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Monday, November 22, 2004

After many attempts, I was able to get a picture of the Grand Marnier laden fruit compote in focus. See? Use the cranberries as a reference point for scale.   Mainly, this update is about the pumpkin soup with the scare quotes. Hot or cold, a better way to puree is a hand blender. Much better than doing it in batches. That’s all!     8:00:58 PM    comment []

Here’s a picture of the butternut & gold cup squash being used in the “pumpkin” soup appetizer. The soup is nearly done now. It’s built on a base of carrots, onions, and garlic softened in olive oil. Next, for reasons I don’t quite understand, the “pumpkin” goes in to be stirred over moderate heat for 10 minutes. Seasonings are also added at this point: Cumin (“Ummm”-in), salt, bay leaf, and pepper. Then you add chicken stock and simmer until the gourds are soft.   Next, you remove the bay leaves (I used 2) and run the soup through the blender in batched. Now, since the recipe was drafted to stand on its own, it warns you to be very careful blending hot soups. “Yes, that would be dangerous,” I thought – but the soup won’t be served until T-Day. So I’ll let it cool down before I blend it.   Three other projects to accomplish today: making the orange-cranberry compote for the tart, making the parmesan “collars” for the poached pears, and making the cookie crust for the tart. The latter two will be put off until tomorrow.   The orange cranberry compote is sittin’ in the fridge. The hardest part of this is cutting up the navel orange. Directions are to quarter a navel orange longitudinally, then cut paper thin slice across each quarter, including the skin. I took a shot at doing that with the 2mm Cuisinart disk, but it didn’t work. I tried to salvage some flavor by cooking it down with sugar and water, but that was an equal disaster. Desperate, I followed the directions. The navel orange actually sliced quite easily with a freshly sharpened chef’s knife. Then you make a syrup with ¾ cup water and ¾ cup sugar, get it simmering, and simmer the orange slices in it until they are soft (about 30 min.). The directions call for fresh or frozen cranberries to be added after it cools, but my fresh cranberries were kinda crunchy so I simmered them for 5 minutes at the end. When it is truly cool, you’re supposed to add a tablespoon of Grand Marnier. My wrist slipped.     6:37:54 PM    comment []

The Wine Substitutes   After some discussion with Liz, who was afraid the wines might be “wasted” (I settled that with “I’ll get wasted myself before even a drop of wine is wasted here!”), we decided to have the wines recommended by Gourmet with each course of the T-Day project unless they were too dear. They weren’t – I checked the prices on the web and all were in the $10-$20 range. As I thought about the wines, I knew my best shot for perfect matches on the labels would be A Southern Season, a store that’s the best local (or, really, anywhere) resource for gourmet specialties and wine. As I prepared to leave, it occurred to me that the sage advice of a sommelier might do even better that the Gourmet picks. It would probably bet a lot more fun than answering a simple “Where’s DuBoeuf?”   I brought a copy of the menu along, prepared to accept their selections. “Priscilla” asked me if I needed any help and seemed delighted at the challenge. I showed her the menu and said I would accept any variations she recommended. The Nino Franco Primo Prosecco di Valdobbiadene ‘02 she didn’t have, so she focused on the onion rye flatbreads more than the pumpkin soup for the appetizer selection. Her substitute to match the onion flavor was Colli Trevigliani Prosecco Vino Frizzante, “lightly sparkling.”   Next up was the Salviano Orvieto Classico Superiore ’03 to be served with the roasted cauliflower, romaine, and radicchio salad. This was in stock, but she preferred Campogrande Orvieto Classico ’03, so we went with that.   The main course of roast turkey with pomegranate gravy, jeweled rice with dried fruit, and Swiss chard purses made her balk. It was the sausage in the Swiss chard purses mainly, but she asked about the fruit in the rice and how dominant the pomegranate would be in the gravy. “Just a touch of sweetness in both sides,” I tell her. She vetoed the Yalumba Handpicked Tricentenary Vines Grenache ’02 and steered me to Cotes du Rhone, specifically Domaine Saint Gayan Rasteau ’01. Three down and one to go…   “You’re not going to drink the Marsala, are you?’   “Yeah, the magazine said to drink it,” I say, flashing back to the magazine telling me to throw away the starter if the yeast failed in the unscalded milk and honey mixture.   “People cook with it, but don’t usually drink it…”   We walk over to the marsalas. Inspired, she reaches to the bottom shelf and pulls out a half liter bottle of Melillo Marsala Fine I.P. “You won’t want to drink very much of it,” she says. The label on my half-bottle says “sweet” whereas it said “dolce” on the Florio Fine Dolce Ambra Marsala.   I took the bottles to the cash register. Total payout for the wines? 44 bucks. I had budgeted $60, based on my research. Never underestimate the value of a skilled sommelier.     2:13:03 PM    comment []