Dinner party and Uniforms!

Saturday nite we FINALLY got Craig and Daria over for dinner at Casa Jones. HOLY CRAP it only took a YEAR!

I concocted a mostly drunken meal for them. Knowing that they love whiskey as much as I do, it made it pretty easy to throw something together. Over the previous days I poured over my magazines and books looking for the right combo. I knew what I wanted to cook, just not how to do all the bits and pieces.

So, to start, I made a roasted butternut squash, endive, fuji apple and blue cheese salad with a basalmic bourbon dressing. WOW! I was very happy with this. I wished the endive was a LITTLE better, but it was good. What I noticed after the first bite was this: the blue cheese was TOO strong. I think it was the right cheese, but the one I got was a BIT too much for the squash and apple. Maybe next time it will be a feta or goat cheese. Gotta have that snap though.

When they showed up, I had prepared a simple syrup with ginger to mix with lime and bourbon. Amanda insisted on champagne so she and Daria got that too!.The main course was a seared and broiled top-butt sirloin with a bourbon mustard sauce, mega scalloped potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. Now, the steak I had down. I should have let it rest a minute or 2 longer, but it was perfect medium rare at 135-140. The sear was KILLER and flavor full but not so much that it competed with the mustard sauce. Basically a pan sauce with shallots, grainy dijon a 1/4 cup of bourbon and some reducing. Now, the bourbon was the fun part. This was the first time lighting the liquor on fire for me! The cries my guests heard in the dining room were not of pain or panic, but of JOY! I might have yipped and exclaimed a profanity or 2, but it was AWESOME! A little higher than I expected. This was also the first time I leveraged a SAUCE more than the MEAT. Normally a killer marinade and buttery cut of meat cooked right is all it takes, but you gotta try new things. Scalloped potatoes are a big favorite around the house so this time I did a Gueyere/Swiss/Red Potato version this time. BIG HIT! The brussel sprouts we the regular toss of salt and pepper in some oil. Simple and always tasty. FINALLY, it whipped up a bourbon and glazed pecan ice cream. Not my OWN ice cream, but yummy none the less. What goes well with ice cream? Apple pie! So I made individual apple sauce crumbles. Which I thought were going to be a disaster but ended up DAMN tasty. Oh and for my pescatarian wife, a tuna steak with a soy, ginger, and red pepper sauce/marinade. Not perfect, but my tuna searing is coming along(as evidenced by last nites' attempt).

All in all, I was happy with the meal and better yet, so were my guests.

Sunday I had a FULL FULL day. In the AM I had to go get a haircut and pick up my uniform. Which was exciting. Everything but the pants are exciting. It took me a couple of years to drop the baggy pants and now I am back in them. They need to be tailored, or re-bought. The jacket is cool though . . . it's got my name on it. Silly, but it makes me happy. Oh and it fits like a GLOVE! Back home for a meeting with our pet sitters and then a nite of making turkey, rice and veggies for the pug dog. My biggest culinary fan!

After this post I will be jetting off to sunny and warm Santiago, Chile! Leaving these NYC doldrums behind for a week of good times, good food, family and Amanda's childhood memories. I will try to get you a nice big CHILE POST after I get back.

Happy holidays everyone.
See you here in 2009 for the Chile update and the ACTUAL BEGINNING OF CLASSES!