JERUSALEM: A COOKBOOK by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

Maybe world peace can happen if an Israeli and Palestinian can bring a wonderful cookbook to us!   Our dinner, hosted by Sharon and Suki, was an adventure in new spices, combinations, ingredients and tastes.

No one volunteered to make an appetizer so Sharon, being a gracious host, decided to fill in some gaps in the menu and made homemade Hummus that I really loved.  TBH, I’ve never eaten freshly made hummus and thought it was supposed to taste like the kind I’ve purchased at gourmet grocery stores, that I’ve never liked!  Sharon said it is so simple to make that she never eats store-bought hummus.   She just soaks the chickpeas overnight and then boils and purees them, add some tahini, lemon juice, garlic, a little cumin and water.  Drizzle some olive oil over it and serve.  Voila!  Creamy, super smooth hummus!

She also made some Labneh that uses 3 different types of yogurt:  goat, cow and sheep yogurt that was wonderful as well.   She served these two creamy appetizers with spicy pita chips and sliced flatbread.   She served two condiments on the side.  Pickled Lemons that only take a week to make vs the months it takes to make salted lemons and it had a very different taste…not salty and, actually not vinegary either.  It’s hard to describe what it tastes like other than lemony, tart goodness!   The other side was a collection of nuts and seeds and spices….crunchy, spicy, addictive collection that we could sprinkle on anything to add a punch to the dish.  Bill selected a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin nv Champagne  Brut  from France for us to drink while waiting for everyone to arrive and to go with the appetizers.   Jeffrey offered a magnum from his cellar as a general contribution and we had some of his 10-year old Mount Eden Vineyards Estate Chardonnay, aged to a wonderful golden color, to go with Sharon’s hummus and Labneh.

 

I must add here that Sharon also made two dishes that we did not have on the menu but could take home to try later.  Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Onion with Tahini and Za’atar and an Herb Pie.   This woman was cooking up a storm for several days!!   The squash dish was very simple and complex at the same time, I think because of the Za’atar spice.  We experimented with Za’atar and Sumac a lot with this cookbook.  Two spices that I don’t normally use.   Her Herb Pie used filo pastry for the crust and was filled with  mint, dill, parsley, arugula, celery, onion, swiss chard, green onions, cheddar, and feta and other than S&P, no additional spices!   A tasty and very pretty presentation.  Thank you, Sharon!

Our first course for the evening was an Arab dish called Na’Ama’s Fattoush that Sandi made that, as you can see from the photograph, is a plateful of radishes, cucumbers, mint, parsley, tomatoes, garlic, yogurt and lemon juice, mixed with torn  flatbread or naan.  It was a very tart and creamy salad that was a wonderful mixture of textures and very memorable.  The recipe said to wait 10 min. before serving but Sandi thought that the naan would dissolve after 10 minute so she served it within minutes of being added to the salad.   It was very soft but still kept it’s shape so I think she made a good call.  Another good call was the Sauvignon Blanc from the 2005 Murrieta's Well Vineyard of the Tesoros Winery in Livermore.  This was a very dry Sauvignon Blanc that complemented the tartness of the salad.

We then moved to a seafood dish that Jeffrey prepared.  Prawns, Scallops and Clams with Tomato and Feta.  The tomato was very subtle in this dish.  From just looking at the title of the dish, I thought it was going to be a very tomato-y sauce but it just has a few pieces of diced tomatoes floating in watery broth that allowed the delicate seafood flavors to shine through.  What we all noticed about this cookbook’s recipes is that they are all pretty easy to prepare, once the spices were purchased.  It is a collection of home-cooking recipes that they remember from their childhoods or have embellished with new ingredients or flavors.   Our Eveready Cook, Sharon, prepared a simple couscous to go with the dish so we could soak up the leftover juices on our plates. . . slurp!   Bill selected a Domaine de la Madone  2009  Beaujolais  Jean Bererd  from France to go with this dish.  I think it was a wonderful Beaujolais that was both fruity and dry.   Some people continued to drink the Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay that also went well with the shellfish.

Janis, our supreme salad and vegetable queen, made Spinach Salad.  Now, to see the title of this dish, you could imagine a very simple salad that we’ve all seen at potluck lunches.  NOT so!  This Spinach Salad had chopped dates, our intrepid spice--Sumac, red onions, torn pita bread, unsalted almonds and chili flakes.   Oh yes, and spinach!   It used a very simple dressing of red wine vinegar, lemon juice, butter and olive oil, but the combination of ingredients created a very sublime salad  that had tart, sweet, earthy, crunchy, and leafy tastes and textures.  I don’t know how she does it but she always chooses the right salad or vegetable dish that just knocks my socks off!   What also made this dish “over the top” was the Sori' Del Re  2007  Moscato D'Asti  Degiorgis Sergio from Italy that Bill served from his cellar.  Who would have guessed that a Moscato would be the perfect wine for spinach salad but it was absolutely the best pairing for the course.

