February and Red

We, the Five Coursemen, picked red as the theme for February's dinner. I suppose it was fitting, as red is the unofficial official color of Valentine's Day, and therefore, the entire month. Heart-shaped food was not necessary, nor were pink jelly beans nor those gross cinnamon candies. This was an opportunity to explore the color red, perhaps one of the most important colors in food. Red is the color of blood, of meat, the food to which we humans owe our nice big brains. Red still inspires passion and intensity, expression and vitality. These are the emotions truly amazing food can inspire, both for the creator and the diner.

OK, maybe that's a bit intense, but you get the drift. We love food. We want it done well. I'd rather that people had more passion and inspiration for food, its creation, consumption, gathering, and growing, than guns, cars, shopping, or working. Food helps tell the story of those gathered around it. As Tolkien said, "If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much merrier world."

We welcomed new faces to our dinner, Abe, a foodie well-known to us, and a new friend, Kelly, who can't cook but doesn't mind eating.

Here's the menu:

Pre Dinner Cocktail

Bloody Mary with Spicy Salt Rim, Pickled Asparagus, and Lime and Horseradish Foam

Created By Abe

WOO! This Bloody Mary was bloody brilliant. And bloody hot. The entire drink was hot, bold, brave, and meant to get the juices flowing. Abe makes his own Bloody Mary mix (as should we all) and topped it with a horseradish and lime foam, which floated on top and gave every sip a sweet/zesty/spicy zing. Yet, the tomato kept the drink well-balanced. I'll never look at a Bloody Mary the same way again.

Appetizer
Homemade Port Wine Ricotta, Pork Rillettes, Dried Cherry Beaten Biscuits, and Cranberry Parsley Pesto
Created by Chelsea

Abe paired this dish with a Dry Rose wine from the French Appellation region

I love pork, cheese, port wine, cranberries and making pesto, so this dish was a real treat for me to create. I was interested in exploring food craftsmanship with this dish. I've longed to learn how to make my own cheese, and my ricotta delivered the flavors of black peppercorns and port in a creamy, rich package. Rillettes is an old school French dish, similar to pate. It involves slow-cooked meat, pulled or finely chopped, mixed with herbs, brandy and animal fat. It's traditionally served chilled or at room temperature, spread on fresh baguettes with cornichons. I served it in little shot glasses I got at Ikea. The cranberry pesto was something I thought of doing to offset the richness of cheese, pork and biscuits. I also thought it could replace the role of the cornichons, bringing some bite and tartness to the experience. It involved chopped dried cranberries, fresh parsley, pistachios, pomegranate seeds, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and fresh garlic. It tasted damn fine, and is also good tossed with some whole wheat angel hair and Parmesan, if I do say so myself. I'll post up a recipe soon!

Soup

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Bisque Topped with Crisp Shallots, Fresh Thyme, and Grilled Cheese Truffle Butter Crouton

Created by Nikki

Paired with: Dry German Riesling

Nikki made for us a roasted tomato and roasted red bell pepper bisque. She topped it with a crouton which was broiled with cheddar cheese and truffle butter, crispy shallots and fresh thyme. The soup itself was vibrant, and is what I'd call tomato soup for grown-ups. No sickly sweet high fructose corn syrup nonsense here, folks! Roasting the tomatoes and red bell pepper helped the vegetables develop their natural sugars, which balanced out the brightness of the red bell pepper, and kept the tomato from becoming overly acidic. It was Joy. A smile in a little pretty cup. The crouton was reminiscent of a grilled cheese sandwich, which I broke apart into the soup to suck up more delicious flavor. The truffle butter was faint against the bright flavors of the soup, but lent an elegance to an otherwise simple dish. Crisp shallots gave a crispy crunchy texture and the scent of fresh thyme made it a full sensory experience.

Palette Cleanser of Pomegranate Mojito Granita

Created by Abe

A palette cleanser? Why haven't we thought of this before? This is why we invited Abe. While a picture does not exist of this, it was a refreshing little sigh of crisp pomegranate flavor to get our tongues ready for the rest of the meal.

Main Course

Red Wine, Pineapple and Chile Braised Chicken with Rice

Created by Jocelyn and Nicole

Paired with 2006 Rosa Regale

In an interesting twist, first course and main course were presented together as one offering. Jocelyn marinated the chicken in chilies and whole pineapple. Pineapple's acidity breaks down protein, and had the effect of making the chicken incredibly tender, as if it had been cooking for hours. The sauce was finished off with pineapple juice, roasted garlic cloves, salsa, a dizzying array of chilies, and red wine. It was extremely flavorful, and it was great to have rice to help soak up the sauce. Personally, I would have liked a pitcher of it and just drink it. I'd put it on eggs, braise pork shoulder in it, saute spinach with it, whatever! Just give me more! Joss garnished with chopped cilantro and cotija cheese, which really brought out the red of the sauce.

Dessert

Red Sweets Sampler, Including Red Velvet Cocoa, Red Wine Cake, Lambic Sorbet, and Vanilla Bean Marscapone with Cherry Peppers

Created by Bonni

Paired with Portuguese Tawny Port

Bonni created this dessert sampler using a variety of innovative flavors, techniques and ideas. From left to right, we have Red Velvet Hot Cocoa, Vanilla Bean Marscapone with Cherry Peppers, Red Wine Cake, and Lambic sorbet. The Red Velvet Hot Cocoa was a revelation. If god sent down red velvet hot cocoa instead of rain, it might, might, make a believer out of me. It was SO rich, and offset by a little salt she added. Certain guests (Eddie) poured themselves a whole mug! Needless to say, there wasn't any left by the end of the night.

