At the end of this post, I concluded:
I hope this doesn’t escalate into a food war. Who am I kidding? I hope this does escalate into a food war.
I was right, it did escalate into a food war. That dinner became the inaugural entry for Can’t Talk, Eating, our dining club. Four couples convene at four venues four times a year, with each dinner hosted by one couple. It was our turn again this past weekend, and She Who Must Be Obeyed and I had our work cut out for us. We decided to take advantage of the produce that was available at summer’s end at our local farmer’s market, and pair each course with German rieslings we had tasted this past spring at Journeyman. Here’s what we came up with (all photos by Cecilia Tan):
Velvet Shiso
We started with a cocktail made with carbonated riesling, umeshu, shiso leaf, and coconut/lemon/saffron sorbet, accompanied by a passionfruit marshmallow.
Tomato Salad
Red, yellow, and green heirloom tomatoes, confited cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, mozzarella ice cream, provencal granola, olive oil, balsamic vinegar.
2012 Karthäuserhof Ruwer Trocken
Corn, Lobster
Sweet corn risotto with butter poached lobster.
2012 Peter Lauer “Untersternberg”
Mushrooms
Confit of oyster, elm, chestnut, and bear’s head mushrooms, with a seared king oyster mushroom plank garnished with morel reduction and dried chive blossoms.
This course was a last-miute addition, inspired by my visit the previous weekend to the New Hampshire Mushroom Company growing facility. All of these mushroom were cultivated on-site.
2012 Karthäuserhof “Schieferkristal” Feinherb
Beef Heart
Brined beef heart cooked sous vide for 24 hours, served with red wine poached cherries, toasted pecans, baby hakurei turnips, mâche salad, and balsmic reduction.
2012 Karthäuserhof Grosses Gewachs
Cheese
Lincolnshire Poacher, Von Trapp, and Harbison cheeses, with honeyed walnuts, cranberry chutney, and pickled peppers.
2012 Peter Lauer “Stirn”
Peach
Peach galette, blackberries, and peach/brown sugar/bourbon ice cream.
2012 Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Spätlese
This dinner was a deviation for us, in that there were only three days of advance prep, and we waited until that morning to buy the final ingredients from the market. She Who and I have settled into a comfortable rhythm in the kitchen, which made the whole endeavor much more relaxed.
There was stil a mountain of dishes to deal with. If only I could convince He Who Will Not Be Ignored to help out…