Tiny Bubbles

When serving Champagne, sparkling wine or Prosecco, the presentation is critical. Most people know that a proper Champagne flute should be used (to facilitate maximum enjoyment of nose, taste and the lyrical rising of all those bubbles) but few understand how to prepare a bottle for a dinner party. Here are my rules:

1. A bottle is best presented in a silver bucket of ice and water. This bucket can be on the bar top or can be placed on a special stand to sit tableside.

2. Always remove the foil from the bottle, exposing the cork and cage. Do NOT remove the cage until ready to open the bottle. This indicates to guests that you are ready to serve them the wine and are not going to try and stick it back in the refrigerator in the hopes that no one drinks it. It's the same principle as never having an unburned candle at the table...it looks like you are too cheap to ever light the candle. And if no one does drink the Champagne, you can always put it back in the fridge unopened, sans foil...it's not that big a deal.

3. Neither should one remove the cork prior to guests' arrival -- not even to "taste" for spoilage. Otherwise, it looks like you couldn't wait and were drinking down the wine by yourself, which is a far worse impression than serving a spoiled wine which, after all, is no fault of yours.

4. A spotlessly clean linen napkin should be tucked around the neck of the bottle to be used for holding the bottle after removal from the icy water in the bucket. The towel can also be looped through a ring on the bucket, if one exists.

Enjoy!

The Amuse-Bouche

I always admire a chef who serves an amuse-bouche to guests. The elements of confidence ("I'm going to serve you something I know you're going to like") and surprise are provocative, and create a level of interest and anticipation. The amuse-bouche also says, "I'm not too cheap to give you something for free." All salutary outcomes.

At home, for a special meal, I also enjoy serving an amuse-bouche. I find they are challenging exercises in concentrated flavor and, in particular, design. An amuse-bouche can neither bore the tongue nor the eye. It must excite -- and amuse! -- both. And in a very small package...an amuse-bouche should never contain more than one or two bites of food.

Recently, at a dinner in honor of international style maven Albano Daminato, I prepared an amuse-bouche, served cold, consisting of shaved roast pork and roasted red sweet pepper, maple candied shallots and a wee burst of white wine dijon mustard. I prepared these hours in advance and stored them in the fridge, on their small serving plates, so they were ready to plunk down. I thought they tasted great!

What's your favorite amuse-bouche to serve or receive? Have you ever had a bad amuse-bouche? Tell me about it in the comments!

I Cara Cara Lot

I'm not really one to keep a lot of fruit laying around the house -- generally a bunch of bananas is good enough for my morning yoghurt. I never seem to eat them before they spoil, and they attract those awful, annoying fruit flies! But a recent sugar imbalance-induced fainting spell inspired me to follow my friend Aphrodite's advice to eat more fruit, particularly before and after my daily workout.

Aphrodite suggested Cara Cara oranges, a navel variety that is available in the winter. I bought a few yesterday and must say, I do think they are tasty! The peel is a little difficult to remove -- coming off in bits and pieces instead of as a whole, like satsumas or tangerines. But the juicy, full-on citrus meat and juice are worth the small effort.

What fruit do you always have around the house? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Birthday to Paquie!

Tonight was my friend Brian's birthday and we went to Barrio for dinner -- it was a great choice! Our server was wonderful (Nicole) and always had everything when we needed it -- including a new basket of tortilla chips the very second we ate the last one on the first basket!

I enjoyed the braised pork enchilada with wilted spinach, caramelized onion-poblano rajas, jack cheese and tomatillo sauce ($14) and the side of cornbread with honey butter ($3.50). The pork in the enchiladas was just this side of carnitas-grade...still a bit wet to be called real carnitas but undeniably slow-cooked to a spectacular oblivion.

For dessert, we all split a plate of churros with a delicious molten chocolate dip. They kindly added a candle in honor of Paquie's 53rd birthday.

My favorite Mexican food in Seattle remains Malena's Taqueria up on Queen Anne, but Barrio is hands down the place to go for a more complex culinary feast from south of the border.

Happy birthday, Paquie!

Baby Got Bisque

Last time I made a dish with lobster, my friend, who hates having her name mentioned online so let's call her Aphrodite, suggested that I should keep the shells and boil them to create a lobster stock. Not a bad idea, Aphrodite.

Flash forward to today: a cold, rainy Seattle day. I knew I was going to spend two hours of it outside playing soccer, so the thought of coming home to a rich, warm soup held no small allure. Last evening, I'd served broiled lobster tail to a friend and had put the empty shells into the refrigerator. This morning, I put 10 cups of water and a bay leaf into a deep Magnalite kettle, brought it to a boil, dropped in the shells and covered the kettle. I reduced the heat and simmered them for five hours, reducing the total liquid volume by some two cups.