I made the Mejadra dish that Sandy P was going to bring.  I thought it was going to be very similar to a rice and lentil with caramelized onions dish that we made from the Zov cookbook, one of our very early cookbooks from 8 years ago.   This Mejadra was very, very spicy and I think, had too many lentils in ratio to the rice.  It also came out very dry.   It could be that I made it on Friday and reheated it for our dinner because I spent the day at Stanford tailgating and watched us lose to USC (boo-o-o!) and just barely made it to our dinner.   I added water to the dish before nuking it to warm it up but it didn’t help with the dryness so it maybe that if I make this again, I’ll add more water to the dish initially.   It was too spicy for me and I actually prefer the Zov version that is simpler and allows the tastes of the rice, lentil and caramelized onions show through.  This dish fries the onions before adding it to the rice.  I may have also over-fried the onions too so how it turned out could have been “operator error.”

I also prepared the Clementine Chicken with Arak.  I loved this dish when I first made it and knew that it was the one I wanted to share with my fellow cooks.  I did learn from my first attempt to double the marinade because I didn’t think there was enough sauce and I think that made the dish even more delicious.  Another simple dish that just requires chicken, Clementine oranges, fennel, thyme and fennel seeds.  It also used grainy mustard, orange & lemon juice for the marinade/sauce.  All are ingredients in most pantries.  I used Pernod instead of Arak since it only called for a few tablespoons of it and I didn’t want to buy a whole bottle just for a few tablespoons.  I could have also used Ouzo but Pernod was in our liquor cabinet.  I hope everyone enjoyed this dish as much as I did.   I made a simple Basmati Rice dish to complement the chicken.  The orange/fennel combination was a surprise and my tastebuds just exploded when I tasted it.   We enjoyed a Merry Edwards  2004  Pinot Noir Klopp Ranch in the Russian River Valley of  Sonoma County.   All in all, this was probably one of our most difficult dinners to pair wine with and Bill did tons of online research to determine what wines might go best with the various spices and tastes.  We all agreed that he did a yeoman’s job!!  Thank you, Bill, for your generosity and knowledgeable selections.

We were all pretty full at this point so the two dishes that Sharon was thinking of serving (the squash and herb pie) went into take-home containers. 

Our two desserts were also made by Sharon and were actually her original choices for the dinner.   She made a Clementine Almond Cake and Spice Cookies.   Her cake was made using ground almonds, and sweetened with simple syrup flavored with Clementine zest and juice is poured over the cake while still warm so it soaks up the syrup that not only moistens the cake but adds another layer of citrusy flavor to it.   Bill ingeniously selected a very old Sutter Home NV Triple Crème Aperitif wine from the 1970’s to go with both this cake and the Spice Cookies.   What a spectacular pairing for the desserts.  The Triple Crème enhanced the citrus tones of the cake and stood up to the spicy cookies.   The cookies were to be topped with candied fruits and a sugar glaze but Sharon couldn’t find any candied fruits that are typically only available during the holidays so she topped the cookies with candied ginger.  Very clever substitution, Sharon!

I think we all staggered home from this meal, fully sated and filled with wonderful memories of yet another feast prepared by a group of gourmet cooks!

Our next event, our 9^th Annual Holiday Buffet, will be held at Annie & George’s home on Saturday, December 13.   Please mark your calendars!  Time TBA so stay tuned!

Cook on!

Honoring Judy Rodgers

Because Judy passed away last year, Janis chose her Zuni Café Cookbook for our June dinner.  It was the best way to honor this pioneer of fresh California cooking.   We haven’t eaten at Zuni in many years but this dinner made us want more so a visit to the city may be in the making!

Sandi & Willie had a family funeral to attend so we weren’t able to enjoy her assorted Crostini’s, their wonderful company or Willie's professional photography of our dishes.  Bill stepped up to the plate to be the evening’s photographer as well as our Cellarmaster.

