Last Night's Dinner
Over the last year, and the last six months in particular, my dinner parties have gotten more elaborate. Whereas I used to have two basic courses (not counting appetizers), it's now fairly routine for me to have four, which includes neither the appetizer nor the mignardise course that comes after dessert.
This normally works fine, but last night was the first time since this change that we've had vegetarians over. This makes things a bit tougher, since you can't rely on a meat course. But I decided to give it a shot anyway. I imposed two rules on myself: no fake meat, and no pasta (the standard escape hatch for "what do I serve the vegetarians").
Here's the menu, with my notes:
I discovered pumpkinseed oil at a tasting of German, Austrian and Champagne wines. This stuff is delicious, thick and brown. It tastes to me like liquid peanut butter, and provides something different than the trite (though undeniably good) extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar (Modena, not the traditional stuff, which is never trite).
Eggs cocotte may be the second easiest French dish to prepare (the first being steamed mussels). You break some eggs into a ramekin (without breaking the yolk), and put those in a bain-mairie on the stovetop. Cook until done (about three minutes with the water at a low boil). Serve.
We had them at a brasserie in Paris recently, and fell in love. The version we had there was covered with a tarragon cream sauce. In a nod to that presentation, I garnished the eggs with three fried tarragon leaves, arranged in parallel. This was based on a faddish garnish from last year, fried sage leaves. Frying brings out tremendous flavor and color in the tarragon leaves, but you only need to leave them in the hot oil for a few seconds.
The wine was actually dictated by the next course. Under normal circumstances, I might have served this with a light red, a Merlot or a Beaujolais, the classic wine of the Parisian brasserie. But I knew we were having a white with the next course, and I don't feel like I know enough about wine to know when to safely violate the rule of "whites, then reds." Thinking back on it, a rose from the Languedoc or Provence areas might have been nice, but instead I just used the wine intended for the next course.
This was my main course, and I was pretty happy with the way it came out. The risotto was just a basic risotto that I made the night before (with a strong vegetable stock), and formed into patties with the help of a circular cookie cutter. Then I dredged them in egg, then in finely ground hazelnuts, and fried the whole thing in clarified butter.
For plating it, I laid out the shaved fennel, put julienned strips of red pepper on top, drizzled tomato oil and fennel oil over the top, did shaved pieces of Capricious aged goat cheese (see earlier post), and then laid the risotto cakes on top of everything. It looked great, and the wine went nicely, which helped add weight to the theory that Gruner Veltliner goes well with veggies.
Reblochon. Mmmm. Reblochon is a wonderful cheese from the Savoie region of France, and so I was happy to hear the woman at the Cheese Board (Berkeley's--probably the Western United States's--finest cheese shop) say that the ones they had in were in peak condition. If made strictly according to government regulations, Reblochon would be illegal for import, because it is made from raw milk and aged for 55 days. But some producers will hold theirs the extra 5 days so that they can be brought into the U.S.
The wine I discovered at a tasting of 54 German, Austrian, and Champagne wines. When my wine teacher explained balance, I thought I understood. But when I drank the four Donhoff Spatlese wines that were there, I really understood. Everything in this wine is in harmony, and it is a blissful experience. As we were getting towards the end of the meal, a sweeter wine seemed appropriate, and this wine is semi-sweet. An interesting point: more and more people who think about such things are arguing that for most cheeses, white wine is actually a better partner. Reds seem to work best with aged dry cheeses. The white wine doesn't dominate the cheese, but can stand up to it, and the acidity cuts through the fat very nicely.
This idea came from a convergence of ideas. The French Laundry cookbook has a similar recipe, as does the Chez Panisse Fruit book. So I used my Cook's Illustrated recipe for vanilla ice cream, modified it a bit to accomodate the honey, and then baked the figs for 10 minutes in a 400-degree oven.
If you've never had traditional balsamic vinegar, drizzling it over ice cream might seem a little odd. But it works. Nicely. You'll never find the traditional stuff in supermarkets, small groceries, or even most specialty stores. It's getting harder to find even in the Bay Area, so I might have to look into mail order. It's expensive, but it's worth the time and money (you never need much to finish a dish). If you want to make sure you're getting the right stuff, just look for the word tradizionale. Only two consortia in Italy have the right to label their balsamic vinegar this way; others use the more forgiving "di Modena" on the label.
The wine was something I found up in Ashland, Oregon, when I told the guys in the wine store that I was from the Bay Area and wanted wines I'd never find down there. They recommended this as a nice dessert wine, and I'd have to agree. I thought that it should have been a little sweeter to go up against the baked figs and balsamic, but one of our dinner guests thought it complemented it perfectly. A good reminder that one can be snooty about food and wine all one wants, but in the end these are all subjective things. Nonetheless, this was a very satisfactory wine, a blend of Riesling, Muscat Ottenel, and Chardonnay, and a nice close to the meal.
I love the mignardise course, the little plate of confections one eats with ones coffee, at the end of the meal. The piped shortbread I had tried before, with not much luck, but last night I got it right (the right tip for the pastry bag was the key). My favorite shape was the spiral, because it came out looking like a rose or some other flower. But I also made S's, and U's, and little rosettes.
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