Two posts fairly close together means I have more tasty things to share.
Had a couple lovely folks over last night for a four-course dinner, done up veggie style!
First: I need to fill you guys in on something. I couldn't get pictures before they disappeared, but here's a component.
The Curiosities turned out fantastic.
Oh, right, I haven't told you enough about them yet. Well, try this:
Take a couple handfuls of figs and chop 'em up, melt some butter in a sauce pan (medium-ish heat) and stir them together until they start to smell figgin' good. (Yeah, I did that, and yeah, I'll pay for it later.)
Add whiskey (just whatever feels right, but I did a healthy couple ounces). Your figs will drink it all up, and thank you for it.
Do you have butter puff pastry in your freezer? (Or, if you're lucky, can you get your hands on some fresh stuff?) If you can make puff pastry yourself, reading this blog is probably a lot like watching a kid make a "meal" out of Play-Doh and then proudly serving it up to you.
Anyway, if it needs to be thawed, thaw it. Is your fruit drunk yet?
Good (what I'm trying to say is, there should be little to no liquid left.) Take it off the heat, add two way overripe bananas. Like, they're totally black and have been glaring at you from inside your fridge for a couple days. These bananas loathe you. But their insides are totally awesome, so let 'em have it.
Add a sprinkle of ground coriander and a splash of vanilla extract. I used this stuff from the Dominican Republic, which I'm pretty sure is rum-based. I also have a really pretty Madagascar bourbon vanilla. The cool thing about vanilla extract is that you can make your own: get your hands on some pods and put them in a jar with the booze of your choosing, you will have vanilla extract very soon. Also you'll totally look like Super-Chef.
Mix it all up. Slice the puff pastry to make 2 x 2 in squares. Add a dollop of drunk fruit goo, and here's the sexy part. Get some Danish blue, and throw a couple little crumbles in each one. Close up the pastry into a little pouch, twisting the top closed (I always fuck up here: I get all excited and put way too much filling in, then they explode everywhere). Put them on a baking sheet and into an oven at 350. Check after ten or fifteen, the basics are: they should smell awesome and be golden brown and crispy.
Don't try to eat them right out of the oven, they'll burn you good.
Moving on to dinner! Here's a shot of my creamy spicy sweet potato and carrot soup:
Served up all messy-like! (This was my bowl, the others didn't have drips.) I didn't have creme fraiche and the only fresh herb I had was sage, so instead I garnished it with a streak of paprika, a pinch of smoked salt (top right), a couple twists of black pepper (bottom left), and a streak of the ground coriander (man, I love this stuff way too much).
The stuffed peppers, before stuffing: the filling is grated feta and asiago cheses, diced green zucchini, black pepper, salt, paprika again, chopped artichokes, half a medium shallot diced, sliced giant green olives, and a couple spoonfuls of my roasted roma tomato sauce.
The sauce is made by roasting whole roma tomatoes at 200 degrees for a minumum of 8 hours (and this doesn't have to happen in one day, I had to finish roasting them on a second day). Salt, pepper, olive oil. When you take 'em out of the oven, remove the tomatoes, throw white vermouth in the pan and scrape all the charred bits off, then pour it into a sauce pan. Dice up the tomatoes (just take the cores off, leave everything else: skins, seeds and all) and toss them in next. Add dried oregano and thyme.
Here's the main course, the roasted pepper in the background. In front is eggplant involtini, which is made by slicing eggplant with a mandoline (the slices should be less than 5 mm thick). I mixed buffalo ricotta with more grated asiago, chopped fresh sage, dried basil, and my friends S & P. Add cheese mix to the centre of one slice, roll one end forward so it's almost enclosed. Take another slice and tuck it in, continuing the roll, add one more after that. I pinned them together with some nice 4 inch skewers. Pack the cheese in either end (some will probably fall out). Douse them good with olive oil (they'll absorb lots) and roast them with the peppers for at least half an hour, or until the pepper skins start to shrivel.
I like this picture a lot. (Even with the skewer.)
My friend Chantal made the dessert, but I'm going to try and get her to post it once I start sharing this blog around more. In short, it was like cake and a buttertart made beautiful love with raisins.
Alongside these: A new, top-secret white blend we'll be releasing at Henry in the near future (components are Viognier and Chardonnay), which was a great mix with the Curiosities and the soup. I had a bottle of the 1997 HOP Merlot that I grabbed from a re-release bin at our store. It was a great meal.
The art of entertaining is something I started learning while I was going to school. I had a lot of friends that had some from a restaurant background (whether serving or cooking), and they helped me realize a few very important things when having a meal in-house:
1. It's not meant to be a stuffy, overly impressive affair. It is, however, not just any old dinner: so treat your guests to a couple little extraordinary things: good wine presentation, tea lights, linen napkins, whatever. Don't make an exhibition of it, but make it special.
2. Do as much as you can the day before. Like, everything. Small prep can really lower the stress level, and you should be able to greet your guests and be entertaining without worrying about dicing friggin' onions. You should never spend the party cooking or fussing with your whole kitchen.
3. Dress for dinner. Again, this is just meant to be part of the "special presentation" part, but I've included it separately because, aside from this being good etiquette, it also just makes you feel like a host. So take a bit of time and get prettied up. Don't wear fragrance.
4. Don't rush anything. Last night we started with the nibbles just after 8 and I think we finished dessert at 11:30. Take the time between courses, relax, chat, and enjoy the food and wine. Speed eating is for your lunch break, not for this.
5. Always have on hand: a couple nice cheeses, extra wine, cash, and a local cab number. It's not like I always say "Come for dinner, and I'll get you stuffed and drunk and then pay for your ride home," but it's nice to have some extra nibbles and drinks in case the night calls for it. Everyone drinks differently--I've gone through multi-courses on one bottle with one other person, I've also gone through four bottles with just one other person. I like to offer the transportation, though, because three or four hours of eating and drinking makes anyone pretty relaxed and sleepy. It might just be the ol' Smart Serve thing, but I'd like my friends to be able to come back and do this again with me.
Anyway, I think that does it for this one.
Cheers, and dinner-party on!
Melissa
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