Thanksgiving

As demonstrated by Mark's plate. Thanks, everyone.





The menu
Thanksgiving 2009

BEN
smoked turkey (Elmwood / Green Egg)
green beans (traditional w/ country ham)
cheese grits
sweet potatoes

CHRISTIAN
pumpkin pie
pecan pie

MARK
cardoons

TONY
Brussel sprouts

LYNN
mashed potatoes
Benedictine

MICHAL
deep fried turkey
oyster dressing
turkey grav
bread pudding

Sunday dinner with mom and dad

Mom and dad passed through on their way to Missouri. Here's what we had. . .

Apps: bell pepper tapanade (bell peppers, garlic, kalamata olives, lemon juice). Salmon salad (mayo, Dijon, garlic)



Cocktails--pomegranate gin gimlet (Hendrick's)



Autmnal salad--roasted beets, dried cranberry,walnuts with a pomegranate vinagrette.



Shrimp and grits. Sauteed prawn in butter and garlic. Sauce from shrimp stock and fire roasted tomatoes. Reduced and added sour cream and garlic chili. Grits are 1 part grit and 4 parts liquid. Here 1 c cream and 3 c water. Brought liquid to a boil with roasted corn cut from the cob. Pureed with hand blender. Added grits. Let thicken and then added Parmesan.

Saucy salmon

This was from last night. Pretty standard fast fare: fish cooks quickly at 400 degrees. Potatoes don't take long when cut in small cubes. Then just throw on sour cream and dill. Nothing special--crab cakes were from Kroger--but posting this for the sauce: Vietnamese chili garlic & mayo fir the crab; sour cream, Dijon mustard and crushed galic and dill fir the fish

Chicken Picquant

Name taken from a creole dish but this wasn't very Louisiana. Sauteed onion and garlic. Added bell peppers right at the end. Then a can of crushed tomatoes and VN garlic chili sauce for heat. Boiled, shredded chicken breast. Reduced. Added 1 C or so of sour cream. Served over saffron basmati rice with parsley.

Working with Mark

Drove down to London last night and helped my friend Mark, who put on a dinner party for 17. It was a truly amazing meal. Here's what Mark is cooking these days:

Shrimp sauteed in olive with garlic on a local corn polenta square:

Potato. Just-dug potato torta topped with a agro-dolce tomato jam:


Bi Bim Bop Bite. Caramelized long-grain sticky rice cake topped with a Korean inspired mixed braise:


Fritter. A small fritter of finely julienned fall vegetables topped with a dollop of aioli:


Lobster corn chowder. Cape Breton lobsters, Kentucky corn, potatoes, and milk:


Caprese Salad. A winter version; warm, roasted plum tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pesto, warm vinaigrette of tomato jus and Devero olive oil, and a garlic crostino:


Poussin. Pastry-wrapped boneless young chicken layered with leeks, fennel, and crème fraiche. Served with a Port-jus sauce and cranberries:


Not pictured: a lemon olive oil cake and a pomegranate martini that I made: pomegranate syrup, Grey Goose Vodka, lemon juice, candied Meyer lemon peel.

School

School is such a great restaurant here in Lexington. It's a French-Japanese fusion. Below is the appetizer tasting. Snail, seared duck, pork and beef. Sweet meats. Some kind of brie. Oh, and beer pickled cucumbers.



And this is their sushi conveyor belt. Sorry that the photo is a bit blurry. . .

More city than country ham

Another odd treat. . . seared polenta topped with country ham and, I don't know why, garlic chili sauce mixed w/ mayo (think spicy aioli). But I think sweet would have complimented ham better.

Pork Chops a la Slav

Flavors of Budapest? Seared pork chops on high heat. Sauteed onion and garlic. Added a good T of paprika. Reduced. Added sour cream. Should have reduced more--the sauce was still too thin and I got impatient and used flour to thicken. Simple reduction would have been better. Served on saffron rice.

Left Overs

From dinner the night before. . . chicken salad from the Cornish gamehen. Served on tomato bread from Panera. Humus from the roasted banana peppers (w/ chickpeas, lemon, garlic, s&p) served on grilled tortillas

Pomegranate Whiskey Cooler

1 1/2 oz. Russell's Reserve rye. 1 oz. pomegranate syrup. 1/2 lemon, juiced. 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier. Shaken and poured over crushed ice. Finished with soda water and candied lemon peel

Dinner

The Cocktail: Pomegranate Martini: vodka, pomegranate syrup, Grand Marnier, candied lemon peel

This meal rocked: slow smoked Cornish gamehen (over cherry wood), polenta with roasted banana pepper sauce, green peas in a dill butter. Dessert: roasted pear with strawberry whiskey sauce.

Globular Cocktails

My new ice sphere maker has arrived from Hong Kong. Apparently this is the rage in Japanese bars. The idea being the ice melts more slowly and doesn't water down the drink.

Featured is a pomegranate whiskey sour: 2 1/2 oz. Wild Turkey 101 rye whiskey, 3/4 oz. pomegranate syrup, splash of Grand Marnier, juice of 1/2 lemon and floating 1/2 oz. of merlot on top.






Yeah, pic #2 is a drink or two into the process so the ice has melted a bit. . .

Dijon Salmon Steak

This very easy-to-make sauce rocked: sour cream, Dijon mustard, crushed garlic, lemon juice, dill, s&p. Seared the salmon on high heat. Trick: let the pan smoke, add peanut oil and blister to a nice, crunchy crust. Sides: potatoes with butter and parsley, salad with (sigh) conventional goat cheese.

Sea Scallops & Pasta

Seared sea scallops on very high heat with peanut oil. Blanched asparagus and red bell peppers. Served with coarsely shredded Paremesan, bacon, and red pepper flakes.