BIRTHDAYS

ARE ALWAYS festive occasions and it is such a pleasure to celebrate someone's life with friends and good food. My sister Monica celebrated such a birthday a few weeks so it was only fitting that I should cook an extravaganza for her, my other sister and her closest friends. We had a jolly old time. 

I am still amazed that I am capable of pulling off a sit-down dinner for eight in my tiny apartment, but I did. Of course, serving a 5-course meal requires time and planning: cooking stock, pâté, hors d'oeuvres and desserts days in advance always helps and, I was indeed cooking and cleaning all week. Here's what we had!

Chicken Liver Pâtè

Goat Cheese wrapped in Seaweed

Caponata

Olives

Prosecco

Vichyssoise

Chardonnay, Louis Latour

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Lasagna with Eggplant, Veal and Four Cheeses

Jeff Carrell 2014

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Watermelon and Lime Ice with Bombay Sapphire

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Navarin d'Agneau made in the style of Beouf Bourguignon

Pommes Dauphinoise with Roasted Whole Plum Tomatoes

Gaia Barbaresco 2011

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Ricotta Torte with Lemon and Almonds

Apricot Tart

Potato Chip Cookies

Brownies

Truffles

Caffè

Now, to write it all down!

VICHYSSOISE

Vichyssoise is the most classic of soups. It is relatively simple to make if you are well versed in stocks and have the fortitude and patience to keep it in the fridge untouched until ready to serve because once seasoned and chilled it is unbelievably delicious; it can also be extremely rich if eaten in large quantities. 

Start with a rich chicken stock made from the carcass of a roasted chicken: boiled, skimmed and then simmered in a large pot of water. After skimming the stock, add one whole leek, one large unpeeled onion, 2 stalks of celery, 3 medium sized carrots and bring back to the boil. Immediately turn the heat down to the lowest setting, add a bouquet garni made of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, a bay leaf and a few black peppercorns wrapped in cheesecloth or ensased in the hard green leaves of a large leek and tied with string. Simmer for 3 hours covered. After the stock is a rich, deep color, let it cool, uncovered and then degrease and strain through a china cap strainer lined in cheesecloth or paper towels and discard the vegetables. You will need 3 quarts of stock for this recipe.

4 tbl. butter

2 tbl. EVOO

2 whole leeks

1 small white onion or 4 shallots (optional)

5 potatoes, peeled and then cut into 1/2 inch dice

1/2 quart milk

1/2 quart heavy cream

nutmeg

salt and white pepper

chopped chives 

Clean the leeks thoroughly until there is absolutely no sand of any kind left in the leaves. Chop off a good 3 inches of the green leaves and reserve for another use (bouquet garni comes to mind here). Chop the leeks and onions and sauté in the butter and EVOO over moderate heat until they soften but do not brown. Add the stock and the potatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and add the milk, bring to a boil again and then simmer. When the potatoes are completely cooked (after 20 minutes or so), continue to cook for another 15 or 20 minutes to let the soup amass the flavors of the leeks and potatoes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for about 15-20 minutes. At this point you can either use a hand emulsion blender or a food processor blend all of the ingredients. At this point, the soup should be a somewhat thick purée. Allow to cool further and strain again through a sieve or china cap strainer to weed out any hard pieces of leek that may remain. Season with the nutmeg, salt and white pepper (chilled soups require over-salting so be careful not to salt too much until the soup is completely chilled and the rest of the cream has been added). Add half of the cream and chill. Allow to chill at least 12 hours, add the rest of the cream and season to taste. Chill another 8-10 hours before serving with a garnish of chopped chives.

I've written about lasagna several times in these pages so the recipes can be found if you search "Lasagna"

WATERMELON ICE

2 cups chopped watermelon

3 limes

1/2 cup sugar syrup (1/2 cup water, 4tbls. sugar brought to the boil until sugar dissolves)

1 small airplane-sized bottle of Bombay Sapphire

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend to a smooth consistency. Let cool and place in the refrigerator to chill (at least 8 hours but preferably overnight). Place in the frozen element of an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions on making gelato or granite. Keep in freezer until ready to serve and scoop out very small portions on chilled glass plates or in sherry glasses to cleanse the palette.

