Dinner Party Preparations

Preparations for the wine pairing multi-course dinner are well underway. If I neglect to blog in the next couple of weeks it's because I'm going to be a busy little bee planning the menu and experimenting with the dishes. I'm also forcing Big N to act as a guinea pig as I perfect them in advance of the dinner. I can't very well blog about the dishes I intend to serve as it would quite obviously ruin the surprise. The trial run helps me to leave as little as possible to chance. I also need to carefully plan the timing of each dish, especially because the menu now stands at 6 courses plus an amuse bouche and cheese course, all with intended wine pairings. Timing is everything (that and just not screwing it all up).

Friends Eagle Eye and El-El (aka Lickity List) are coming in from St. Louis specially for this dinner and I'm determined not to disappoint. Mousseux will also be in the house so the wine pairings better be spot on. The guestlist now stands at 14 but may reach 16 as we get closer to February 7. My goal is to keep it simple but delicious, and to make it as enjoyable for our guests as the last time we hosted one of these shindigs. Wish me luck.

Humble Beginnings: The Dinner That Started It All

I guess you could say that I got my "calling" in Spring 2007, when I planned an eight course wine pairing tasting menu for 15 of our closest friends. I was completely wrapped up in the planning, preparing, cooking, and hosting and it was one of the most magical nights I can remember (after my wedding, of course). Each course was artfully paired with wines Big N and I selected, and on the back of the menus the guests tried to guess the varietal, appellation, and price point of each wine (which of course became more difficult the more wine you drank!).

Here was the menu:

amuse bouche: selection of cheese and pates
soup: cream of cauliflower with roasted croutons
and black truffle oil
starter: smoked salmon crostini with capers and creme fraiche
first: miso, mirin and sake glazed chilean sea bass
with baby bok choy
second: pancetta and shiitake ravioli with sun dried tomato bechamel sauce
intermezzo: blackberry sorbet
main: braised beef short ribs with wild mushrooms and polenta
dessert: kiwi strawberry napoleon with mascarpone and raspberry sauce
finale: selection of truffles

My friend A remembered to take pictures and sent me this lovely montage of the evening's greatest hits.

After that night I was hooked. I felt completely at home, passionate and creative for the first time in as long as I can remember. I decided that one day I will be a proper chef. Then I can plan, cook, entertain, and drink gobs of delicious wine with impunity. One day.

Wine Pairing Dinner: Pinot Noir and TBA

Big N and I took a trip to our cellar to drop off some wine and pick out a couple that have come of age. Last night we invited friends H & M over for a wine pairing dinner featuring two of our favorites: Pinot Noir and late-harvest Trockenbeerenauslese (this one was of the Ortega grape varietal, a Müller-Thurgau hybrid similar to Reisling), or TBA for those in the know.

We started off the evening with Penner-Ash 2006 Willamette Valley Pinot, paired with two sheeps milk cheeses, Dante- a hard cheese, and Guilloteau Berger de Rocastin- think brie but with more barnyard qualities. The pairing was beautiful. The Pinot was spicy, earthy, with plenty of terroir typical for the dark volcanic soil of the Willamette Valley, more old world style. The spiciness was complemented perfectly by the creaminess of the Guilloteau.

For dinner we did a surf and turf: ginger sake glazed grilled salmon, ginger garlic and soy marinated flank steak, sweet potatoes with clove, cinnamon and maple syrup glaze, and sauteed spinach garnish. We paired that with a Pinot from one of our favorite Central Coast producers: Cottonwood Canyon 2001 Elizabeth's Vista Pinor Noir from the Santa Maria Valley. This pinot had some age to it, so it was a beautiful crystal clear garnet color, with strawberries and cream, soft leather and scented tobacco notes and a touch of gaminess, and dark fruits on the lingering finish. Not as spicy or earthy as the Penner-Ash, but the ginger and clove in the meal complemented the wine well.

