Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Food and Wine Pairing Dinner For the Oct. Cooking Club

I promise I will write more about the wine making process, as I am so excited to share the thrill of picking up wooden crates of violet and plump petite syrah grapes and watching them be crushed into juice. For the moment though, I cannot think of anything else but preping for the October cooking club that will be taking place this Friday evening. I will try and remember to take photos, as I usually get lost in the happy conversation of talking about food with the cooking club members. This Friday's menu will be paired with wine chosen by a friend of mine from Winechatr.com. Last Friday we tested some of the wines with a couple of the menu items and to me I felt they were perfectly paired, bringing out the best in both the food and the wine.

Early this morning I was up making gravlox for the cooking club event. Living in Ballard and thinking of my maiden Norwegian name, Evavold, I thought about women and men who perhaps made homemade lox from scratch as a weekly occurrence, and laughing because, who makes gravlox at 7 a.m. before going to work? Gravlox needs to cure for at least 48 hours. I'll be making the raviolis tonight and freezing them, right after I pick up 5 hanger steaks from Don and Joe's Meats from Pike Place Market- and marinating them with brined green peppercorns.
Even though quince is suppose to be in season right now- I am having the hardest time finding it- closer to Thanksgiving, quince will be everywhere- I'll check Pike Place today.

October's Cooking Club Menu

Thyme Pate Choux with Homemade Lox and Lemon Crème Fraiche

(Airy thyme flavored pate choux with homemade cured lox with citrus and dill cream fraiche

Fennel and Asian Pear Salad with Sautéed Quince Wrapped with Culatello

(Citrus dressing, licorice flavors, pear and pineapple pear flavors of quince and the salty culatello cured ham)

Single Ravioli filled with slow roasted pork and parsnip puree with beef demi

(Earthy and sweet creamy parsnip with complex slow roasted tomato infused pork )

Green Peppercorn Hanger Steak with Potatoes Anna

(Deep beef flavor, spicy green pepper flavor, potatoes Anna is a stack of paper-thin potatoes cooked with butter and Parmesan- or similar cheese, fresh herbs)

Seasonal Fruit With Simple Syrup And Fresh Vanilla Whip

Wines to be paired

2006 Snoqualmie Nearly Naked Gewurztraminer ­
2005 Saint Laurent Rosé ­
2005 Des Voigne Cellars San Remo Sangiovese ­
2003 Willis Hall Chandler Reach Cabernet ­

No comments: