(Oh wow, um, this is really horribly horribly delinquent! Sorry folks, life has been, well, a but crazy lately - in a good way of course! Anyhow...an overdue account of er, Presidents Day weekend. Yes, the holiday that happened last month).
I woke up Sunday and knew it was going to be a good day. After about 10 hours of sleep (heaven!), we got up, got dressed for the day and headed out to our favorite place in Brooklyn (and maybe even New York City proper) for brunch: Mile End. Boy almost always gets the smoked meat hash, and I get either the Beauty (salmon and tomatoes, capers, onions and cream cheese on a bagel trucked in from Montreal) or the Smoked Whitefish (smoked fish with chives, pickled asparagus and celery on a sesame bagel). I ordered a mimosa for the first time for brunch and it was delicious (because of the freshly squeezed OJ of course!). Brunch was followed by DANCING LESSONS!! How cool is that? I love NY. Now, understand this isn't a normal occurrence - this was a Valentines Day gift. We learned the Foxtrot, the Waltz, The Swing and the Salsa - all in 3 hours! Was so much fun. But on to the cooking.
So I'd been neglecting poor TK, and the truth is, it's been 2 months already into this year, and I'd only done 14 recipes (yikes!). I decided to tackle a bunch at once and make it big meal. We invited some close friends of ours over, so of course I had to round out the menu with some extras like dessert and salad.
Dinner (at 8:30pm) prep started at 3:45pm. I don't know how all this got done, but I have to say I felt like I was in a groove. You know how some nights you're just "on"? Well, this was one of 'em. I must also give Boy some credit, because we actually made the meatballs - as in GRINDED the meat with my new Kitchenaid and attachment (fun!). The 15. Meatballs with Spaghetti called for four kinds of meat, which all required measurement and double grinding. After boy'd cubed the meat and ground it together twice, he mixed it with 16. Dried Breadcrumbs (that I almost burned in the oven!). These were made into 12 huge balls, and stuffed with a cube of fresh mozzarella. That done, I turned my attention to finishing the 17. Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce (made with 18. Sachet) that was meant to accompany the meatballs and spaghetti as the main. Suppose I must come clean that I literally forgot an ingredient and had to improvise. In the end, I'm not sure fennel seeds vs. actual fennel weren't an ok substitute, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be making that sauce again, so will have to get back to you on that one. Assembled it tasted great, though I must admit, I'd failed to remember the one major rule about serving pasta: it gets cold so quickly. By the time it was served and we were eating it, it was warm...well maybe not even. Must must must remember that for next time. Anyhow, here it is, with 19. Fried Oregano Sprigs on top. Of course you can't have spaghetti and meatballs without garlic bread, so I smashed about 6 cloves of garlic, diced some butter and sprinkled some sea salt on a crusty baguette. MMmmmmmm. Hungry yet?
Next up was the 20. Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Red Beet Chips. This one had quite a few steps. I also scorched the veggies a little (the chopped cauliflower, onions, leeks and garlic). I was supposed to have used this parchment paper lid thingy, which is nothing other than a circle of parchment paper with a hole in the middle. Maybe I made the hole too big and too much steam escaped? Eh, who knows. I'll have to do that again at some point, so probably good to make a mistake so I learn from it, right? Anyhow, once I added the cream and pureed it with my amazing hand blender (which is really one of my most favorite kitchen tools), it started really coming together. There's a little bit of curry in this soup that gives it just the right kick and complements the flavor of the cauliflower in a way that wouldn't have occurred to me ever. The fried beet chips and 21. torn croutons just put this over the top. Will definitely make this again as it really was heaven.
As if anyone would still be hungry after all this, I quickly whipped up some Lemon Mousse with cream and blackberries. This isn't in the TK book, but I was trying to do something simple and speedy and not super heavy after everything else. It ended up being just the perfect finish to a delicious meal. The recipe? Lemon curd + sweetened whipped cream = Lemon Mousse. It's that easy (and I promise will be impressive to your guests!). Now, this presentation was a little 'simple', but that was kinda the whole theme of the meal, so am not going to make any excuses because the taste was spot on!
Now, including the little breakfast I made the next morning with leftovers. What we have here folks is "Meatball Breakfast Benedict" (don't you love it!). Really, boy would be happy with anything as long as hollandaise sauce smothered it!