We had originally thought that Michelle and David were going to be an hour late so although the menu started off with no appetizers, I decided that we needed something to nosh on while waiting for the Kings.   I happened to have all the ingredients for this dish so, voila!   Rosemary-Grilled Chicken Livers & Bacon with Balsamic-Onion Marmalade Toasts.  Since this was the beginning of a big dinner, I only made two toasts per person AND, I wasn’t sure if some people would like chicken livers.  This recipe turned out to be the big surprise to me and several others, some of whom don’t especially like chicken livers.    The bacon wrapped livers are skewered on rosemary stems and then served on an onion marmalade covered grilled baguette slices were reminiscent of savory, sweet, smoky and totally yummy.   It’s a recipe I will make again!  Bill chose a 2012 Mount Eden Vineyards Cabernet Franc Rosé, Santa Cruz Mountains  to go with the chicken livers.  David thought it had Brettanomyces, a wine spoilage yeast, but I didn’t detect it.  I’ve had Jeffrey’s Rosé’s before and this one was more lean that the ones I’ve had in the past.

BTW, David and Michelle arrived on time so we started at 6 p.m. as planned.

Because of the Brett, David poured his 2012 Domaine Huet Vouvray LeMont Sec, Loire, France that was a wonderful wine for a warm afternoon.  It didn’t necessarily go with the chicken livers but it certainly had no Brett!

This dinner was also special because I had invited the editor of an upcoming book that is an anthology of writings related to home cooking.   Elizabeth is a delightful woman with a very charismatic personality who explained that this anthology is about home cooking that includes community, health, cost efficiency and family.  She invited everyone to write a chapter or contribute to the Cookbook Club chapter with a paragraph about your “story:” your misadventures, values, enjoyment, cooking experiences during the past 8 years.   We wanted she and Cindy Roberts, the anthology editor, to experience the club and see first-hand how it works as well as communicate their invitation to write for the book.

Our first course was Mixed Lettuces with Roasted Cherries.  Janis had to hand pick the cherries at a famer’s market to find good Bings.  It’s not a good cherry year because we had such a warm winter and they need a good freeze to create a plentiful, juicy crop.  She thought the salad dressing needed some umami because it was somewhat bland.  The dressing had a few drops of grappa (that I was able to provide for her) but it probably would taste better if she had used kirsch, but neither of us had any of that.  Next time!   It was a beautifully arranged salad, finished with some lovely warmed Saint-Marcellin cheese and roasted hazelnuts.  Because of the cherry flavors Bill chose a 2011 Plumed Blanc, Testarossa Winery, a gift from the Plumed Horse restaurant in Saratoga.   This was a fruity sauvignon blanc that many of us really liked.  Testarossa is a local winery that has produced some very nice wines throughout the years, on and off.

Zuni Café is known for Judy’s Roasted Chicken and Bread Salad so we couldn’t have a dinner in her honor without this special dish.  Judy’s Roast Chicken is the way many people roast their chickens after she shared her recipe.  It takes 3 days to prepare the chicken for roasting so plan ahead.   The trick is to not cover the chicken so the skin dries out and creates a crispy skin when roasted.  David stepped up to the plate to treat us to this iconic dish and the chicken was moist and tender, as expected.  Because it wasn’t served right out of the oven, we lost the crispy skin but it was a wonderful dish that brought up fond memories of her restaurant.  To enhance this evening, even though he couldn’t make the dinner, Jeffrey sent a 2009 Zuni Pinot Noir, Mount Eden Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains to the dinner.  He makes wine for the Zuni Café’s label and is the restaurant’s most popular wine.  We all understand and know why!  Thank you Jeffrey!!

 

The next dish was a combination of dishes from Annie and George and myself.

Annie volunteered to make the Roasted Polenta triangles upon which my

Roasted Quail with Bay Leaves, Madeira & Dates sat along the sides of Creamed Corn and Sugar Snap Boats.   Judy recommends roasting the quail whole and letting diners pick through the bones but it’s such a small bird that it seems like too much work for so little meat, so I partially de-boned the bird just leaving the legs and breast cartilage.   The quail sauce, made from roasting the back bones, wings and two whole quails, creating a reduced stock, adding Madeira to it to make a lusciously thick and silky sauce that makes this dish outstanding. . . .to which I added 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter that the recipe did not call for but really made the sauce over the top, following Julia Child’s adage that one cannot have too much butter!  I only served one quail per person since this dinner had three desserts on the way.  The wine Bill chose to complement all four dishes was a 1998 Côte Rôtie Red Rhone Brune Et Blonde E. Guigal, France.   It definitely did exactly that.  It was a lovely rhone that paired with each of the dishes, standing up to the rich sauce of the quail while not overpowering the corn or the sugar snap peas.

Everyone crowed about the Creamed Corn that did not resemble the mushy Del Monte canned creamed corn that we grew up on.   The scraped corn kernels were whole and simply enhanced with butter and a little marscapone.  So simple and so fresh and, um, creamy!  The Sugar Snap Boats were also very simply sautéed in butter enhanced with fresh herbs and the perfect accompaniment to the quail by adding the sweet, crunchy announcement of spring to our main entré.

