Whole Lotta Cheffing... (Poubelle Winter Feed 2005)
For the 6th year in a row, I have had the honour to be part of the chef's staff at the Poubelle Winter Feed. For those just joining the broadcast, this is our friend Tom's annual Winter dinner party celebrating his birthday. The only twist is that he (and we) cook for a houseful of friends.
This year's affair broke some records and achieved some milestones:
- this was the tenth annual Winter Feed
- we made 20 dishes this year, a new record
- Tom's mom came out to the dinner for the first time (his father, a professor in St. Louis, had to finish up the fall semester back there...)
- Tom turned 40 this year
For me, it was the third time of being the lead sous-chef on the kitchen crew and the second time of having the same crew (Tim, Meriko, Derrick) which made it an even more familiar kitchen. Here's the crew and Tom at the end of the evening...
We fed 38 people, made 50 souffles (more on that in a minute), grilled a whole bunch of quail and all had a rewarding, tiring, foot-numbing good time.
Check out the "Continue reading about..." URL below for some intimate details. Also check out Tom's Butter Pig blog, a set of pictures by LeeAnn and some by Melissa...you can match up the photos to the menu below....ok, onto the details...
For the past few years, there has been an apps, "seafood", "meats" and dessert course for the Poubelle Winter Feed. Those two in the middle have quotes around them as we also do compilmentary vegetarian dishes for our friends who are, not surprisingly, vegetarians. This year, things were a bit different with a larger apps course (complete with a second-year-in-a-row "fussy individually plated dish"), a sorbet interlude and a few less desserts...kind of. (Most of the dishes below are pictured here...).
Apps
1. Gougères
- Pate a choux and cheese pastry (paired with Kir Royale - champagne and currant liquor)
2. Foie gras terrine (pain de mie, watercress salad, truffle oil)
- the whole reason why this party started in the first place, ten years ago. I got to plate this this year and Meriko and I ended up taking the watercress and turning it into a bouquet
3. Butternut squash soup
4. Dueling Souffles
This was the "fussy individually plated dish" for the year (we did a French Laundry-inspired "steak and eggs" dish last year...).
So..two souffles:
- a stout, sharp cheddar and onion souffle
- a mussel souflee (with a meyer lemon, saffron, chardonay cream sauce)
Two souffle batters, 50 tiny foil souffle cups, lots of checking the oven for doneness, lots of happy people...I cooked off the mussels earlier in the day in a straight "moule" style, steamed with shallots and white wine. They were then chopped finely and the pot liquor reserved for the souffle batter.
5. Strawberry salad with jicama, spinach, cukes, light vinegarette w/ lime
We did this last year and it is quite possible the most refreshing salad ever. Tart and a hint of sweet...
"Seafood" course
1. Lobster rolls (with Sauce Americaine)
Earlier in the day, Tim and I wrestled with these, assembling and rolling up about 36 of them. Filo dough is a pain for the first five minutes and then it gets kind of fun. Kind of. The sauce on the other hand was a large quantity of lobster stock reduced down to practically nothing (for a moment, we thought we had taken it TOO far). A large knob of lobster buttter was added until the sauce was thickened and beautiful.
2. Herb Gnocchi (with summer squash, zucchini, red onion, small tomatoes, and basil)
3. Sesame Crusted Fish With Lime Ginger Cream
Tim had the "guest" dish this year which was a bit of a production getting all the component bits together but once plated...damn, was it good. Go here and scroll down to see it come together...
4. Curried Cauliflower Gratin
Interlude
1. Black Raspberry and Rosemary Sorbet
Our interlude...scooped *carefully* into a whole buttload of tiny sake cups the day before, this was very flavorful and a nice break to the meal. It was an interesting trick to get all 50 or so of these cups back into an overstuffed freezer covered up enough so they wouldn't soak up any of the other flavors from the freezer. The gyrations we went though were hilarious but untimately worth it.
"Meats" Course
1. Grilled Quail, Sauce Foyot
Oh my...again, quite a production getting these prepped but worth every feather-plucking, quail-stuffing, wringing-hands-over-grilling minute. These were stuffed with a mixture of sliced prosciutto, bread cubes, porcini, and lemon zest - trussed and pinned then grilled over an open fire. Janet got into the act providing light for the soon-to-be fully-deboned and consumed quail.
2. Artichokes and Mushrooms
These were fired quickly in white wine then butter and some stock added to create the sauce. These literally disappeared the moment they were put out...since I cooked them off, I only got to taste for seasoning, alas...
3. Wild Mushroom "Cassoulet"
Of all the dishes Tom has invented, this one is the most innovative and deceptively delicious. Deceptive from the fact that it tastes like it has a bunch of meat in it (true cassoulet has lots of diffeent meat in it) but has absoultely none. The dish is completely vegetarian. Smoked peppers and a severely reduced vegetable stock (lots and lots and lots of mushrooms) plus all of the other "trad" cassoulet ingredients (white beans, crumb crust...) make this dish, that has been done several of the years I have been working Tom, a real delight.
4. Rack of Lamb with Mustard Spatzle
OK...for some pretty good reasons, *I* own lamb at these dinners. It started five years ago when Tom asked me to "french" 8 racks of lamb (for that year's party). I had never done this before but got the hang of it right away. Even though my hands were destroyed from all of the cutting and scraping and pulling, they (the racks) looked beautiful. And since then I have prided myself on the utter clean-ness of the rib bones so they roast "white" when they're done. This year I frenched 8 more racks making that a total of 34 racks frenched for this party in the past five years.
So..."owning" this dish also means firing, finishing and plating them. This year, I had help from Derrick and he made excellent use of the huge round ceramic dish we plated them in. The mustard spatzle and flash sautéd winter vegetables plus a reduced red wine sauce rounded this one out.
5. Green Beans, Hazelnut Beurre Blanc
Dessert
1. Dobos Tort
A multi-layer sponge cake creation with a sectioned sponge cake and caramel top. Butter creme, bourbon, cake....oh.
2. Fruit Tarts
Tom does some kind of fruit tart every year. Always delicious, and they always disappear quickly.
3. Cherry and Prune Clafouti
I LOVE claflouti and make it at home with either apricots or figs dredged in honey and cinnamon. A claflouti is a semi-stuff custard with pieces of fruit scattered throughout. We did two: a classic cherry and a prune one which has a different name but we called it claflouti anyway.
4. Chocolates
Tom put togther a Mignardise which is exactly the opposite of an amuse-bouche (the little sampling of food from the chef at more upscale restaurants to whet your appetite) in the form of three chocolates: truffles, mendiants and white chocolate and fruit "bark".