TOMATO CONFIT

Bill and I took a trip with another couple to Penn Valley to stay with Sharon for the weekend.  The purpose of the trip was to attend the Draft Horse Classic in Grass Valley and see Sharon.  The event is really cool if you love draft horses (Clydesdales, Belgians, Friesians, Percherons,, Suffolks, Shires, etc.).  Before the event you can wander around the stables and pet the horses.  Draft horses are so gentle and mellow that their owners don’t worry about people coming up to them….of course if they moved their giant heads quickly, and you are next to them, you’re toast!  Here you can see me with a friend from my riding class and our riding teacher, in front of a Clydesdale.   Compare the size of his head with the woman who is in front of him.  These horses are huge!  As you can see, Bill and Sharon are NOT into horses so they stayed at Sharon’s.  Bill was going to join us for the event but there was rain, thunder and lightning (hence the jackets, scarves, gloves, etc.) so the event got cancelled and we ended up going out for a great pizza….sigh, next year.

BUT, the trip was not a waste!  We went to a farmer’s market in nearby Nevada City and Sharon and I each bought a flat of Heirloom tomatoes for only $24 a flat.  When Sharon suggested it in an email, I declined because I don’t can tomatoes and Bill & I can’t eat enough of them before they rot.   Sharon shared a recipe for Heirloom Tomato Confit that the tomato farmer shared on his website.  It sounded delicious AND easy so I bought the flat and tried the recipe below.  I liked it so much I drove over to Imahara's Produce on Steven's Creek Blvd and bought some more for $1.99 lb. (end of season sale)  Thanks Sharon!!

Heirloom Tomato Confit 

Choose enough ripe tomatoes so that, when cut in half, they cover the bottom of a large baking dish with sides. The tomatoes will cook down considerably, but you'll need a baking dish with sides to contain the juices while cooking.

1.     Cut tomatoes in half.  (I recommend cutting them vertically.  I tried both ways and if cut horizontally, the tomatoes melted).  Do not skin the tomatoes. (I tried that too and it doesn’t work)

2.     Place snugly cut side down in one layer in a large ovenproof baking dish with sides. 

3.     Salt and pepper, and you can add cut onion, pressed garlic, fresh or dried herbs on top of the tomatoes, if you wish*. 

4.     You may also add 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar as a very flavorful addition.  Pour in enough olive oil to come 1/3 up the sides of the tomatoes. 

5.     Bake for up to 2 hours in a pre-heated 350 degree oven, until the tomatoes are very soft and lightly caramelized and no longer give off much free liquid.  For the last 15 minutes, watch carefully.

6.     You can make several batches - some to eat now and some to freeze for later enjoyment!

*SU notes:
1.   I addded crushed garlic, chopped onions, fresh thyme, 1 sprig of rosemary, S&P, and balsamic vinegar.

2.  I removed the skins afterwards, so I didn’t worry about burning them.

3. I froze them in ziplock type containers rather than plastic bags.

4.  If you do several batches, use the flavored olive oil again.

I added the tomato confit and the leftover juice from the roasting process (sans olive oil) to fresh
fettucine and some pesto.  Sprinkled some shaved Parmesan over and yum!
But if you want to make more of an effort, here are two recipes that my cousin shared with me.

     Creamy Pasta with Tomato Confit and Fresh Goat Cheese

     Polenta with Pan Roasted Porcini, Tomato Confit and Chevre

Cook on!
p.s. I don't know what is causing the type to extend past the frame or create formatting issues but I can't figure out how to solve the problems.  If you can help, please tell me what I'm doing wrong.  Tx!

French Laundry Reservations

As David said, why go through the complicated bother of making reservations at the French Laundry when we have so many accomplished cooks who can prepare a fabulous 9-course dinner, complete with great wines?  Not this group!  Janis' beautifully set table made us feel quite elegant for the evening.