Following the belief that there is never enough desserts, this dinner had three of them to offer our taste buds.  We started with the lightest of them and enjoyed Sandy’s Toasted Almond Panna Cotta with Saba while Elizabeth talked to us about her project.  The almond flavor is very light and we all asked Sandy how she achieved that.  It is toasted chopped almonds that is steeped in milk and cream.  The saba was the crowning touch to this dessert.  Saba is a syrupy balsamic vinegar that was a surprising contrast to the panna cotta.  The detail of this dish was the sugar frosted raspberries that she must have frosted before she placed them in the dishes.  The original recipe calls for unmolded ramikins but it is more work than it’s worth so Sandy chose to serve hers in these beautiful dishes, placed on unique hand painted saucers.   A portrait of delicious.  Bill selected a 1998 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes, France to serve with the panna cotta and the next dessert, the Apricot Crostata.  What is there not to like about a sauterne?  Especially a Rieussec!  I just love this chateau’s wines, one of my favorites because it’s not an overly sweet cloying sauternes like many others.

Our next dessert was an Apricot Crostata  that Annie made.  The difficult part of this dessert is the crust that Annie discovered to be the only way she can successfully make a pie crust.  She, like I, find making pie crusts very difficult.   This one is basically a rough pastry that bakes into flakey, buttery goodness that was tough to resist.  She tasted all the apricots at the Farmers Market before choosing these for her dessert.  That is the level of cooking that this group is known for. . . . knowing that the best entré starts out with the best ingredients and shopping around until we find it.   It’s like David’s Tartine Bakery Bread that he used for his Roast Chicken and Bread Salad.   He drove to San Francisco to get the bread because it is the best batard around!  This crostada was baked long enough to for the crust to become flakey while the apricots still retained their shape and fresh flavors.  The sauternes really worked well with Annie’s apricots and buttery crust.

And, finally, we come to our last dessert served in pots de crème pots…so very special!   Michelle wanted to make the Chocolate Pots de Crème  so she could use her little pots and it was worth the wait to spoon up this unctuous pudding/mousse.  She used 72% cacao chocolate for this dessert and, as a result, created a small pot of creamy, chocolate dream that was the perfect finish to our dinner, complete with a 1927 Alvear Pedro Ximenez Solera Sherry, from David’s cellar.   No, that is not a typo.  This sherry is made from a sherry that originated in 1927, using the solera process that adds younger wines to the aged sherry each year.

To top off the evening, Bill offered anyone a taste of a Avery of Bristol NV Madiera  that he had to open because I needed it for my quail dish.  He’s been cellaring this bottle since 1970!!  He talked about, in the past, how Madeira was used as ballasts in ships traveling to and from India.  This fortified wine is also made using the solera process.

Another memorable dinner and Judy Rodgers would be proud of us!   A toast to a grand dame of the kitchen.

Our next dinner is on September 6, 2014.  Sharon will be the host and use Sukie’s home in the Bay Area since we can’t get anyone to drive up to her home in Penn Valley!   

The next cookbook is Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolengh, about $20 from Amazon or $16 on Kindle.   There are also several copies in the Santa Clara Library.   Switch culinary countries and start exploring the Middle Eastern cuisines in this cookbook!

Cook on!

Fine Dining in Japan

Konichiwa!   

We have just returned from our Japan tour and I just have to share some of our culinary adventures with you.   We ate everything from Japanese street food like takoyaki, a delicious small eggy ball with a piece of octopus in it (you can get it locally from Nijiya Market, freshly made or frozen) served with a sauce, different kinds of noodles, all kinds of sweets (like “Manju,” a rice flour with sweet bean paste and  sweet or savory “sen bei” a crispy rice cakes of all sizes and shapes), yakitori, yakinori, etc. to a $180 pp Kaiseki dinner in Kyoto.

The photos are from our kaiseki dinner at the Kikunoi restaurant in the Roan district of Kyoto.   We met with executive chef who was very accommodating and spoke English, to our relief!  And, they gave us an English version of the menu, printed in rice paper, of course.  Some kaiseki dinners require that you know someone who has an “in” with the restaurant in order to get a reservation.   Our tour company made the reservations for us.  The dress is surprisingly pretty casual, considering how formal the Japanese are (they still all wear suits & ties to work).  This dinner had 16 courses that were split into sections.   Kaiseki dinners serve their courses by the way they are prepared so this dinner had Hassuu (appetizers), Sashimi, Soup, Grilled, Fresh, Fried, Rice and Dessert.  Rice in Japan is not always a  side dish but course by itself and generally served last, just before the dessert.  Each table has it’s own chef who prepares each course.

