New Year's Eve: "Nothing says excess like excess"

As a good friend of all of ours says, "Nothing says excess like excess." And, in my opinion, New Year's Eve is one evening that justifies the full embodiment of this sentiment. Gary has already tantalized us with one element of his New Year's meal, I thought I would counter in the hope that we can encourage him to show more. Besides it gives me a good opportunity to show the fruits of my new camera.

After a very expensive, yet disappointing meal at Tru last year, TPA and I vowed this year to stay home and use our funds more wisely. Besides the new requirement of a baby sitter would make an evening out even more so dear. So instead, we invited our very good and newly married friends to ring in the New Year. The division of labor (and costs) involved our hosting, my cooking and their wine selections.

I do so love oysters, even more so, on a celebratory occasion, so we began with 3 dozen of Kumamoto, Dabob Bay and Virginica from Dirk's. Each variety was fat and briny with varying degrees of sweetness. I served it with a Champagne mignonette, a lovely pairing with our first champagne of the evening the Drappier NV Brut. The Kumamotos and the Dabob Bays are pictured here with our second course, a late addition to the menu, which was included when I was generously gifted a tin of Beluga (Thanks Mom!).


Having purchased a small bag of buckwheat flour from Neighboring Farms at the last Green City Market, I made a batch of yeasted blini, which was enjoyed by both father and son.


We went on to serve our first seated course, parsnip soup paired with the Lustau Puerto Fino, an ideal match. The sherry was nutty with a mere hint of sweetness, echoing the flavors in the soup. Unfortunately, the whiteness of the soup didn't really show up well, so no picture for this course. Next up was beet carpaccio with garnishes of vodka aspic, ossetra caviar (Thanks again Mom!) and creme fraiche dressed with an orange vinaigrette. This course was paired with Roederer Estate Brut Rose, a very rosy choice.


We then had truffle dusted diver scallops with cauliflower puree and a red wine butter sauce served with a Pinot Gris.


Our main course was mushroom crusted lamb loin on a bed of leeks topped with shiitake mushrooms. Our next wines were two very different Pinot Noirs, the first a Burgundy styled Pinot from Willamette Valley, the 2003 Bergstrom 'Cumberland Reserve', a great match with its complex earthiness highlighting the earthiness of the mushrooms.


The second wine, a J. Christopher Pinot, brighter and juicier, took us into the cheese course: camembert wrapped with phyllo on a bed of red leaf lettuce and toasted pecans dressed with walnut vinaigrette and drizzled with reduced balsamic.


New Year's was toasted with the Laurent Perrier NV Brut Afterwards, we returned to the table for grapefruit rosemary sorbet with cornmeal nut biscotti and ruby red grapefruit segments drizzled with Beeline's winter honey.


We forgo the ice wine intended to be paired with this dessert as well as the port for the next course: cardamom-coffee pots de creme, a real favorite of mine as I am a big fan of cardamom.


Lastly, we served a trio of mignardise: Earl Grey truffles, Lemon Macaroons served with Raspberry Jam (made with this past summer's berries) and quince thumbprints, here seen under saran wrap.


I will end with this, an impressive demonstration of the evening's libations and of the famous phrase, "nothing says excess like excess."


(continued)

Thanks!

I am waiting for the pic of the contented guests passed out on the furniture.

Rob

It was a very good thing that Mike and I had the rest of the weekend free to do nothing as it did take us a little while to recover. One of our guests needed a little more recovery time than others. Given that they brought the wine, at least we couldn't be accused of overserving.

What a beautiful feast.

MAG wrote:I will end with this, an impressive demonstration of the evening's libations and of the famous phrase, "nothing says excess like excess."

MAG,

Impressive indeed, you, TPA and Thor outdid yourselves.

While everything looks fantastically delicious, I am especially interested in the beet carpaccio with vodka aspic. I am a sucker for beets and your preparation seems particularly enticing. Would you please share the recipe.

Happy rest of the year to you and yours. I'd say happy New Year, but it appears that was already the case.

Enjoy,
Gary

Melissa,

Thanks for sharing. It sounded like a very special evening. You and Mike must have spent a LOT of time getting that meal together. It was great to see the pics along with the play-by-play.

I really enjoy the J. Christopher Pinot Noirs. The Charlie's Vineyard and Pavillion Vineyard are really good, but the Willamette Valley is a great value. The Bergstrom Pinot Noirs are just not my style. I have not had the 03 Cumberland, but I've had the 01 and 02, as well as many other bottlings and vintages.

Cheers,
Al

Wow! Thats awesome! All that is missing is the caviar staircase! Seriously this meal looks awesome and seems like it would be just as expensive than your TRU dinner a year earlier. You spared no expense!

Can you talk more about the scallop dish - where ou got the diver scallops and what was that sauce?

Who did the cooking and prep? ho did you piece it all together?

