got inspired by the state fair with this one. We made a cylinder out of a compressed carrot and skewered it on bamboo. We then drizzled ranch mixed with gelatin over top of it so it would be thick enough to stick, but still creamy when you eat it. The garnish is micro broccoli floretts.

Mozzarella Balloon

2009-07-01T15:45:00.006-05:00

We have made allot of different variations of our mozzarella balloon. This is the 2009 edition. We stretch fresh mozzarella curd and blow it up with Mizuna butter milk soup. the garnish is roof top Nasturtium, cured Atlantic salmon, beets, saffron and trout roe.

It's a very complicated dish to make so we only serve the dish for Kitchen tables or VIP guests.

Tasting Menu June 2009

2009-06-11T20:06:00.012-05:00

Our new tasting menu was so good we wanted to put pictures of each course on here. The first course is a bison carpaccio with a truffled dwarf peach slaw, mini fries, and a pickled beet ribbon. The bison was seasoned and quick seared then sliced nice and thin. These truffled dwarf peaches are tastey no matter what you do to them, and they really make this slaw great. The mini fries are tossed with truffle oil and adds the needed crunch . Then comes the pickled beet ribbon which is probobly the best sheet/ribbon we've ever done. Texture, flavor and color are all spot on. We used our usual ratio of agar then added a pinch of guar gum to give it the perfect elasticity where it will sustain all those twists and turns and not break.

The scallop dish came together really nicely also. It was a fun little trial and error process with imput from a few corners. The peas where a definite, and the pea shoots are so tastey we had to get them on there. Then we got some of these little pearl red onions that when roasted add sweetness to the risotto, and everyone loves a good seared scallop, especially basted with whole butter to give it that extra love. The kicker that makes the dish special is the smoked orange consome. We use a technique where we make our desired broth, add a tiny bit of gelatin, and then freeze the broth over night. The next day we let the broth defrost over cheese cloth and it gains that really nice clarity to make it look like a traditional consome. The consome is poured tableside, providing that little bit of aromatics and a nice complimentary flavor.

For the main course we're doing lamb three ways. We've got a sous vide lamb loin that's seared to order giving it that nice carmelized flavor. Next we have the lamb rib that we confit lightly in chili oil to add a little diversity to the flavor. The third lamb preparation is braised lamb shank cooked in figs, Balsamic and stock. We then pick the shanks, press them into cubes and bread them in pistachio crumbs. These uber tasty little cubes are sauted to order toasting the pistachio. The rest of the components are a fava bean puree, figs rehydrated in the braising liquid from the shanks, and a pistachio semi fredo. The semi fredo was another trial and error component, but the end result was the perfect sweetness to bring everything together. We couldn't have asked for a better outcome on this one either.

Rabbit-Foie Gras Mousse

2009-05-17T18:39:00.012-05:00

We have wanted to do something with Rabbit for a while. The dish came together even better then we imagined. We made a Rabbit and Foie Gras mousse with the fluid gel technique. We sear off the Foie and Rabbit, mix it in to a soup, strain it, and then add agar agar. We then let it set and blend the mixture smooth in a Vita mixer. After passing the fluid gel through a strainer, the pulp thats left is then used to make Rabbit "Nuggets."

On this plate we also feature Pine Buds. These little green shoots are something that we have been trying to get hold of for two years. It's a very short season for Pine Buds. We pick the spring shoots from the pine tree branches befor the needles get hard and we saute them slightly in butter. this dish is Currently on our Tasting menu and we plan on keeping it until pine bud season runs out.....

Rabbit- Foie gras Mousse, Sauted Pine Buds, Apricot Puree, Apricot Paper,Nutmeg froth, Nutmeg tuille, Rabbit "Nuggets"

Roof Top Herb Garden ( step one)

2009-05-13T10:59:00.008-05:00

In Cosmos kitchen we use a plethora of fresh herbs and we love to garnish with edible flowers such as tomato, cucumber, and nasturtium. The flowers are pretty hard to come by and the farmers don't like to give them up because they loose out on the vegetable they are growing. The shelf life of the flowers are very poor and they are expensive.

