Help me with a dinner menu?

[MatthewB]

vengroff's composed salad of diced veggies

[guajolote]

vengroff's composed salad of diced veggies

Oh good, I was going to pick that one too.

Soba's Roast Pork Loin with Apricot-Sausage Stuffing and Rosemary-Garlic Jus.

Soba, do you have a recipe? You can paraphrase it if you want.

Matthew, you can do dessert. Maybe we'll serve some steamed new potatoes with the pork?

[MatthewB]

vengroff's composed salad of diced veggies

Oh good, I was going to pick that one too.

Soba's Roast Pork Loin with Apricot-Sausage Stuffing and Rosemary-Garlic Jus.

Soba, do you have a recipe? You can paraphrase it if you want.

Matthew, you can do dessert. Maybe we'll serve some steamed new potatoes with the pork?

All sounds good. Except my pastry chef is out of town until late Friday night, so I'm afraid dessert will be my own.

How about a sweet (w/ berries or some such) gratin? If so, I'll dig through Christophe Felder's book tonight.

[guajolote]

vengroff's composed salad of diced veggies

Oh good, I was going to pick that one too.

Soba's Roast Pork Loin with Apricot-Sausage Stuffing and Rosemary-Garlic Jus.

Soba, do you have a recipe? You can paraphrase it if you want.

Matthew, you can do dessert. Maybe we'll serve some steamed new potatoes with the pork?

All sounds good. Except my pastry chef is out of town until late Friday night, so I'm afraid dessert will be my own.

How about a sweet (w/ berries or some such) gratin? If so, I'll dig through Christophe Felder's book tonight.

My parents both used to pick blueberries when they were in school. If you pick a blueberry dessert you'll get to hear my Dad's story about how many quarts per day he could pick and how he was the fastest blueberry picker in W. Michigan.

Do you know of a place where you could buy some good chocolates for Flaca and Iris?

[SobaAddict70]

Sure, when I get home tonight.

I had a cookbook in the office ("The Rice Encyclopedia" or something like that, can't remember the exact title), but took that home earlier in the year. My officemate was giving me weird looks at the time.

Soba

[MatthewB]

My parents both used to pick blueberries when they were in school. If you pick a blueberry dessert you'll get to hear my Dad's story about how many quarts per day he could pick and how he was the fastest blueberry picker in W. Michigan.

Do you know of a place where you could buy some good chocolates for Flaca and Iris?

I'll look for a blueberry sweet gratin.

Would Flaca & Iris like a cup of Steingarten's hot chocolate? It's dreamy & the weather's supposed to be cooler on Saturday (high in the mid-70s).

[guajolote]

Go for the hot chocolate.

Wine pairing thread

[MatthewB]

Go for the hot chocolate.

Wine pairing thread

I'll pick up Valrhona for the hot cocoa.

I saw the wine pairing thread. Nice!

[NeroW]

Bombay & Beefeater's & Plymouth are out even?

NO GIN

I can't drink gin, either. Gin makes a man mean, and a woman. At least this woman.

With the pork, for the "starch," if you have a ring mold (or even if you don't)--just grate up some butternut squash and waxy potato of your choice. Season them. Plunk them in the ring mold in your cast-iron and, you know, fry them up. They're good with pork.

[SobaAddict70]

Roast Pork Loin with Apricot-Sausage Stuffing and Rosemary-Garlic Jus

(Disclaimer: for those of you who care, the recipe can be found in "How To Cook Meat" by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby; William Morrow, 2000; pages 334-337.)

Brine (optional):

water

dark brown sugar

kosher salt

fresh rosemary (Chris recommends 5 or 6 sprigs)

garlic cloves

bay leaves

------

boneless center-cut pork top loin roast, external fat trimmed to 1/4"

Stuffing:

OO

red onion

Italian pork sausage, casings removed and well crumbled

minced garlic

minced dried apricots

egg, lightly beaten

bread crumbs (fresh if possible)

salt and pepper to taste

1 garlic head, top 1/4" sliced off

additional OO

chicken stock

dry white wine

apricot preserves

fresh rosemary needles

salt and pepper to taste

The authors recommend that the roast be brined for 24 hours prior to preparation time, stirring the brine and turning the meat occasionally.

Stuffing: saute onion until translucent. Add sausage and garlic; cook until sausage is cooked through. Remove from heat, cool; then add apricots, egg, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Roast: Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Remove roast from brine; discard brine. Stuff roast; tie with twine as needed, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes to brown the outside, reduce temp. to 300 F and continue roasting until the meat is done to your preference.

Sauce: Roast garlic. Transfer cloves to bowl and puree or mash. To pan drippings, deglaze with stock and wine, and reduce for about 5 to 7 minutes. Skim. Stir in preserves, garlic puree and rosemary. Adjust seasoning.

Serves 6.

The authors recommend serving the above with roasted apples and candied sweet potatoes, or roasted kabocha or winter squash.

Enjoy,

Soba

[MatthewB]

I'll look for a blueberry sweet gratin.

I dug up a Georgeanne Brennan receipt for Raspberry & Blueberry Gratin.

Do we want 2 quarts or 3 quarts? (I can do a 2 qt gratin & a 1 gt gratin.)

Ice cream, creme fraiche, or what?

[guajolote]

2 should be plenty.

creme fraiche sounds great to me.

[bushey]

[

Introduce them to the most refreshing cocktail I've ever had: the mojito.....

They're the best.

Last night I had my first (and second) mojito ever and it was wonderful. Went to a nuevo latino restaurant in New Haven, Roomba, and they serve it with plenty of muddled mint and a long stick of sugar cane. Mmmmm, good. Great summer drink.

edited to add in: Ice Cream. A really good quality vanilla ice cream.

Edited August 22, 2003 by bushey (log)

[Alex]

Matthew, if the Farmer's Market is out of heirloom tomatoes, there are some farm stands on 6 Mile and on Fruitridge that might have some. I wish I could help, but mine are ripening very slowly -- there are only 2 right now that are anywhere near ready. (I ate the other two yesterday, on toasted peasant rye with goat cheese and basil. )

I'm very interested in hearing how your yogurt-based creme fraiche turned out. I've always used buttermilk, but I'm not a big buttermilk-drinking fan so the remainder of the quart would go to waste.

What a perfect-weather weekend for a visit!

[MatthewB]

Matthew, if the Farmer's Market is out of heirloom tomatoes, there are some farm stands on 6 Mile and on Fruitridge that might have some. I wish I could help, but mine are ripening very slowly -- there are only 2 right now that are anywhere near ready. (I ate the other two yesterday, on toasted peasant rye with goat cheese and basil.  )

I'm very interested in hearing how your yogurt-based creme fraiche turned out. I've always used buttermilk, but I'm not a big buttermilk-drinking fan so the remainder of the quart would go to waste.

What a perfect-weather weekend for a visit!

Mr. G brought along homegrown tomatoes & cucumbers.

I'm off to the farmer's market.

And I'll report on the creme fraiche!

Tonight will be much fun.

[guajolote]

We had a wonderful time at dinner. Next time I'm going to bring one (or all) of the traveling riot along because this dinner deserves a better write up than Matthew or I can do.

During the afternoon I prepped the Coctel de Mariscos (made tomato juice for the first time, steamed the langostines and mussels, and briefly sauteed the scallops (30 sec per side) in canola oil. I also butterflied and brined the pork rack. A pork rack is about 18 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2 inches thick and is from the same part of the piggy as baby back ribs.

Matthew and Michelle arrived at about 4 carrying 3 bags of groceries. He was nice enough to do all the shopping at the GR farmer's market, and brought some fabulous produce. He also brought his creme fraiche experiment which we tasted right away. This was good, since he forgot to serve it with the dessert . We opened a bottle of Moet to drink while we prepped. Matthew and Michelle started to clean the corn, peppers, baby leeks, yellow beans, and heirloom tomatoes. Michelle grew up on a farm and it showed - she can husk corn faster than anyone I've ever seen. She also broke off the pieces of the yellow beans that had dark spots. This is something I never do because I'm lazy. Matthew blanched all the vegetables for about 30 seconds and then shocked them in ice water. I mixed the sriachi with the homemade mayo that I had made earlier. Dave the Cook's method of freezing the yolks resulted in the best mayo I've ever made. I also assembled the seafood cocktail (the seafood, tomato juice, the steaming liquid, juice of two limes, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cumcumber, chopped garlic, chopped onions, minced garlic, diced avacodo, and a little horseradish).

At about 5:15 we ate the tuna tartare (I made scallop tartare for my Dad who can't eat "fin" fish). We were going to make homemade ponzu, but the bottled version (Eden?) was very good so we bagged it. Matthew did a great job of plating the dish. We ate this outside on my parents deck. Everyone really loved this dish and gobbled it right down. My Mom, who says she doesn't like raw fish, ate her whole portion. I don't think that she knew that tartare means raw. We had a non-vintage blanc de blanc champagne which was a great pairing.

