For the first course I made a pot of Onion Soup. This recipe includes lots of onions obviously, port, balsamic vinegar, a heart attack inducing amount of butter, slab bacon (which Wegmans does not have freaking have!), bouquet garni, crouton, and a mound of Gruyere. I find any dish that requires me to use a butane torch is all that much more pleasurable to make. I have a really shitty gas broiler in my dwelling and the torch is necessary to get that nice brown on the cheese.
Second course was Coquilles St Jacques. Basically this dish is dry scallops, again a ton of butter (this is French food after all), more heavy cream than a human should consume in one sitting, Fumet, shallots, chives and some champagne.
Both of these dishes are quite simple to make. The hardest part really is getting my crummy equipment to cooperate. It's a real PTA to get that nice brown color on my scallops with a beat up sauté pan and gas range that just doesn't put out the required amount of Btu's for the job.
I love that cookbook. I haven't made anything out of it in ages, though.
Hmmm... Didn't I make those scallops last Thanksgiving? I'm having a hard time remembering because I was really sick that whole week. That sucked. Hopefully this year will be better. I need to remember to dig out the real cold weather clothes before we fly up...
Damn. I want that cookbook - Bourdain is a hero of mine.
jbeatty who ARE you and why aren't you at MY house on sunday night cooking me dinner!?
jbeatty, please, pleeeeease invite me over for dinner?????
calamari rings and okra
It looks pretty delicious. You are a true chef. :)
Fake chef that I am, I am sure I would die of guilt eating so much butter. I really envy you, because I often shortchange all my dishes. I bend and hammer recipés so that I can get the butter out. In fact, my kitchen often does not have butter or sugar. In spite of the many exhortations from my mum/dad to cook "true", I wander all along the substitute path and innovate with not-so-great results. But I am good at pretending that all that butter-cutting has resulted in an awesome dinner and ooh and ah over things which have barely a tsp of oil and would taste like crap to normal people. :)
Oh well. Maybe I should change my substituting ways...
(e:paul) Thank you! it turned out well.
(e:jim) Sounds like a plan, except for the fact that I live in a shoebox that could only accommodate maybe five people if we crammed in.
(e:james) What does a typical post briss dinner menu consist of?
Will you cater our dog's briss?
Damn, that looks so yummy, fantastico.
I think the next (e:strip) dinner will be at your house. You don't mind cooking for 20 people do you?