brunosdream

A friend of mine recently gave me an old issue of Bon Appetit dedicated entirely to the cooking of Provence

. While paging through it I came across a recipe for lavender sorbet. It sounded very intriguing so I decided to give it a try. The recipe was simple and the results were impressive! See for yourself…

Recipe:

8 cups water

3 ½ cups sugar

4 tablespoons dried lavender blossoms

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil without stirring until reduced by 1/3 volume (approx. 12 minutes). Strain syrup into medium bowl.

Chill syrup until very cold (about 4 hours). Transfer to ice cream maker. Add lemon juice; process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to covered container; freeze until firm.

Makes approx. 2 quarts

** I served the sorbet in wine goblets and garnished it w/ lemon zest and lavender blossoms.

Cheers!

Bruno

Not as strange a  combination as one would think…

  The gourmet homemade pizza is nothing new.
It’s just a great way to use the freshest ingredients
and personalize pizzas for the gathering.

Wine… Well, wine goes with everything.

The Jewel of the evening…

           Truffles

The Truffles courtesy of
Cindy, Her bother Jason
and his wife Ana  of
Posh Chocolat

Tasting Time w/ Cindy as
our guide

garam masala, mojito,
classic, grand marnier,
coconut curry, cafe com leche,
10 year old balsamic vinegar
& strawberry, fennel, toffee,
rosemary honey, smoked paprika,
white truffle oil & tahitian vanilla

Later that Night Bruno shows
What can be done with extra
pizza dough

Before

After

Josh & Amy

Bruno,Cindy & Josh
toasting a job well done

Text & Photos- Duane

1111

Mississippi
Fixed Price Menu – Tuscan Dinner

First course was
roasted tomato and artichoke soup
very flavorful w/ a nice light broth.

Second course was seared duck breast
and three cheese
ravioli w/ prosciuto, arugula, tomatoes
and sage butter sauce – Scrumptious!!

Third course was a choice of oven roasted black bass over
garlic olive oil crostini and roasted red pepper basil sauce, or red wine
marinated and braised quail w/ stewed white beans and rosemary-pancetta
broth – I went for the roasted bass
which was edged w/ pancetta… absolutely fantastic!
Dawn chose the braised
quail. I was considering this initially but didn’t want to fuss w/ all those
little bones! Dawn let me sample her quail and it was beautifully braised – I
love the flavor of poultry that’s been braised in red wine!!

Duane went for the a la carte menu so I’ll let him describe
his meal.

The Duane, of course had to be different.
My starter was the
grilled sea scallops
w/ chive polenta cakes
& vanilla rum sauce

Followed by the   
12oz Char-crust dry rubbed
rib-eye w/gorgonzolla butter
& tillamook cheddar-chive gratin

For wine we started off w/ a bottle that I brought from
home.

Artazu Artazuri Garnacha Narvarra 2003
a 100% tank-fermented old vine Grenache made by Artadi’s brilliant
winemaker, Juan Carlos Lopez de la Calle. An elegant, deep
ruby/purple-tinged Tinto, it boasts sweet, crunchy raspberry and cherry
fruit, medium body, a luscious texture, and a heady finish. This is
knock-out stuff to drink over the next 1-2 years.

Liz, server extraordinaire
tasting the vino

Rick, our friendly bartender, commented, “It’s like our
gigondas, it has a dusty dry finish”. He always comes up w/ great descriptions
of wine!

