Alinea at Home: Bison, Potatoes, Pistachios, Sweet Spices

So, I finally got this dish completed.  Good lord, was this one tougher than I had anticipated.  I was supposed to have this on Saturday, but circumstances which prevented it.  I then tried to have it Sunday but realized I had messed up some steps along the way so I rebooted and did some of the accompaniments over.  I had company on Tuesday and so I finally got to a point where I could finish.  So here we go.

The first thing I made was the pistachio puree.  Salt, sugar, water, yukon gold potato, and pistachios.  In the first go I used unshelled pistachios, which were probably a better option.  After I messed it up, however, I decided that the shelled variety would be easier.  Shelling the number of pistachios I needed is NOT a fun task.

The completed puree.  As you can see by the color the in the shell variety with the papery skin underneath removed is the purest way to get the bright green color they should have been, but I don't really care.

Next step were the braised pistachios.  This included salt, pistachios, water and butter.  These ingredients were combined and cooked until the pistachios were tender.

Here are the completed braised pistachios.

The third component was the spice pudding.  This is where I had really messed up the first time where I missed the instruction to strain the mixture before chilling it in the fridge.  The spices used include peppercorns, cinnamon, allspice and salt.  The spices were boiled and then steeped in a mixture of water and white wine vinegar.

Once the liquid boiled the mixture steeped for about 20 minutes.  Once the steeping had completed, agar agar was introduced and the mixture was brought to a boil again to activate the starch.  The mixture was then strained and then put in a bowl and put in the fridge to set up.

This is the completed spice pudding.

The final minor component was the spice powder, which included salt, cinnamon, peppercorns and allspice.  These spices were toasted and then ground.

This is the completed powder.

The final step was to prepare the main part of the dish, potatoes and the bison.  I sliced the potato very thin using the mandolin and then sliced into thin strips.  The real recipe called for a next of potato which required a spiral slicer, which I don't have. 

For the bison I trimmed off the sliverskin, chain meat and the head roast.  Then finally I cut off a small portion for this dish.

I seasoned the bison with salt and pepper and started to deep fry it.  After a couple minutes I added the potatoes.  Obviously you can't see anything in the picture but those bubbles mean that the oil is doing its job.

The completed bison and potatoes.  I seasoned the potatoes with a bit of the spice powder.  Now it's time to plate.

Completed plate.  Overall, I was very happy with the dish and it was of course delicious.