Because the attention to detail is to the nth degree, I tried to take photos of the presentation and dishes, bowls, etc. because it was half of the pleasure of dining.

The amuse bouche was a small crystal bowl of “Sake with the fragrance of Iris leaf.“  If you look closely at the photo you can see the symbol of the restaurant etched into the crystal.  The napkins also had this symbol printed on them and were given to us as a gift when we left the restaurant

We ordered a bottle of the restaurant’s cold sake, a dry sake that had herbal notes that we all enjoyed.  We ordered sake at several restaurants and lounges to do our own tastings and found them very palatable and amazingly as different as chardonnays are in California.  This was one of our favorites.  I took a photo of the sake carafe that had been frozen before the sake was added and stayed cold throughout the dinner.  It was made of very heavy metal that was able to maintain the cold temperatures.  I was very enchanted with it’s shape as well as it’s function.   Had I thought of it at the time, I should have checked to see if I could buy one from them. . . darn!

We were first presented with my favorite dish of the evening, an amuse bouche of  “Chinese yam jelly, sea urchin, Shiso flower, light soy sauce gel with Wasabi”.     The square of  jelly was infused with minced “nagaimo,” a crispy, crunchy yam that is rinsed several times to eliminate the slime before it is added to the jelly.  It was topped with Uni (sea urchin) and then bathed in a light soy sauced infused with wasabi.  What an unimaginable combination of crispy, creamy, salty, spicy, light and rich flavors topped with the unforgettable taste of a shiso flower.  Very umami!

The next dish was a wooden box, topped with a live iris, reflecting the theme of the evening.   Once the lid was removed, we were presented with an array of a  Aburame (Greenling, a fish) marinated in rice vinegar, Chimaki-Sushi, ginger wrapped eel in Kanpyo (dried gourd shavings), Tai (red sea bream fish) roe cake, Edamame (green soybeans), Japanese Taro with fermented soy beans, salted Tai (sea bream) and Hana-Sansho (Japanese pepper flowers).   Better than a box of chocolates!  You never know what you are going to get.   And so beautifully presented, don’t you think?

ppetizers:

Then comes our sushi course of Tai (Red sea bream), Shimaazi (yellow Jack fish), yellow leek, Udo (very nutritious omega 3 fish oil) and carrot, wasabi and Bonito (fish from tuna family), with ponzu (citrus based sauce) gel.  They were too generous with their servings because we were starting to get full and we had 14 entre’s to go.

Onto our soup course of Guji (tilefish), a thin egg omelet, Cha-soba (green tea noodles) in a Tsuyu (a stock made of bonito flakes, soy and mirin, a flavored sake) served with Matcha  (tea made from freshly ground tea leaves ground into a powder).  Again, served in beautiful bowls and artfully arranged.

The “Grill” course was two dishes.  We had a choice of either Ayu, Tade-zu (a water pepper vinegar sauce) or a Miso-marinated flatfish with sweet pepper.  I chose the flatfish that was grilled from a ceramic grill set on our table.   I was told to eat the whole fish.  It looked fearsome but it was such a small fish and so crispy and very delicious.   Bill and my cousin ordered the Ayu, a fresh water small fish, marinated in the water pepper vinegar, served in beautiful antique hand-painted dishes.  

After we ate our grilled fish, we were served a tiny, tiny, tiny eggplant.  It was the size of the end of your thumb!!   Very cute but besides that, very savory, vinegary with just  taste of sweet.
 

Our salad course composed of two dishes.  The first one was my next favorite dish of Junsai (water shield, a member of the water lily family), cucumber and Umeboshi (a pickled plum).   Served in a lidded bowl that belied what it contained.  Imagine our surprise when we removed the lid!   I’ve never eaten a junsai before…it’s sort of a green crunchy root surrounded by a gel that it creates to protect it.If you google “junsai water shield” you’ll see photos of it.   Very fascinating ingredient! 

The second part of our salad course was very strange and none of us liked it that much.  It was a tofu dish with the milt of the tai fish (milt is the seminal fluid of fish…think sperm), broad beans, wheat gluten and Myouga, (a Japanese ginger that is a cross between fresh ginger shoots and a mild pickling onion, but without any strong onion-y flavor. They look like slender shallots not like the ginger root that we are used to). . . so-o-o, moving on to our next course which is “Fried.”

We ate fried Abalone with rice cracker, bamboo shoot, sweet pepper with a sauce made from the liver of the abalone.   The abalone was rather tough, which really surprised us since we’ve eaten very tender abalone from Manresa as well as other restaurants.   But since we were getting pretty full by now, it was a good excuse to skip a course.   Again, served very artfully and tantalizing which added to our disappointment.