NAVARIN D'AGNEAU

This is a variation on Beuof Bouguignon found in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The simple substitution of lamb for beef transforms this dish into a gamey dish of great succulence and flavor.

6 oz. slab bacon cut into lardon pieces

3 pounds lean lamb cut into 1 inch pieces

3 tbl. flour

1 onion, finely chopped

1 lb. carrots cut into large julienne

2 qts. beef or lamb stock

1/2 bottle rich red wine (Burgundy, Côte du Rhone, or a very good Chianti will do)

4 tb. unsalted butter 

18-24 pearl white onions peeled

3 tb. unsalted butter

1 tb. EVOO

1 lb. slices mushrooms 

salt and pepper

a couple of scrapes of nutmeg

white wine

Madeira or Port or any other sweet wine such as Sherry or Marsala

In a large casserole dish, melt some butter with the lardon and cook until the lardon has rendered most of its fat and begins to turn a deep brownish red. Remove lardon, add some olive oil and sauté the pieces of lamb (do not overcrowd the pan or the lamb won't cook evenly). When all the lamb pieces are browned on all sides add all of it to the pot and sprinkle the flour over the pieces and let the lamb acquire a glaze. This will allow the sauce to thicken once you've added the liquid. Add the carrots and the onion and saute momentarily with the lamb. Add the stock and then the wine and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer over the stove covered or place in a 375º oven (preferred) for 2-2½ hours. Once the lamb is cooked, take out of the oven and let it rest with the top slightly ajar. (Up to this point, you can make this at least 24 hours beforehand and refrigerate and reheat when it is time to serve.)

While the lamb is cooking in the oven (or reheating), prepare the onions by using a small paring knife and cut off a thin slice of the root and cut a criss-cross at the other end of each onion. Place the onions in a small pot of boiling water for about 10 seconds and drain. The thin skins should slide right off and you will retain a whole onion for cooking. In a rather large sauté pan, sauté the onions over moderately high heat. Season with salt and pepper. You must be on the lookout here because you want to make sure the onions brown on all sides so you need to shake the pan and roll the onions round and round to brown them evenly. This should take about 20 minutes or so; they should take on the color of deep amber. Splash a little white wine on the onions and allow to cook for a few minutes more. Never one to shy away from the gilded lily, I add some cream at the end to thicken the butter sauce just before adding the onions to the lamb.

After you've cooked the onions, melt the butter and oil in a deep pan. Add the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper and nutmeg. Cook covered over moderate heat for about 5 minutes. Uncover and stir. There should be quite a lot of juice from the mushrooms which you will need to let reduce. Turn the heat up higher and allow to reduce to about 2 tbs. of liquid in the pan. Splash with a good dose of white wine and cook until the wine is completely reduced. Add the Medeira and cook until that has been reduced to a thick syrup. Take off the heat.

Just before serving, add the onions and mushrooms to the lamb and serve garnished with parsley.

POMMES DAUPHINOISE WITH ROASTED TOMATOES

This isn't exactly a traditional way to make potatoes in the dauphinoise manner but the experiment paid off. Truly! I decided to layer roasted tomatoes in between thin slices of potatoes covered in a good dousing of heavy cream diluted with a little milk. 

Butter to grease an oven proof dish

1 clove garlic smashed 

4 Potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly on a mandolin

1/2 dozen roasted tomatoes cut in half 

  (see blog entry dated February 4, 2016)

1 pint heavy cream

1/4 cup full milk

Butter to dot the layers of potatoes

Salt and pepper

Rub the garlic all over the baking dish. Grease the dish with butter and start layering potatoes. Dot the potatoes with little pieces of butter and season with salt and pepper. Add layer of potato and continue alternating with each layer and finish with a layer of potato. Dot the top as befoe with a little butter and drizzle all of the milk and cream all over the sides and top. 

Place the dish in a 375º preheated oven and bake until the cream thickens and bubbles into a rich custard. Take out of oven to settle and serve.

The desserts can be found in other entries by doing a simple search in this blog. 

Afterwards, we went for a stroll on the Sun Terrace of my building where we were treated to a fabulous view of the New York Skyline at night!

The next evening we dined at Gramercy Tavern and enjoyed a lavish 6-course Chef's Tasting Menu. They topped it all off with their own personal birthday greetings!