We started the evening with Gougéres.  Annie thought there were better recipes out there for gougéres.   She reduced the time she baked them in order to keep them moist inside.    Even those who have eaten at the restaurant noticed how dry Keller’s gougéres are so Annie’s decision to shorten the baking time was a good call.  I and others thought Keller’s gougéres were too salty as well.  Willie made better ones for our Holiday Buffet in 2007 (a pre-blog site dinner) using Cindy Pawlcyn’s recipe.  Amazing to have any reservations about any recipes from a Michelin 3-star chef.

Michelle prepared one of my favorite courses of the evening.   Keller’s Salmon Cornets were so delicious!   I wanted more . . . which is exactly Keller’s point at his restaurant.  He wants us to “want more” of each dish only to move on to the next course that should surprise and delight us, where we “want more” of that one, and on and on throughout the evening.  The salmon tartare with sweet red onion crème fraîche layered in a crisp cornet was a two-bite trip into gourmet ecstasy!  She served them in a bed of rock salt to keep them upright for us to partake.  Very clever!

We toasted the return of Sandi & Willie to the group with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, Nonvintage Champagne (Yellow Label, magnum) from Bill's cellar.    It went well with both the Gougeres and Salmon Cornets.  The bubbly was just what the rich gougéres and cornets needed to cleanse our palates for the next bite.

To remind us just what a great cook Sandi is, she prepared a very rich Creamy Maine Lobster Broth for us.   It was very delicious and although a seemingly a “light” broth, very complex while showcasing the lobster’s flavors.  She added a small bite of lobster that was not called for in the recipe.  It seemed a shame to waste the meat just to get the broth was her thought and we all agreed.  It was a delectable surprise to find it at the bottom of our cups!  Bill poured a 2008 Rochioli Chardonnay, River Block Vineyard wine from his cellar that was an example of a classic fruity California Chardonnay.  David shared a bottle of 2004 Domaine Marc Morey Chassagne-Montrachet, 1er cru, Les Vergers from his cellar.   A lovely white burgundy that was a well-structured wine with a balance of fruit and acid, very typical of French burgundies.  While people loved both wines made from the Chardonnay grape, they thought that the Marc Morey complemented the broth better than the Rochioli.

David prepared the Poached Moulard Duck Foie Gras au Torchon and, instead of the pickled cherries that Keller uses in his recipe, he served it with Sauternes Gelée, a glistening, jeweled presentation choice!  Torchon and seared foie gras are the two best ways to serve it.  David shared his source for the duck liver:  Hudson Valley and D’Artagnan.  Our foie gras this evening was from Hudson Valley and was very decadently delicious.   Some of us, meaning me, would have just eaten this for the entire evening as well as drunk more of the 2001 Chateau Coutet Sauternes that Bill retrieved from his cellar fro this dish.    David said that he followed the recipe for the torchon exactly and poached it for just 3 minutes.  David said that the most time consuming part of the recipe is cleaning the membranes and veins from the lobes.  Preparing this dish is a 3-day affair, so plan ahead!

Our next dish was a second one Michelle treated us to.  The Salmon “Chops” with Celery and Black Truffles was another rich dish to consume and I must say, we did a great of job of pacing this dinner.   Even though the entire meal was heavy and rich, we had enough time in between each course to appreciate and digest the food and wine.  The chops were moist with crispy skins and the fresh truffles were a delightful surprise.  The truffles were imported from Italy, purchased from the Ferry Building’s Far West Fungi.  I loved the celery with the salmon too . . . a very nice fresh touch to this dish.  Bill poured a 1988 Champagne Comte A. De Dampierre Blanc de Blanc de Grand Cru.  What was amazing about this champagne was its age.  It’s pretty rare to drink a 25 year old champagne that still holds its complexity, structure and richness    Bill informed us that originally, this was how champagne corks were secured before they began wiring them as they are today.  This was so good that Annie, who doesn’t care for champagnes, loved this one!  It went well with the salmon and truffles.   It was so good that it probably would have gone with everything!