Bonni wanted to experiment with combining hot and sweet flavors, and I'll say I didn't mind being her taste tester for the Marscapone and Cherry Pepper combination. Bonni makes her own vanilla extract, so we always have a vanilla bean or two around, and it was put to great effect with this. The red wine cake was like a little pillow of rich delight. It was slightly more savory and earthy than the average chocolate cake which I liked. Last but not least, the Lambic sorbet. If you don't know what Framboise Lambic is, you're missing a part of your soul you haven't known was missing yet. It's a Belgian beer brewed with raspberries, and it's the best drink that's ever existed. The best-known brand is Lindemans, and I've been drinking it since I was pretty young (12) when my parents would bring it home. She made it with fresh raspberries, and it was tart, sweet, cold and fruity.

After Dinner Drink

Cinnamon Candied Apple Martini

Jim Bean, Sour Apple Liquor, Cinnamon Schnapps, and Hibiscus Cranberry Juice

Created by Abe

If I couldn't have Framboise anymore, and had to drink one other alcoholic drink, it'd be this. I'm serious, that's how much I liked it. Whiskey, apples, cinnamon, and cranberry. Hi, those are all my favorite things. Abe already knocked it out of the park with his wine pairings, the mojito, Bloody Mary and glowing personality, but after this beverage I was ready to give him my first-born. My hand remained wrapped possesively around my glass, fork poised to strike out at any who might take it. Is this madness? No! This is Sparta! Martini Sparta! Loathe to he who pilfers my beverages. Thrice I see you and thrice you are denied!

Once again, we broke the voting into three categories: Best Interpretation of Theme, Best Presentation, and Best Overall. I am pleased to say I took home Best Overall (though I didn't really have to take it home since I was already home...whatever), Bonni took Best Presentation and Abe walked away with Best Interpretation of Theme.

Please watch out for the next episode, in which the Five (six? seven?) Coursemen deal with secret ingredients, including Bread in a Can, Butterscotch Pudding, Spam, Parsnips, and Kool Aid.

Cranberry Pesto

As people might have noticed, I'm kind of a pesto freak. I love pesto. And this cranberry pesto really brought the house down. It has vivacious colors, intense flavors and works well in a lot of different dishes. I wish I could take complete credit for this masterpiece, but I adapted the recipe from Steamy Kitchen. There are some changes to mine, though. I don't use a food processor to make pesto since I like a more rustic consistency.

Equipment:

A rock-y knife (see Arugula Pesto post)
a cutting board (obvs)
Spoon
Bowl

Ingredients:

Parsley - finely chopped
Dried cranberries - finely chopped
Pomegranate seeds - left whole (optional, as they are extremely seasonal)
1 clove of fresh garlic - smashed and chopped finely (adjust as desired)
Chopped roasted pistachios (or pecans, which I used once when I couldn't find my pistachios)
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil
A LITTLE balsamic vinegar. A LITTLE bit.

Yeah...no cheese! Omg it's vegan. I accidentally made something vegan!

The proportions are: 1 part parsley, 1 part dried cranberries, 1/4 to 1/2 part pomegranate seeds, 1/4 part chopped nuts. Of course adjust this for flavor and your preferences. Mix in enough oil to get it to the consistency you want, and add a little touch of the vinegar. It's strong stuff and you don't want a lot. Pour it into a separate spoon if that helps.

I tossed this with some capellini and topped with Parmesan cheese. I imagine it would make a unique and striking bruscetta topping, and good over some grilled pork chops. Enjoy!

Easy aurugula pesto

Hey folks, it's been a while since we've had a post here, so I figured I'd freshen things up with an extremely easy recipe.

Pesto is seriously one of the easiest things to do. All you really need, gear-wise, is a knife with a curved blade, a cheese grater, a cutting board, a bowl and a spoon. I use this: http://www.alaskafurexchange.com/images/ulus/7BU_7BE.jpg

Or you can use something with a curved blade that will let you rock it back and forth, like this: http://www.jlhufford.com/images/shun-classic-rocking-knife.jpg

Ingredients wise, since it's a raw sauce and has very few ingredients, it's important to get the best quality ingredients you can possibly lay your hands on. Whole Foods has really awesome Parmesan cheese. It's salty, pungent, buttery and nutty. It's way, way more flavorful than literally every other Parmesan or "Parmesan" I've ever had. If it's too expensive for you, you can get it from Trader Joe's, but don't get that crap they sell at Ralph's or Albertson's. That waxy, pale, bland crap will make your pesto lack-luster.

You'll also need wild arugula, olive oil (NO "lite" olive oil please, get something that tastes good!), pepper (fresh cracked please), fresh garlic (no little friends growing out of the top of the cloves!) and salt. Walnuts or pinenuts are optional. I almost never remember to add them. Whatevs.

Directions:

Grab a handful of arugula (you got the wild, prewashed kind from TJ's, right?), ball it up firmly and start chopping through it until it's fairly fine, like the chop that's on cilantro you'd get at the Mexican restaurant. http://www.cookthink.com/images/Article/626/658_.jpg Like the parsley on the left. It doesn't even have to be that fine, if you don't want. This is where the rocky-knife comes it. It makes it so easy just to rock back and forth over the arugula until it's at the right size.

Chop a bunch of the arugula, a handful at a time. I'll usually do two or three handfuls. Put it all in a bowl. Now, smash, peel and finely chop one or two garlic cloves. Put the garlic in the bowl, and now grate (using the FINE grade on the grater) a bunch of parmesan over the mixture. So, if I did two or three handfuls of arugula, I'd do a handful of parmesan. Give it a shot of pepper, mix it up and start to pour in the olive oil. There is no right or wrong way to do this. If you want a lose pesto, pour in more. If you want it drier, use less. Use your judgement. Now taste it. Needs salt? Add salt, or more parmesan. Too much garlic? Add a little more arugula.

See? You're done, and this probably took like ten or fifteen minutes.