Menu Planning Questions

[marie-louise]

Improving my menu planning skills as I cook is my Cooking Goal for 2004. Well, this one has me stumped. I want to make this for a nice romantic dinner for two, but I'm having trouble deciding what, if anything, to serve as sides and/or what to serve as a first and a dessert. Please give me your thoughts, and please tell me why you are making this recommendation. I really want to learn more about what is a rather intuitive, sub-conscious process.

The main course is Bouillabaisse de Poulet [Chicken Stew w/ Fennel and Saffron] from Patricia Well's Bistro Cooking. It is a tomato-based chicken dish, containing garlic, onions, fennel, Pernod and saffron. It also contains quartered new potatoes cooked in the dish, but that doesn't appeal somehow-I was thinking of leaving those out. The recipe notes say that at the restaurant, it is served with grilled bread and rouille. Patricia Wells says she prefers hers without this. I was planning to serve it with the bread and rouille. It is supposed to be served in shallow bowls, so I am assuming that there is enough broth that the dish is rather soup-like. The chicken is thighs w/ legs attached.

My questions are this:

Assuming that I make the grilled bread and rouille, does the chicken dish need anything served with it? If so, what?

What would be a nice first-one for dead of winter, and one if I wanted to serve this on one of our foggy Bay Area summer evenings?

Dessert? Somehow something a little chocolate appeals-a pot de creme, perhaps?

Wine? Patricia Wellls recomends a chilled white wine like a Cassis from the fishing village near Marseilles. (If someone could translate that into a California wine that's close, I'd appreciate it.)

Thanks so much for your help!

Edited February 4, 2004 by marie-louise (log)

[josephreese]

The dish sounds wonderful on its own. I'd not serve a side, but would warm some untoasted bread for the table. Maybe ciabatta.

The romantic dinners my wife and I have shared have usually been very simple in preparation and presentation.

[melkor]

I'd serve a lighter style red wine with that - the Quivera dry creek cuvee we had last night would work well, as would a bottle of phelps le mistral.

If you feel like you need a veggie with the dish then something like sauteed spinach or another winter green would be a good bet.

[Jinmyo]

Fine as it is (with the grilled bread and rouille).

You could start with brandade though. With actual bouillabasse I often start with brandade on tuiles or wrapped in blanched Napa cabbage and chard with a bit of lardons.

Or a nice mesclun with a few grilled shrimp or scallops to start.

Or sauteed kale with quail eggs.

[dano1]

A simple winter salad(frisee, chickory, etc..) warm or cold, before or after as you prefer. A cheese flight would do fine for me. Possibly a small apple or pear tart on puff pastry with good vanilla ice cream to end.

Bouillabaisse is a dish unto itself, requiring no other sides IMO. Simple Bistro fare with menu reflecting is the way to go.

hth, danny

[ludja]

The stew sounds great; I haven't tried it yet but have cooked about half of the recipes in Wells Bistro Cooking with great success.

I also like the idea of a simple frisee/mesclun greens salad. Dressed with a nice lemon vingagrette. A nice addition to it if serving as a first course could be smoked trout. (I'd like something like this in summer or winter to contrast with the richness of the stew).

A good chocolate pot de creme sound very nice. (served in a pool of heavy cream).

For winter another idea from Bistro Cooking is the Prune and Armagnac Flan. For summer I would make Well's Raspberry Creme Fraiche Tart. It is excellent, easy to make and has become one of my 'go to' standards for dessert.

*I would definately make the toasted bread and rouille; it sounds very tempting with it*

edited to add: Brandade on tuiles sounds very intriguing Jinmyo as a first course. When it fits, for special meals, I like having seafood in the first course.

Edited February 4, 2004 by ludja (log)

[laurel]

A small salad with bitter greens as has been suggested previously sounds good to me. Especially in winter, I like citrus segments in salad for a little tartness to offset meaty and rich dishes (though the bouillabaise sounds like it has a bit of tartness itself).

[Callipygos]

I actually am going to be sacreligious and suggest going with fruit rather than chocolate. The first dinner I made for my beloved -- which probably counts as the most romantic of our meals (although, I believe this was largely in part due to the fact that it was very early in the proceedings -- this was that all-crucial "third date") I made a very simple sauteed pear dessert, where you sauteed sliced pears in butter, then when the pears were done, removed them and added some wine and cooked it down for the sauce. It's not as heavy as anything chocolate would be, and the simplicity is kind of in the spirit of the bistro theme.

I've made something similar with poached peaches, where you then cooked down some wine and sugar, and spiced with a cinnamon stick, a star anise piece and a couple juniper berries -- THAT was good. The recipe was in the HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING book and so should be easy to find.

[reesek]

agree on salad to start - sherry vinagrette is very nice with toasted pecans and thinly shaved manchego or (if you're lucky) truffled cheese - they have this at whole foods sometimes in the winter (spring?)...

alternatively - frissee salad with a poached quail egg and lardons is something i've always thought looked fabulous. there's a recipe in simple to spectacular

agree on accompaniments for the dish - rouille is good - i might serve softer bread (not thin toasts) like a hearty country bread. macrina potato to be exact.

dessert - berries and cream or creme brulee...? i'm ashamed to admit my love for the cliche brulee - but i do love my torch! and i think it's very sexy to share a dessert so i tend to make something decadent and just serve half portions.

[Mudpuppie]

I'm thinking some kind of sauteed artichoke thing for a side, though you probably don't need one. For me, that would go well with the fennel. Maybe it's a CA thing.

Dessert -- fruit crisp? It's a good time of year for it. The brightness of the fruit would complement the onset of spring (around here, the almond trees are starting to bloom), but the "crisp" part would sort of tie-in to the chilly weather we're still having.

Edited February 5, 2004 by Mudpuppie (log)

[marie-louise]

Thanks for all your ideas! Here's what I did-

First: Frisee salad w/ sauteed pancetta and an egg over easy on top. Simple oil & vinegar dressing, w/ a little extra vinegar on the egg. This was a great salad, but I think the egg was too much like the rouille in the following course. Whoever suggested grapefruit in the salad-that would have worked better (or orange sections.)

Main: This is a great recipe, although next time I'll make more liquid. I left out the potatoes, but they would have worked. I made hte BEST rouille ever-from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. It's simple and spicy.

Dessert: Made one of my favorites-Chocolate Pot de Creme. Even though it was creamy, it didn't seem wrong. A poached pear w/ chocolate would have been good, or chocolate dipped strawberries in the spring. After the bread in the main course, I'm not sure I would have wanted something w/ puff pastry. You know what would have been perfect-See's chocolate covered ginger and some espresso.

Hope you will be willing to keep helping me from time to time, and hopefully others will post their questions and comments to this thread. Who knows-this could be one of those threads that keeps on going and going...

[GordonCooks]

Yes to the Rouille

No to the Chocolate - maybe an apple crisp or tarte tartin would be a better match. I don't prefer anything chocolate after a heavily spiced or tomato based sauce.

Wine - Maybe a nice Tavel or Condreiu to match

[KarenS]

I read that the dinner already happened. I was going to suggest a salad of frisee, blood orange, and toasted walnuts, with maybe some red onion (and maybe a gorgonzola vinaigrette).

[marie-louise]

My next menu question:

Gravlax. I love the stuff, and make it well. My favorite way of serving it is on rye bread, with a tiny drizzle of an olive oil/ mustard sauce. What main courses would complement this best-in the summer and in the winter?