Our solution to this is an herb garden on our roof top. Not only are we going to get our own fresh herbs but we are also planting tomato and cucumber so we can pick our own edible flowers. This is something that we are all very exited about, and we are going to try a lot of different things up there to see what grows.

We are even thinking right now that if this is a success we might do a water barrel to catch rain water, make our own compost with vegetable scraps and even do a glassed in green house.

Skies the limit on our roof top.....

Photos

2009-05-06T10:02:00.006-05:00

Most pictures we take on plated food is right before it goes out to the guest. We like to keep it Raw and unedited to show off the true world off Comos Kitchen. We usually have one or two guys in the kitchen with a camera in the back pocket ready to go if something is picture worthy.

But not too long ago we had a professional photographer in the kitchen. His name is Chris Bohnhoff and he took some really nice pictures for us. You can check out his blog and the article he wrote on the time he spent with us. He's work is amazing!

www.chrisbohnhoff.com/blog/2009/03/cosmos/

Chef Hakan on Showcase Minnesota

2009-04-16T10:21:00.003-05:00

April 8Th: Chef Hakan went on Showcase Minnesota to talk about the Cosmos experience and promote the 30 dollar Sunday Dinner. It was very entertaining and Rob Hudson Is even crazier off Camera. Follow the link and enjoy.

http://www.showcaseminnesota.com/show/client_article.aspx?storyid=59815

Out Side Cosmos Kitchen

2009-03-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

Spam Off, Sunday 03-29-09: After service Sunday night it all went down. We meet up in a rented party room in Roseville and it was time for SPAM Off! We got divided up into three teams and had one hour to come up with as many dishes using a Black Box and of course spam. Once the hour was up we were looking at an array of spam dishes. and one hell of a mess so we decided that the winning team got pardoned from cleaning up. Here are some of the dishes that were presented.

Spam Pizza

Flash seared Spam Carpaccio

Angry Spam Saute'

Spam-Ramen noodle Norri roll

Coconut glazed Spam

and the winning dish of the night was, Spam bread pudding with rum caramel. Yes it was Delicious.

Top Ingredients

2009-03-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, we do have a lot of fun with our food presentation and new cooking techniques, but we also pay close attention to the quality of our products. Since the beginning of Cosmos restaurant, we've dedicated a lot of time to find the best products we can consistently get hold of. To name a few I would like to highlight the following products:

Chefs Garden, Ohio; Farmer Lee, of the Chefs Garden has the best Micro Herbs we have ever tried. Their top quality and flavor is unbeatable and we receive a shipment at least once a week. Farmer Lee also provides us with our own one of a kind Cosmos Blend Lettuce, a mixture of baby greens that are crunchy and clean tasting. Just like a green salad should taste.

Hudson Valley Foie Gras, NY: At Cosmos we only use Graded A foie gras from Hudson valley. We believe this is the best foie gras available, it's so firm when you sear it and their is almost no veins going through the liver.
Sushi Graded Nr one Ahi Tuna, Coastal Seafood MN; we have both a tuna tartar and rare seared tuna on the menu, and for these we only use Sushi Graded Tuna. It's important for us to be able to receive fresh fish within a few hours after the order is called in, coastal provides us with that service.

Authentic Japanese Wagyu. Adirect Ca; The first time we received this product, we stood silent over the cutting board just stareing at it. It tastes just as good as it looks. the marbling is so beautiful and it is the most tender piece of meat you'll ever eat. We only use graded A5 NY sirloin strip .

As far as we know, Cosmos is the only restaurant in The Twin Cities that carries all of these products on hand at all times. We feel very lucky to be able to work with these high end products every day.

Kitchen table Saturady 03-21-09

2009-03-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

This is the third time that Sue and Bob McDonald are doing the kitchen Table. They invited Terri and Lee Lynch to join them. We really enjoy cooking for this group (Second Time) it's a good mix of laughs, gossip and it is challenging. Bob is a tough yet fair critic. Bob has an amazing wine collection and he always brings in a few bottles and let's us try all these different wines.

