Monday, November 3, 2008

The Hunts - Day 27 Guest Chef Night

No, we didn't go to FareStart this evening...their Guest Chef Night is on Thursday, not Monday. Instead, we had a guest chef here in our very own home! As mentioned yesterday, my friend is the Executive Chef at The Liberty Hotel in Boston. He's in town for a few days, so we had him over for dinner tonight. You have to check out the website. It's pretty nice.

I made pan roasted Thundering Hooves lamb chops and braised Brussels sprouts with bacon, and he made a bread salad with mozerella cheese. Nothing extravagant, just delicious food. We also had some plain brown rice, a couple of cured meats, some mixed olives, and bread. It was so fun to be back in the kitchen with Joseph, even for just a short time. The man has finesse. Unfortunately, Vincent didn't eat very much dinner. He had some meat, rice, and a little bacon & mozerella cheese. He totally rejected the Brussels sprouts. It's the first time I've made them for him, so I guess they're new to him & he wasn't feeling adventurous. He did eat several olives, though!

I went to PFI this afternoon to see what goodies I could find there. I mainly wanted some olives & olive oil. I left there with said items, and so much more. If you've never been before, I highly recommend the trek down to the end of the International District, getting flipped flopped around the streets there, and not giving up on finding it, to see what you've been missing. It's not fancy at all, but there are some fun treats to be had there. Definitely not as "fancy" as DeLaurenti's in Pike Place Market, which I also quite love. I got two types of cured meats (packaged), 2 pounds of olives (one of their mixes, and oil cured - they only sell by the pound), a box of Belgium waffle cookies, extra virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar, a chocolate bar, some praline paste, pasta, farro, arborio rice...and I think I had to stop there. I wanted so much more!

Brussels Sprouts - first, I cut up some bacon into little bite sized chunks. I rendered the bacon in my pan until crispy. Remove the bacon, draining most of the fat, leaving about a tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan. I added sliced shallot rings to the pan and cooked them for about 1-2 minutes, until just soft. Deglaze the pan with white wine and add your Brussels sprouts. **Um, the sprouts should be cleaned of the outer leaves, and cut in half, lengthwise. Add enough chicken stock to almost cover all the sprouts. Add sliced carrots. Cover with a piece of parchment paper cut into a circle to fit the interior of the pan with a ventalation hole in the middle. If you just covered the pan with the lid, you will end up with what I did, which is the Brussels sprouts beginning to turn brown - not so appealing to the eye. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until just tender. Add the bacon back to the pan. Swirl in a little butter and finish with chopped parsley. Adjust seasoning as needed.

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