Bad Viking

Our dinner was a disaster adverted. We were cooking two separate dishes in our Viking Oven. First we were going to cook a Mushroom Tart then for the main course we were going to make chicken with figs. Cathy turned on the oven and it wouldn’t heat up. We checked and could see the gas flame, but the oven wouldn’t heat. I had recently bought a silicon splash guard to be placed on the bottom of the oven (I placed it on a lower rack). When the oven wouldn’t heat, remarks were made to the effect that I had broken the oven, etc. The next morning the Viking repairman appeared and announced the starter for the oven had gone out. He replaced the two of them. The splash guard was not at fault.
We decided to cook the tarts on the Egg outside and then braised the chicken on the top of the stove (the burners worked). One strange thing about the stove when the starters go out there is no warning. They either work or they don’t work. So you never know when it will go bad.

In late summer Chanterelle Mushrooms are at their peak. We made a Wild Mushroom Tart from a recipe in Sunday Supper at Lucques. The appetizers at Lucques are always fabulous. This recipe we modified slightly because we didn’t have any spring onions.

This is one of our favorite summer chicken dishes, we only make it when there are fresh figs at the market. The recipe is from The Zuni Café Cookbook. It is easy and very tasty. The dish is called. Chicken Braised with Figs, Honey & Vinegar. The name tells the story. You can get the recipe from out blog entry of June 23, 2008. To get the recipe click the link.

We served it with a great recipe from Saffron Rice from The Food of Morocco by Whitecap. We previously had always made this dish with cous-cous. The Saffron Rice was excellent and we will make it again.

wild mushroom tart with gruyere, young onions, and herb salad
Sunday Suppers at Lucques

1 sheet frozen all-butter puff pastry
2 extra-large egg yolks
1 ¼ pounds wild mushrooms, cleaned
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sliced young onions, plus 1/4 cup diagonally slice young onion tops
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
½ cup whole milk ricotta, drained if wet
¼ cup creme fraiche
¼ pound Gruyere, thinly slice
½ cup flat-leat parsley leaves
¼ cup tarragon leaves
¼ cup chervil sprigs
½ cup 1/2-inch-snipped chives
A drizzle of super-good extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, for juicing
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Give me almost any combination of toppings, and I'll turn them into a deli-cious savory tart. The formula is always the same: the crispy, buttery puff pastry crust; a creamy base of ricotta and creme fraiche; a layer of oozing, usually pungent cheese; and then, of course, the topping. In this case, I saute an array of win¬ter wild mushrooms until they're tender, chewy, and still a little crisp. Since they seem to make everything taste better, I can't resist tossing in a few handfuls of sweet young onions with their spicy green tops. As they all bake together, their flavors unite into this decadent and sophisticated "pizza."

NOTE Assemble the tart in the morning, cover, and refrigerate. Bake just before you're ready to serve.

Preheat the oven to 4oo°F.
Defrost the puff pastry slightly and unroll it onto a parchment-lined
sheet. Use a paring knife to score a %-inch border around the edge of the pastry. Make an egg wash by whisking i egg yolk with % teaspoon water, and brush the egg wash along the border. (You will not need all of the egg wash.) Return the puff pastry to the freezer until you're ready to use it.

If the mushrooms are big, tear them into large bite-sized pieces. (Not too small, as they will shrink when they're cooked.)

Heat a large saute pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil and wait i minute. Add i tablespoon butter, and when it foams, scatter half the mushrooms into the pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a healthy pinch of pepper. Saute the mushrooms about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and a little crispy. (The cooking time will depend on the par¬ticular mushrooms you use.) Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a baking sheet, and repeat with the second half of the mushrooms.

When the second batch of mushrooms are just cooked, reduce the heat to low and toss in the spring onions, thyme, and % teaspoon salt. Stir gently i to 2 minutes, until the onions are just wilted. Stir in the onion tops. Transfer to me baking sheet, and stir to combine with the first batch of mushrooms.

