Part I - Food Prep
All this initial prep was for the Bouchon Bakery crêpe cake I had planned on for dessert. The book hilarious claims that it's the easiest recipe in the entire book. I suppose I can't say that Thomas Keller doesn't have a dark sense of humor. The cake required various bases, i.e. pastry cream, bloomed gelatin, diplomat cream, and crêpe batter.
Giant shrimp being cleaned for our raw bar.
I had an idea for an unusual pasta dish based on the simple macaroni pie we eat at Easter. I wasn't able to find the long, tubular macaroni we use for that dish, but I was able to find these twisty corkscrews, which turned out to be even better.
Toasting bread for salad croutons.
Making Caesar dressing.
Rendering bacon for the salad.
This was fun - I decided to use my new smoking gun to impart some smokey goodness to some mackerel fillets for our salad. This is a cold smoke process obviously, so I did still sear the fish afterward.
Prep for homemade tortelloni. True story - I came up with this recipe, which combined mashed potatoes and foie gras, in a dream.
Just-sautéed sweetbreads.
Searing venison, Al's dish for the evening.
Final layering and torching of the ridiculous crêpe cake. I need a bigger torch.
Ingredients for our dessert cocktail at the end of the evening.
Part II - Dinner
We started with a glass each of incredibly dry, funky homemade cider that Leah and I had brewed.
Raw Bar
Prince Edward Island Oysters, Pickled Onion Mignonette
Super Colossal White Shrimp, Cocktail Sauce
King Crab, Lemon Butter
Aubry, Champagne Brut, NV
Premier Cru à Jouy-les-Reims
Jean-Georges Egg Caviar
Soft Scrambled Egg, Vodka Whipped Cream, Siberian Caviar
Aubry, Champagne Brut, NV
Premier Cru à Jouy-les-Reims
This was a recreation of the famous Egg Caviar dish created by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, which I ate one time and immediately feel in love with. It was actually not that challenging to make at home (just expensive).
"The Crispy Part of the Macaroni Pie"
Crispy Peppered Riccioli, Truffle-Egg Aioli, Locatelli Pecorino
Romano
Patrick Piuze, Chablis, 2015
Grand Cru ‘Bougros’
This strange dish requires some explanation: each Easter, my family eats something we call "Macaroni Pie". It's basically a casserole made from boiled tube pasta, beaten eggs, and tons of olive oil, black pepper, and grated cheese. After baking you cut it into wedges - the top gets all crispy with pieces of the tube pasta sticking up and browning. My grandfather succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease when I was pretty young - one of my few good memories with him was sneaking into the kitchen with him and peeling the crispy pieces of the macaroni pie off the top together while it cooled.
Years later, I learned about Massimo Bottura's "The Crispy Part of the Lasagna" served at Osteria Francescana, the multi-time best restaurant in the world. What he tried to capture in that dish immediately reminded me of my memories with my grandfather, and I was inspired to try to make my own version.
The final dish goes as follows: you pick up the crispy roasted macaroni pieces and dip them in the aioli, then the cheese. It was absolutely incredible, and definitely had all the flavors of the Easter pie in a more novel form.
Awahnee Hotel Caesar Salad
Romaine,
Bacon, Dill Croutons, Hard-Boiled Egg,
Smoked
& Seared Boston Mackerel, Caesar Dressing
Patrick Piuze, Chablis, 2015
Grand Cru ‘Bougros’
Another "inspired-by" dish, this time a take on the excellence Caesar salad Leah and I had eaten at the formerly Awahnee Hotel on our vacation to Yosemite.
"Meat & Potatoes" or "The Dream Tortelloni"
Foie Gras Mousse and Potato & Sage Filling,
Brown Butter, Balsamic Reduction, Frizzled Onions
Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand, Ladoix, 2012
Premier Cru ‘La Corvée’
As noted in the prep section, I actually dreamed this recipe. It proved to be quite strange yet really delicious.
Winter Sweetbreads
Sautéed Sweetbreads, Pickled Apple, Parsnip Purée & Chips,
Veal Demi-Glace
Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand, Ladoix, 2012
Premier Cru ‘La Corvée’
What a hilariously bad plating presentation! Still, the dish itself was quite delicious - I think the pickled apple was the real star.
Venison Tenderloin
Blackberry Compote
Closel-Roch, Côte-Rôtie, 2014
Al's main course was simple, yet extremely satisfying.
Bouchon Bakery Crêpe
Cake
Nutmeg Diplomat Cream, Old Home Spiced Whiskey Crêpes, Maple Ice
Cream
“Half A
Century of Poetry”
Espolón Bourbon
Barrel Añejo Tequila, Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao,
Grady’s Cold
Brew, Cinnamon Simple Syrup, Bitter End Mexican Mole Bitters
The cake actually turned out wonderfully, though it's definitely the type of indulgence I'd prefer to buy from somebody else than make it myself again. To go along with it, I created a dessert cocktail to which I gave a quirky name: "Half A Century of Poetry" is the title of the magnum opus of Dandelion, the famous bard from my favorite fantasy series, The Witcher.
Old Home Distillers - Brother's Cut Barrel Proof Bourbon
To put a cap on the night, we had a finger each of one of my favorite bourbons in the world from the fine people at Old Home Distillers up in central NY.
