July Cream Puffs

Sunday, July 5
in the kitchen of Sharon Myers, for the 8th year in a row voted Brattleboro's best caterer

Appetizer
Tea-smoked salmon on cucumber and baguette with sesame mayonnaise and scallion

Dinner
Thai fried rice with grilled salmon
Steamed salmon coconut pudding with red curry in banana-leaf bowl
Pan-Asian coleslaw (1 part sesame oil, 1 part mirin, 1 part rice vinegar, plus cayenne, lime zest, lime juice, salt)
Snap peas and zucchini with red wine and mint

Dessert
Gateau St.-Honorè
Profiteroles

Guests
Michael Krasner
John Calvi
Brian Long
Lyn ___
Lynna ___

Hors d'oeuvres in May

Cream Puff Dinner
comprised entirely of appetizers

country crackers
red lentil humous
crab cakes with tomato marmalade and cilantro
Thai shrimp cakes with sweet-sour plum sauce
Turkish carrot kofte with lemon and dukkah
Andean arepa with mozzarella and basil
Spiced lamb rolled in filo
Ethiopian-flavored chicken drumsticks
Grilled Swiss chard purses with mozzarella and prosciutto
Vidalia onion with parsley on challah

Skyy vodka, tonic water, and lime
White wine

Guests: Hal
Cooked in Sharon's new kitchen designed by Deborah

Keum Dongee's Almost Here

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Photos by Sehoon Ahn, father-to-be

Butternut coconut soup


Roast beets
Orange-flavored dressing and parsley

Roast cauliflower
Spanish olive oil and sea salt

Cornish game hens and farro,
seasoned with saffron, lemon, cilantro
Pot sauce served on the side

Cooking flavors to spoon alongside
apricots, cherries, raisins, whole almonds, whole baby onions

Two-tomato and goat cheese salad
with basil, red wine vinegar, and champagne vinegar

Wilted greens with bacon

Fig Tart with Orange Flower Water Custard
Vanilla-honey sour cream sauce

Fig Tart, served

Minhee Kang and Sehoon Ahn
Keum Dongee, to be born soon
John Calvi and Marshall Brewer

Cream Puffs, July 29

Sunday, July 29, 2007

With Tuk back from Thailand and about to be profiled on the PBS affiliate in Springfield, we collaborated to enhance her first experience on US television. (She is well-experienced on Japanese TV.) A feature of the afternoon was the practice of her three TV dishes on video.

This was also the day Sharon's offer on a new house was accepted and was a first welcome to Hal and Brian for dinner. Photos by Hal Close except as marked.

Dinner is served

From left, Pad See-Eew, Herbed Tuna Salad, Pad See-Eew, Baby Bok Choy
Photo by Brian Long

*******
How it began:

Eggplant with cilantro and lemon on rice crackers
Prosecco (Veneto)

Tomato gaspacho
Additions of cilantro dressing and
cilantro leaves, diced avocados, and vegetables.

Herbed tuna salad

with raisins, scallions, parsley on mixed greens,
decorated with beets and carrots carved into roses

Pad See-Eew (Thai stir-fried noodles)

with chicken, shrimp, cabbage, carrot, collard greens, egg, garlic
Baby bok choy roasted with soy sauce, ginger, garlic (not shown)

Chardonnay (New York)

Tapioca pudding

with black beans in coconut sauce

Chocolate cookies

Guests included Hal Close, Brian Long, John Calvi, Michael Krasner.

China Dinner

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Held to celebrate the guests' impending departures for China. Not previously known to each other, introductions to local others with China in common seems a logical and fun way to have dinner.

Menu
Chèvre in ashes
Brie
Assorted crackers
Fresh, hand-picked blueberries

Boiled dumplings with ground pork and cabbage
Dipping sauce of rice vinegar, soy sauce, scallion

Turkish green beans (cooked very slowly with garlic, chili, and peppery olive oil)
Whole salmon, cooked in salt
Romaine salad with creamy garlic-tarragon dressing
Thickly sliced, local tomatoes seasoned with Algarvan flor de sal, black pepper, and a sweet oil of late-harvest Leccino and Pendolino olives from Tuscany
Local corn on the cob
Sparkling pear juice

Spiced Hungarian sour cherry pie (allspice, brandy; lattice-style, all-butter crust) with crème Chantilly (kirsch, cinnamon) and an assertively cinnamoned sour cherry syrup

Diners
Cynthia and Jon Nordmeyer (dumplings), Shanghai
Gustavus and Atticus Nordmeyer, Shanghai
Lanping Liu, Ningbo
Ethan Birchard and Lacey ___ (cheese platter), Beijing / Qingdao
John Calvi, host
Marshall Brewer, host

July Cream Puffs

From July 8, 2007
Missing Tukta Long in Thailand
Thanks to Sharon Myers for text below