I prepared the Venison Chop with Butternut Squash for the main entré of the evening.  I bought a domestically raised venison rack from Schaub’s Meat Market in the Stanford Shopping Center.  They frenched it for me but I had to do some additional trimming at home to cut away the sinews and truss the chops into a uniform shape.  As with all of Keller’s recipes, at first glance it looked pretty simple but closer examination shows that each item in his ingredients is a separate recipe.  Very few of his recipes are a one-day affair.   It’s the sauces that require time; even his “Quick” sauce asks for a Veal Sauce that is another recipe to prepare.  I must confess, I cheated and purchased frozen Veal Sauce from Schaub’s so by doing this, if one started 5 hours before serving, it can be done in one day.   The chop was tender and delicious but I find that I prefer wild game and missed that gamey taste in this dish.  Bill poured a magnum of a 1990 Togni Cabernet Sauvignon with the venison.  It stilled showed it’s fruit, richness and complexity for a 23 year old wine with a long finish.  You can see from this photo how carefully the wines are decanted, using a device dubbed the Simoni Suckee Thing.

An Aside:  This recipe called for a Beurre Monte, Brunoise, Chicken Stock and “Quick Sauce, the necks of butternut squash, fried bacon, chervil and thyme.  Even though he wanted just two teaspoons of brunoise, I had to make at least a half recipe.  So I had four pounds of butternut squash, brunoise, Beurre Monté, chicken stock, bacon and chervil, and thyme left over.   Guess what Bill and I had for dinner tonight?   You guessed it, Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, garnished with bacon bits and chervil!!

Our cheese course for the evening was prepared by Janis and may well become the way I’ll serve Brie in the future!    Her Whipped Bric de Meaux en Feullete with Tellicherry Pepper and Baby Mache was totally addictive.    After removing the rind, the brie is whipped with her Kitchen Aide paddle until fluffy.  I’m not sure I can tell the difference between different peppers but learned that there are many, many kinds of black peppers.  The reduced balsamic vinegar added just the right amount of sweetness to the dish.  The mache was our only tribute to greens for the evening.  I hope you all ate your daily vegetable portions the next day!   You can see from this photo that it also makes a beautiful presentation for the cheese course.  We continued to drink the Togni with this dish since we had a magnum to consume.

Sharon brought a Lemon Sabayon Pine Nut Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Cream.    The group thought that the crust would be enhanced by lightly toasting the pine nuts before adding them into the crust.  The lemon sabayon was tart and sweet, as a lemon dessert should!  She topped it with whipped mascarpone that was sweetened with honey.    Bill pulled yet another Sauternes from his cellar and this one did not disappoint.   We tasted another Chateau Coutet but this one was from a 1999 vintage.   It was a very good pairing because the sauternes and sweetened lemon sabayon complemented each other.  It became a process of sublime - bite, sip, bite, sip, bite sip!

Our last dessert was made by Willie.  Before I forget, and people think that one needs a fancy kitchen with every tool imaginable to prepare a gourmet dish, it is good to remember that Sandi and Willie live in an Airstream trailer and have a far-from-gourmet kitchen in which to make the Lobster broth OR the Velouté of Bittersweet Chocolate with Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream.  It was a 3-day affair, making the ice cream first, then the cookies and lastly the velouté.   Bravo Willie!   It was the fitting ending to a gourmet evening.  Rich, creamy and crispy and so very chocolate-y!  Bill offered two options from his cellar for this ending.  The first was a NV Trafford Tawny Port, House of Seppelt and the second was a 1990 Graham’s Port Malvedos Centenary.   I passed on the Tawny but most people thought it went best with the chocolate.  I love red ports and the Grahams was a very good one!   I didn’t think either was great with the chocolate but finding a good wine to go with chocolate has been a life long pursuit for Bill & I.  Bill doesn’t think there’s any wine that goes well with Chocolate and so far, for me, Meeker Vineyard’s FroZin comes the closest.

Ah-h-h, what a wonderful evening!  Good food, good wine and good friends . . . THIS is why we love to cook!

Our next dinner will be on our Annual Holiday Buffet, December 7 so mark your calendars.  Location TBA.   