I had only two guests coming this evening so I reserved four cups of the broth and froze it.

Moving on, I set the remaining broth aside and diced finely two large shallots, bringing me to tears the likes of which I had never shed for any previous event in my life. Attention bioscience industry: invent a tear-free shallot. Thank you.

I put half a cup of butter in a large skillet, melted it and threw in the shallots. Once they were generally clear, I added eight tablespoons of whole wheat bread flour, whisking it for five minutes on medium heat. To this, I added two cups of half-and-half, stirring until it was significantly thickened. Next I added two cups of sherry (NOT cooking sherry) and stirred for 10 minutes. Finally I added four cups of lobster broth, stirring for 10 more minutes, on medium heat (maintaining a slight bubbling, nothing eventful).

Then I added a large true cod filet, in 1/2 inch cubes, and 1/2 pound of medium size shrimp. Finally, I added one tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning, whisked that in thoroughly, and let it cook very low temperature for 20 minutes.

At this point, it was ready to serve. As garnish, I briefly boiled a spiced crawfish and set it in the middle of the bowl of bisque, adding freshly chopped chives as an additional garnish. At table we had crusty French baguette and butter for dredging in the liquid.

There are easier soups to make, but Aphrodite was right -- few are as good as those made with a lobster broth. And fewer still are as richly rewarding as a seafood bisque as Massive Attack plays on the stereo and rain flicks at the windows.

Get Stuffed

There's a saying that one should always count as a friend at least one doctor and one lawyer. Anyone pursuing a life of food would be wise to add an additional profession to their mix of friends...a farmer.

I'm pleased to say that my pal Steve ticks this box for me. Steve and some friends have a farm down in Olympia, Washington, on which they raise a wide variety of produce and livestock. Steve recently presented me with the world's largest roasting chicken -- weighing in cleaned and thawed at more than seven pounds.

But what he also shared was truly interesting: homemade goose chorizo. It didn't take long for me to decide to create a stuffing from the chorizo and roast it inside a chicken (in this case, a smaller one due to the smaller number of guests dining).

I prepared a simple bread stuffing, adding cracked hazelnuts and sultanas, and then about a quarter pound of the goose chorizo. I mixed it up with my hands and stuffed the chicken cavity fully with it.

Two-and-a-half hours later, a golden-skinned chicken was ready to eat, with sides of roasted multi-color baby potatoes and they wonderful stuffing, courtesy of Farmer Steve!

What's your favorite variation of a simple stuffing? Tell me about it in the comments below.

Favorite Diners

Meet Isaac (left) and Alex! This delightful couple was married this past summer on July 18, 2009, and had the incredible courage to invite me to their wedding (knowing I could have single-handedly doubled the Champagne cost). They've been friends of mine for a long time, both on the soccer pitch and off.

Alex works in Uzbekistan and is over on one of his regular leaves. Isaac lives here in Seattle and works in healthcare. I think Isaac needs to be invited to more dinners so we can be sure he's well fed and energized for Alex's visits.

Thanks for coming to dinner, you two!

Irwin Allen Presents...

Those of us at a certain age will remember that Irwin Allen was a famous producer/director of disaster films. The Towering Inferno, Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure were but a few of the highlights from his impressive oeuvre.

The cooking and dining experience can also be fraught with disasters (even if they don't involve quite as much as an immolating skyscraper, car-eating cracks in the earth or Shelly Winters climbing an upended Christmas tree). Witness the above: a gorgeous chicken molé in a somewhat ungorgeous condition. I'd just switched off the burner under the Dutch oven -- or so I thought -- and was asking everyone to take their places at table.

Next came a terrific explosion and sound of crashing glass. I was absolutely convinced that someone had just fired a bullet into the house and hit the stove. In a second, though, I realized that the Dutch oven had burst and the molé was smoking and bubbling on a red-hot burner.

I hadn't turned the burner off. I'd turned it to "high."

As a host, one must exhibit a high level of aplomb. Thus, I calmed my guests quickly, told them to please be seated, and set about rescuing enough of the chicken and molé to feed my guests. Luckily, I was able to scrounge enough to provide a satisfactory entrée to each diner -- without any ceramic crunchies!

Last night, disaster struck again. As my guests and I were conversing, a loud crack sped to our eardrums from the top of the living room bookshelf...one of the candles atop it had shifted in its candlestick and come to land against the wall, seriously singeing it and then falling to the shelf below.