Place the ricotta, remaining egg yolk, and remaining tablespoon olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth, and remove to a mixing bowl. Gently fold in the creme fraiche, and season with a healthy pinch of salt and a few grindings of black pepper.

Spread the ricotta mixture on the puff pastry within the scored border. Place the Gruyere over the ricotta. Arrange the mushrooms and spring onions on top. If you aren't ready to bake it yet, cover the tart with plastic and chill.

Bake the tart 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Lift the crust to peek underneath the tart to make sure the crust is really cooked through. (If you underbake the tart, it will be soggy.)

Toss the herbs in a small bowl with salt, pepper, a drizzle of super-good olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Let the tart cool a few minutes, and serve it on a cutting board at the table. Serve the herb salad on the side in a small bowl or scatter it over the tart.

wild mushroom tart with gruyere, young onions, and herb salad
Sunday Suppers at Lucques

1 sheet frozen all-butter puff pastry
2 extra-large egg yolks
1 ¼ pounds wild mushrooms, cleaned
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sliced young onions, plus 1/4 cup diagonally slice young onion tops
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
½ cup whole milk ricotta, drained if wet
¼ cup creme fraiche
¼ pound Gruyere, thinly slice
½ cup flat-leat parsley leaves
¼ cup tarragon leaves
¼ cup chervil sprigs
½ cup 1/2-inch-snipped chives
A drizzle of super-good extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, for juicing
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Give me almost any combination of toppings, and I'll turn them into a deli-cious savory tart. The formula is always the same: the crispy, buttery puff pastry crust; a creamy base of ricotta and creme fraiche; a layer of oozing, usually pungent cheese; and then, of course, the topping. In this case, I saute an array of win¬ter wild mushrooms until they're tender, chewy, and still a little crisp. Since they seem to make everything taste better, I can't resist tossing in a few handfuls of sweet young onions with their spicy green tops. As they all bake together, their flavors unite into this decadent and sophisticated "pizza."

NOTE Assemble the tart in the morning, cover, and refrigerate. Bake just before you're ready to serve.

Preheat the oven to 4oo°F.
Defrost the puff pastry slightly and unroll it onto a parchment-lined
sheet. Use a paring knife to score a %-inch border around the edge of the pastry. Make an egg wash by whisking i egg yolk with % teaspoon water, and brush the egg wash along the border. (You will not need all of the egg wash.) Return the puff pastry to the freezer until you're ready to use it.

If the mushrooms are big, tear them into large bite-sized pieces. (Not too small, as they will shrink when they're cooked.)

Heat a large saute pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil and wait i minute. Add i tablespoon butter, and when it foams, scatter half the mushrooms into the pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a healthy pinch of pepper. Saute the mushrooms about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and a little crispy. (The cooking time will depend on the par¬ticular mushrooms you use.) Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a baking sheet, and repeat with the second half of the mushrooms.

When the second batch of mushrooms are just cooked, reduce the heat to low and toss in the spring onions, thyme, and % teaspoon salt. Stir gently i to 2 minutes, until the onions are just wilted. Stir in the onion tops. Transfer to me baking sheet, and stir to combine with the first batch of mushrooms.

Place the ricotta, remaining egg yolk, and remaining tablespoon olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth, and remove to a mixing bowl. Gently fold in the creme fraiche, and season with a healthy pinch of salt and a few grindings of black pepper.

Spread the ricotta mixture on the puff pastry within the scored border. Place the Gruyere over the ricotta. Arrange the mushrooms and spring onions on top. If you aren't ready to bake it yet, cover the tart with plastic and chill.

Bake the tart 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Lift the crust to peek underneath the tart to make sure the crust is really cooked through. (If you underbake the tart, it will be soggy.)

Toss the herbs in a small bowl with salt, pepper, a drizzle of super-good olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Let the tart cool a few minutes, and serve it on a cutting board at the table. Serve the herb salad on the side in a small bowl or scatter it over the tart.

