My poor old island was just cringing under the weight of all the food on it last night. I had custard cups of different side dishes to taste with the sauces along with steak and chicken - we ate till we just could hardly move.
Side dishes -
Parmesan-Leek Bread Pudding
Butternut Squash & Leek Gratins
Couscous & Feta Cakes (hadn't made this before, it's a nice side dish)
The whole point of this weekend was to help Don try sauces - but we got kind of taken over by friends and neighbors. The couple we visited last weekend showed up after hearing what we were doing (and to also look at condos as they want to move to P.A.), our little realtor friend, who is single ended up hitting it off with Don...
so she stayed, our old Irish-labor-union-negotiator-(from Chicago no less)-outrageously-unpolitically-correct neighbor held court for a while and Roy, Don & I. It's a wonder we got anything accomplished! 
The sauces we did get made before giving in to the drinking and eating were - all had different amounts of demiglaze added to them.
Bordelaise - Reduce by 3/4: 1 c. dry red wine, 2 oz. chopped shallots, crushed peppercorns, pinch of thyme, bay & demi, finished with a swirl of 2 oz. butter. (did not have beef marrow to garnish the sauce, darn it.)
Marchand de Vin - reduce red wine and shallots by 3/4; add demi, and strain.
Robert - 4 oz. shallots in butter, add 1 c. white wine & reduce by 2/3; add demi - simmer, strain & add dry mustard and pinch of sugar disolved in little lemon juice.
Charcutiere - Garnish Robert Sauce with sour pickles, cut julienne (used cornichons)
Mushroom - sliced mushrooms and shallots in butter; add demi; add sherry and few drops lemon juice.
Italian - mushrooms, shallots in butter; add white wine and reduce; add tomato paste and demi finish with chopped parsley.
I cooked a chicken and three steaks and had a huge platter of sliced meat so we could taste everything. We all had different favorites - mine was the Charcuterie, the cornichons sprinkled over the sauce was just wonderful flavor combination - on the chicken and the beef (not to mention the sides)
For dessert - Lemon ice cream and the molten cakes - I've had trouble with the recipe I make before, so I'll be looking over the ones posted somewhere...for another favorite.
And, the upshot of the day - our friends are making an offer on the condo just up the hill from us - and Julie will be joining Don (and us) for dinner again Sunday night.
Come Monday night, I'm crashing - as my grandmother used to do, she'd go to bed for two days after company left...
Side dishes -
Parmesan-Leek Bread Pudding
Butternut Squash & Leek Gratins
Couscous & Feta Cakes (hadn't made this before, it's a nice side dish)
The whole point of this weekend was to help Don try sauces - but we got kind of taken over by friends and neighbors. The couple we visited last weekend showed up after hearing what we were doing (and to also look at condos as they want to move to P.A.), our little realtor friend, who is single ended up hitting it off with Don...
so she stayed, our old Irish-labor-union-negotiator-(from Chicago no less)-outrageously-unpolitically-correct neighbor held court for a while and Roy, Don & I. It's a wonder we got anything accomplished! The sauces we did get made before giving in to the drinking and eating were - all had different amounts of demiglaze added to them.
Bordelaise - Reduce by 3/4: 1 c. dry red wine, 2 oz. chopped shallots, crushed peppercorns, pinch of thyme, bay & demi, finished with a swirl of 2 oz. butter. (did not have beef marrow to garnish the sauce, darn it.)
Marchand de Vin - reduce red wine and shallots by 3/4; add demi, and strain.
Robert - 4 oz. shallots in butter, add 1 c. white wine & reduce by 2/3; add demi - simmer, strain & add dry mustard and pinch of sugar disolved in little lemon juice.
Charcutiere - Garnish Robert Sauce with sour pickles, cut julienne (used cornichons)
Mushroom - sliced mushrooms and shallots in butter; add demi; add sherry and few drops lemon juice.
Italian - mushrooms, shallots in butter; add white wine and reduce; add tomato paste and demi finish with chopped parsley.
I cooked a chicken and three steaks and had a huge platter of sliced meat so we could taste everything. We all had different favorites - mine was the Charcuterie, the cornichons sprinkled over the sauce was just wonderful flavor combination - on the chicken and the beef (not to mention the sides)
For dessert - Lemon ice cream and the molten cakes - I've had trouble with the recipe I make before, so I'll be looking over the ones posted somewhere...for another favorite.
And, the upshot of the day - our friends are making an offer on the condo just up the hill from us - and Julie will be joining Don (and us) for dinner again Sunday night.
Come Monday night, I'm crashing - as my grandmother used to do, she'd go to bed for two days after company left...
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
www.achefsjourney.com