After the first course Matthew made the vinegrette, with milk , for the salad. He can tell you more about it. I threw the stuffed pork rack on the grill to start cooking.

Then we ate the seafood cocktail which I served in crystal goblets. This recipe is part of my standard repertoire and everyone liked it. We had a bottle of Hugel Riesling. This wasn't the best match, some more champagne would have been better.

The salad was unbelievable, a true taste of summer. Wine was a bottle of Tavel rose.

The final main course was the pork and some boiled purple potatoes. I had ealier made some herb butter for the potatoes. The recipe for the pork was from Soba and it was damn good (the stuffing was onions, garlic, fresh apricots, Italian Sausage, bread crumbs, and an egg). I probably should have added another egg and some more bread crumbs because the stuffing was a little runny. We had two bottles of red burgundy with the pork.

Michelle then made the blueberry gratin and the hot chocolate, both of which were amazing. The gratin would have been better with some creme fraiche. Dessert wine was Moscato d' Asti.

I'll add more later after I've rested awhile.

[MatthewB]

I've not enough superlatives for the evening that Dean so graciously offered us.

I'll collect my thoughts & post in a bit.

My one regret: I didn't get a picture of Iris' face after she quaffed three hot chocolates. (Who can deny an adorable four year girl who grins & sedately asks, "More hot chocolate, please?" I know I can't.)

[guajolote]

My one regret:  I didn't get a picture of Iris' face after she quaffed three hot chocolates.    (Who can deny an adorable four year girl who grins & sedately asks, "More hot chocolate, please?"  I know I can't.)

I think I took one.

[maggiethecat]

Just another of Dean's Ho-Hum dinner parties!

Matthew, I want to hear sbout the vinaigrette, please. And your haul from the farmer's market has me seriously wistful. Dean, when you've had a little (well-deserved) nap, tell about the manufacture of tomato juice please.

And what company! Damn!

(Dean, this was a great idea for a thread .)

Edited August 24, 2003 by maggiethecat (log)

[MatthewB]

Pictures tomorrow!

The vinaigrette was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Approximately equal parts of EVOO & rice vinegar. A pinch of salt. A few generous grinds of black pepper. Four minced garlic cloves. About 1:6 ratio of fresh lemon juice to EVOO--perhaps a bit less lemon juice as I freehanded. About 2/3:1 ratio of whole milk to EVOO. (No dijon! With a nod to Mr. James Villas in his section on vinaigrette in "French Country Kitchen.")

The salad was my version of vengroff's "composed vegetable salad." I picked the best looking stuff that the hippie farmers had. Salad was quick blanched baby summer squash, sweet corn, heirloom sweet peppers, yellow beans, and then raw thin-sliced baby leeks & raw small-to-medium-sized heirloom tomatoes. Simple & all about the Heartland summer.

Edited August 24, 2003 by MatthewB (log)

[guajolote]

Just another of Dean's Ho-Hum dinner parties!  

Matthew and Michelle deserve their props too. They were amazing, both in helping me and making several of the courses. Michelle is also a Frisian cleaning fool, just like my Mom . I forgot to mention the great tunes.

Matthew, I could have sworn that you put some lemon juice in the dressing.

[MatthewB]

Matthew, I could have sworn that you put some lemon juice in the dressing.

Edited the above. That seem right, now?

[MatthewB]

Time for pictures.

Tuna tartare ala tommy.

Dean's signature seafood cocktail.

My composed summer vegetable salad ala vengroff.

The stuffed pork ala sobaddict70, prior to grilling.

The pork after grilling.

The pork after carving.

A close-up of said pork.

I don't have a yellow polo shirt. However, I did wear yellow socks.

[guajolote]

You can tell I took the picture of the sexy sox because it's yellow

Vino

Blueberry Gratin:

Hot Chocolate:

[guajolote]

tell about the manufacture of tomato juice please.

This is right up there with making sauerkraut difficulty-wise.

Cut tomatoes into quarters.

Heat up a pan.

Add 4 quarters to the pan.

Mash with a potato masher and heat until boiling.

When it starts to boil add another 4 quarters.

Repeat until all the tomatoes are added.

Season.

Strain.

I found a recipe that says to do it this way, but I think you could add all of the tomatoes at once.