Last night's Ladies Who Dine hosted by moi was lots o fun, if I say so myself. I had been hoping that by mid-September we'd be having cooler weather so I could do some serious cooking. It was a warmer day, but I persevered.
The menu :
Sliced Beefsteak and Pineapple tomatoes from the greenmarket
Steamed shrimp with remoulade
Mustard greens, black eyed peas, and cornbread
vanilla ice cream with drunken apricots, shortbreads and pecan cookies (thanks Kate!)
The tomatoes were spectacular, especially the pineapple variety which was a lovely yellow with swirls of orange and green in the flesh. For the shrimp, I followed the classic recipe on the
Here's a picture of the main. I finally remembered that I have a camera!
The blackeyed peas and cornbread were a big hit, and even the greens made a convert. The secret is BACON! Bacon makes everything better. Other than that, there is no trick. I split a pound of bacon between two pots and started to render the fat over a low heat. Into one pot went 3 cans of black eyed peas (can-juice rinsed off) and about a cup of water, into the other went the washed, stemmed, and torn mustard greens (2 bunches) with only the water clinging to the leaves. Cover both, cook for at least an hour over low heat. Stir occasionally, add water as needed.
The cornbread is a family recipe, which I'm not sure I'm allowed to divulge, but here are the important parts. There is no sugar in my family's version. The egg and milk should be room temperature. Cook it in an iron skillet that's been in the oven while it preheats with 1T of vegetable oil in it, the batter should sizzle a bit when you pour it into the pan. Do not overcook, you want the outside crispy and the inside very moist, about 15 minutes should do it.
The drunken apricots are the delightful byproduct of an apricot liqueur that I make following this recipe:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=226299
This year's version used raw sugar, which I think improved the flavor greatly.
Thanks y'all! I'm looking forward to next month! :-)
Didn't even know we had one in my hood. I checked out Vinacciolo http://www.vinacciolonyc.com last night with a few friends and can recommend it as a nice spot to drop in for a few drinks. They have a nice selection of appetizers and a few mains if you're inclined to stay for dinner. The wine list is interesting and not outrageous (by NYC standards) and gives you the option of getting a half-glass (3 oz) or a full glass of many wines as well as their by the bottle selections. I chose the Vin De Pique Nique, a French organic white to start; it had the honeyed apples pears and peaches as advertised and was bright and fresh with a hint of fizz. A very nice start. My second wine was also enjoyable and organic, the Fabula Rossa Montereggio "Maremma" from Italy; I definately got the dark fruits and leather, but didn't taste the chocolate or violets. Not a problem.
The three of us shared the saffron rice balls, the pate de campagne, and a selection of 5 cheeses (I recognized a standard chevre, morbier, and assagio, and there was also a nice blue and camembert, but I couldn't tell you which ones). The rice balls could have been more highly spiced but the cheese and pate were just as one would want. To finish we split a chocolate ganache ... which was just that, a slab of chilled ganache on a plate with some creme Anglais and a few berries. Good for when you need that intense chocolate fix. It went quite nicely with my vin santo.
The Omnivore's Hundred is a list of foods the gastronomic Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives.
The rules of the meme:
1) bold those you have tried
2) strikethrough those you wouldn't eat on a bet.
2a) Italicize any item you'll never eat again.
2b) Asterisk any items you'd be interested in trying but have not yet.
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