Cooking with Food and Wine

[cheeseandchocolate]

WHAT an evening! I'll leave it to someone else to chronicle the (many) dishes prepared and consumed, but suffice it to say that I am very much looking forward to the leftovers I snagged (thanks, Laurel, for the plastic containers!).

Abra, a million thanks for organizing this, and Steve, you were very brave to turn over your beautiful kitchen to us! It was wonderful to meet some new eGulleteers and to see some familiar faces...

Again, WHAT an evening.

Ahh, eGullet.

[Abra]

Thanks to all who attended and made our Spanish fiesta such a fabulous success! I have lots of nice pictures, but am giving Food and Wine first pick of them, since I don't want to post pictures here that will be appearing on the F&W website. As soon as they let me know which ones they want, I'll be posting the rest of them here.

I thought the food was exceptional, even for an eG event. It's such fun to know so many really excellent cooks, and be on the tasting end of your magic.

[SeaGal]

A big thank you to Abra for coming up with the idea, organizing and taking pictures; to Steve for opening up his home to us; and to everyone for making such beautiful food. It was all wonderful--so many delicious new dishes to add to my files, and also some really nice Spanish wines. Thanks to all!

Jan

Edited January 24, 2005 by SeaGal (log)

[rockdoggydog]

Thanks to Abra for organizing and Steve for hosting! This was a great idea. I had a great time and enjoyed some truly wonderful food and wine! BTW I promised some fried shallots to two people at some point but I can't remember who. If I promised you fried shallots please PM me and we can work out getting them to you.

Rocky

Edited January 24, 2005 by rockdoggydog (log)

[little ms foodie]

I can't wait to see the pictures of everything!! Man I wish we would have been able to join in the fun. What a great idea Abra, I hope it will continue maybe with other interesting magazine features.

[white lotus]

My family and I had a wonderful time. Saying thankyou to you all for such great food and company seems very small in comparison. Steve, as always, you are a brave soul for having us. Sorry about the broken wine glass. Abra, what a great event! The leftovers are all gone now. My daugher wants me to make the leek recipe again. I think that the romanesco sauce will probably be something that we will make on a regular basis. I am still in awe of how many quails legs lined that platter of Chef Wendy's. More than a dozen animals lost their lives for that one. I sampled more Spanish cheeses that night. I hope Rocky will list what all was served. The potato and the cauliflower dishes were also outstanding. I am an Asian who does not really like fish but I have to say the mackeral and asparagus dish was very tasty. Fwed outdid himself with his deconstructed custard/puff pastry dessert as well as all the homemade chocolate and fruit gel candies. Thank you Fwed for letting me bring home the leftover chocolates to my daughter. I have left out many more outstanding dishes. I can't wait for the photos. Hopefully, my fellow eG party folk will fill in the rest of the details. I hope that we can all get together again soon. Hopefully, this will not be the last of the great eG events. Take care for now. Sincerely, WL

[22tango]

WOW! I'm eagerly awaiting the report + pics of all the FUN! I've been vicariously enjoying this thread and the build-up towards your event -- even getting my own copy of the Feb Food & Wine so I could read up on what was on the menu!

Don't keep us waiting much longer!!!!!

I hope I'll have the opportunity to join in future events once we're finally back in Seattle this summer after what feels like an interminable time (4 years for graduate school) away. Thankfully reading the PNW board has kept me sane, although very (drool) envious too!

[Foodie-Girl]

I know I missed a fantastic party...Can't wait to see the pictures!

[chefwendy]

Hey! Homies (sorry, I wk in the bk of the house with several rappers, hip-hoppers & maby the soon to be famous/infamous drummer, Dread-see sledgeback.com or recently released CD Sledgeback, the People's Choice-please buy his CD-I need him to become famous, so I can sell stories & pics. to the Star Mag, etc. to finance my future restaurant),

Big nite!!!-as I said that evening, "a bright light shone above Ballard in the darkness of our present world"-some choice memories for me: a group of aquaintances & strangers come together, from all walks of life and cook up a storm in harmony, with four burners and two ovens "smoking," producing such highlites, as the pea soup, use of "caliente" woks to produce super Spanish dishes, on the part of two parties, Sea gal & Abra's dishes, the cauliflower gratin, bread, chocolate, sea salt, olive oil combo, chicken with dried fruits, White lotus' beautifully pared down leeks, cooked to perfection, Steve's yummy garlicky prawns: everyone of us was brillant! I'll never forget Fwed's ingenious shrine to scrumptous fruit jellies, the witty conversation, Steve's musical selections in the background & taking a moment to play catch with Elllie, Steve's dog, on the front lawn, in the dark, while the gourmands, were in the house...

