Tuesday Night Supper Club
We are a group of friends based out of Brooklyn who come together every Tuesday night to experiment with new cuisines, wines, and cooking styles to produce rich and new dishes from around the world. Formed around a love for food, wine, and company, our clique has only one rule: You must always try the food, regardless as to whether you think you will like it or not.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Mercury poisoning be damned
I marinated the steak in a concoction of Soy sauce, a few splashes of sesame oil, and a 2:1 ratio of honey and wasabi paste. I whisked it together in a stainless steel bowl which I put a little heat to in order to more easily incorporate the honey. I let my tuna marinade for around 45 minutes. Any longer than an hour and you'll end up with one salty steak. I removed the fillet and placed the marinade in a sauce pan for reduction. I pat my tuna dry, applied fresh sesame seeds and set her aside. I wanted to get the shrimp finished before putting the tuna to heat because it can be a bit more temperamental than shrimp. I coated my shrimp with some of the St. Louis BBQ rub I had made previously and put them in a hot pan, then into the broiler until pink. Now it was time for the steak. I broiled it; don't do that. Get a cast iron pan real hot, put in some oil then lightly sear each side for 3-5 minutes. I mandolin-ed some cucumbers and made a mayo and sriracha sauce for the cucumbers and laid the shrimp on top. Sliced my tuna and placed the strips on a rice blend then finally I added the reduction. Quick, easy, and delicious.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
I love the fishes 'cause they're so delicious
For the shellfish I sweat down onions in butter then added garlic and herbs. After five minutes I added a combination of muscles, littleneck clams, and razor clams. Then came the steaming liquid of which you can use white wine or beer. I chose the latter and poured in a bottle of Sierra Nevada Torpedo extra IPA. Cover and steam your shellfish (if not previously frozen) until the shells open up and the muscles are a nice orange color. Using the aforementioned cream sauce recipe I substituted the shallots/stock with the steaming liquid from the shellfish. The flavor this gave to the sauce is indescribable. I ended up steaming the shellfish too long due to my focused attention on the cream sauce, so be careful. What I would suggest, since the cream sauce needs a fair amount of reduction, is to steam for 5 minutes, pour off some liquid for your sauce and get it started. That way by the time the shellfish are finished you're almost done with the sauce. We used thin spaghetti for the pasta incase anyone cared.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Ravioli. I love Ravioli.
Rachele took out all of the stops and went with a pumpkin ravioli with a herb cream sauce. Needless to say we practically passed out at the table upon the completion of this meal. To accompany this meal I opened a 2008 Laurent Betton St. Joseph which may not have been the best pairing, but delicious none the less. The St. Joseph started with dark fruit, blackberries and tobacco. A leathery mid palate with a spicy full bodied finish. Extremely well balanced with delicate tannins. I wish I had secured a few more bottles for myself.
Pumpkin Ravioli with Cream Sauce
10 Tbsp (5oz) butter
1 Pound fresh pumpkin (we cheated and used canned)
2 Cups heavy cream
1/2 Bay leaf
2 Tbsp minced fresh sage (Fresh! don't cheap out!)
2 Tbsp minced fresh thyme
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Egg for pasta wash
2 Cups chicken stock
2 Shallots
Filling:
In a sauce pan on low heat combine 4 Tbsp butter, the pumpkin, 1c of cream, and half of your minced herbs. Allow to thicken. Remove from heat and whisk in 2 Tbsp butter, beaten eggs, salt and pepper. I suggest making the filling a few hours prior to filling your ravioli and allowing it to chill. We stuffed ours pretty soon after and the filling was not as thick as one would like thus resulting on our larger, flat ravioli. Regardless of aesthetics they were phenomenal.
Pasta:
Being that I have yet to invest in a pasta maker or even a rolling pin, I purchased my pasta from Russo's on 11th Street and 1st Ave in Manhattan. Always my goto place for fresh pasta. We laid out our sheets, brushed with egg and spooned on equal portions of the pumpkin filling.
Sauce:
Brown 1/2 stick of butter in a sauce pan. In a separate pan add your shallots and stock then reduce to half. Add cream and reduce by 1/2 again. Whisk in your browned butter and herbs. Then add your cooked ravioli, toss and serve.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Breakfast! Because I eat then too.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
This is one Monk you wont see on USA network
We did a quick salt and peppering of the fillet and divided it accordingly.
With our starch we wanted to incorporate some of the flavors being infused into our fish. We cooked our polenta and as it approached the appropriate texture added some sprigs of dill, cayenne pepper, and paprika. As the fish approached done-ness we noticed how much it fluffed up, looking much like a broiled lobster tail. To say that any of us could control the Pavlovian response to this would be a an outright lie. As a finishing sauce we made a light roux and added some basic hotsauce for some heat and vinegar.
The fish was so succulent and even more flavorful and approachable than lobster. The sweetness with the butter roux was indescribable. Come over some time and I'll make it for you because this may be my new goto protien.
I seem to say this every time we cook, maybe it's just because I always enjoy myself that much more when something comes out so perfectly, but it seems that each meal we produce keeps getting better and better. Though this one will be hard to trump.
The wines we drank last night were purchased prior to the fish so were not meant as a pairing but were enjoyable none the less. Though a full bodied white burgh would have been mindblowing. The wines we drank were a very enjoyable primer on young versus old Cabernet Franc.
The younger of the two is an '09 Loire Cab Franc with excellent muted red fruit, minerality, balanced acidity, and a finish of lavender and violets. That being in stark contrast to the 01 Cabernet Franc by Caslot; a small, organic producer also from the Loire Valley. This wine had dominant barnyard notes on both the palate and nose. Totally unexpected. It's rare to find aged Cab Franc so this wine for me was uncharted territory. It still had plenty of acid to carry this wine through and in those 10 years the fruit had morphed into deeper purple territory. The finish was stemmy (in a good way I swear!) and contributed to an excellent finish on this unique bottle.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Impromptu German-esque Dinner
I will hopefully be updating every week with succulent photos and wine tasting notes. See you next Tuesday,
DS
It's Been Two Long...
See you next Tuesday!
-Dan