Dinner #8: Hey we’re getting the hang of this!
Menu
February 24, 2018
Appetizers
Sweet Pea Crostini with Ricotta and Mint
Easter Egg Radish Bites
Course One
Spiced Saffron and Mussel Soup with Homemade Bread
Course Two
Mini Pork Pies
Course Three
Endive Cup Citrus and Avocado Salad
Course Four
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Braised Short Ribs
Course Five
Lemon Pot De Creme with Candied Fruit
Beverages
Rosemary, Grapefruit, and Gin Cocktail
Honey and Thyme Lemonade with Sugared Blackberries
This was our first "Winter" AJRB - mainly because, before this, I had been in my grad program still. Perhaps I should amend it to say, first winter one that wasn't a holiday event.
Being at the end of winter, we felt like we were in the sweet spot between winter and spring. We could still utilize the seasonality of all the winter ingredients but we wanted to have different types of winter food than what you typically get during the holidays. We wanted to have something that looked a little more into the lightness of spring.
This menu was a lot of fun, because, similarly, we didn't have our "Course Three" issue because of one of my favorite creative solutions, which actually came in Course Two - Mini Pork Pies. They weren't nearly as cute as the photos on Pinterest, but they were still something a little different to break up the menu, that lived between Course One's Spiced Saffron and Mussel Soup with Homemade Bread (which turned out to be spicy as all hell) and the super light and refreshing Course Three's Endive Cup Citrus and Avocado Salad (again, not nearly as pretty as Pinterest but a really nice palate cleanser after the heavier Course Two).
What I feel like John and I talk a lot about, as we progress in our cooking, we moved from "I hope it doesn't taste horrible" (at least, I have - I don't know if John ever was there because he was far more advanced than I was when we started doing these) to "Let's assume this tastes good - how can we make it better" and the answer we've come a lot is presentation. Presentation is tricky as hell, and not something I ever, ever thought about before AJRB. The most I ever may have considered presentation was parsley garnish. Now, presentation and the logistics of serving people often battled it out - would it be easier to plate everything up one by one or have everyone come up buffet style? If we plate, we can control the garnishes (yes, multiple garnishes!) but we may serve too much and get a lot of waste from a course. Will it look better served family style and passed around the table? Do we have a good platter to serve this one - and by that I mean, one that looks nice, of course, but also one with a lip that will keep juices or sauces from running off the plate and into peoples laps?
Because, well, I'm sure you've heard this before, but people eat with their eyes first so presentation doesn't just become a nice to have but a need to have at some point to elevate the experience (omg, how many people's eyes are rolling right now?). I know, I know, these seem like ridiculous conversations for John and I to have, given we are home chefs and live in a apartment with a kitchen that only one of us fits into at a time. But as we continue to try to make our events better, these are the things that we think about.
Course Four - epic in design, interesting in execution. Sweet Potato Gnocchi (made from scratch) served with Braised Short Ribs. It was so cool to watch John make the gnocchi but it was a bummer that the flavor of them was totally overpowered by the ribs, which of course, were amazing.
Then we finished the evening out with Course Five - one of the only times (so far) where we served individualized desserts - Lemon Pot de Cremes with Candied Fruit! This was also the first time we actually managed to get a picture of the drinks we were serving that evening: a Rosemary, Grapefruit, and Gin Cocktail; and a Honey and Thyme Lemonade! Truly a night with lots of firsts.