Our tradition is that the dishes are finger food or bite-sized appetizers and desserts served buffet style.  The recipes must come from one of the books we used this year:  French Laundry, Slanted Door and Science of Good Cooking or from the December issue of Cook’s Illustrated (Guy Crosby, the author of the Science of Good Cooking is the Science Editor for Cook’s Illustrated’s America's Test Kitchen).

Please bring book suggestions for next year’s cookbooks and don’t forget your gift-wrapped kitchen white elephant or a culinary gadget/tool that costs $15 or less.

Enjoy your Fall season and we'll gather again in December.  

Welcome back Sandi & Willie!  And, thank you Willie for being our photographer this evening.   No more iphone photos, yippee!

DO YOU UNIMOG?

Our field trip to Calistoga turned out to be a small group sojourn for four of us.  Sharon was planning to join us but her dog was bitten by some insect or spider.  The wound got infected so she had to stay home with her Buster.  He is on the mend now after surgery, stitches and a cone collar.  Janis & Bill and Bill & I soldiered on however and arrived at the Davis Estate Winery's guest house in Calistoga. 

It had a fabulous view of vineyards and the Castello di Amorosa across the valley.  As you can see from the photos, the guest house is very nice with 3 bedrooms, a wonderful kitchen that Janis and I used to it’s fullest and a large dining table.

We had dinner at Ad Hoc Friday night where the main entré was a Veal Chop.  If you've never eaten there, there are no menu choices.  You walk in, sit down and are served what is being prepared that night.  There are a couple of add on's but it's the same menu for everyone.  As you can imagine, every course was well prepared and tasted as a Thomas Keller prepared meal should!   IMHO, I think our two Ad Hoc dinners were just as delicious as the restaurant's and much more fun since we had twice as many courses!

We ate a light breakfast of homemade granola, fresh baked croissants, coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and fruit.  After relaxing a tiny bit and wandering around the vineyards, barns and outbuildings of the winery, we headed to Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen for lunch.  Cindy Pawlcyn is another chef whose cookbook we featured a few years ago.  We had a delightful lunch and headed

back to the house afterwards so I could make homemade ice cream and Peach Pie, since I bought peaches from Phil Cosentino’s orchard ( J & P Farms) the day before.  Bill brought wines from our cellar for both meals, of course!

We did a wine tasting of the Davis Estate Winery wines and our top choices were the Windmill Valley Vineyards Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. . . you can see the remnants of our tasting in this photo as well as the beginnings of setting the table for dinner.  Since our cost to rent the house was a case and a half of wine, we purchased those three varieties plus a couple of bottles of their merlot.   We’ll share those wines with you at our next dinner.

We cooked a simple dinner at the house.  Janis marinated a flank steak that Bill barbequed to perfection on the house’s grill.  It was joined by a green salad, garlic bread…how simple can you get?  It was the best meal so far.  Better than any of the restaurants!   We had a slice of pie ala mode for dessert.  We imbibed of the Estate's wines as well as a Gary Farrell Syrah throughout the dinner.  

Mike & Sandy Davis and two of their employees, Holly & Carie, joined us for breakfast the next morning.  They had just returned from Lake Tahoe with their wooden Chris Craft boats in tow very late Saturday night…well, actually early Sunday morning.   Sandi made her mother’s Sour Cream Waffles for everyone and a tomato omelet for Mike, along with sausages and fresh squeezed orange juice from Janis & Bill’s orange trees.   Everyone wanted the recipe for the waffles so I guess they all like it!

You are probably wondering what the heck is a “UNIMOG.”   Before you google it, it is a vehicle manufactured by Mercedes Benz and in this case, a fire truck that Mike keeps on the property.  It has 7 gears and can climb a 40% angled hill and holds 8 easily inside.  Mike was the "tour guide" par excellence and gave us the king's tour!  It was great fun to tour the property and vineyards in it.  It was the highlight of our trip!   

We all left the property Sunday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend with each other!  Thank you Mike and Sandy for sharing your piece of paradise and wonderful wines with us!

Next Stop:  French Laundry dinner at Janis & Bill’s home on August 31^st.   Save your appetites for this fabulous dinner!

