Dinner for the Folks March 28, 2008

Often when my parents have relatives or friends visiting they ask me to cook dinner for them. My immediate answer is usually maybe since I would have to give up a chunk of my leisure hours to undertake the project. But then my mind gets churning with ideas and I start thinking of menus. There’s no turning back at that point. Plus since my parents would be paying for the ingredients I have an opportunity to be a bit more extravagant than usual [although trying to convince my parents they must have Champagne and caviar on their menu hasn't come to fruition]. My great aunt and uncle were visiting recently and here is what I cooked for them and my parents…

Gougere - Lillet Blanc

I started off the meal with hot gougeres straight from the oven accompanied by a glass of lillet blanc on ice. Gougeres will be the death of me - I inhaled three as soon as they were puffed, browned, and crusty on top. As you can see these were huge.

Scallops, Forbidden Rice, Braised Endive, Vandouvan Butter - Donna Luna Fiano

Next was seared scallops served on forbidden rice with braised endive and a drizzle of vadouvan butter. To my delight Julie got me a bag of vadouvan, a French curry mix, from Le Sanctuaire for my birthday which inspired this dish. I paired this with Donna Luna Fiano which I previously had with my truffle butter pasta. The medium body of the fruity wine and the touch of acidity paired well with the butter sauce and the touch of citrus in the curry spice mix.

Romanesco Veloute, Foie Mousse, Crispy Pork Belly - Domaine La Bastide Roussane

For the third course I served romanesco veloute with a quenelle of foie mousse and deep fried slivers of pork belly. I was planning to make the foie mousse myself but once I got to the store they told me I had to preorder them. Duh! So instead I got premade foie mousse I think from D’Artagnan, which actually saved me some time and sanity. For the soup I made a light veloute sauce in which I simmered the romanesco florets. Once tender I put the mixture through the blender and sieve to ensure a velvety texture. Then finished it with butter, cream, and egg yolks to enrich and thicken it. This dish was inspired by the veloute and royale I had a Manresa. Taking a cue from their wine pairing I wanted to pair my veloute with a Roussanne also. Simon over at Larchmont Village Wines chose the inexpensive Domaine La Bastide for me which went great with the velvety soup and the bit of rich foie mousse.

Red Wine Braised Beef Tenderloin, Aligot, Shiitake Frites - Red Shed Cabernet Franc 2004

The final savory course was beef tenderloin that I had seared and braised in red wine and beef stock. I served it with aligot potatoes and “frites” for a meat & potatoes or steak & frites kind of deal. Aligot is a potato dish from Auvergne, France, made with tomme cheese and beat into an elastic texture that leaves it with a cheesy-stringy texture. I substituted Cantal since I could not find tomme d’Auvergne. I didn’t achieve the correct texture perhaps because I didn’t put enough cheese in. For about 2lbs of potatoes I put in 1/2lb of cheese. However the potatoes were soooo tasty. I mean really tasty. The “frites” were made my dredging shiitake slices with panko and deep frying them. I salted them when they came out of the oil. Simple as that and also very addicting.

Cowgirl’s Creamery Red Hawk & Gruyere

I added a small cheese course and served Cowgirl Creamery’s delicious triple creme Red Hawk and Gruyere.

Boca Negra with Dark Chocolate-Orange Ganache, Pistachio

Then finally dessert. I stick to easy things when baking since I’m really more of a savory person. I baked a boca negra which is a flourless chocolate cake loaded with chocolate and eggs and also a good amount of booze, in this case it was whiskey. I topped it with a warm dark chocolate ganache flavored with orange zest and sprinkled toasted and chopped pistachios on top.

There was a lot of room for improvement but in the end I was happy with what I cooked because more importantly the diners were happy.

Romesco Pork Belly Gougeres January 27, 2008

It’s a daily challenge trying to make good use of all the stuff in my fridge, freezer, and pantry in an orderly manner and also in a manner that will reduce waste. Sometimes I end up keeping things forever. Especially if it’s the freezer. Even frozen things don’t last forever though. So I try to keep a mental notes of things I need to use up in the order of how perishable or how old they are.

