Return to Sent Soví

Some of you may remember that Bill & I also belong to a small wine tasting group that meets once a month. Our annual dinner was at Sent Soví Restaurant again. This dinner was a bit different than the dinner our Cookbook Club had a few weeks ago in that Josiah was given the wines the members chose to bring and created a 6 course menu specifically for each wine. He came out of his kitchen with each course to describe what he prepared and why he chose the ingredients for that wine. This group of people have been friends and tasting wines for over 20 years so you can imagine that the conversations were spirited and enjoyable. However, for a several minutes after each course was served, there was total silence as everyone savored the flavor combinations, tender meats and total gastronomic experience.

We started with a NV Tattinger Champagne la Francaise brut. We were treated to several “small bites” of Gougéres, stuffed purple endives and basterma (air cured beef) on croutons. It was hard not to fill up on these small bites and champagne…what’s not to like?

But we finally sat down to dinner and began with an unusual German dry Riesling that Einar discovered while visiting his family and friends in Norway, a 2009 Gerhard Al Alba Vinceró Riesling Kabinett Trocken, Germany. It was perfectly matched with a entré that Josiah created for this wine, Butter Poached Prawns with Saffron Gelée with English Peas. The prawns were delicately poached and accented with a puree of peas, fried diced tofu and potato sticks, topped with a few chives.

The next dish was my favorite, again, created to accompany a 2007 Rhys Family Farm Vineyard Pinot Noir. Josiah cured a goose that he started last December and finished in April. It was a prociutto type cured goose with wonderful flavors! It is the thinly sliced meats you see on the sides of the dish in the photo. Underneath the crouton topped with a duck paté was thin strips of cured duck breasts, nestled in a bed of barley and Hen of Woods mushrooms and topped with Bull's Blood beet greens. Wonderful textures, tastes and aromas!

Josiah served an intermezzo of Chocolate Sorbet with olive oil and infused with 25-year old balsamic vinegar. Very chocolatey. Our chocolate lovers really enjoyed this tiny scoop!

We were then treated to a magnum of 1995 Antinori Tignanello, paired with Roasted Deboned Quail laid over a puree of parsnips and accompanied by large morel mushrooms and stewed strawberries. Having deboned several quails a couple of weeks ago, I really appreciated the work that goes into a dish like this. The morels were the largest I've ever seen and very tender. We learned that Black Garlic is garlic that is fermented and then turns black in the process.

Our last wine, and our oldest wine, 1989 Chateau Longuville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville, France, went with a Lamb Ribeye served over caramelized mixture of late spring alums and sprinkled with summer truffles. The lamb was cooked medium rare and so very tender! The mixture of different onions were sautéed to a mahogany deep caramel.

We completed this feast with a 2001 Chateau Doisey Védrines Sauternes. This could have been our dessert all by itself! However, Josiah created a Green Tea pot du crème that was delicately accented with green peppercorns and served with diced fresh cherries and peaches. And, you can see from the photo that the colors were bright with cherry reds, peachy oranges and pale green from the matcha in the pot du créme.

The perfect ending to an evening filled with good friends, great wines and gourmet food. Who could ask for more? Certainly not me!

These images are a compilations of photos taken with cameras and iphones by different people and by no means is a complete collection of photos but are ones that came out best (i.e. no blurry ones, no crossed or shut eyes or strange expressions), if you want to see more, just let me know and I'll send all of them to you.

In the meantime, I continue to prepare dishes from Jacques Pepín’s book Fast Food My Way. And am getting ready for our great Africa adventure! We hope to taste some wild game in Zimbabwe and take some fantastic photographs in Botswana and South Africa! More later. . .