Bel Canto: The Dinner

My South American themed table

 Last night was the Bel Canto dinner.  The theme of the night was cultural mash-ups.  The book centered around a bunch of people from all over the world living amongst each other as either hostages or terrorists.  I decided that I would make each course a fusion of flavors and techniques from different culinary backgrounds.  Ones that aren't too obvious but end up working well together.

The Place setting

St. Germain Cocktail

 I started the guests off with a St. Germain Cocktail, made with, yes, St. Germain (which is an elderflower liquor) soda water and freshly squeezed limes. 

The Bel Canto Roll

The First Course

The first course was the "Bel Canto Roll".  I've been making 'Italian Sushi' for a few years now, and it's just a fun appetizer.  It's easy to eat and kind of tasty, and also kind of different.  I use risotto as the rice and prosciutto as the seaweed.  In this version, I stuffed them with sauteed asparagus, and then drizzled hollandaise sauce over them.  Asparagus and Hollandaise was served in the book, so it was nice to be able to incorporate a little of the book into the meal.  So the countries represented in this dish are Japan, Italy and France.

Salmon Rillettes over a Potato Pancake topped with Wasabi Roe

The Second Course

 This was probably my favorite dish of the night, but also the one I was most looking forward to making.  I had the rillettes recipe for a while, it's Eric Ripert's recipe he uses at Le Bernardin.  The potato pancake seemed like a great way to serve the rillettes, and the wasabi-infused flying fish roe was a stroke of luck.  I came across it at Russ and Daughters last Saturday afternoon when I was buying the smoked salmon for this dish.  I had been wanting to top the dish with Caviar, but didn't really want to spend $250 on some.  I love the way the colors work on the plate, and I must say, biting into this was pure decadence.  It was great.  This dish whisks us off to Germany, France and Japan.

Shrimp Ceviche

The Third Course

 The third course was Shrimp Ceviche.  It had a nice little kick to it, because I used two types of chili peppers in it, and also avocado, orange bell pepper, cilantro and lots of lime.  It was a refreshing dish, and lightened things up since it was served between two fried dishes.  This dish ended up not being a culinary mash-up, it's basically just Peruvian.  It's never actually stated, but most people agree that the book is set in Peru.

Panko Crusted Weinerschnitzel over Warm Potato Salad topped with a Raw Beet Salad

The Fourth Course

The fourth course was not too shabby.  This dish took us to Germany, Japan and Russia.  The warm potato salad was tossed with olive oil, rice wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, scallions and my homemade seasoned salt.  The weinerschnitzel (I used a pounded pork tenderloin) was nice and crispy and very juicy and tender.  The raw beet salad was derived from a few Russian beet salad recipes.  The shaved beets were tossed with some mayo, dill, grated cucumber and garlic.  It had such a nice refreshing taste, and the color on it was just gorgeous.  I love how this plate looked, because the colors and textures were just so visually pleasing.  It was a great finish to dinner.

Panettone Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Syrup

The Fifth Course

On to dessert, a Panettone bread pudding.  I had never made bread pudding before, and it's quite easy, and uncomplicated which is what I look for in a dessert.  The cinnamon syrup really added a nice layer of sweet and warm flavors at the end.  I consider this dish Italian American.

So that was the Bel Canto dinner.  I think it was very successful, and I could NOT have done it without my sous chef, Liza, she's the best!  Also, thanks to my guests, they were very into the discussion last night, if you've read the book, you know there's lots to discuss.

I just need to figure out the next book to cook!

Bel Canto Shopping

I've gone over my menu and have created my shopping list for the Bel Canto dinner next Monday night, February 4th.  The list is interesting, because this may end up being my "finest" dining and most international menu, but my least complicated shopping list.
Lemons, limes, potatoes, eggs, butter, flour and shallots are some recurring simple ingredients.  There's some nice produce that I'll have to find which may end up posing a problem this season, but I will scour my markets to make it happen.

I'm very much looking forward to paying another visit to Russ and Daughters on Saturday, and then strolling over to the Union Square farmers market.  I'll be buying some of their Gaspe Nova smoked salmon for my salmon rillettes, and I may buy some wasabi roe to top it, I just need to figure out if it's in my budget.  It would make a beautiful topping, and keep up with the international theme.

I need to get my hands on a bottle of Pisco and St. Germain (YES) and my first stop will be this really cute shop in LIC, Hunter's Point Wine and Spirits.  The shop is very homy with what seems to be a carefully selected group of wines and spirits, and although the space isn't huge, I've found everything I've ever needed in there.

Another stop I need to make is at the Italian specialty shop under the N/Q at Astoria/Ditmars, Rosario's Italian Deli, here I can pick up the prosciutto for my "Italian Sushi" and the panettone for the Panettone bread pudding.

I'll stop in to King's Fish & Seafood Market after work and before all my cooking on Monday, the day of.  Every morning as I walk to work off the E in Jamaica, I watch the guys haul seafood off the truck and into the store, so I know it's fresh.  The prices are also pretty unbeatable.  I'll be picking up all the seafood for my ceviche.

So, hopefully shopping goes smoothly, and then there's cooking all of it-yeesh! Glad Liza will be helping!