Again, calmness prevailed. Even with the wall afire, one must not alarm one's guests. The blaze was immediately extinguished and it was time for the rosemary-red wine sorbet.

If these things come in threes, I'm in trouble...

What's your worst dining disaster (short of a fallen soufflé!)? Tell me about it in the comments...

Soup Season

Cold, snow, rain, darkness at 4PM...all great reasons for the consumption of soup!

One of the easiest things to create, soups can also harness all sorts of innovations (boiled lobster or shrimp shells to create a broth, silky tofu as a creamy alternative to fatty milk, the amazing varieties of Vietnamese pho) and styles (bisques, stews, chilled soups). It's safe to say you can turn pretty much anything in your kitchen into a soup, if you're creative enough!

I tried one of Chef Dan Orr's FARMfood recipes last night: Broccoli and basil soup with soy. It was a delicious solution to my ridiculous recent over purchase of four heads of broccoli! I probably should have passed the soup through my finest mesh sieve for a more finished texture and appearance but I'm a peasant and like my soups chunky when it makes sense to make them so. Thus my version of the dish, seen above. I powdered the bowl rim with a little paprika for some color, mindful not to get much of it in the soup itself...

What's your favorite soup? Tell me about it in the comments!

2010: Dinner #1

Sometimes dinners take on a life bigger than the food, bigger than the milieu; these are dinners where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Tonight was such a night: my guests were amazing, the wine exceeded expectations and, yeah, the food stepped up. I'm well pleased.

Herewith, a recollection of the evening...

PREPARATION

Above is a shot of the pre-plated amouse bouches: smoked Scotch salmon, creme fraiche, chopped chives and paddlefish caviar (background) and the dessert: blackberries in allspice/cinnamon/powdered sugar topped with butter and fast Irish oats. I like to prep and preplate as much as possible so I can enjoy time with my guests. If I did everything in real time I'd never have a moment with them, defeating the very purpose of a dinner party.

THE TABLE

I chose a central floral theme of alstroemeria, on account of their color, size and simplicity. Petal for petal, they create mass and function beautifully as single blooms in the bud vases by the place cards. The remainder of the setting is consistent with all my previous dinners with the exception of the new decanter to the left of the main vase.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

Here's a typical timing sheet I do for multi-course dinners and gatherings with multi-faceted operations. I recommend creating a run of show, working back from the time your guests arrive to incorporate the various actions one must take before the doorbell rings. At the very least, this keeps you from being overwhelmed by executing everything at the last minute.

AMUSE BOUCHE

The horses are on the track.

THE MAC

Saffron is a sensual spice. It creates an experience both in the nose and on the palate. Combined with various Gruyéres and lobster takes it another plane entirely. I'd add more lobster to this (one tail per serving) and it would make a glorious main course.

THE MAIN

Center cut filets mignon sided with steamed green beans and thick, hand-cut bacon. That's a disc of Stilton butter on the filet, laid on from the ramekin.

THE WINE

Missing from this cork collage are the Bollinger and the Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne. The educated will thrill, the clueless should Google.

This is me.

This is His Grace Lord Alex of Windows.

This is Jared. His eyes are naturally that way.

Say hello to Josh. He's our ginger prince. His carpet doesn't match his drapes.

Rust.

Here's Ross. He's an icon.

And thus endeth the dinner. Beautiful food for beautiful people -- that's our brand promise.

Happy New Year!

2010

And we're back!

Sorry for the fits and starts...what happened was I had taken so many pictures of meals and then did not have time to post about everything so the more behind I got, the more frustrated I became and pretty soon I just was paralyzed!

But I think I have figured out the right level of time to devote to the blog, as well as having a heart-to-heart with myself about my commitment to the blog. We're all sorted now, and ready to roll.

Tomorrow, Saturday, January 2, 2010, will be my first dinner party of the new year and I am so excited. Here's what's tentatively on the menu (the chef reserves the right to change his mind at any time!)...

SNACKS

Truffle mousse paté

Crackers

Olives

Feta-stuffed mini red peppers

Bollinger Grande Année Brut Champagne 1999

AMUSE BOUCHE

Shaved smoked salmon

Crème fraiche

Chopped chives

Spoonbill caviar

Perrier-Jouet Fleur de Champagne 1998

APPETIZER

Saffron-Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

2006 Domaine Phillipe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Chenevottes"

PALATE CLEANSER

Rosemary Sorbet

MAIN

Filet Mignon with bleu cheese butter

Green beans with bacon and sultanas

Cain Five 2004

Artemis 2004

DESSERT

Oats

Rhubarb

Butter

Dessert wine TBD