The Four Coursemen

It had been three weeks since our last dinner party. I was excited about this one, and I think that everyone else was as well. Earlier in the week Patrick and Eddie had come up with some ideas and upon seeing the menu my first response was “… hell yes!” This dinner was unusual in that we were completely finished before 9pm- a new record. I can remember dinners earlier in the year where I was cleaning until the late hours of the morning. Not so this time- start: 6:30pm, finish: 9:00pm. 18 people, 4 courses plus dessert.

Here is what we made:

• Steamed Mussels with a Watermelon Mignonette & Pickled Melon Rind
• Five Mushroom Soup
• Seared Mahi-mahi with Madeira Black Pepper Poached Pears & Parship Puree (that’s alot of p’s eh!)
• Whiskey Braised Pulled Pork with Sweet Potato Mash & Crispy Haricot Verts
• Apple Galette with Dulce de Leche & Calvados Ice Cream

It’s been three weeks since we’ve had a dinner party, but we haven’t been idle. September has been a busy month both socially and on the work front. We’ve been busy as well on smaller projects and events: house warming parties, birthdays, and hors d’œuvres for a local fashion show. It’s been very enjoyable, but cooking up lunch and a few hors d’œuvres doesn’t seem the same- we’ve missed doing a big dinner, and this week we plan to. Ace!

Above: Baked Roma Tomatoes with fresh Basil Pesto, Mache and Sunflower Sprout Salad with Cashews and Apples, and two open faced sandwiches: Portabello Mushroom, Mozzarella Sage on one, Asparagus, Prosciutto and Gruyère on the second. On right is another fantastic cake that Eddie made, with a Crème fraîche icing alongside Peaches and Raspberries.

Oh and since I’ve told everyone else I know… I’m super excited about my wee beets coming up!

I was hoping that we would start doing some “theme dinners” again, and sure enough, Eddie and Patrick came up with this wonderful set of lamb dishes for a dinner. We sat down at The National with Patrick to go over then menu and my first thought was “wow… Saturday is going to be a busy day!”. And indeed, it was quite a busy day, but the food was wonderful and everyone ate well and had a great time. I was also very happy with providing all the mint for the dishes. My mint plants were in dire need of a trim. Sadly Nancy couldn’t make it it so I had to fill in for her and did a rather poor job explaining the wines she picked out for our dishes. I think everyone was okay with it though and her pairings were spot on.

• Chilled Chickpea Soup with Tzatziki Sauce
• Candied Pistachio, Blue Cheese, Ground Lamb Salad with a Grapefruit Vinagrette
• Kofta with Tomato and Cucumber Sauces
• Lentil Crusted Lamb Carpaccio with Bitter Greens
• Lamb Phyllo Pastry with a Tomato Sauce
• Chocolate Cake with a Pomegranate Glaze and fresh Pomegranate Seeds

Revenge might be too harsh a word… let’s call it a challenge instead! This time we did something a bit different. It was Nancy’s birthday and we broke the normal tradition of bombarding her on Saturday for wine selections. This time around, she picked the wines for her birthday and we created dishes to match- I think we did pretty well! It’s shameful not to have the list of wines included here as they were all excellent, but I wanted to get the menu up. I’d also like to say thank you to everyone who came and tried some of the new and very different dishes we fixed. The sweetbreads were a first for me too!

• Proscuitto and Melon with a Sherry Vingarette
• Veal Sweetbreads with Pancetta Collard Greens
• Coffee and Tamarind Braised Pork with Polenta, Chocolate Mole, and Green Pepper Jam
• Quail with sauteed Spinach, Couscous and Plum Sauce
• Lemon Custard with Butter Cookies, Chocolate Port Truffles and a Rosewater Reduction

I’m nearly a week late in posting this! I haven’t been slacking, just very very busy with the day job… and The National opened this week.

It was another very late start on Saturday with eighteen of us to be at the table feasting that evening. I think eggs were in people’s head that afternoon because we had two dishes and dessert with egg in it. Some fast thinking and planning got us the following:

• Orange Chili Portabellos with Arugula and Simple Toast
• “Fried” Poached Egg Salad
• Empanadas (Phyllo Style)
• Asparagus, Poached Egg and Gruyere Open faced Sandwich
• Grilled Steak with Horseradish Crème fraîche, Grilled Corn and Leeks
• Lemon Semifreddo with Strawberry Jam Cookies

Picture coming!