Vietnamese Home Cooking, May 18, 2013

Living on the Pacific Rim is a wonderful exposure to new spices, herbs, vegetables and combinations, as we discovered cooking from Charles Phan’s new cookbook, Vietnamese Home Cooking.  His gourmet Vietnamese restaurant, The Slanted Door, in the San Francisco Ferry Building, is one of the most popular restaurants in the City.  You need reservations unless you show up right when they open.  I tried several of his recipes and loved some of them and others were somewhat disappointing.  AND, I admit, that perhaps I didn’t prepare them correctly.  I tried his Shaking Beef recipe because it’s pretty popular at the restaurant but mine didn’t taste as good as his…operator error?  I’ll try it again to see if I can make it better.

I ended up cooking for two* dinners from this cookbook.  Our group could not come up with a date where the majority of the members could come.  Our newbies, Michelle and David, hosted the dinner at their very charming home.  We only had 6 of us: 4 cooks, Bill, our sommelier, and Janis’ husband, Bill, to round out the evening.   We started the dinner with a lovely champagne that David provided from his cellar: Non Vintage Franck Bonville Champagne Cuvée Les Belles Voyes Brut Blanc de Blancs.  It was bright, light on the fruit and very clean finish.  The perfect choice to prepare our palates for the evening to come.

Janis prepared the Crab and Asparagus Soup for us.  She was going to originally make the Crab and Corn soup as well but could not find any fresh yellow corn.  The white corn is very sweet but does not have “corn” character.  The soup was refreshing.  Without looking at the recipe, I thought we were going to get a creamy soup but this one uses chicken broth, flavored with the spring asparagus and large chunks of crab that Bill gallantly cracked and cleaned for Janis.  It was a great start to a satiating evening.  Bill chose a 2004 J. Rochioli Chardonnay Rachael’s Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma from his cellar to serve with the soup.  I liked it but then Rochioli is one of my favorite Callifornia Chardonnays (Mount Eden Vineyards, being the other!).

We next had the Lotus Leaf Wrapped Sticky Rice that David prepared.  This was a vegetarian version of the Sticky Rice dish that you often get at Chinese Dim Sum restaurants.  It was filled with a wonderful spicy, smoky sauce that flavored the cubes of tofu, taro, and mushrooms.  None of us missed the meat (usually pork and/or chicken in the Chinese version).  The dried lotus leaves are purchased from Asian Markets and soaked to make them pliable.  Sticky rice is made from “sweet rice” that is, of course, stickier than regular short grain rice.    I really loved the tea flavor that the lotus leaves give this dish.  We tried a 2001 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese with this dish that David pulled from his cellar.   Because the rice dish wasn’t very spicy, the Riesling was a great choice for this dish. 

We then had the Caramelized Lemongrass Shrimp that Michelle prepared.  We got to get our fingers into this dish pulling the shells off and licking our fingers . . . even though Michelle thoughtfully provided finger bowls for all of us.  This was another spicy dish everyone enjoyed.  The lemongrass was overpowered by the spice in this dish.   The caramel helped to tone down the spice in this dish and added some nice depth to it.  We all discussed the seemingly wasteful use of the lemongrass.  It is to peeled down to a core that is maybe 1/8” thick and then sliced into coins and chopped even further into smaller pieces.   The leaves that are peeled off had a wonderful aroma that we all thought was unfortunate that we couldn’t use.  Michelle served this dish with broken jasmine rice that served a nice foil for the spicy shrimp.  David shared a bottle of 2001 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenur Riesling Spåtlese to drink with this course.  We all didn’t think it held up to the spicy shrimp.  Pairing wines with this dinner proved to be more difficult than we had thought.  While Rieslings go really well with spicy Thai dishes, they do not work as well with Vietnamese dishes.  Maybe next time to try a smoky Syrah?

