This was a dinner for 16 that my wife and I gave as part of a charity fund-raiser for my kids’ school scholarship foundation. People went to a cocktail party and auction, then were bussed via trolley to various houses around the city for supper. They paid $150/couple for supper to the foundation. Even though this was for charity, that created not a small amount of pressure to produce an evening worth the tariff. I was in charge of the menu and cooking. Sandy ran the kitchen help and organized the rental of dishes, , a serving table/linens, etc. We really do work well together as a team but some of my habits are pretty annoying. For example, she needed to get the serving pieces ordered and I kept fussing with the menu, etc. Nonetheless, this was really fun as a project for the two of us to do.
I planned the menu to include walk around appetizers and main courses for which timing was not important. I also wanted dishes that could be made in advance to minimize the stress of the day of the event. Since my favorite style of food is bistro, either French or Italian, and my daughter also wanted me to make a Provencal style lunch for her French class this week, I settled on a meal with a Southern French theme. Once I decided on this for the food, I then matched the wines by research and by talking to the people at K&L Wines in California. I made the pate the Sunday before the dinner, which was on the following Saturday. I started cooking in earnest on Wednesday, had to work on Thursday, then cooked like a fiend on Friday and Saturday.
The appetizers included Roasted provencal chickpeas. These were tasty little bar-food nibs. Kind of easy to ignore but everyone who tasted them commented on how unusual they were – and then reached for another handful. I also made duck pate. This is actually from Mirelle Johnston’s book on the cuisine of Burgundy but, hey, it’s a spectacular dish, amazingly rich, very impressive and can easily be made even a week in advance. It just gets better and better with time. Served with cornichons and tiny little cocktail rye bread slices. The last appetizer was the black and green olive tapenade on goat cheese/crostini. Extremely well received, I had none left. Wine with appetizers was Clairette de Die Cave Carod – an off dry sparkler made from Muscat grapes that really was lovely. It has loads of fruit and flowers that you’d expect. At 7% alcohol it was perfect for starting a long wine/dinner evening.
I then served raspberry sorbet as an amuse/cleanser, and also to let people know it was time to sit down. Here’s the thing, this sorbet is so easy to make yet people just loved it. They went on and on about how good it was so I think several things were happening. First, non-geeks are not used to homemade. Second, timing the sweet/tart sorbet after the appetizers worked really well.
Main courses were bouillabaisse and beef with wine, bacon, onions and mushrooms. These were served buffet style. I introduced the bouillabaisse to the crowd and told them about the rouille – advising them that it was very garlicky and a little spicey. Everyone seemed to appreciated the comments and several commented on how tasty the rouille was. I had loads of favorable comments on the bouillabaisse. Wine with the fish soup was 2006 Vin de Pays des Bouches du Rhone Domaine de l'Attilon Rosé (Organic). This is a blend of grenach/cinsault. It is dry, full of strawberries and cherries, plenty of backbone, a touch of mineraly flavor. A very nice rose and good match with the saffron/seafood flavors.
The beef was served with la macaronade. The macaronade was unusual but people seemed to like it. It was a nice departure from buttered potatoes and Patricia Wells claims it is a typical accompaniment to Southern French stew. The wine was 2005 Côtes du Rhône Villages Grand Veneur "Champauvins". I think this is a little young yet. The tannins are strong, the fruit and flowers struggle to appear, yet the wine is still very pleasant. Typical raspberry and syrah/pepper flavors. Probably should have got a 2004 but this still went well with the stew. The beef was very well received and I had very little of this left.
The cheeses were served while I plated the dessert and ultimately both were on the buffet table at the same time. I struggled with how to make and serve really good coffee for 16, then remembered that there’s a great independent coffee house a block or so away from our new house. I sent my daughter out for one of those bulk coffee servers and the issue was put to rest. These guys use a coffee roaster who has been around for 35 years here in the Chicago area. The coffee is excellent and I didn’t have to deal with one of those giant percolators that create awful coffee. The dessert plate was very attractive with a slice of the caramelized apple pound cake and the poached pears with the deep purple wine sauce. The lavendar and spices really created a lovely aroma that went over very well. I served the following cheeses: epoisse because I love it, morbier, petit basque and a southern French blue that I forgot the name of. The dessert wine was 2004 Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Domaine de La Pigeade. I’d never had a Baumes de Venise before and this was a great excuse to try one. Mmmmmmm. Tangerine, peaches, flowers, a little minerals, enough tartness. Mmmmmmm.
I think that one of the reasons we had so much fun was because we had loads of help. My daughter had 3 of her friends help serve appetizers, clear plates, pour water, etc. We had two other very efficient people helping me plate salads and desserts, clean glasses and pots and ultimately break down the buffet at the end of the evening. It was expensive to hire all those people but wow, what a difference it made. The guests arrived around 8:30 and the last couple left around 1:30am. At that point, Sandy and I looked around and realized the kitchen was clean, the dishes were put away and ready to be picked up and we had enjoyed ourselves immensely. I think several things contributed to that enjoyment. First, I knew the logistics of serving would be taken care of by Sandy. Second, after I made the menu, I made a schedule of what needed to be done and when, including when to shop when to start the bread dough ( I ended up making two different batches of baguettes and four loaves of olive flatbread), when to make the various dishes, etc. That relieved me of having to think about it during the heat of preparation and it allowed me to check things off the list rather than worry about forgetting something. A third thing we did right this time was to hire enough competent help. It’s expensive but I think well worth it. Oh, and regarding the title, none of our guests were food or wine geeks, yet many commented on how much they enjoyed the food, the wine and the discussion. (For example, Clairette de Die has been around since 77AD according to Pliny the Elder). Highly recommend the experience.