Our last savory course was a steamed rice made with grilled Tai, napa cabbage, and assorted Japanese pickles.   It was made just for our table as you can see from the photo of our private chef with it.  This rice was absolutely delicious!  The Tai fish pieces along with the cabbage and pickles was fabulous combination of tastes, textures and umami.   The sad part was that we were so full by this time, that we could only eat a few bites and wish that we could create space for it in our tummies.

Sigh, so many great dishes and so little space in our bodies. . .

We finally come to our dessert choices:  either a Champagne sorbet with pineapple and aloe that Bill and my cousin ordered, because they had no more space to eat another bite so I had to sacrifice myself and order the Strawberries with strawberry sauce and milk ice cream.   Both entre’s were refreshing and the perfect ending to a memorable Japanese meal.  

If you have a chance to travel to Japan, save your quarters and try to make a reservation at a Kaiseki restaurant.  They usually have price range choices from $100-200 (including tax and tip) and are found in major cities, like Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima or Osaka.  Each region of Japan serves similar dishes in different ways but you are sure to have a wonderful meal!

But for cheaper, fun AND delicious fare, go to the Nishiki Market in Kyoto.  It is a 3-block long, covered market filled with tiny stalls that sell different foods, desserts and gifts.  I even found tofu donuts!!  And, if you are looking for a great Japanese knife or knives, look for the knife stall…whoa!   Great knives that are made right there.  I wish we had such a place here.  There was a man who was sharpening knives on a whetstone wheel; made me wish I had brought some knives for him but he only sharpens soft steel knives, not stainless steel.   In Osaka, there is a food district that sells street food as well as restaurants too.

Where have you been traveling for food?  Sharon, send us a post from Paris with photos!

See most of you in June for our Zuni Café, Judy Rodgers, dinner!

Sayonara!

Sandi

Our Courageous Cooks (. . . and why you pay the big bucks at Manresa Restaurant)

David Kinch clearly states at the beginning of his beautiful cookbook, Manresa, an Edible 
Reflection, that this is a cookbook for professional kitchens.   When I spoke with him, he said
to use our common sense to adapt the recipes to our home kitchens.   If you ever eat at
Manresa, make it point to ask your server if you can see his kitchen.  The centerpiece of
David’s kitchen is his $250,000 stove.  There are no individual burners on his stove top…
it is a continuous piece of thick metal that has different temperatures that are constant,
but in different spots on the surface.   Final prep is often done with tweezers.  Clearly this
does not look like our kitchens!

However, our club members are an intrepid group of gourmet cooks who forged ahead and tried
over 12 recipes from his book.   Many of the efforts either took ingredients that are not normally
found in everyday kitchens or used equipment we didn’t already have in our kitchens.  Some
of the ingredients were more like chemical ingredients, like ascorbic acid, carrageenan,
xanthum gum, etc. and the equipment ranged from a madeleine pan or egg topper to an
expensive sous vide.

 We started our dinner with Parmesan Churros while
drinking two Michel Arnould NV Champagnes; La Grand 
Cuvee and Rosé from France.  These delicate churros
were creamy AND crispy and the perfect appetizer while
waiting for everyone to arrive.  Willie served these as
they do at catered affairs, on a tray that he passed
around.  It was hard to resist taking several but we all
knew that we had a huge dinner ahead so we restrained
ourselves from eating too many (AND, finished the tray!)

While in the living room, we were served Red Pepper Pâte de Fruit and Black Olive Madeleines, two of my favorite Manresa amuse bouches.   Michelle said that she burned the first batch of sugar and the recipe says not to overcook the pâte so they weren’t as “set” as they are at the restaurant.  They tasted lovely, both savory and sweet as were the black olive madeleines.  She purchased the madeleine form pans especially for this dinner and because they were so delicious, I may buy a pan as well.  Michelle had followed the instructions but the resulting madeleines were undercooked so she made a second batch that was baked longer.   These were light, soft and crispy around the edges, perfection!   Many of us 
had problems with the cooking times and found that our ovens were not equal 
to a restaurant oven and needed longer oven times.  With these delicacies, 
we were treated to a Charles Oban NV Blanc de Noirs that was crisp and was a nice contrast
to the two sweet and savory dishes.

We then sat down to a table set with tons of silver and glistening crystal to enjoy a small dish of Strawberry Gazpacho that Sandy prepared for us.  She added a
bit of sugar to the strawberries since they are not in
season right now.  The soup was like a tomato
gazpacho complete with minced celery, cucumber,
garlic bathed in a strained puree of strawberry juice.   
Everyone loved the surprise of the first bite of not
tomatoes, as expected, but strawberries!  Bill
selected Peju 2010 Chardonnay Estate Bottled 
from Napa Valley to go with this soup.  This
chardonnay was apple-y rather than creamy and
as a result, perfect for this acidic dish.

