Celebration Dinner with Lois and Jon

Thursday 24 October

Lois and Jon were coming through town on their way to see their first grandchild in Queens NY.  We greeted them with a pitcher of chimayo cocktails, which are becoming traditional for their visits.

While putting everything together, we snacked on tortilla chips and salsa made from orange and red tomatoes and red bell pepper, flavored with lime.

For their part, Lois and Jon brought a wodge of their local Vermilion river triple cream blue cheese and spicy Autumn Berry spicy jam, as well as i Clivi RBL, a natural sparkler, not re-fermented in the usual méthode champenoise to toast their 22nd anniversary this Saturday.

We picked the last ten of our own poblanos (some very spicy!), roasted them, stuffed them with colby and goat cheese flavored with cilantro, dipped and fried them into an appetizer of chiles rellenos, served with more salsa on the plate.

For our main course, we roasted a rolled pork loin, stuffed with lemon zest, parsley and sage.

This not being England, it had no crackly skin, but the top fat rendered it nicely brown, and our 2 1/2 lb butterflied pork loin only took about an hour total, while our own garden carrots roasted alongside.

With the meal, we poured two pinot noirs head to head, with Joseph Faiveley Bourgogne 2010 representing France and Evening Land Willamette Valley 2010 representing Oregon.

For dessert, Holt took the Black Twig apples we bought last week and made the Painless Apple Cake from Barbara's Fear and Loathing Cookbook.  Here it is:

1 stick plus 2 Tbsp. butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cup peeled and chopped apples

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour, unsifted

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 or 3 apples, cored and sectioned into thin slices

crisco for greasing the pan

2 Tbsp. strawberry jam

Start with the batter.  Cream the butter and sugar together; beat in eggs, then add chopped apples and vanilla.  Add cinnamon, salt, and baking soda to flour, then stir it into wet ingredients.  The batter will be thick and cookie-like.

Arrange the sliced apples around the sides of a well-greased 9" round, 1 1/2" deep cake pan.  Spoon in the batter and level off; top with remaining wedges concentrically from center, so they look like the petals of a flower.  Drizzle 2 Tbsp. of melted butter on top and bake at 350º for 55 minutes until done.

Let cool 10 mins., remove from pan.  Paint the top and sides with a mix of melted strawberry jam and a shot of applejack.

Served it with some Graeter's seasonal cinnamon and coconut chip ice cream, and went back to France for G. Chevalier Sauternes 2009.  
It topped off a perfect meal and a fun-filled evening.

Gnocchi with Pesto

Wednesday 23 October

Barbara went home early to pick a saladspinnerful of basil before the dark and the coming frost.  
When Holt got home, we made pesto with pecorino romano cheese, pignoli, and a big clove of our own garlic.  Served it with whole wheat gnocchi, and it was a breath of summer in autumn.

Chicken and Pole Beans

Tuesday 22 October

The pole beans are still surviving to be picked, despite the colder weather.  Such perseverence deserves cooking.

Sauté some shaved bits of ham end to render out their fattier bits; add meatier bits to the pan as well.  Then add the thicker pole beans along with a good slosh of chicken broth.  Raise the heat to boiling point, then cover, lower heat, and simmer 10 mins. 

Put the leftover chicken parts on top and return to simmer, turning once during the process; serve when they're hot and the beans are tender.

It may be a Southern thing, but pole beans love ham.

Sotto Restaurant

Monday 21 October

We went out to dinner with Kathryn, Valeria, and tonight's speaker, Larry, to Sotto.  It's located on the basement floor below the new Boca, in the same relationship that the former la Normandie had with the Maisonette - and in the same space. 

Sotto has an odd vibe.  There were lots of suits, and though the booths were comfy, they were too close to the bar, so that drinkers looked like they might surge into the table. 

Wines were unfortunately forgettable, an insipid Ca'Ernesto Gavi and a not much better Dolcetto di Diano d’Alba, "Rocche dei Berfi" by Abrigo.  It might be better to go to with the house wine next time, which is also by Abrigo.

Appetizers were better: a savory mix of porchetta and pickled shallot with mustard on "tortano bread," and a plate of burrata served with Tuscan oil, broccolini, and chunks of tortano bread

Though Sotto is known for housemade pasta, we were in the mood for something leaner.  We went for a fillet of "wood fired" branzino served with sautéed greens and a grilled lemon to squeeze, and delicious beef “peposo” braised with tomato and red wine, served on a bed of plush polenta.  La Poste could take a lesson from Sotto on how to pep up the seasoning on their standard short ribs.

Dessert was a plateful of hot-from-the-friolator doughnut holes dusted with powdered sugar, with a trio of sauces (pistachio, caramel, and chocolate) for dipping.  They were perfect for the whole table, and so rich we couldn't even finish them all. 

With the exception of the flabby wine, Sotto is a good addition to the downtown scene.  And maybe soon we'll take out a loan and pay a visit Boca upstairs.

Roast Chicken Achievement

Sunday 20 October

Yesterday we brought home a fresh Bare's fryer to roast.  Since we had a day to spare, we dried it carefully and put it in the fridge, and when we got home did nothing but sprinkle it with salt à la Thomas Keller, but roasted at a steady temperature of 400º à la New Joy.  But we think the real secret is to roast the chicken in a low-sided baking tray, so the hot air can circulate around it.  That also didn't prevent us from surrounding the bird with garden carrots, steak-cut potatoes, and shallots, all oiled, salted and ready to roast. 

After about 50 minutes, we achieved crispy chicken perfection at last, as the photo will show.  

Dinner at Rama and Erik's

Saturday 19 October

Rama and Erik invited us and some other friends over for dinner, and we were delighted to come and to bring one of our specialties.  Rama was curious about Holt's signature chiles rellenos, so he made a version that was breaded with panko and could be oven-baked, so we could carry them over in a casserole, pop them in the oven, and serve them fresh and hot (though we didn't do the sauce).

As we sat and snacked on vegetable crisps of every sort, Rama whisked up a delicious mushroom sauté flavored with sherry, insalata Caprese, and Indian Rice Pilaf. 

Rama gave us the recipe for the pilaf: it had bay leaves (6), cardamom (6-8 cloves), garam masala (1 tbsp.) and turmeric powder (3/4 tsp); she used a 16 oz. package of frozen mixed veggies (carrots, beans, corn, peas) and 3 cups of Thai Jasmine long grain rice.  She sautéed one finely chopped onion in 3 tbsps. of oil first and added the rest of the vedge and spices and sautéed for 5-10 minutes on medium heat.  She then added 3 cups of rice and sautéed the mix until the rice was coated with the oil and spices and then added 5 1/2 cups of water and brought the mixture to a boil.  She covered the pot and let the rice and vedge cook for 20 minutes on a medium-low flame, making sure that the water did not boil over.  And that was that - and very good too.

We topped that off with a fruit dessert with sour cream, chocolate chips and cookie crumbles.  So thanks, Rama and Erik, for the entertaining evening!