We have had a busy
weekend. Our friend from Maryland came
to visit. We picked him up from the
airport on Friday and went into the city.
We had a very good lunch at the Country Music Hall of Fame and then
toured. I worked on Dinner Thursday, so
that dinner could happen without a lot of fuss.
Jim’s cousins joined us for dinner.
I started the evening with a drink
that I learned how to make from the sommelier at the Catbird Seat. I did not really have the right glasses as
Jim would not look for them in the million boxes that are still packed and
waiting for our move. I had trouble
getting the right proportion as the glasses were wrong.
For this drink you will need:
Large steamed martini glasses
Brown sugar cubes
Sparkling wine (Marc Hebart
NV Cuvee Reserve-Omni)
Belgium Beer (Boon Geuze -Lipman)
Sake (Sesshu Otokayama – Best
Brands)
Instructions:
1.
Place a sugar
cube in the martini glass and poor just enough beer to soften.
2.
Poor sake about
half way up the glass.
3.
Fill to the rim with
the sparkling wine.
I served a blueberry covered
goat cheese from Trader Joe’s to accompany these drinks. It was a beautiful day here so we went out to
the patio. We no more than got seated
and it started to sprinkle. We endured
it for a while, huddled under the umbrella.
Our first course was Mushroom Lasagna served room
temperature on a bed of arugula. This
recipe and the following main course came from my friend Cathy. The lasagna article was written by Sam Sifton. The chef is Monica Byrne from a Brooklyn, NY
restaurant called Home/ Made. This
recipe serves 6-8. I used smaller
squares as it was a first course. I had
about half left.
Ingredients:
½ C EVOO or herb oil (recipe
follows) (I have basil, garlic, and rosemary oil from my favorite EVOO vendor,
Sciabica’s. I mixed the 3 to make the ½ C.)
6 large shallots, peeled and
minced
1 ½ pounds mushrooms, wild or
best available (oyster, shitake, cremini), trimmed and sliced (I have mixed
dried mushrooms from Costco. One oz.
dried equals 8 oz. fresh mushrooms.
Reconstitute with hot water for about 15 minutes. Squeeze out excess water.)
1 C white wine
1 softball-size head of
radicchio, halved, cored and cut into ½” slices
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper
4 T unsalted butter
3 large cloves garlic, peeled
and minced
4T flour
3 C whole milk
½ t grated nutmeg
1 C Gruyere cheese, grated
1 C Fontina cheese, grated
2 T truffle oil
2 9 oz. boxes of no-boil
lasagna sheets
1 baseball-sized ball of
smoked mozzarella, sliced (I looked everywhere for smoked, couldn’t find
it. Finally the cheese lady in an
upscale Kroger in Hendersonville, told me to add Liquid Smoke to the béchamel. I added a teaspoon to the sauce.)
1 C fresh Parmesan, grated.
Directions:
1.
Preheat oven to
350 degrees. Place a large sauté pan
over medium-high heat and add ¼ C of the oil.
When it begins to shimmer, add half of the shallots and cook, stirring
occasionally until translucent. Add
mushrooms and toss to coat. Cook until
they begin to color but are still plump, approximately 12-15 minutes. Add white wine to deglaze pan and allow to
cook down into a syrup approximately 5-7 minutes. Put the mushrooms into a large bowl and
reserve.
2.
Meanwhile in
another bowl, toss the radicchio with ¼ C oil and season with salt and
pepper. Spread the strips out onto a
baking pan and place in the oven until the strips are lightly browned around
the edges, approximately 15 minutes.
Combine with the mushrooms and reserve.
3.
Make the béchamel. Place a saucepan over medium heat and melt
the butter. When it foams, add the rest
of the shallots and cook until they begin to turn translucent. Add the garlic and stir to combine, and then
cook until the garlic has started to soften.
Sprinkle flour over the top and stir to combine, and then cook gently
until the mixture has turned light brown and gives off a nutty scent,
approximately 10 minutes.
4.
Add milk to the
mixture, whisking all the while, until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add the nutmeg and ¼ C of grated Gruyere and ¼
C grated Fontina, then stir to combine.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the liquid smoke to taste if you also can not find smoked
mozzarella.
5.
Reserve a cup of
the béchamel. Pour the rest over the
mixture of mushrooms and radicchio and stir to combine. Add truffle oil.
6.
Assemble the
lasagna.
7.
Spread plain béchamel
across the bottom of a 9” x 13”baking pan.
8.
Place a layer of
lasagna sheets across the sauce, being careful not to overlap.
9.
Spread a generous
layer of mushroom mixture on top of the pasta.
10. Follow with some grated Fontina and Gruyere.
11. Put another layer of pasta above the cheese and top
with smoked mozzarella.