For dessert I went for crème custard napoleon w/ caramelized
bananas & chocolate shavings. Our server, Liz, described it as “banana
cream pie on steroids” and it definitely was!! I had to ask Liz twice what she
called this dessert so Duane and Dawn diagnosed me w/ CRS (i.e., Can’t Remember
Shit syndrome) and suggested I start taking ginkgo biloba regularly. I’m proud
to say that it only took me an hour after I got home to remember all of this!
Sorry Duane and Dawn, I’ll pass on the ginkgo for now, unless you can come up
w/ a dessert version that goes good w/ calvados!!
warm chocolate bread pudding
w/ marshmallows & pecan streusel
served w caramel ice cream 

Main Text-Bruno        Photographs-Duane

Bettina  sends another contribution from across the pond… 
a sampling of goodies from
Amrum
(a little but beautiful island in the Northern sea)

Buche de Noel w/ Expresso Buttercream Icing   

   

 

Ingredients 

For cake:

6 eggs

1 ¼ cups sugar

¾ cup flour

¾ cup cornstarch

 

For icing:

2 ¼ cups sugar

1 ½ cups expresso
coffee

4 egg yolks

3 ½ sticks butter

 

Icing is made by beating egg yolks until light yellow in
color. Next, cook sugar and coffee
together over medium high heat to a temperature of 234 degrees. Then very
slowly add sugar/coffee mixture to the yolks while beating at low speed until
mixture is cold (if you go too fast, the yolks will curdle). Butter is softened
at room temperature before it is cut into pieces and beaten into the cold
egg/syrup mixture. Continue beating at low speed until mixture is very firm.
Set aside in a cool spot.

 

Cake batter is made by adding sugar to beaten whole eggs
then continue beating mixture over very low heat until it doubles in size
(approx. 15 minutes). The flour and cornstarch are sifted together and gently
folded into the mixture. The mixture is then poured into a well buttered half
sheet pan and baked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan while
still warm and roll it up in a kitchen towel that has been sprinkled w/ sugar.
Set aside to cool (a warm cake will melt the icing).

 

When cool, unroll the cake and spread ¼ inch layer of icing
on the inside. Reroll the cake then cut off ends diagonally, each piece being
about 1 by 3 inches. Place the cake roll on a cutting board wrapped in foil
(the foiled cutting board was my serving platter, but feel free to use the
platter of your choice) then spread a ¼ inch layer of icing on the exterior of
the cake roll. The diagonal pieces are then placed on the top of the roll and
spread w/ icing to resemble stubs of cut-off branches. Tines of a fork are
drawn through the icing to simulate the texture of bark; the ends are marked w/
circles to resemble tree growth rings. Place the cake in a cool spot or
refrigerate until it’s time to serve. One hour prior to service, remove cake
from fridge and decorate cutting board w/ holly branches.

 

Chef’s notes:

 

The recipe from the magazine article was not very
specific regarding certain aspects of the preparation so I’m adding some info
for your benefit. For example, when making the icing, it is important to beat
the mixture until very firm, otherwise it will not be properly emulsified and will “break”. Also, when beating the cake
batter over heat I used a double boiler to prevent sticking and burning.
 

When removing the cake from the sheet pan be particularly
careful to unstick it from the pan so it doesn’t get broken. (I cracked the
cake at this stage and it made the remaining steps much more challenging!!).
Make sure your kitchen towel is generously sprinkled w/ sugar and gently roll
up the warm cake. I applied a little too much pressure while rolling which
caused the cake to stick to the towel and crack even more when unrolled!
Believe me, you don’t want your cake cracked because icing it, then rerolling
will be a pain in the a_ _!! Fortunately, through the miracles of icing, I was
able to cover up all my mistakes!
 

For a first effort, I think the final product turned out
fairly nice. I wish my mom and dad were around to sample it. I did have a group
of friends over for cake and champagne, and by the looks of it, they seemed
pretty satisfied!

Bruno wanted this posted during
the holidays but scheduling
prevented  it.
“D”

My mom died 2 years ago December 13th and my dad on April 25th, 1998. I miss them both very much, especially during the holidays. In their honor, here is a special blog entry.

My mom was like a Swiss Julia Child/Martha Stewart combo! She was a great chef(she trained in her home country of Switzerland and in Paris, France) and would decorate the house so nicely for the holidays w/ beautiful touches that made it festive. I know my dad loved this about her in addition to her excellent cooking skills. Two desserts that stand out in my mind around Christmas are leckerli and Buche de Noel. The leckerli were sent by my Swiss relatives. They are a popular Swiss cookie and there are 2 versions - one is made w/ honey, the other w/ ground almonds. Both are chewy and delicious.