I did not choose to have a wine to go with the next dish.   It’s Bill’s favorite amuse bouche from Manresa.  (They have a note next to his name in their files to make sure he gets one whenever we eat there.) I prepared it for Bill and because it’s a signature dish at Manresa.  The Arpége Farm Egg.   A topped egg shell that is divinely layered bites of a lightly coddled egg yolk, flavored with a touch of ginger, maldón salt, chopped chives, then topped with a sherry vinegar-ed heavy cream and then several drops of maple syrup.  This is definitely an OMG dish when you take your demitasse spoon and dip it to the bottom of the egg then bring it up through the layers into your mouth.   I’ve gotten better at topping the egg shell to get a smooth cut but you can see from the photo, it is a far cry from the perfect egg at the restaurant!

Our next dish is actually a course at Manresa so we
made it a course for our dinner.  Bread and Butter.  
Bread and butter, you ask???  Aha! Yes, but not any
bread and certainly not any butter.   Since we didn’t
get any Manresa made bread, Annie drove up to San
Francisco to buy bread from Tartine Bakery, another
delicious chewy and crusty bread maker.   Annie
made the salted butter for this course as they do at the restaurant.  Manresa has their own special cows that
make their butter but  Annie used Clover heavy cream
and cultured it for several days to make hers.   Remember the days when the milkman
brought milk and cream to you?  The milk had a cream top in the glass bottle and butter
had that rich creamy flavor.  I suspect that the milk at Manresa is not homogenized or
his cows give especially rich milk because the butter is very yellow and has a cultured
flavor.  I have to give it a try. . .someday. Even though this was “just” bread and butter,
Jeffrey served his 2005 Mount Eden Vineyard estate Chardonnay with it.  It was creamy
and rich, like the bread and butter.  Thank you Jeffrey, for sharing your special wines with
our group.  We are so lucky to have a winemaker of your caliber in our cookbook club…not
to mention your culinary skills! 

Sharon spent 2 full days making the Garden Velouté with mustard cream.  The soup was absolutely divine!   Sharon spent days making the vegetable stock and the vegetable purée that is poured into the bowl at the very last minute.   The recipe gave the cook the option to prepare various purées but Sharon decided to make ALL of them so we were allowed to select the dollop(s) we wanted to add to our bowl.  She made beet, carrot, eggplant, turnip, and nasturtium purees.  So, in truth everyone’s bowl of velouté tasted a bit differently.  She added a few leaves of herbs, pansies to our bowl to turn it into a beautiful culinary painting.  We all added the mustard cream that blossomed in the bowl once the vegetable stock was added.  This was
the dish that I just loved but I am not sure I’d go to all the work that Sharon described to make
this dish.  Willie’s photograph shows the soup before the veloute is poured over the purees
to show that it truly was a work of art.  I asked bill to select one of his J. Rochioli’s to go
with this soup, a 2008 Chardonnay from South River Vineyard Russian River Valley but
after tasting the velouté, Michelle and I thought a Sauvignon Blanc would have been a
better choice.  So, of course, David, dips into his wine cellar to come up with a wonderful
White Bordeaux, 2005, Domaine Chevalier that was indeed a better choice for this soup.

Bill poured a Sauternes to complement our next course.  
He and I always drink sauternes with foie gras and this
evening was no exception.  Sandi made the Fois Gras 
and Cumin Caramel which is like a very rich and
savory flan made with a foie gras torchon and bathed
in a cumin caramel sauce.  If you like foie gras, you’ll
love this dish as much as we all did.   Every dish that
came out of David and Michelle’s kitchen was better
than the last dish and each one had its own distinct
signature taste, texture and umami.   I sipped some
Chateau Nairac 2001 Sauternes from Barsac, France with each bite.  Heaven!   Sandi
had the same issue that others had in terms of cooking time and found that it needed
more time than the recipe called for.  The smell of burnt sugar (in this case, for the 
caramel and also for Michelle's amuse bouche) seemed to also pervade a few of our
kitchens for this dinner!  As a result, preparations took longer than expected.  And, with
this dish, the foie gras is so expensive that it’s not a dish that one would prepare twice.
It’s a good thing that Sandi is such an accomplished gourmet cook!

Speaking of expense. . . this meal at the restaurant is similar to the $185 Chef’s Tasting Menu (before wine, tax and tip) and we now know why it costs so much to dine at Manresa.   It’s a good thing that the dishes were split among ten of us to prepare.   I would venture a guess that all together, we spent easily $1200+ in groceries, meats, spices, equipment, etc. and another $1500+ in wines and who knows how many hours of labor!!  We all made mistakes and it’s only our extensive culinary experiences that allowed for any error to be compensated well enough to create a dish that was more than palatable, but absolutely delicious.   

