Saturday, November 24, 2012

Holt's Birthday Feast


Tuesday 20 November
Holt actually likes to cook a big dinner for other people on his birthday.  So we rounded up a group of good friends: Julie; Diane; and Kathy and Russel, who actually have the same birthday as each other, and it's only a day before Holt's. 

Planning went on for weeks before the day itself, especially once Holt decided to get a whole beef tenderloin and make Beef Wellington.  Here's how that went together.



The appetizer course was more opportunistic: Lauren had brought us a tasty local St. André cheese, Patrick had brought us a whole foie gras de canard, and Holt made a salmon paté (with cream cheese, scallions, lemon juice, and white pepper) out of the smoked King salmon that Andi and Joel sent us.  And a toast of bubbly Chandon that Kathy and Russel provided.


The fish course was pretty elegant: pickled shrimp on a bed of zucchini fettucine (thanks, Benriner!), accompanied by home made pickled daikon, red onion confit, and fan-sliced cornichons, plus store-bought pickled ginger.
But nothing could beat the elegance of the main course: the big Beef Wellington in browned brioche dough with assorted mushroom duxelles, served with poufs of pommes duchesse and roasted asparagus.  The meat was perfectly cooked, and the Bandol Holt brought up from the cellar (yes, it's really a cellar) was perfect with it.

Of course, we had to have a birthday cake, or rather, individual cakes: our favorite Australian friands, scattered with raspberries and blackberries in triple-sec, and a dab of lemon curd.


A great meal, and time, was had by all.

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