Pizza on the Egg

Billy has been talking about making Pizza on our Egg. I finally went out and bought a Pizza Stone that fits in the egg and a Pizza Peel to remove the cooked Pizza.

We went to Mozza2Go and bought the flour that Nancy uses. Billy made the dough he also made dough using regular flour. He brought the dough and homemade sauce over to our house. I went to Barbrix and purchased some of their custom made Wild Boar Sausage to go on top of some of the Pizza’s.

We started with Pappa al Pomodoro Soup. This is a thick Italian Tomato soup we love to make in the summer when tomatoes are at their best. We use the recipe from the Italian Country Cookbook by Rogers and Gray.

The Egg can get very hot. We heated it up to almost 1000 degrees. The Pizza cooked in about 3 minutes. The bottom of the Pizza was burnt, the top was great. We learned that we were greatly overheating the Egg. In fact the felt gasket burnt off. I must not have been the first person to do that, because they sell replacement gaskets. Live in learn. We then let the Egg cool down and made 4 more Pizza’s at lower temperatures. They kept improving in quality.

For dessert we served Ginger Cookies from The Cheese Store of Silverlake.

We subsequently told our T’ai Chi instructor Michael about our experience. He is a Pizza devote. He directed us towards a web site that is the ultimate site for finding out about Pizza. If you like to make Pizza or are interested in Pizza check this out: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe. Billy is inspired by this site and is going to try again!

Repetition makes for perfection!

Pappa al Pomodoro
From: Rogers and Gray: Italian Country Cookbook

Serves 10 (but leftovers are so good, serves 2 - 5 times)

4 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into slivers
¼ cup Olive Oil
9 pounds ripe sweep tomatoes, peeled and seeded, or 4 ½ pounds canned plum tomatoes, drained of most of their juices
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 loaves stale bread, we use La Brea loaves
1 large bunch fresh basil
extra-virgin olive oil

Put the garlic and olive oil into a heavy saucepan and cook gently for a few minutes. Just before the garlic turns brown, add the tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes become concentrated. Season with salt and pepper, then add 2 ½ cups water and bring to a boil.

Day before, cut most of the crust off of the bread and break or cube in large chunks to allow it to get stale.

When soup is ready, Put the bread into the tomatoes mixture and stir until the bread absorbs most of the liquid, adding more boiling water if the soup is too thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. If the basil leaves are large, tear into pieces. Stir into the soup with ½ to ¾ cups of extra virgin olive oil. Let the soup sit before serving to allow the bread to absorb the flavor of the basil and oil.

Serve in bowls and add a dollop of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on top.

Expatriate Chicken

We made Expatriate Roast Chicken with Lemon and Olives from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. This is a very easy chicken to cook and the Moroccan flavors are exceptional. You need Preserved Lemons which you can either buy or preserve yourself. I love the taste of the olives and the preserved lemons.

With the chicken we made Cous-Cous, the traditional side for this dish. It absorbs all of the great sauce that the Chicken recipe creates. The recipe is on our blog of: Aug 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

We made a Caesar Salad. We always use the recipe from The Zuni Café Cookbook. The best part is that you don’t break up the large Romaine Lettuce leaves. Instead of using a fork you use your fingers! The Caesar Salad recipe is in our blog of: July 25, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Multicultural Meals

We had some Vicolo Frozen Corn Meal Pizza Shells, they are the best. We coated the crust with mustard and then placed Aged Gruyere Cheese. We had some fantastic French Ham we picked up at The Cheese Store of Silverlake and shaved it upon the cheese. We then took some Heirloom Tomatoes and sliced then thinly and topped the ham. Finally with dusted with grated Parmesan Cheese. The Pizzas were fantastic. Not only did we enjoy them but Billy and Kevin stopped by and had a slice.

We then put together a meal from leftovers and other things we had on hand. Bea joined us and brought two great bottles of wine.

We started with Cavion Melon. I splashed them with fresh lime juice and covered with Prosciutto. We had some extra Persian Mulberries and I added them. It was a delicious and refreshing treat.