Annie made the Shrimp, Salted Butter and Apple Brandy for our next course.  She found live shrimp at the Chinese market, Marina Foods, on Stevens Creek Blvd in Cupertino AND drove all the way to Santa Cruz to buy the Osocalis Apple Brandy that Kinch recommends in his cookbook.  All of her efforts, despite her protestations that she chose an easy dish to prepare, were rewarded with an absolutely delicious dish.  The shrimp was tender, filled with flavors of her home-churned butter and the apple brandy.   Every bite was to die for!!  Because of the richness of this dish, Bill selected an Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg 2005 Riesling Spätlese from the Mosel region of Germany.  Another perfect pairing, the sweetness and acidity of the Spätlese provided a nice foil to the shrimp.  Thank you Bill!

Our next course was prepared by Jeffrey, who, because he is such a good friend of Kinch, was able to get his abalone for his dish, Abalone with pig’s feet, avocado, sans milk skin, from the restaurant.   Jeffrey also spent two days preparing his dish, braising the pig’s feet component of the recipe.  He tried several times to get the milk skin for the last part of the presentation but could never get the skin to congeal enough for him to lift it out of the pan in one sheet.  It must be a magical process.  There was much discussion about this part of the recipe and how a thicker skin could be developed, ranging from non-homogenized milk, to letting it sit longer for the top skin to form and adding cream to the milk to create a thicker top.   I don’t know, however, if anyone will test this out to find out the secret.  Maybe Kinch will give us some help!  It was delicious without the milk skin.  The pieces of pig’s feet were very flavorful and the abalone was tender, and a rare treat for us!  The green of the puréed avocado and sour cream added a bright touch to this very rich dish.   Bill poured two wines with this dish: Chateau Latour 1983 from the Pauillac region of Bordeaux, France and a Dominus 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napanook Vineyard.  Both wines were rich and still had a bit of tannins that countered the rich pigs feet and sauces and abalone.

Our second main course was Spring Lamb and Cucumber, Blueberries with juniper and olives  prepared by David.  He had to cook the lamb longer than the recipe instructed but it offered us a respite from eating and a chance for more lively discussions, mostly focused on culinary subjects.   While waiting we sipped some Chateau Fleur Cardinale, 2007, from Saint Emilion, France and a Mount Eden Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, 1994, Estate Santa Cruz Mountains.   David challenged us to guess which decanted wine was from which winery.  I’d say that half of us got it correctly.  Many favored the Mount Eden Vineyard wine and both went very well with the lamb and blueberries.  The juniper and olive dish reminded me of the “dirt” in Kinch’s “into the Garden” dish that he prepares but this one was not made out of chicory but was perfumed with the juniper berries and very earthy because of the olives.   Annie couldn’t stop raving about this combination.  It was a wonderful dish that we could copy IF we have the time to prepare the sauces and reductions for it.

The Candy Cap Ice Cream dessert that Michelle made was another surprise to our palates.  Candy Cap Mushrooms grow in California and have a very earthy sweet flavor, similar to maple syrup.  It was the mushroom and maple syrup flavors that was a great combination!!  This ice cream has no eggs but was creamy and rich as any ice cream I’ve ever tasted.   She found dried candy cap mushrooms at her local farmer’s market in Menlo Park.  This vendor also has a shop in the Ferry Building in San Francisco.   She had also ordered some online so she ended up with an ample supple to make this ice cream.   Bill chose a Madeira Wine NV Malmsey from the Funchal Wine Company in Madeira, Portugal for this dessert.  Once again a perfect pairing with the nuttiness of the Madeira to go with the flavors of the maple syrupy mushrooms.

I decided to also make the Sea Salt and Vanilla Caramels, individually wrapped for everyone
to grab a handful on their way out the door, as they do at the restaurant.  The caramels were
easy to make but, oh, my goodness! it took forever to cut the cellophane into rectangles and
then wrap the candy.  Whoever does them at the restaurant must have carpel tunnel by now!
Each recipe creates over 350 pieces so multiply that by having to do it every day or so for
their customers.  Oh my!

This was another 6-hour gourmet feast for us and every course was distinct and delicious.
Thank you everyone for making this dinner such a great success.  And thank you David
Kinch for sharing your exquisite recipes with us.

Our next dinner is Saturday, June 7 and hosted by Janis and Bill who will have returned
from their Australian home.  She hasn’t selected the cookbook yet so stay tuned.  Until then,

Cook on!