I tried over 6 recipes from Phan’s book and the Roasted Eggplant and Leek Salad was my favorite.  I love eggplants, leeks and cilantro and thought the idea of making it into a salad sounded great.  I could not find any baby leeks that he called for but settled for the smallest leeks I could find.  I went online and one person said to substitute scallions but I chose not to because it would change the taste of the dish.  The salad dressing is what makes this dish.  It uses a smoky chili paste made from ground annatto seeds and Thai peppercorns along with bean paste, and other ingredients.  The paste is then added to a soy sauce base which is then added to the salad dressing ingredients.  The good news is that once I made the chili paste, it’s good for about 3 months so I can easily add it to other dishes. Phan is correct, it is worth the effort and tastes 10 times better than any bottled version.  We drank a divine 1989 S. Anderson Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Richard Chambers Vineyard, Stags Leap District, Napa that Bill found in his cellar.  He and David swooned all evening about this cab.   It went well with this salad as well as the next dish, the Lemongrass Short Rib Stew that I also prepared for this group.

*  I must digress here to share a bit about another Vietnamese Home Cooking dinner that I shared with Jeffrey.  Jeffrey was so disappointed, after buying the cookbook, that he couldn’t make the date that he and I decided to do a separate dinner ourselves and invite another couple or two.   Tina said she’d like to join us since she bought the book too and couldn’t make the dinner date either.  So-o-o we set a date on a Monday evening and had dinner on the mountaintop.  At the last minute Tina had a family emergency and couldn’t make it so it was just Jeffrey and I cooking.   I won’t go into a lot of detail but we had Fresh Spring Rolls, Lemongrass Chicken, and Steamed Fish in addition to the Roasted Eggplant and Leek Salad  and the Lemongrass Short Rib Stew that we had for our dinner on the 18th.    For dessert at Jeffrey's, I made a Chocolate Walnut Tart to end the evening on a sweet note.

The Lemongrass Stew was delicious and everyone enjoyed the spiciness and the daikon of this dish.  The first time I made it, I added the diced Thai Chili as a garnish, along with the Thai Basil chiffonade.  It made the dish really hot so I left it off at this dinner but now I think the dish actually needs that extra kick.   Bill found a 1986 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon, Private Reserve to drink with this dish.  I liked it and thought it stood up well to the spicy kick in this dish but Bill and David thought the S. Anderson cab was a better choice.  The Beringer lost its fruit as the evening wore on, so I too agreed that the S. Anderson was a better choice.  In an effort to find the perfect wine, David added a lovely Burgundy, 1999 Nuits-Saint-Georges Red Burgundy, Les Saint-Georges Domaine Robert Chevillon, Premier Cru., to the dinner to see how they worked or didn’t work with spicy dishes.   Although we all loved the burgundy, it didn’t fare well against the stew.

For this dessert, I prepared a non-cookbook dish (there weren’t any desserts in this cookbook BTW) that contained Vietnamese ingredients, Toasted Coconut & Lemongrass Bread Pudding with French Vanilla Ice Cream.    It was easy to make and the recipe used more of the lemongrass leaves because the cream and coconut cream was steeped in the toasted coconut and chopped up lemongrass stems for over an hour.  It wasn’t very sweet which appealed to me but for those who like sugar, it was a  just a rich dessert…maybe if I added a chocolate sauce to it?  To appease our sugar/chocoholics, Michelle brought out a small platter of chocolate pieces from Peru and Bolivia and we had a comparative tasting…and, as with all tastings, different people had different preferences.  Bill shared a 2006 Weingut Losen-Bockstanz Riesling Beerenauslese that went well with the dessert but was a disppointment to Bill. He was thinking that he should have poured the Ice Wine instead but no one was complaining.

I don’t think we got through this dinner before 11 p.m. . . .  so after five hours of eating, we all toddled off to our cars, letting the designated drivers head home.

AND, you may have noticed that there aren't as many photos of this dinner in this post.  Mea culpa.  I forgot to take any photos of our May 18th dinner so the photos that I posted are from the May 13th dinner at Jeffrey's...and I didn't even remember to take photos of every dish there either.  Willie, I really miss you!