So the pork belly lardons leftover from the pizza party which had been cast into the freezer after the event has been on my mind. I had no clue what to do with them. But while I was doing my usual web perusing for food ideas I came across some meat stuffed gougeres. I was diggin this idea. You know my love for the pork and romesco combination. Why not again for a gougere? Since the pork belly lardons were already cooked this would be easy peasy. All I had to do was make the romesco and gougere. Once those were made I heated up the pork belly lardons and tossed it in the romesco. I cut off the tops of the gougeres leaving it attached on one end and stuffed it with the romesco pork belly and garnished it with a mache leaf. Keeping in with the Spanish flavor I used manchego for the gougeres. Trust me, these are way better than they look.

I have some hardcore weakness for straight-out-the-oven gougeres. I popped about eight of them in my mouth in ten minutes. Wow keep these away from me. So in order to save myself there was only one thing I could do. Share them! I took them to work and these were great straight out of the toaster oven. The crustiness of the manchego gougeres and the smoky meatiness of the romesco pork belly made this mid-morning snack time a bit more special than the usual tea and fruit bit.

Spiced Kumquat Pastry January 26, 2008

Even after the cheese pairing with the delicious roncal I still had a few spoonfuls of spiced kumquat compote left. Not to mention a little bit of roncal. I wanted one last hurrah with the compotes and try to make some good of it. It would have to be something easy and fast. I had puff pastry in the freezer thank goodness. If it were not for that the compote would have most likely made its way into the bin.

I cut the puff pastry up into smaller pieces, egg washed it, sprinkled it with grated roncal, a spoonful of the compote, and cracked pepper for a lil spice. The exact same flavors for the cheese pairing except different because of the warm, flaky puff pastry. You can’t go wrong with hot, buttery puff pastry straight from the oven. What a nice treat to have right after work when hunger pains start kicking in. I had Boy pick a plate of these up for the Boys music session. What took like only 15 minutes to make with barely any work at all (since most of the work had been done previously) made a few of us a very happy snackers. Don’t deny the potential of your leftovers! They come in handy. For good snacking at least.

A Light & Casual Wedding Lunch Affair May 24, 2007

About two and a half weeks ago my brother’s friends Sarvi and Aaron contacted me about catering for their wedding party. It was supposed to be a more casual event held at a artsy and hip neighborhood bar/art gallery, providing guests with a light lunch. I was free so I took on the task with the help of my friend Ellen. So I began the menu planning keeping in mind that the food would have to be finger food so guests can eat easily while standing and drinking, the food would have to go with some nice wine, and of course something delicious.

The menu:

Hummus, Muhammara & California Harissa with Fresh Baguette Slices

Marinated Feta & Olives with Rosemary & Lemon Zest

Bacon-wrapped, Parmesan-Stuffed Dates

Goat Cheese Mousse Tartlets with Candied Pepitas

Romesco Pulled Pork Canape with Pecorino Salsa Verde

Tuna Tartar with Pickled Red Onion & Chives (Ellen’s hor d’oeuvre)

Prosciutto di Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, Basil & Wild Arugula Sandwich

Balsamic Roasted Onion, Sun-dried Tomato, Ricotta & Wild Arugula Sandwich

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Hor d’oeuvres would work great for this event since they are finger food but the menu also needed other items to round it out. So I made a trio of dips - muhammara, California harissa and hummus. I made the hummus using Clifford A. Wright’s recipe by using dried chickpeas, not canned. This was the first time I made hummus from dried chickpeas and although a bit laborious due to the peeling of the beans the results were very delicious. As with many dishes made from scratch for the first time, you realize how much you’ve been missing out.

I used Paula Wolfert’s recipe for the muhammara which was so delicious! Muhammara is an eastern Mediterranean dip made from roasted red peppers, chili, walnuts and pomegranate molasses. The whole roasted serrano chili I added gave a real nice kick to it. Yup I added seeds and all since the recipe said add to taste. Nutty, sweet, savory and lightly spiced, this is definitely one of my favorite dips now.

The California harissa is Suzanne Goin’s recipe which I’ve used in so many different recipes and dishes. She is like the goddess of flavor combinations and the most flavorful rustic sauces. Just in this menu I used three of her sauces. Once you get a few of her recipes down the combinations are endless since the sauces are so versatile. But they are also delicious on their own with some fresh rustic bread.

