Last Friday Dinner

Last Friday dinner was a success.

I, of course, completely forgot to take pictures. Next time I’ll put it on top of my prep list. Too bad, because some of those courses were very beautiful.

First course, first almost disaster. It was the was the “Poached Quail Eggs on Hollandaise”

I had prepared the gastrite and clarified the butter beforehand and just needed to beat an egg yolk and add the butter.

My guest are in the living room, one of my friend is serving the drinks and I put the egg yolk in the a metallic bowl with the already reduced gastrite, set the bowl on a pan with water approaching boiling, take my eyes of it for a few seconds. When I look at it next, the water is boiling furiously and my yolk is hard cooked.

Nothing to do but to mince another shallot etc…

Another near miss was the green bean salad. I hade prepared the tomato tartar from about a dozen tomato. That was not enough.

So I had to make my plate without it.

The rabbit saddle was difficult to cut in nice slice but it was very flavorful and went very well with the “Quenelles de Patate Bleues aux Noisettes” which were, themselves, quite good and visually striking.

I never found the wine I planned to serve at first. I’m sure I did not drink it so it must be under some of those wooden boxes in my cellar. In any case, as an aperitif I served a Sherry Manzanilla, “La Guita”.

The first wine was may last bottle of Viña Mein 1999, an Albariño from the Ribeira del Duero. A golden color and richness on the nose and in the mouth.

The 2^nd wine was a Gevry-Chambertin Antonin Rodet, 1999 that I had bought in Paris in 2002 before the € made the act of shopping for wine in Europe such a frustrating experience. I drank my first bottle in 2003, the tannins were still a bit harsh but now they had melted and the wine was a great Pinot Noir event.

With the cheese course and desert, I decanted a bottle of the excellent Quinta do Noval, Noval Unfiltered LBV 1998. Unfortunately by that time, I could not take tasting not but believe me when I say this is a very good LBV.

In spite of the small mistake or maybe because of them, the dinner was great fun. The food is important, but more important still is to have good friend around the table. We must have bite in the first amuse-gueule around 8:15. By the time anybody looked at his watch, it was 1:30.

Here’s my prep list as I stuck it top the fridge. It is in a kind of frenglish shorthand:

J and V mean Jeudi and Vendredi (Thursday and Friday) meaning the day I planned to make the item.

Service			Mise en Place		Assemblage
Capellini alle vongole	V		Cuire palourdes		Cuire cappelini
	V		Sauce orange/vin/jus		Rechauffer palourde au beure monte
	V		Ciboulette		Monter la sauce au beurre
	V		Capre		Rechauffer pates dans la sauce avec ciboulette
	V		Copeaux de parmesan		Monte avec capre/parmesan
	V		Beurre monte
Bacon and egg	V		Pocher oeufs		Melanger crème et hollandaise
	V		Crème fouettee		Rechauffer les oeufs
	V		Hollandaise		Monter sur cuilleres
	V		Brunoise carrote/tomates/celeri/prosciutto
Potage de pois	V		Blanchir pois		Servir en tasse avec huile de truffe et chip
	V		Blanchir menthe
	V		Mixer
	V		Passer au chinois
	J	X	Chip
Feuillete de saumon	J	X	Faire feuilles de filo		Monter gravlax/crème/feuille
	J	X	Gravlax		Coulis dans l'assiette
	J	X	Laver gravlax
	J	X	crème sure a l'aneth
	V		Blanchir feuilles de betterave
	J		Coulis de betterave
Salade d'haricote vert	J	X	Confit de tomate		Monter
	J	X	Huile de ciboulette		Tomate
	V		Passer l'huile		Huile
	V		Blanchir haricots		Huile
	V		Couper haricots		Haricot
	V		Vinagrette /crème		Laitue
	V		Nicoise verte pale		Balsamique
	J	X	Tartare de tomate
Rable de lapin	V		Farces		Monter la sauce
	V		Preparer rable		Monter la puree
	V		Cuire
	V		Pomme de terre
	V		Griller noisette
Brebis et salade de carotte	J		Epices		Coulis
	J		Coulis de raisin		Salade
	V		Salade de carotte		Fromage
	V		Couper fromage		Coriandre
	V		Reduction de jus de carrotte
	V		Feuille coriandre
Panna cotta	J		Panna cotta		Servir
	J	X	Couli de mangue
	V		Garnir