Peach Bellini with Fresh Mint

Chilled Vegetarian Asparagus Soup with Lemon Cream and Fresh Garden Chives

Appetizer Medley Plate
1. Vegetable Terrine with carrots, green beans, sweet peppers, leeks, savory custard
2. Lemon Tabouli
3. Sliced Radishes with French bread, sweet butter, salt and pepper

Homemade Pasta, three kinds: plain, fresh thyme, fresh sage. Served with a porcini - shiitake sauce
Green Salad with Deborah's famous dressing
Pinot noir

Sicilian Chocolate Gelato and Coconut Jumbles (coconut and chocolate chip macaroons)

Comments
For Bellini, we recommend white peaches, sugar, lemon juice with crushed ice in a blender before adding the champagne. Serve with a sprig of fresh garden mint.
The vegetable terrine was good enough to try again, but needs attention.

Guests included Cecile Shapiro, Michael Krasner, John Calvi

Just Because It's Sunday

MENU
deviled eggs
olives
lemon tabouli
chopped salad of tomato and peppers
Delmonico steak
olive oil-poached king salmon with raw rhubarb garnish
cucumber strips with baby carrots
romaine spears with roasted red pepper and olive oil
sparkling pear juice

rhubarb tart with pineapple-passion fruit sherbet

Suzanne Kingsbury
Peter Towle
Marshall Brewer
John Calvi

2007 Photo Contest Winner Dinner

Saturday, June 9, 2007

MENU
mixed olives

olive oil-poached fillet of king salmon, scented with garlic, on bed of arugula
raw rhubarb & cucumber garnish
asparagus roasted with pine nuts
chopped salad of tomato, sweet pepper, scallion with spicy pomegranate-garlic dressing
lemon tabouli

rhubarb punch

green grape & rhubarb tart

Sehoon Ahn
Marshall Brewer
John Calvi
Peter Fallion
Minhee Kang
Ellie Klein
Suzanne Klein, subject
Elizabeth Tannenbaum, photographer

Cream Puffs in April

MENU
Spicy beef salad
Fettucini with lemon and wine
Roasted cauliflower
Tuscan chard and spinach pie

Tukta Long
Sharon Myers
Deborah Krasner
Marshall Brewer
Michael Krasner
John Calvi

Cream Puffs in May

MENU
Tuscan white bean soup
Kimchee (Napa cabbage)
Ossobucco, Milanese style (tomato, onion, carrot, garlic)
Gremolata (garlic, parsley, lemon zest)
Risotto, Milanese style (onion, saffron, chicken stock)
Chocolate souffle
Orange souffle

Deborah Krasner
Sharon Myers
Marshall Brewer
Lynggaard Hansen
Michael Krasner
John Calvi

Cream Puffs in June

MENU
Cocktails
“Bond” martinis (red & white vermouths, gin, vodka)
Frozen limoncello

Hors d’oeuvre
Goat cheese and jalapeno tomato marmalade in puff pastry
Goat cheese and apple chutney in puff pastry

Soup
Chilled pea (Craig Claiborne)

Pasta
Gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce (Deborah Krasner)

Chardonnay

Main
Whole salmon baked in salt (Deborah Krasner)
Chopped salad of tomato and sweet peppers (Paula Wolfert)

Dessert
Cream puffs filled with vanilla pastry cream, chocolate drizzle (Craig Claiborne)

Deborah Krasner
Sharon Myers
Tukta Long
Marshall Brewer
Cecille Shapiro
Michael Krasner
Lynggaard Hansen
Suzanne Kingsbury


PRODUCTION
The salmon in salt was a revelation. The salt, blended with egg white, felt sandy and fluffy. Baked ten minutes per inch of fish measured at its thickest. The cooked salt is beige and requires a hammer to get at the fish. Rinsed of salt before serving, and deboned using a flat, whole hand, the opened fish is cooked medium rare. Softly textured, and flaky, it didn’t have the sticky teeth sensation a lot of salmon does.

Like several other things, the chocolate sauce was collaborative. Deborah’s whole stick of butter, my prodigious addition of dark chocolate (probably 5 ounces), and salt were melted together and stirred over low heat until smooth. After Deborah’s addition of corn syrup and cream, the tasting and flavoring considerations began. Sharon wondered about amaretto. Deborah said, “Keep it simple.” I preferred texture and behavior to flavor. In the end, vanilla was the only addition. I’d have added cooked cocoa paste for stronger chocolate flavor, but texture and behavior were perfect.

SOME THINGS TO INVESTIGATE

• Furo Magic Fingers with diamond dust for un-serrated knife sharpening.
• All-Clad saucepan with curved sides, no corners, wide mouth.
• Commercial puff pastry
• Importance of strong, homemade chicken stock