I also made some marinated olives and feta and served them in this great elongated dish I picked up at Ross for only $6. Yeah, I am a discount dish junkie. It does pay off to keep your eyes open at these discount places because you can find quality stuff once in a while for very cheap - like $0.99 for a Le Creuset ramekins. Back to the food - I marinated the olives and feta in olive oil, rosemary, lightly crushed garlic just to infuse the oil, and lemon zest.

I’ve never met anyone who didn’t adore A.O.C.’s roasted dates, so I put them on the menu, and as expected people went crazy for them. Ellen made about 120 pieces of these and they were all gone. This is a super easy recipe so if you love A.O.C.’s dates or you love bacon or parmesan do make these at home. All you need are pitted dates, parmesan, and thinly sliced American bacon from the deli. Now stuff, wrap with half a slice of bacon, and roast at a high temp.

Romesco is one of my favorite condiments and I always turn to Suzanne Goin’s version (what can I say, she is awesome). Pork is another one of my favorite things, as a hunkin piece of meat and in all its cured, salted, smoked incarnations. Romesco is a great condiment for any meat but I thought pulled pork tossed with romesco would be meaty and delicious. Normally I would have made feta salsa verde to top the canape but since I already had the marinated feta I turned to pecorino romano.

I made the base from wonton skins which I greased and baked in mini muffin pans. I ran out of spray oil at about the 60th skin out of the 140 I needed to make. Doh! I thought just brushing on the oil would be the same but for these wonton shells spray oil is really the method of choice because it coats it a lot lighter. After baking all of em I brush off the excess flour on each wonton skin with a pastry brush, a step which I didn’t take the last time I made these shells which made them sorta floury.

The pulled pork was juicy and the romesco added such a great nutty chili flavor to it. Serious yum. I froze the chunk of leftover pork since I won’t have time to eat it this week. But a romesco pulled pork sandwich will surely rear its beautiful head sometime in the near future.

For my second hor d’oeuvre I turned to the always dependable and delicious goat cheese mousse which I’ve served many times since I came across Thomas Keller’s recipe which actually calls for beautiful parmesan crisp baskets. I knew it would be way too time consuming and insane to make 120 parmesan crisp baskets because of their delicate nature and the crazy speed required to form the baskets immediately after they come out of the oven. So instead phyllo dough was used to form the base. Ellen took over the duty of the phyllo shells, which would have been impossible for me to do with my oven being invaded by the baking of all the wontons, the roasting of the pulled pork, and the roasting of the balsamic onions for the sandwiches. I added my own touch to the goat cheese mousse by sprinkling candied pepitas (also Goin), which were made with butter, sugar, cinnamon, paprika, and cumin. I love the sweet and saltiness of the seeds, accented by warm spices.

I originally had cauliflower soup shooters on the menu but soon took it off because we weren’t able to find a good-sized disposable shot glasses and since the bar didn’t have a full kitchen and no servers were hired for the small event renting shot glasses for the event would prove some difficulties. In its place Ellen offered up her version of Emeril’s tuna tartar, flavored with shallots, dijon, olive oil, and wasabi creme fraiche. Pickled red onion was added for a nice crunch and tartness along with a garnish of chives. The tartar was served on sesame crackers.

To add some heft to the menu, we offered some delicious Italian sandwiches which we made with freshly baked Bay Cities bread. One had beautiful prosciutto di parma, creamy soft buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and wild arugula from Maggie’s Farm. The vegetarian offering had roasted onion marinated in balsamic onion, sun-dried tomatoes, creamy ricotta, and likewise some peppery wild arugula.

All the guests were very happy with the food and more importantly Saarvi and Aaron were super happy. It was an honor to be hired for their special day considering they’ve only had my food a few times at my brother’s gatherings. It was a great time and the event was a breeze and with guests saying the food was “incredible”, “amazing” and “so delicious” it makes all the effort worth it. And thanks to Ellen for helping out with making the hundreds of pieces of the dates, phyllo shells and the tuna tartar!