We then made Pork Fried Rice using a trick we picked up in Hong Kong on our recent trip. The Fried Rice we had there was always very light and there were large chunks of egg in it. What we found out was they cook the fried rice and the egg separately. When the fried rice is almost done, they add the cooked egg and mix them together. It makes the rice much lighter then adding the raw egg directly to the rice.

We ended the dinner with cookies from Mozza2Go. Bea loved them. She couldn’t stop eating them!

Pork with Egg Two Ways

We had some left over lobster (not a bad thing to have as a leftover). We started with prosciutto and melon with lobster. It was great. We found a recipe for Carolina's Tenderloin of Pork in Cooking with Fire and Smoke. We wound up eating the pork the first night with my favorite eggplant / tomato gratin. It is called Baked Eggplant and Tomatoes with Bread Crumbs and Basil. It is from the Chez Panisse Cooking cookbook by Alice Waters and Paul Bertolli. This is a delicious dish, and it reheats well.

Matthew Poley, of Heirloom LA has a line of Lasagna Frozen Cupcakes in a single serving looking like a cupcake. The lasagna comes in several flavors. We picked up a few of them from him at Silverlake Wine. Matt often is a guest cook there.

We had the beet lasagna cupcake as a side with the eggplant. It was great. It is a treat to have a selection in the freezer just waiting for the right time to be eaten!

CAROLINA'S TENDERLOIN OF PORK
COOKING WITH FIRE AND SMOKE
BY PHILLIP STEPHEN SCHULZ
The best thing about tenderloin of pork is that it takes only half the time to smoker-cook as a larger, rolled roast. This version, with its mustardy basting sauce, is a specialty of the redoubtable Carolina restaurant in New York City.

2 pork tenderloins, about 3/4 pound each
2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ cup Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1. Pat the tenderloins dry with paper towels. Combine the pa¬prika, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Rub this mixture into the meat.

2. Preheat a water smoker. (Charcoal smokers will require a
full pan of briquets.)


3. Meanwhile, combine the mustard, vinegar, and butter in a
small saucepan. Heat to boiling; remove from heat.

4. Add presoaked wood chips or chunks to the heat source. Put
the water pan in place and add water to fill the pan. Brush the tenderloins with the mustard mixture and place on the highest food grid.


5. Cover and smoker-cook, keeping the temperature in the 180-degree range, basting twice more during cooking, until the juicesrun clear when pricked with a fork, 3 to 4 hours (internal tempera¬ture: 170 degrees). Serve hot or cold, thinly sliced.
Serves 4 to 6.

Baked Eggplants and Tomatoes with Bread Crumbs and Basil
Chez Panisse Cooking

For 8

At the restaurant, where large numbers of people are served at definite times, the success of any dinner, from the standpoint of the kitchen, depends upon how well prepared we are. Timing is critical, and accordingly, many dishes that would be impossible to assemble and cook to order are designed so that they can easily be finished and served. This logic and organization is valuable at home as well and can often help to simplify the work of the cook, particularly just before mealtime, when many tasks need to be attended to simultaneously. This eggplant dish may be prepared well in advance of being served.
I have never liked to cook eggplant in oil as it acts like a sponge and becomes heavy and indigestible. So before even assembling the ingredients for this dish, the eggplant is salted and peppered and baked in a little water. Precooking the eggplant also releases its brown, sometimes bitter juice and insures that the raw tomatoes, which will later be layered with the cooked eggplant, will finish cook¬ing at the same time. The bread crumbs are also precooked for proper texture. An important part of this recipe is the reduction that occurs in the final mo¬ments. As the vegetables cook they release their juices, which mingle with the vinaigrette, basil, and garlic. Serve this dish with grilled meats, lamb, in partic¬ular. It is also excellent with grilled chicken, salmon, sea bass, or cod.

3 globe eggplants (2 pounds)
Salt and pepper
3 large beefsteak tomatoes (2 pounds)
12 ounces sourdough bread, to yield 2 1/2 cups bread crumbs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

For the vinaigrette:
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Preheat the oven to 4oo°F. Put a pot of water large enough to hold the tomatoes on to boil.