 

My mom would make a Buche de Noel to celebrate Christmas. In her honor I will attempt to recreate the dessert from her recipe and eat it in my dad's honor. The chef notes and recipe will be in an upcoming entry, but in the mean time here are some photos of my mom's creation (the photos from a Dec. 24th, 1961 article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch of my mom preparing the Buche de Noel).

Happy Holidays,

Bruno "The Mayor"

The three events that I had the pleasure of
attending have been amazing…
Look for a review on Wednesday
“D”

1111 Mississippi, the review…

  A gathering of “Foodies” (genuine food lovers) always means a good time but add a great place and it becomes a true event… Tonight’s gathering includes Radio guy extraordinaire Dave, Stay at home “Sex Kitten” and aspiring writer Kris, Writer and recently published Poet Sandra Jean,  “The Mayor” and Me, your humble narrator.

   While sampling our appetizers, Dave commented “at 1111 it’s all about the food”…  In that one remark he captured Chef Ivy Magruders culinary philosophy: An uncomplicated menu with the freshest ingredients paired with a stunning wine list.

  Though the menu maybe uncomplicated, the exquisite flavors infused in each plate represent  gastronomic ecstasy for the  impassioned epicurean…

“D”

 

Grilled Sea Scallops w/ chive polenta cakes& vanilla rum sauce

Sauteed chanterelle mushrooms w/ puff pastry tower
The chaterelles in the cream sauce were tasty and the puff pastry tower was light and flaky.

Wild Boar Ravioli w/ a tomato vodka cream sauce
The wild boar ravioli were so delicious there weren’t enough to go around!

The 1st wine tonight was Wits End-The Procrastinator an Australian blend of

 95% Cabernet Franc/5% Shiraz. It was a great wine to start out the evening

Grilled Double Pork Chop stuffed with bacon-dijon mustard cream over blue corn polenta
The stuffed pork chop was juicy and had a nice bacony filling. A pig lover’s dream!

Seared Ono w/ tomatillo salsa over golden barley 
Of all the main courses we ate, my favorite was the ono (also known as wahoo). It had a beautifully crispy crust yet was still moist (gotta ask Ivy how he did it!). This may replace tuna as my favorite fish!

Grilled Salmon w/ roasted fingerling potatoes,swiss chard & artichoke tapenade

Braised Rabbit w/ Tuscan red wine reduction & aged goat cheese polenta
The braised rabbit had a great wine sauce, the goat cheese in the  polenta gave it an additional creamy texture.

Midnight Cellars Estate Zinfandel 2002,Paso Robles
which was, you guessed it... ZINFULLY DELICIOUS!!

crème custard napoleon w/ carameled
bananas & chocolate shavings

warm chocolate bread pudding w/ marshmallows & pecan streusel served w caramel ice cream
Again the chocolate bread pudding was the winner in the dessert category. It had nice crispy edges and awesome flavors that exploded in your mouth!

Calvados/ Aged Apple Brandy

  Everything was beautifully presented and the evening was exceptional...

 the perfect combo of great friends, food and service all wrapped up in a

 cozy, warm and inviting atmosphere, topped off w/ a perfect grape juice buzz!!   

Tasting notes                 Food Photography                                                                      "The Mayor"                         "D"  

Food is as big a part of these parties as the wine,  M&B took it to a new level…

The menu of the night was

– Mayor McTuna’s famous Pizzas on the Grill

– Lemony Smoked Trout Salad in Radicchio

-Mongolian Spiced Beef Kebabs with Chile Jam

-Endive with Blue Cheese and Pecans

-Creamy Hummus and Eggplant Caviar

-Southwest Cream cheese Crowns with Salsa

-Pumpkin Pound cake with Rum Buttercream – Assorted cheese/ fruit/veggies

“D”                                                          Pictures by Geek Dave