I think we really nailed this menu for them. We did some old classics like shrimp "cocktail"(See picture) and our foie gras dish with nitro foie mousse. We also took some chance like the authentic veal loin that we served with sun choke puree, Sous vide artichoke, sweetbreads and a black licorice beurre blanc( Terri's favorite).

We ended up serving 12 courses including all the little extra treats we do, Bob and Sue were already talking about booking the next kitchen table before they were even done with this one. We'll see what we do for them next time, it's going to be a tough one to follow, since they rated it the best meal in the Twin City.

Cosmos Slide Show

2009-03-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some Random Pictures that we took in the early 2009,

Enjoy

Cosmos Kitchen

Lamb "Belly"

2009-03-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

In Cosmos Kitchen we take great pride in utilizing all of the product we purchase. Not only does it make sense from a food cost perspective, we feel that it's only fair to respect the animals and farmers. One example is our house cured Lamb "Belly". We utilize the fat cap from the Lamb racks that most chefs would normally throw away, but we found a very unique way to use it and turns out great. We trim off about 80% of the fat but leave the meat attached to the remaining 20%. We take two trimmed fat caps and glue (Activa RM) them together with the meat side facing each other. Next we rub the meat with our cure consisting of rosemary, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper and sugar. The meat is then cured under pressure for 48 hours. The belly is finished by vacuum sealing the meat on highest setting and cooked soue vide for 16 hours at 151.5 F Degrees and cooled down under pressure.

We cut little cubes out of this fatty, tender, flavorful piece of lamb. We call it Lamb "Belly" because it has the same usage as Bacon.

When plated we catch Rosemary smoke under a glass bowl and place the smoky bowl over the Lamb "Belly". This is how we present the lamb dish in the dining room, as the waiter removes the smokey bowl in front of the guest, it adds just enough to get that light smokey flavor that we were looking for on the lamb belly.

Opha!!!

2009-02-26T23:18:00.000-06:00

We are serving a Hawaiian Opha in the restaurant. We stumbled across this fish when we were looking for Spanish Mackerel and we actually liked the Opha better. It's a beautiful fish that's nice and fatty and served best rare seared. Staying with the Hawaiian theme we're serving the seared Opha with an Opha/Habanero Poke, Poi and Taro root "pillows". For the Pillows we start with mashed Taro, then a mixture of corn starch, flour and baking powder is folded in. We then deep fry them until puffed like a "pillow".

We then decided that pineapple would be a perfect sidekick for the dish, and that turned into making pineapple "Spaghetti". For the "Spaghetti", we use a combonation of Pineapple juice, Agar Agar and Locust gum; warming it all up to activate the Agar. When still warm we fill small tubes with the pineapple mixture and then dunk them into ice water so the juice and Agar sets.

Fabulous Five from Wisconsin

2009-02-13T10:12:00.000-06:00

Friday 02-06-09. It was a pretty slow and quiet night that Friday, but that all changed when we got five fabulous ladies from Wisconsin for a Kitchen Table. These girls really know how to have fun. They stayed at the hotel, shopped during the day and came in for a 7 course tasting menu at night. The kitchen wasn't quiet or slow after they arrived.

We gave them all kinds of stuff, and even converted one girl to foie gras. She said that she's never enjoyed foie before, but finished the whole plate to her own astonishment. They were moaning with every bite, and that's when we decided to name the group the MILFS: Moms I Like to Feed

Brians 40th birthday, Kitchen table

2009-02-12T23:53:00.000-06:00

Thursday 02-12-09. Two very fun couples from Edina came to celebrate a 40th birthday. We did 9 courses for them and they really enjoyed it all, they even rated it better then Charlie Trotters. The only complaint they had was that we didn't swear enough in the kitchen. We can improve on that I guess.