The Great Gatsby Brunch, May 20th 2012

It all feels kind of like a dream and a blur to piece my Gatsby weekend together.  It started on Saturday morning with a trip into the city for some of my key ingredients.  It was a perfect spring day, and the tourists were definitely in bloom.  First stop was a mobbed Russ and Daughters, the famous lox emporium on the Lower East Side.  I bought a pound of the Norwegian smoked salmon for the salmon and cucumber sandwiches, and I bought myself an everything bagel with their gaspe lox.  I walked up to Union Square, and sat and enjoyed my bagel.  I made some produce purchases at the Farmer's market, and bought a few items at the Whole Foods.  I was very happy to find and purchase these California artichokes for my "East Egg" dish.

When I returned to Astoria, I stopped by the fish store under the train @ the Ditmars stop (Greek writing on the awning, no idea what it's called) and bought the Lump crab meat for my crab remoulade.  Then I head over to my brother's apartment and he kindly drove me around to some of my favorite local places to shop.  Hands down the best wine shop in Astoria, Off The Vine is my favorite place to shop for wine, where the owner is always happy to point you in the right direction.  I picked up 7 bottles of prosecco, and then walked across the street to Sorriso's to pick up some prosciutto for my "West Egg" and Pork Wellington.  Last stop was Berry Fresh Farms, my local grocery store that has recently expanded, plus they have the lowest prices in town.  We grabbed some kebabs at Balkh Shish Kebab, which I've been wanting to try (it's very good), I sat on my couch for a bit, and then began my cooking at 8:00.  I broke down a chicken and boiled it as if I were making chicken soup, for the Waldorf chicken salad.  I made my red onion "mustard" and marinated and grilled the ham for the spiced ham and pineapple sandwiches.  I carved the artichoke hearts and boiled them with some flour, water, lemon, salt and olive oil.  I set the table.  Every time I thought I was done, I thought of other things I can do to be as prepared as possible on Sunday morning. My dreams of sitting down with a glass of wine and watching Mick host SNL were "Shattered", when I decided to hard boil some eggs, make the jello and the jalapeno and chive cream cheese.  I got to bed a little after one, and in the morning I bought more lemons and oranges, a large cup of coffee and got back into the kitchen (where I belong)...
I spent the beginning of the morning chopping away.  I did the fruit cocktail, chicken salad, crab remoulade and stuffing for the "West Egg".  I wrapped the pork tenderloin, cleaned, and prepped.  At 1:45, my helper/server/brother showed up and I got him to work on juicing and muddling the citrus and mint for the prosecco cocktails while I put together the 3 tea sandwiches and made sure everything was presentable(sort of).

The Table is set for the guests, the tea sandwiches were laid out, and the table was decorated with oranges and lemons

The Menu

"Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York — every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves." -The Great Gatsby

The salmon and cucumber sandwich was a layer of the jalapeno and chive cream cheese, the salmon and then cucumber, all on top of rye points.

For the crab remoulade I made circles out of some potato bread and griddled both sides in a little bit of butter before topping it with the crab meat that I tossed in my own version of remoulade sauce.

 I layered my red onion mustard, pineapple and the grilled spiced ham on pumpernickel points

While the brunch goers feasted in the sammies, I got to work on the second course, the dreaded East Egg Vs. West egg.  My reasons for dreading this was that in order to get it on the table, I had to poach six eggs perfectly and make the hollandaise sauce all at the same time.  I knew that if I could do this, the rest of the brunch would be pretty simple.  Luckily, everything came together fine.  I was very pleased.

East Egg Vs. West Egg.  The East egg represents tradition and old money, this is where Tom and Daisy live.  The West Egg represents the changing times and new money, this is where Gatsby lives.

East Egg: artichoke heart, poached egg and Sauce Hollandaise

West Egg: dill, scallion, avocado, feta and caper stuffed egg

While this course was served, I threw the Pork Wellington into the oven and prepared the Waldorf Chicken salad.  Basically, it is my chicken salad recipe served over mixed greens, radishes and apples, then topped with grapes and toasted walnuts.

Waldorf Chicken Salad

Prosecco with muddled citrus and mint

The Pork Wellington came out of the oven, and after sitting for a while, I sliced and served it.  I stuffed the pork tenderloin with dried apricots and fresh herbs from my windowsill. I wrapped it in prosciutto, and then brushed it with grain mustard and wrapped that in pie crust.

Pork Wellington

On to dessert!  I made gin-soaked jello and fruit cocktail.  These desserts were inspired by the fact that jello and canned fruit cocktail first came to be and were very popular in the 1920s.  The gin-soaked factor of course comes from prohibition.  I infused my own gin with cucumber and ginger for about two weeks, and followed the jello recipe, but used gin in lieu of water.  The fruit cocktail was a combination of strawberries, pineapple, grapes and cherries.  I tossed them with lime, confectioner's sugar and a drop of vanilla.  At the last minute I decided to literally whip up some whipped cream, I think much to everyone's delight.  I mean, dessert needs to be a little fattening!

Dessert

The Whipped Cream

Gin-Soaked Jello (strawberry or lime!)

The Fruit Cocktail

 The second meeting of the Astoria Book and Supper Club was a lot different from the first, and I think they probably all will be.  As long as I'm satisfied with what I've cooked, and my guests are full and happy, I think this supper club will be a success.  Poor Gatsby....:(