Last Sunday, October 13th I hosted the book and supper for Garlic and Sapphires written by renowned food writer Ruth Reichl. The book is about her time as the New York Times food critic, each chapter is about a character she disguised herself as when visiting the famous New York restaurants she critiqued. My vision for the menu and table was to recreate the mood of a classic New York restaurant. The menu was also inspired by her foodie adventures and her personal recipes that she included in the book. Without further adieu:
The table and menu. I used a white linen table clothe, to go with my restaurant feel, and a festive fall-inspired centerpiece with gords and pumpkins that also included some beautiful garlic bought at the Union Square farmer's market. My idea was for everyone to take home a bulb, but it seems some of my guests had a little too much to drink and left theirs behind...
Everyone is seated, with a glass of wine and some bread and (homemade honey/vanilla) butter. Moving on to the first course:
The first course was a Hudson Valley foie gras mousse with black truffles. I served it over baked cinnamon and brown sugar rubbed Jonagold and Empire apples from the Union Square farmers market. The foie was topped with a spiced walnut. I think Ruth ate foie gras at almost every meal unless she was in an Asian restaurant, so it had to be on the menu.
Course Two: Seasonal Vegetable Risotto drizzled with black truffle oil. The seasonal vegetable were baby zucchini and squash and shitake mushrooms all purchased from the Union Square farmers market. I also added some basil from my cousin Michael's garden and grana padano to make it a little creamy/cheesy/salty. Truffles had to be included, because it seemed like she pretty much ate truffles at every meal too.
Course three: a Classic Caesar salad. I must say, this may have been my favorite part. I haven't had a real caesar in quite some time, and a real one is absolutely delicious. I did a little research on what's considered the classic, and the ingredients I used were: some fresh grated garlic that I infused in some olive oil, lemon, a dash of white vinegar, worcestershire sauce (contains a trace of anchovies) a coddled (by Liza) egg yoke and last but not grated parmesan (I used grana). I had toasted the croutons earlier, and I left the romaine leaves whole, like they do at a restaurant in Ithaca that I love. YUM.
These are the porterhouse steaks that I grilled on my stove top skillet and then finished off under the broiler. They were thiiiiick steaks and I wish I could have kept one insanely rare for myself. All of my guests preferred medium rare. I tried my best to make it happen.
This is a sea of my potatoes au gratin. I got to test drive (had a minor fender bender with my thumb) the mandolin Liza bought me for my birthday, and it's a great, very sharp tool to have in the kitchen. I layered the potatoes with grated gruyere, grated pepper, grated nutmeg and black lava salt flakes.
Course four: Steak and Potatoes. My favorite chapter in the book was probably her steak chapter. I love steak, I love steakhouses and I love nostalgia. She wrote a lot about being a kid and picking up steaks at the butcher with her Dad. Also, cooking and serving steaks with simplicity (ie: salt only) can't be beat.
Course Five: of course, dessert had to be a New York Style Cheesecake. I used Ruth's recipe to make it. She tops hers with a layer of sour cream. I had never heard of this before, and I liked it better than I thought I would. I topped the cheesecake with some fresh baby strawberries from the Union Square farmers market that I macerated with sugar and a raspberry liquor from the Finger Lakes.
Two of my guests at the supper club that night are gluten and dairy intolerant so one of my guests made a gluten and dairy free graham cracker crust cheesecake, and I must say it was truly delicious and semi on par with a real cheesecake!
