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dinner for five
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July 19, 2002
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« cooking as life | Main | three menus in brief »
I'd worried that the dinner party wasn't going to be worth the trouble, given the associated cost, my waning interest in cooking, and the dental work I had done in the morning. I was so wrong. I ate so much that when I got up the next morning I was still too full to even think about food. I didn't eat anything the whole next day.
Here's the menu:
Corn and Sun-dried Tomato Chowder
This was only slightly different from the chowder I made a few weeks ago. This time I blended the sun-dried tomatoes in with the rest of the soup, eschewed the sun-dried tomato oil in favor of olive oil (both because Rebecca felt that the sun-dried tomato flavor in the original was too strong), and used champagne instead of white wine (because I was out of the latter). When it first came out of the blender I didn't like it as much as the original, but after it had some time in the refrigerator, I decided it was just fine.
Roast Quail Stuffed with Chicken Livers and Cognac Prunes
Eman made this from quail in my fridge that I've been meaning to cook for some time. He'd read briefly how to debone quail in the Chez Panisse cookbook, but had mostly forgotten and had to bumble his way through the process. He figured it out eventually. He'd brought some chicken livers and some prunes that had been marinating overnight in cognac. After stuffing the quail with them, he tied them up and roasted them. It was a nice dish. The only thing it needed was a cognac-based sauce, but he'd forgotten to bring the cognac over.
Filet Mignon and Beet Orange "Salad"
A highly entertaining dish. Eman brought over some nicely roasted beets and oranges prepared in some kind of light dressing, and stacked it on top of slices of filet mignon, which were tiered on top of a flat disc of bread. I myself am largely indifferent to beets, but I loved these. I may have to try my hand at a dish like this.
The best thing about this dish was that I learned where I can get Filet Mignon for $8/lb.
New York Steak in Cherry-Port Sauce with No Braised Cabbage
I made this to get rid of the New York steaks that I'd had in the fridge for a couple of days and the rest of the cherries from the weekend. Not the most creative dish in the world, I know, but after getting my crown done, I was going for a low-effort evening.
Originally, I'd imagined a smooth, viscous reduction sauce, but I quickly settled for a coarser sauce in which the body came from mixing in pureed cherries. I used some of Eman's duck stock for this, which was nice to have around. I need to learn to make stocks like his -- thick and full of flavor.
I'd intended to serve my favorite braised cabbage recipe with this, but I tried to push the temperature to lower the cooking time because I was in a hurry, and I burned it. Hence, the steak was served with No Braised Cabbage.
Braised Pork Shoulder with Apple and Olive Relish and Truffled Mash
This was an excellent dish -- probably my favorite of the evening. The sauce was tasty, the pork was tender, and the mashed potates were well truffled. The relish was a brilliancy, and as far as I know, it's an original of Eman's. Very impressive.
It's great to watch Eman's cooking get better and better. Now I just need to work on mine.
July 19, 2002 in menus, old_site | Permalink