12. Repeat until the pasta is gone and the pan is
full. (I did not use all the pasta and
at the end, I could only top the pasta with the Parmesan as that was the only
cheese I had left.
13. Cover with a buttered sheet of aluminum foil and place
in the oven for 45 minutes.
14. Remove the foil and cook until top is golden and
bubbling.
As I made this the day before
and refrigerated it, I put it in a 200 degree oven to warm to a warm room
temperature before serving. I lined the
plates with arugula and place the pasta on top.
Herb oil
Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh thyme
½ bunch fresh rosemary
1 bunch fresh sage
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 T kosher salt
2 1/2 C EVOO
Directions:
1.
Put herbs, garlic
and salt in a food processor. Add a
splash of EVOO and pulse to combine.
Place the mixture in a jar.
2.
Add the rest of
the EVOO and store in a refrigerator.
Lasts about a week.
The main course was Bouillabaisse. It served 6, but I would put twice the
seafood in the broth as it called for if I make it again. For my taste it was heavy on soup and light on seafood. Jim, Jim and I loved it. Jim’s cousins did not say a word.
Ingredients:
2 C chopped peeled and seeded
fresh tomatoes or chopped canned tomatoes
3 medium carrots, peeled and
chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 large fennel bulb, chopped,
green tops trimmed, whe feathery leaves chopped and reserved
1 medium leek, trimmed, well
washed, and sliced
3 T tomato paste
1 t herbes de Provence
¼ t piment d’ Espelette or
cayenne
Pinch of saffron threads,
crumbled
Salt
4 C water
1 C dry white wine
1 C bottled clam juice
1 # boneless, skinless fish
fillets, such as halibut, grouper, or monkfish
8 oz. sea scallops
8 oz medium shrimp, peeled
and deveined
1 baguette, cut into thins
slices and toasted
6 small hard-shell clams,
soaked and scrubbed
Rouille (recipe follows)
Directions:
1.
Combine the
tomatoes, carrots, celery, fennel, and leek in a large slow cooker. Add the tomato paste, herbs de Provence,
piment d’Espelette, saffron and salt to taste.
2.
Add water, wine,
and clam juice. Cover and cook on high
for 4-5 hours, or until the vegetables are tender. I used my immersion blender on the soup at
this point.
3.
Cut the fish,
scallops, and shrimp into bite-size pieces and stir into the soup. Place the clams on top. Cover and cook for 30 minutes ore. Taste for seasoning.
4.
Place a piece of
bread in each soup dish. Add the
bouillabaisse and sprinkle with the reserved fennel fronds. Spoon a large spoonful of rouille on top and
serve immediately.
Rouille (Epicurious.com, Gourmet, May 2007) Yield: ½ C
Ingredients:
3 T water
¾ C coarse fresh bread crumbs
(preferably from a baguette, crust removed)
3 garlic cloves
½ t coarse sea salt
½ t cayenne
3 T EVOO
Directions:
1.
Place all the
ingredients in the food processor and process until well combined.
2.
Add oil in a slow
stream with the processor running.
Foam Whipper Chocolate Mousse
It finally worked. The problem seemed to be me. I added 4 and 4 and got 4 instead of 8. Unbelievably enough it took me four tries to
figure out what I was doing wrong. This
method that I have slightly changed is courtesy of Alton Brown.
Special Equipment: 1/2 liter
cream whipper and 1 N2O charger
Ingredients:
8 oz. 75% bittersweet
chocolate, finely chopped
Pinch of Salt
¼ t vanilla
4 oz brewed coffee
4 oz. hot water
3T Splenda
Directions:
1.
Put the chocolate
in a medium size bowl. Add the 4 oz. of
coffee and the 4 oz of water. Blend with
a whisk until smooth and add the salt and vanilla. Place a thermometer in the chocolate and keep
whisking until the mixture cools to 60 degrees F and is the consisitency of
heavy cream.
2.
Pour the mixture
into the cream whipper.
3.
Charge the cream
whipper with 1 charg.
4.
Shake vertically
16-20 times. Set aside for 1 minute.
5.
Invert and
dispense into small bowls. Serve
immediately
On top of the mouse I place
strawberries that I marinated in Splenda and Chambord. I topped with whipped cream that I made in my
¼ liter cream whipper.
I was very pleased with this
meal. It worked well to make ahead and
be able to have company after touring the whole day.
Jim served two bottles of Robert Mondavi wine. They were both Fume Blanc Reserve, but one was a 2007 and the other was a 2008. The 2007 is from their Kalon Vineyard. With dessert we had the choice of Buffalo Trace or Ransom Old Tom Gin.