Happy F**ing Birthday Brian from the whole Team in Cosmos Kitchen.

Kitchen Table

2009-02-12T23:30:00.000-06:00

One of the more unique experiences you can have at Cosmos is definitely the Kitchen Table. We do either a 7 or 9 course tasting menu and we go all out. The dishes we come up with are either items that are brand new and we use the guests as guinea pigs or we do dishes that are too complicated to put on the regular menu. Cosmos kitchen wasn't designed for a Kitchen Table so you are literaly in the middle of everything. We usually like to show the guests how we create some of the items that we do, and people really get in to it.

On a personal note, I like open kitchens because it serves as a reminder that we cook for people and not table numbers, the Kitchen table is our way to open up our kitchen.

Spicy chicken wing Soup

2009-02-05T10:33:00.000-06:00

We like to take Classic dishes and serve them a little bit different. Take for example spicy chicken wings with blue cheese and celery. That is a very good dish but probably a little bit messy to eat in the restaurant so we had this idea. We roasted the chicken wings and mire poix with a spicy sauce in the oven. transferred to a big stock pot and added chicken stock, let it simmer for 3 Horus. strain thru chinoas.

We made a celery terrine: Jullien celery and compress in vacuum sealer. Juice celery and activate agar agar. Combine hot celery juice with the compressed celery, chopped chives and parsley in a terrine mold. Let set.

Blue cheese fritter: Mix Stilton blue cheese crumbles and tempura Batter. Deep fry.

Liquid chicken wings, Celery Terrine, Blue cheese fritter.

Pine cured Salmon

2009-02-01T10:49:00.000-06:00

One of appetizers is a Pine/juniper cured Atlantic Salmon. The sappy flavor of the juniper and pine works really well with Salmon. In our cure we do 60 % salt 40% sugar, lemon zest,dill and juniper berries. The Salmon cures for at least 48 Horus.
Scandinavian cured Salmon, Horse radish pannacotta, Toasted Bagel crumbles, fried caper and lemon "pudding".

Lobster Pasta

2009-01-29T23:09:00.000-06:00

We make our own Lobster pasta by adding raw lobster roe when making the dough. The dough turns bright green.

Once the dough is rested, we roll it out in a pasta machine and cut it into little rectangular plates. We pre cook the pasta in Lobster stock and the pasta just turns bright orange. By pre cooking the pasta in Lobster stock we infuse even more lobster flavor into the pasta.

To order we gently warm the pasta up in Lobster burre Blanc,and that coats the pasta in a buttery lobster sauce.

Grilled Main Lobster,House Made Lobster Pasta, Broccoli stems/florettes, Garlic Charred Tomatoe, Cherville.

Chaine des rotisseur 2009

2009-01-25T21:39:00.000-06:00

January 11 2009: We hosted a Chaine des rotisseur dinner at Cosmos. That night we closed down the restaurant for the public and served a six course tasting menu for 66 guests. Everything went outstanding. I can't wait until we can do another one again.

Here are a few courses from that menu.

Lobster: Saffron Lobster roll,Brioche puree, Edamame Sheet, Crispy corn.

Foie: Seared Hudson valley Foie Gras, Nitro Foie mousse,Pistachio, Cardamom pickled watermelon Radish.

Intermezzo: Exploding LingonBerry, Elderflower "Spaghetti"

Cheese: Flexiable 7 year cheddar cheese, Beets, shaved Balsamic, cinamon date foam

Chef Hakan Lundberg

2009-01-25T15:36:00.000-06:00

I'm Hakan Lundberg and I work as the chef de cuisine at Restaurant Cosmos in Minneapolis, MN. The reason I'm starting this blog is because I feel that I work at a very unique place and there is so much going on in the Kitchen of Cosmos which I would like to share with the public.

I have worked at Cosmos for over 5 years and I can't remember all the great dishes we've created in the past; I wish I would have taken more pictures and made more notes. This has made me realize that a Cosmos kitchen blog is the best solution for me too share and remember.