This past Sunday, we had the huge pleasure of having a sneak peek of The National, a new restaurant opening in here in Athens. Our job: photos (lots of photos!) and to sample the wonderful food. And it really was wonderful- so wonderful in fact, that after tasting over twenty dishes I was still wanting more.

A few of my favorites from the menu:

• marinated local carrots
• hummus and tabbouleh with grilled flatbread
• marinated clams with orange-chile vinaigrette
• spinach salad with apple, marconas, Idiazabal and a sherry vinaigrette
• seared scallops with hazelnut brown butter and whipped white beans
• roasted Ashley Farms ½ chicken with crisp artichokes, chickpeas and okra, harissa and a lemon yogurt sauce
• hangar steak with patatas bravas, piquilo salsa and arugula with crushed almonds

In addition to the excellent and varied menu, The National boasts full bar with an excellent selection of wines and a large wine preservation system. I’ve found my new happy hour spot! The National opens this Wednesday, the 22nd.

TheNational
232 West Hancock Avenue
Athens, GA 30601
706.340.2063

I haven’t forgotten to post about our dinner on Saturday. It’s coming!

Work has been a bit slower this week- people at the office are out of town, clients are out of town, and it’s incredibly hot. So I’ve been going through the hundreds of photos taken over the last few months and decided to put together a small slide show of some random images. Enjoy, and keep yourself cool!

Confession. We had no idea what we were going to fix for this dinner until about 2pm on Saturday. Well, not entirely true… it had been over 100° F every day for the last week, so I had wanted to make some Tomato Consumme like I had a few weeks ago as a nice refreshing start to the evening. Beyond that it was completely up in the air. So while I made our consumme early Saturday afternoon we all sat down and came up with the following:

• Cold Tomato Consomme with Basil Flowers
• Beet Carpaccio with Truffle Crème Fraîche and Arugula
• Herbed Squash with Black Pepper Fettuccine and Mascarpone
• Pâté
• Lemon Granité
• Onions stuffed with Chantrelles, Roasted Red Pepper and Rice
• Plum, Walnut and Fennel Pork Roulade with a Spicy Plum Sauce and Braised Brussel Sprouts
• Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

I had to leave early after the pâté was served, but was left packing the makings for the stuff onions and a promise of roulade and cake for Sunday. Thankfully the promise was fulfilled and I enjoyed three helpings of the Roulade and two slices of cake!

Today is also the day that I finish up the orange bitters that I started making nearly a month ago. The final steps are done and it’s now time to whip something up, and I’m thinking a taste test of my bitters vs. Angostura would be a good start. Manhattans? Yes please!

Wow. A bit late in posting this, but it has been a busy week. Since I’m fudging the date on this post, I’ll write in somewhat present tense… here we go! For this week’s dinner we thought- French and all the wonderful things that brings to the table. It was a wonderful evening for 14 of us. Matt (our favorite guest chef) was there as well and helped prepare a wonderful course. 5 courses in all, with an amazing dessert that was a tricky thing to make, but so very tasty. Here is what we made:

• Tuna Tartare with Homemade Beet Chips
• Chantrelle Toasts and Provencal Tomatoes
• Crepes with Chantrelles and Gruyere Topped with Black Truffle Mashed Potatoes and Tarragon Oil
• Poached Fish with Pearl Onions, Carrots, and Peas with a Beurre Rouge Sauce
• Steak au Poivre
• Orange Chocolate Gran Marnier Soufflé

So I had been reading about these pickled red onions in my copy of the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and having seen photos of them here and here I had to make them. They are every bit as good as I had been hoping they would be. Sublime flavor. The day before I had made a batch of green bean pickles which were excellent, but the combination of flavors and texture in these red onions really set them apart. Not to mention the color. Hot pink.

Enjoyed them last night with some grilled apple and cherry pork sausage, fresh mixed greens with a lemon honey dressing and a cold Weihenstephan. Ace!