For dessert I cooked a recipe from The Wine Lovers Dessert Cookbook. 'Tis the season for Quince! I made individual Quince Pot Pies, spiced up with cloves and cinnamon, and added a little TBA to the mix because cooking with wine never hurt anybody. We paired it with the TBA of course, Villa Palatina 2005 Ortega Trockenbeerenauslese from the Pfalz region. This wine was a beauty- it can be aged 40 years! Amber golden color, peachy notes with stone fruit and molasses on the palate. The wine is so viscous it reminds me of maple syrup. The apple/peachy quality of the quince and the buttery flaky topping brought out the creaminess and tempered sweetness of the wine.

My tummy was satisfied and my palate was quenched. Not a bad way to spend a mellow Saturday with friends.

Post Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Well, Thanksgiving was a success, by my standards of course. The house was lovely, my food was well received, and breaking bread with family and friends reminded me how much I have to be thankful for and what a truly amazing year this has been.

The only hitch- rookie blogger that I am- I forgot to take pictures! I was so wrapped up in being the hostess that I completely forgot to memorex the holiday so I could brag about it to you all. Darnit! The only picture I have is of the picked over Turkey carcass, which should at least prove that my Turkey rocked (thank you Martha Stewart brining recipe). Will post that one for kicks later. Here it is:

I guess I'll have to prove my holiday entertaining prowess at New Years. We're heading up to the cabin in Arrowhead and I plan to spend my days in the kitchen! More on that to come.

Thanksgiving: Monday

Last night began my week of Thanskgiving preparations. I came home from a weekend trip to visit friends in St. Louis with bronchitis. Determined not to let my illness and germs affect my Thanksgiving holiday, I hightailed it to my doctor and asked for the heavy meds. I also asked the nurse for a face mask so I can cook without worrying about hacking germs into my bisque. By last night I was feeling better and ready to cook.
Went grocery shopping and picked up all the fixin's. Last night I started things off by making Acorn Squash Bisque, minus the cream, which I will add on T-day. The bisque came out a little chunky, having used just my stick blender, so tonight I will pour it into my blender in batches to try to thin it out, and if that doesn't work I'll press it through my chinois to get it nice and creamy.
Tonight I'll make the ginger-cranberry chutney and buttermilk biscuit rounds to freeze until I can pop them into my oven on T-day. I'll also press my table cloths, polish my silverware, and set up the tables.
One last minute substitution to note. I was planning to make a pumpkin layer cake, but decided that every time I make something for dessert with pumpkin, my family usually neglects it and goes for the store bought cream pies instead. This year I'm giving up all pumpkin pretense and have decided to make triple chocolate cheesecake (with creamy chocolate ganache on top) along with my apple crumb pies for dessert. This year the pumpkin will be implied.

Thanksgiving Preparations

My husband and I invited our families over to see our new home for Thanksgiving. So it'll be the first time we're "entertaining" and I plan to go big. 25 guests, 4,000 blessed calories for each of them is my goal! Typtophan be damned. The best part is I get to do my favorite thing: PLAN!

So here's my Thanksgiving week plan:
Monday: grocery shopping, start thawing my bird (if frozen is the best I can find)
Tuesday: make the Acorn Squash Bisque, set the tables, assign seating, freeze raspberries and mint leaves in adorable fish-shaped ice cube trays from Ikea
Wednesday: start brining the bird, make the pumpkin layer cake, prepare bread and vegetables for stuffing, make the ginger-cranberry chutney, purchase and arrange flowers for center pieces, make fruity ice tea
Thursday: beer-braised brisket in my dutch oven by 9:00 a.m.; complete the stuffing and stuff my bird, place bird with roasting vegetables in the oven by 10:00 a.m., make Dutch Apple pie, make a vegetable (either artichoke heart casserole or cauliflower gratin of some sort), make buttermilk biscuits, heat the Bisque, find time to shower, greet arriving guests, collect the green bean casserole, jello mold, and mashed potatoes from my aunts and step-mother and arrange in serving dishes--lovely, uncork the wine, greet more guests, set up the buffet with my new chafing dishes, and serve the soup garnished with croutons and truffle oil, then wow them with my Thanksgiving extravaganza.
Thursday night- awake from food coma and clean up
Friday: recover, maybe make a Turkey/cranberry sandwich with leftovers, if I can stand to eat any more.

I love the holidays.