food, food and more food

of course. it is completely fitting that while i recap my week in food, i am sitting in front of the TV watching Chocolat. such a fantastic movie on so many levels. 

the girls came over on wednesday for a cooking party! the menu was as follows:

• goat cheese, honey, pears and dried cranberries rolled in a puff pasty (me). these took longer than i expected to bake, but after a change in oven position by sasha, they browned and were devoured.
  
• a wonderful rice, with nuts, garlic and spices (YH). it made the whole kitchen smell so fragrant. 
  
• a curried pumpkin soup. although this one took a little longer to make than we anticipated (tarah broke the cardinal rule of dinner parties!) it was still rich and creamy. and filling.
  
• sasha put together a wonderful fish with spices and lemons. it baked beautifully in some foil and we went at it with gusto
  
• a simple salad with a sweet, thick dressing. 
  
• and i made an apple pie with criss crosses! it came out really well. 
  

the beautiful chefs at work. 

the amuse bouce of this mixture my mom mixed together last thanksgiving. i got the idea of rolling a mixture like this from ina. i made her version of this with pesto and sun dried tomatoes a few years ago.

our first casualty, the spatula lost its head in the soup. 









in other food news: after my french bisto cooking class, i was itching to try something i learned. coq au vin it was! it came out wonderfully, but the red i used was a little stronger than i preferred. i used boneless thighs instead of a whole chicken, since it was just the two of us. i paired the chicken and rich sauce with my mashed potatoes, and we ate like kings.



and at the start of this week of food (well, technically, the end of the one before) sasha, fernando, josh and i went to B&G Oysters for a huge, gluttonous dinner of seafood, raw and cooked, wine and desserts. what i loved most about this place was the open kitchen. we were at the bar and had a great view of everything.





and last but not least, i josh and i made tagliatelle and meat balls tonight. instead of setting the pasta roller at 5 and running it through the cutters, i made it a little thinner at 6 and cut it by hand, thick and ribbony. i know i say this everytime, but this was the best fresh pasta i have made so far. the thickness of the noodles were insanely delicate and the width of the noodles gave it tangibility and body.

josh hard at work, making and pan frying the meatballs for the sauce.