Fall Dinner, 11/16/08

On a mild Friday in November, Jane and I went on a foraging mission through Union Square Greenmarket.


The English carrot guy sells his peelers and entertains.











The kohlrabi looks beautiful. Mental note for a near-future dinner party.











I love mustard greens because of their sharp flavor.











Scone on the run. Jane needs her breakfast.




















Probably, the last of the season concord grapes. Glad to have found them!











Sunchokes. They cause flatulence in some people, but I say the flavor is worth it.

















Potato season is here!













Sprouts on the stalk are alien-like.





















Jane picks brussel sprouts.










Moo radishes!























Northery Spy Apples. I was told that they are great for baking.
















Delicata squash. They are sweet like butternut, but more delicate in flavor and texture. Bryan Hunt, made Jane and I an amazing green salad with Delicata when we visited him at Insieme last year.












Assorted winter squash. Might be nice to bake the little pumpkins and fill them with soup.











Back home, I got started, meezing dinner. First, I popped corn. On the stove, I sweated shallots and garlic. Once translucent, I added chicken stock.












Combine popped corn, shallots, garlic, and chicken stock in the vita. Puree, pass, and, viola, popcorn soup.















I blanched the quail eggs for 2 minutes and shocked them in ice water. Supposedly, heavily salting the blanching water helps with the peeling later. I gave it a try and it seemed to work because peeling the eggs wasn't too big of a headache. I pané a l’ anglaised the eggs (flour, milk[beaten eggs traditionally], breadcrumbs).










Poached, breaded quail eggs, ready to fried on the pick.











The concord grapes had seeds. Also, the skin was tough. What to do? I cut petals around the the seeds. Then peeled the skin from the petals. But, the grape pulp has no color. All the purple pigment is in the skin. So, I pushed the grape trimmings, skin and the pulp surrounding the seeds, through a passet. That liquid, acidified with a touch with lemon juice, combined with the clean pulp petals made a delicious garnish for the cured hamachi.















Slicing cured hamachi with a buffalo-antler-handle nenox sujihiki.

















Sauteed Northern Spy apples for the turnover filling.
















Guests are here; it's go time. Pamela, Paul, Amber, and Michael joined Jane and I for a lovely dinner. Amuse bouche: Poached, fried quail egg with porchini and white truffle.















Workin'.






















Cured hamachi, concord grape, moo radish, radish tops.

































Popcorn soup, curly mustard salad with smoked salmon.















Big smile, happy diners: the Wambers!






















Big-time art power around the table, getting ready to tuck into the soup.

















Mid-service, stove-top still life.

















Sauteed cod, brussel sprouts, and sunchokes.














Apple turnovers and vanilla icecream. Hey, what can I say -- I like rustic desserts.














Jane and Pamela connect.















Luminous Jane.





















A toast! Forgot to record exact tasting notes but remember that we drank a Movia Ribolla, a delicious Sekt, and various French pinot noirs.



















Weber is a saint. He helps with the dishes and clean up.



















Aftermath, still life. Dinner finished, we piled into a car and made our way to Broadway East for dancing fun!

breakfast with mom, mer, and jane, 11/2/08

Whoa! Dynasty, on Hester and Elizabeth, has been reincarnated into Hong Kong Supermarket. This is THE place in NY to shop for Asian dry goods.










I stopped by Aqua Best, on Grand and Forsyth, to buy live blue crabs.




















Picking out she-crabs.
















Crabs by the bushel.















Jane peels shrimp.
















1000 year old egg. Duck or chicken eggs are coated in a clay-like plaster of red earth, garden lime, salt, wood ash, and tea for about 100 days. I want to do this at my restaurant.













The white becomes black and the yolk becomes green. Looks weird, but tastes great.












I washed the rice until the water ran clear. This is the first step in making rice porridge.












Next, I blitzed one 1000 year old egg in the vita.










I mixed the 1000 year old egg puree with two tablespoons of soy sauce and added this marinade to the uncooked rice.










The rice marinated for 30 minutes.









Delicata squash















I scooped the seeds and sprinkled each half with salt and olive oil. On the pick up, I broiled them for about 6 minutes, until the flesh became golden brown.












Steamed Chinese egg custard.











When the custard started to set, I added chopped shrimp and garlic chives.















Mise en place for my chili crabs: lemon grass, garlic, ginger, scallion, shallots. and chili pepper.













Mom washed and boiled the crabs.












After a little instruction, Mer made the scallion pancakes.

























Roll out a circle of dough.
Dough = 2 cups all purpose flour + 1 cup boiling water (easy, huh)













Brush dough with sesame oil and then sprinkle with sliced scallions.








Roll the circle of dough into a tube.











Roll the tube into a sprial, like a snail. Finally, flatten the snail into circle. The scallion pancake is finished and ready to be cooked.












Mom browned the scallion pancaked on the griddle.










Jane peeled 1000 year old eggs and then cut them into wedges to garnish the rice porridge.











Chili crabs.












Our breakfast spread.
























Condiments for the rice porridge: pickled greens, pickled mustard, 1000 year old eggs, red cooked pork belly.














Grinding.











More grinding.









This is some of my favorite comfort food.