Hey, Hey, White Lotus (carnivore: I've eaten many a meat dish with you...), whats up with the "I wonder how many animals died??? for my dish??? 18 to be precise. My dish was a simple one, so I needed to get some sort of challenge out of it-frenching the legs took 17 mins-. Sigh, if you're eating meat, let's face it, at one time it was alive. Taking a former farmer's view of it, the birds came from Whole Foods:humane living conditions: eating, running etc. to their heart's content, they assure us & my nephew, who worked at a quail farm, while attending Moo U, can testify, their intellectual capacity, is slighty more than a turkey, maby less at times-did we not eat lamb, pork,etc. at the same dinner? As far as plating, I often like to eschew the hypocrisy & see the whole fish, head on, etc. So hopefully, the dish was not too traumatic for ya .... Sigh, good thing I didn't have access to the heads, or I might have done something "European" with them....

Well, it's back to kitchen chaos in the morn,

Take care all & remember " for that brief moment in time & space "we rocked"

Chef Wendy

Edited January 26, 2005 by chefwendy (log)

[geoff]

By the way, the December 29, 2004 New York Times Food section had a feature titled, "Take a Cup Of Tapas Yet For Auld Lang Syne," a rather cryptic title for a fun, informative article about serving tapas. Included are recipes for simple, flavorful bites like Pear and Cabrales Canapes, Anchovy and Piquillo Pepper Roll-Ups, Chorizo with Sherry Finish, and Paprika Shrimp. There's detail on how to serve each (spear with stylish toothpicks and serve on a platter), advance preparation tips, and advice on what to drink alongside. Check the midnight grape sparkler, Spanish sparkling wine iced with frozen red grapes.

Edited January 26, 2005 by geoff (log)

[Abra]

Ok! Food and Wine has chosen the images to accompany the article that will soon appear on their website describing our extravaganza, and here are the rest. I'll be sure to post here about when the F&W article is going up, as soon as I know. Some of the nicest pictures, naturally, will be there rather than here, so don't despair if your dish doesn't appear in this thread.

So, we started off with assorted appetizers, Spanish cheese and sausages, bread, olive oil, and Cabrales Phyllo Tartlets with Sherry Sauce Drizzle. Those photos are going to be on F&W so you just have to imagine how delicious they were, and how they sustained our famishing members whilst many dishes were prepared a la minute in Sparrowsfall's kitchen.

here's Laurel prepping some gorgeous chard

and the resulting delicious Smoky Chard Saute.

Chefwendy sears 18 tiny quails

and exhausted from her labors, presents the finished dish to her appreciative audience.

Here's Rockdoggydog slaving over Saucy Clams and Shrimp with Wild Mushrooms,

and Sparrowsfall with his Garlicky Shrimp with Olive Oil

This is Laurel's picturesque prep of Mackerel Escabeche with Asparagus and Artichoke Hearts. To see the finished dish you'll have to wait for F&W to publish it.

Cheeseandchocolate prepared this fabulous Cauliflower Gratin with Manchego Cheese and Almond Sauce ahead of time,

so all she really had to do was sit around and sample olive oil

Heyjude made this yummy Rotisserie Chicken with Dried Fruits and Pine Nuts

These decadent Twice Baked Potatoes with Tetilla and Urgelia Cheese were made for us by SeaGal

These are Pork in Adobo Sauce and Lamb Meatballs with Mint, made by Abra and SeaGal respectively.

Here I am, looking really hot and blurry. That dish has a little of pretty much everything we had.

Here are Shel, chefwendy, and Ed, with possibly Richard in the background, getting started sampling the earliest dishes.

SeaGal demonstrating to White Lotus how she cleans the sand out of leeks

Plating up FWED's lemon cinnamom flan napoleons, a riff on the original F&W recipe

and fruit jellies and chocolates also hand made by FWED and extremely popular with us all, even after we were practically stuffed to death.

There were other dishes, other photos, and for those you'll have to read the Food and Wine article. But what I have to say here is that this was one of the most fun and interesting eGullet events I've attended so far. The coherent menu with its well-synchronized flavors, the use of so many good Spanish ingredients, the novelty of the dishes, limiting ourselves to wines from one country, and the spirit of adventure with which we all entered into this project were a thrill! What will we do for an encore?

[little ms foodie]

You guys that is FANTASTIC!!! Even more sad now that we couldn't come. I'm so impressed that the dinner will be in F&W. I'll be bragging to all my friends about you!!!!

[Ling]

That meal looks absolutely fantastic! Everything looked delicious. I am especially drooling over the lamb meatballs, the pork, the twice-baked potatoes, the napoleons and chocolates...WOW!

[bbqer]

Everything did indeed look fantastic, especially Fwed's lemon cinnamon flan napoleons. I was drooling over the pictures of those and the hand-made chocolates. I guess I have a sweet tooth this morning. You are all food artisans and this was a great concept, Abra.

[laurel]

I was walking past Lampreia this morning, and I had an idea about what to get together and cook next... what do people think about the Lampreia apple tasting menu cookbook?

http://www.tastingmenu.com/allaboutapples/default.htm

[Abra]

Laurel, I LOVE this idea! But we've got to do it before the apples give way to summer fruits. I'm ready!

[little ms foodie]

That is an awesome idea!

[rockdoggydog]

I started reading the book and it sounds delicious. Great suggestion Laurel.

Rocky

[Abra]

I downloaded the book too, and can't wait to get started. Laurel - want to start a new thread?