Dinner with old and new friends

A couple of weekends ago we decided to have some friends over dinner. It started out as a usual Saturday night invitation where we would just grill and hang out. This “dinner” turned into something more. At the end of our street we had some new neighbors move into a house that had been neglected for quite some time. They just recently moved from Atlanta to Shreveport so we thought it would be nice to show them some Louisiana hospitality and as well my cooking. We ended up having about 8 people or so by the time dinner came around. I came to a  realization that I do not have 8 sets of anything: chairs, tableware, wine glasses, etc. You get the picture, I was hoping that the dinner would take their minds off the mismatched dinnerware.

Since Saturday night cooking is usually when I try out new things I thought that this would be an ideal time to try out new ideas as well as proven favorites. Here is the menu :

Fried Crawfish Ravioli with a Lobster Tomato Jus (which should have been plated differently)

Butternut Squash and Popcorn Soup

Crispy Pork Belly with Fried Pecan Cheesy Grits and Cane Syrup and Root Beer Glaze

Pistachio ‘Sponge” with Smoked Chocolate and Pistachio Crumble with a Bittersweet Chocolate and Cabernet Sauce.

On the Egullet forums I had seen a “pistachio sponge” in the style of El Bulli and Jose Andres’ MiniBar. I was even  pointed to a cookbook that had the recipe. It's basically a dessert that you can make using an ISI whipper (best way to explain that? it is the thing they use at your favorite coffeshop to top off your java with whipped cream) and a microwave. I incorporated this with a chocolate red wine sauce and smoked chocolate and pistachio crumble. This was a very interesting dish and at first I was not sure it would even work but it did, very well. The idea for the smoked chocolate was from the website Studio Kitchen. I will have to warn you though that once you start looking through it you will go through every page and all the archives. Then you will want to look up the Studio Kitchen Forum on Egullet. Between this site, Ideas in Food, Chadzilla , Chef Sean Brock and many more that I just do not have the time to mention, my cooking skills and dishes are really changing direction.

The smoked chocolate is basically OREOS without the creme filling; the cookies are cold-smoked for about a half hour. I used hickory wood chips but I imagine that any flavor chip would suffice. Really interesting flavor.

 

All in all the dinner was a success and I believe the new neighbors enjoyed it.

(EDIT) this was originally written about three weeks ago and since then certain people have inquired about when I may be cooking again. Good times.

Comments

[Deborah Dowd]

I wish I was your neighbor! Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy New Year!

[adey]

Hi Michael, nice blog came over from sous survivor. can I ask which egullet thread you got the pistachio sponge from or the recipe or the book with it in?
best,
adey

[My Sweet & Saucy]

What great photos! Looks like a fun night of food!