Where was the lamb from? Whre did you get the truffle dust? Im assuming it was black truffle...

Did everyone like beet carpaccio? How was caviar paired with that?

You and Mike must have spent a LOT of time getting that meal together.

Mike is the baby-sitter, errand runner when we entertain, which leaves me free to prepare. Mike admits, with pride, that he has not cooked a meal since we joined households even though he was the cooking arm in his former relationship. Works best considering the small size of our kitchen.

I really enjoy the J. Christopher Pinot Noirs. The Charlie's Vineyard and Pavillion Vineyard are really good, but the Willamette Valley is a great value. The Bergstrom Pinot Noirs are just not my style.

I believe I reversed the order of the Pinots. Therefore, I concur with your preferences.

Can you talk more about the scallop dish - where ou got the diver scallops and what was that sauce?

I bought the scallops and the oysters from Dirk's and, like everything I've bought from him, they were pristine. The sauce was a red-wine butter sauce: Warwick's Three Cape Ladies (an excellent South African blend) reduced with balsamic and then about 1/4 lb. butter whisked in. I made it about an hour before our first course and kept in a thermos on the back on my stove. The base was a cauliflower-potato puree that I also made prior to guests arriving and kept in a double boiler.

Who did the cooking and prep? ho did you piece it all together?

I did all of the cooking and prep. From a very young age, I had entertaining and cooked lovingly instilled and drilled into me through my mom and dad, who had people over almost every weekend when I was growing up. If there were no guests on a Saturday night, I was in charge of dinner from the time I was three until I went to high school. There were some interesting meals, including Ritz crackers and peanut butter, but it was my deal and more often than not as I got older the meals turned out pretty well. Over the years, I've learned a lot of tricks and there a number of secrets to putting a meal like this together at home, including those that I revealed in the earlier paragraph.

The recipes were adapted from a variety of sources. A good percentage, including the scallop and the beets, came from Patrick O'Connell's (Inn at Little Washington) new book, which is excellent. The pot de creme was from one of Boulud's books and the sorbet/biscotti, Claudia Fleming's.

Where was the lamb from? Whre did you get the truffle dust? Im assuming it was black truffle...

The lamb is from Paulina. I had them bone two racks (keeping the bones for stock). Two years, I wrote about a lamb tasting I did on Chowhound, comparing Whole Foods, Costco, Paulina and Fox & Obel. Paulina's lamb, which I believe they still get from Chiapetti was found to be the best all around. The 'truffle dust' was a minced black truffle. Honestly, if I were to make this dish again. I would grate, not mince the truffle to get a better, or more accurately more dusty, less crusty, appearance.

Did everyone like beet carpaccio? How was caviar paired with that?

The beet carpaccio was a big hit. Like the beet chips that I have mentioned on the board before, this is a dish that coverts even staunch beetaphopes. The caviar was a garnish as were the vodka aspic and the creme fraiche.

Melissa,

I agree with you about the quality/flavor of the Chiapetti lamb. I buy it at Sunset Foods and have never been disappointed. It is also fairly priced.

As a fellow beet lover, I serve them to guests frequently in various recipes. When served fresh beets, it does seem they ate eaten by the beetaphobes.

Best,
Al

Thanks for posting, it's all just stunning.

I don't suppose there's a real "answer" to this question, but I simply can't imagine how you produce not only such a stream of complex courses, but also 3-star presentation, while also hosting. I know how restaurant kitchens do it: they have galley slaves prepping and cleaning etc, and the cook gets to wear whites and a stained, greasy apron for hand-wiping, and get all sweaty in the process. And they're not trying to socialize at the same time. That you seem to do all of the above simultaneously beggars belief.

My old mentor in these matters certainly managed to come quite close, back in the day, but things were never quite so elaborate, nor so pristinely and formally presented as in your pics.

For myself, my tastes and ambitions have always vastly outstripped my abilities (in this and other matters -- but that's for another time and another board), and parenting has reduced us to virtually "single skillet dinner" folks. We still eat pretty well, just not in multiple, prettily composed courses.

I've envied and admired your efforts since the bread tasting. Now all the more. Thanks again for the description and documentation.

Question: I got a bit confused -- which is the Pinot N. that you and Al agreed was your favorite of the two? I'd love to check it out.

I'm definitely blushing. Thank you for the kind compliments.

The J. Christopher was served first with the lamb, not the Bergstrom as I originally reported. It was excellent, earthy and Burgandian in style. Well worth a try.

obviously trained professionals.

Erik.

Erik,

At this New Year Eve's dinner she did this from the heart with her acquired skills from cooking for a long time.

I will assume your statement is a compliment of her level of skills.

Regards,

oh of course! I've known MAG and family for quite some time now. i honestly had no idea they were making such fantastic food with the raw materials at hand, i just wanted to post a pat on the back!

Erik.