Peel the eggplants with a sharp knife. Slice the eggplant into 1/2-inch rounds, discarding the hard end piece near the stem. Lay the eggplant out on a cutting board and salt and pepper one side. Then turn them over and arrange them, slightly overlapping, in a non-corroding baking dish approximately 16 by 10 inches. Pour over enough water (about 1/8 inch) to come barely up the sides of the eggplant. Lightly salt and pepper the other side of the eggplant. Cover the dish and bake about 1hour, until the eggplant is soft but not mushy.

Core the tomatoes and drop them into the pot of boiling water for 15 seconds. Remove from the water. When cool, remove the skins and cut the tomatoes into 1/2-inch slices.

Cut the crust off of the bread, break the bread up into small chunks, and grind into coarse crumbs in a food processor. (If you have no processor, pull the bread apart and break it up by hand.)

Melt the butter, add to the bread crumbs, and mix well so that all pieces are coated. Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet. Put into the oven with the eggplant and bake for about 15 minutes. Or until golden brown. Turn the bread crumbs over with a spatula every so often, so they will brown evenly.

Prepare the vinaigrette: Whisk the garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper together until the salt is well dissolved. Add the olive oil and 2 tablespoon of the basil and whisk until blended.

When the eggplants are ready, remove from the oven^ transfer to a plate to cool, and discard any juices remaining in the pan.

Cut the eggplant and tomato slices in half, making half-moon shapes. Layer them, by alternating and overlapping them in the same pan used for baking the eggplant. Fit any extra pieces into the cracks. Stir the vinaigrette again and spoon it over the slices, distributing the basil and garlic evenly. Lightly salt and, pepper. At this point, the vegetables can be covered and held 3 hours being baked.

To finish: Scatter the Parmesan evenly over the top. Put the dish in the oven, reduce to 35o°F, and bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and bake 15 minutes more. Let cool slightly, garnish with the re tablespoons basil, and serve.

A Turkish - Moroccan Dinner

Billy and Roger had given us some tomatoes and we continued to make use of them. It is really nice having neighbors that share their bountiful harvests! We made a Turkish Salad. It is very unusual in that all of the ingredients are chopped to a similar size and then yogurt and browned butter are poured over the salad. The recipe is from Casa Moro The Second Cookbook. You can find the recipe for the salad in our blog of: Aug 12, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

For the main course we had Expatriate Roast Chicken with Lemon and Olives from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. It is one of my very favorite ways to roast a chicken. You can find the recipe in our blog of Aug. 2, 2008. You can find the recipe by clicking the date.

We also had Roasted Potatoes. Cathy modified a recipe from the The River Café in London. Basically cube potatoes, cube onions to a similar size combine with balsamic, salt and pepper and roast till brown at 350 degrees. The balsamic really adds to the flavor of the potatoes!

This is one of those dinners that give lots of leftovers! Yea!

Fantastic Birthday Leftovers!

We ate the leftovers from our birthday dinners all week long! We made a stock with all of the leftover lobster shells. The broth tasted like the sea (if there were lots of lobsters in it). We then made Risotto using the lobster broth and placed leftover lobster meat on top. Later in the week, we created Fried Risotto Cakes. We fried the risotto in butter untill they cakes were crispy and then put lobster on top. Both presentations were great. The first time I ever had risotto cakes was at Campanile. They usually are on the menu there.

We stretched the risotto into one more fantastic meal. We were at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and they had the very first Chanterelle Mushrooms of the season. Unlike most foods, chanterelles are best early in the season. So these first picked chanterelles are the best of the year. We sautéed them and spooned over the reheated risotto.

Palate had given us some Suckling Pig from the birthday dinner to take home. Cathy found a recipe for a Gratin of Flageolet Beans in Chez Panisse Cooking cookbook. We went to The Santa Monica Farmers Market and ran into Jason from Palate who told us where we could find fresh Flageolet Beans. They were beautiful. We then made the Gratin with the beans using the leftover pig. It was outrageously good! I actually took some to Jason at Palate. Guess you would call it: Take In.