Our next dinner will be from the French Laundry cookbook.  A return to the most fabulous gourmand-oriented dinner we’ve ever had.  I will start polling for a date and try to find one that everyone can attend . . . this dinner will not be one you want to miss!   David promised to prepare the Foie Gras Torchon for us so we have at least one dish settled!    Once we have a date, I’ll let you know where this dinner will take place.  Most likely a July or August date and if it’s really hot, we may need to do it at our air-conditioned home.  Stay tuned and . . .

Cook on!

Guy Crosby Dinner

It clear to see why The Science of Good Cooking is on the NY Times Best Seller list.  It is filled with information and tips on how to prepare different kinds of meats, vegetables, fowl, desserts, etc. so that the dish comes out like it should.  Guy Crosby is a good friend of Sandy’s and signed copies of his books and answered questions at an event that Sandy coordinated.  I am hoping that when he returns to the Bay Area in August, that we’ll be able to invite him for dinner.

Even experienced cooks, as our group clearly is, finds great information on why to prepare a dish a certain way ranging from the chemistry that is occurring to tips on making it an easier dish to prepare.

The recipes were not “exciting” recipes but pretty basic without any exotic ingredients, spices or herbs.   Our dinner was an “old fashioned” dinner in the best meaning of the descriptor.

We started out with Deviled Eggs.  Tina was going to prepare them but she finally succumbed to the cold/flu that she’d been fighting all week.   I decided to go ahead and prepare them for her rather than change the menu.  It was a very interesting process starting with how to lay the eggs on their sides for about an hour to make sure that the yolk remains in the center of the whites when boiled.  That also brings the eggs to room temperature.   He starts the eggs with cold water, brings them to a boil and then immediately removes them from the heat and lets them sit in the hot water for 10 minutes.  Gently break their shells and immediately plunge them into an ice bath.  I used to mash the yolks with a fork but Guy recommends that I mush the yolks in a fine sieve with a wooden pestle and I got really fine particles of egg yolk that turned into a delicious yolk filling that I piped into perfectly centered whites, as you can see from this photo.  I decided to add a sprinkle roe and chives over the yolks.  Bill poured a Roederer Estate NV Sparkling Wine from Anderson Valley, our favorite sparkling wine producer in California.  It was a wonderful wine with the deviled eggs, with just enough citrus, yeast and acid to offset the rich eggs.

 

Our next course was prepared by our new member, David, who chose the Quiche Lorraine.  Everyone agreed that this was the best quiche they had ever eaten!  I think it was helped by the fact that David used only the best ingredients.  He did some research years ago and located the best smoked bacon in the USA.  He found it in Tennessee and gets it shipped to him.  Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams.  He also used fresh hen eggs that were only 1 day old.    He followed the recipe exactly as printed.  He usually tweaks recipes but this time, he was religiously faithful to the directions and ingredients.   You’ll notice from the photo that this is a deep dish quiche and was made using a springform pan that is lined with foil to ease the release of the quiche.  The crust was flakey and tasty, and made in an food processor which makes this recipe a “must try” for me, although  I’ll have to order the bacon first.  David brought a beautiful white Burgundy to drink with his quiche, Puligny-Montrachet 2007, Premier Cru “Champs-Canet” SC.E. Domaine Ramonet.  I love white burgundies and this was no exception…it was creamy and luscious.  Perfectly paired with David’s quiche!

We then ate a  Spicy Shrimp Salad with Corn & Chipotle that Sharon prepared, again, following the recipe exactly.  The shrimp was tender and juicy because the recipe called for a quick dip in boiling water.  Although the salad used chilies, it was tempered by the homemade lime mayonnaise and sweet corn kernels.  We all enjoyed the result.  I forgot to ask Sharon if she used fresh-shucked corn or had to use frozen because of the season.  But, if they were frozen, I didn’t notice.  Bill selected a J. Rocchioli 2005 Chardonnay, Rachael’s Vineyard, Russian River Valley in Sonoma.  This Chardonnay was bright & lightly fruity and stood up well to the spicy shrimp.

Jeffrey made the Onion Braised Beef Brisket, again, following the recipe exactly.  This is unusual for our group since we usually do a little tweaking after tasting the trial run.  Maybe it’s because we don’t do trial runs anymore?  We must be getting better!   The brisket is seared first and Jeffrey explained that he was told to weight it down with a cast iron pot to get an even sear on the non-fat side.  It resulted in an evenly seared and perfectly flat brisket, making it easier to get even slices.  The recipe used a lot of onions to get the wonderfully browned, caramelized onion sauce and flavors.  Another recipe I intend to try soon.  It was a wintery dish that fit an early March dinner.  Jeffrey brought a wine from his winery’s cellar to go with his brisket.  The Mount Eden Vineyards 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon estate bottled Old Vine Reserve wine was the best choice.  This robust, well-balanced wine accented the caramelized onions and the brisket actually enhanced the flavors of the wine as well.    It also worked well with the Roasted Brussel Sprouts that Michelle, another new member, prepared.  She chose this recipe because she wanted to see if Guy’s recipe worked better than others that she used.  It was a good comparison because I am not a brussel sprout fan.  This one brought out the nutty flavors of the vegetable that was accented by chopped walnuts and a touch of lemon.  I ate every bite and I noticed that everyone else did too.

We were indulged this evening with 3 desserts.  Annie made  Orange Sherbet and Shortbread Cookies.  The orange sherbet was the best orange sherbet I’ve ever tasted.  It was creamy, not too sweet and had the fresh orange flavor that was accented by orange zest.  Her shortbread cookies were more like cookie bars. . .well, triangular bars actually.  They were thick and so-o-o buttery.  I love shortbread cookies because I don’t like sweet but do like butter (I know, don’t forget to take my Lipitor!).   Bill poured a lovely Chateau La Tour Blanche 1999, Sauternes, France to accompany this dessert.  It was a good choice to accompany the sherbet and cookies.

It did not go as well with the Crêpe Suzettes that I made for the dinner.  They were too sweet for the wine.  When the recipe said I didn’t need a crêpe pan for this dessert, I was hooked.  Guy also said to expect the first few crêpes to not turn out well and he was right.  It takes a tiny bit of practice but after the first few, I was turning out perfectly round crêpes that were lightly browned.  The orange sauce was pretty straightforward.  I made the crêpes ahead of time and although the recipe didn’t say to, I would warm them a little before serving next time.  Also, because you can only turn them over with your fingers (anything else would tear them), I would recommend wearing latex gloves to protect your fingers for the second it takes to turn them.  Guy recommends lifting them and turning them from the far edge and flipping them towards me.  I tried it the other way and tore the crêpes so follow the instructions and get perfect crêpes.

Our last dessert was served as an amuse bouche from the chef who was Sandy this time.  She made Tangerine Meringue Cookies for that last sweet bite of the evening.  They were so cute and everyone commented on the touch of tangerine.  She had a hard time keeping the meringues crispy because of the humidity Saturday evening.  She re-crisped them before driving over and in the short time between the drive and the dinner’s previous courses, they got sticky on the exterior.  The interior remained crispy and the taste was wonderful.

The conversation of the evening brought forth some great ideas for more field trips.  One is a restaurant in San Francisco that serves dinner in the complete dark, served by blind waiters.  It would be a great test to our olfactory organs and tongues.  Can we tell if it’s beef, lamb or pork?  Red or white wine?  What a great culinary adventure!

The other idea was to take a mushroom foraging field trip with a mycologist.  David and Michelle promised to look into both the restaurant and the mushroom trip.  I’ll also check with David Kinch to see he still has the name and contact info for his wild mushroom expert.  When Kinch owned the Sent Sovi restaurant, he sponsored a mushroom hunt with dinner that I joined and thoroughly enjoyed.

Our next dinner will be hosted by David and Michelle and we will be cooking from Charlie Phan’s (of Slanted Door Restaurant fame), Vietnamese Home Cooking.    I am looking forward to this book because I love Vietnamese cooking!

Cook on!