Andrea stopped by and joined us for dinner on the patio. It was a warm night and we ate out on the deck.

We started with a delicious Tomato Salad with Burrata.


Gratin of Flageolet Beans
From Chez Panisse Cooking – Paul Bertolli and Alice Waters

For 4

1 1/4 cups flageolet beans, washed, soaked in cold water overnight
2 tablespoons pure olive oil
1 small carrot (2 ounces), finely diced
1/2 large stalk of celery (2 ounces), finely diced
1 small yellow onion (5 ounces), finely diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 leafy sprigs thyme
4 tomatoes (14 ounces), peeled, seeded, diced
Piece of prosciutto hock with rind attached (j ounces)
5 cups beef broth or water
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 A cups bread crumbs
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan

Warm the olive oil in a 6-quart noncorroding pot. Add the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the vegetables soften slightly and release their perfume. Add the thyme, tomatoes, prosciutto hock, and beans. Cover with the broth and stir in the salt. Bring the beans to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the cover after i hour, raise the heat slightly so that the liquid bubbles all over its surface, and allow the liquid to reduce during the last 30 minutes so that it is at the same level as the beans. When stirred, the beans should appear saucy.

Preheat the oven to 35o°F.

Remove the prosciutto hock and the thyme sprigs. Cut the meat and rind from the prosciutto, chop it into coarse bits, and add it to the beans. Stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons of the parsley.

Pour the beans into a baking dish (10 by 8 by 2 inches). Mix the crumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley, extra virgin oil, and Parmesan and spread them over the beans in an even layer. Bake the beans in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the edges bubble and the crumbs are evenly browned.

Cliff Turns 65!

We had a fabulous birthday party at Palate Food + Wine in Glendale. It was really fun for Cathy and me and the guests. Special kudos go to Joy and Brenda who drove down from Napa. They joined us for 4 days of dining!

Billy and Kevin invited us over for Dungenesse Crabs cooked on his outdoor wok. I went downtown to Chinatown and personally picked out the live crabs. They were some of the best I have ever had! Lots of great wine from Kevin's seemingly unlimited supply.

The next night we went to Barbrix our favorite local restaurant in Silverlake. We ate outdoors (always a treat in LA) and had a wonderful dinner. Yea Don!

Monday night we went to Osteria Mozza. I had asked them grill some Lobsters as an appetizer. They went overboard and planned a whole dinner for us. Chris served us a Burrata sampler plate, then the Lobster with a Fantastic Salad. They then served Lobster Pasta two ways, one with tomatoes one without. An assortment of delicious desserts capped off the evening. It was mind-blowing!

I have NEVER had lobster that came out of the shell so easy. Grilled Lobster is definitely my favorite way to have it prepared. Cathy had the fantastic idea to bring home all of the leftover lobster shells and lobster meat, so that we could make a lobster stock and lobster risotto. I will never leave lobster shells again at a restaurant. It was an inspired idea!

For the party on the day of my birthday, we invited our Silverlake neighbors and some close friends and family. Palate outdid them selves. Of course we planned a meal around Suckling Pig! The food was exceptional everyone commented on how great it was. A Tomato Salad with Watermelon in it was a great hit. You thought you were biting into a red tomato and you got a piece of sweet watermelon. It was a very cleaver idea. Then then served Scallops with Truffles. What more can I say? The Suckling Pig was the best ever, it had been confied in duck fat, making the skin really crispy. It was served with an incredible Potato and Corn Succotash. For dessert: a Rosemary Bread-pudding to die for. In addition the setting in the library at Palate and drinks outdoors on the patio only added to the joy. I have attached a link to some pictures from the party. It was truly memorable.
Thanks to Octavio / Jason and Steve (for the great wines). It was a memorable night!
See pictures of the party here.