KHS Homecoming 2011: Tom's Chris Steak House

If you've been following this blog you might recall the 'fine dining' menus for my daughter Nora and her friends for their high school homecoming festivities. Parents participate as waiters and kitchen staff. It's been a blast. As usual a mix of couples, singles, long time friends and new faces among the kids resulted in new and energetic parental labor.

In 2009 it was "Looks Like a Kid's Menu" in which 'kids dishes' were taken to an innovative and high level - such as a recreation of Grant Achatz's PB&J and a 'deconstructed hamburger with a constructed tower of chili cheese fries'.

Last year the menu was "Tastes From (Almost) Every Continent".

Yesterday's event went down the path of 'high end steak joint' - with Italian influences. My good friend Chris Day again tended the grill and prepped with me for hours and hours. So we labelled the effort as Tom's Chris Steak House. The menu is below, with links to several similar from here or Be A Better Cook. Other recipes to follow in due course. Wow - I like that unintended pun.

My friend Tootsie Urwiler did a professional photo shoot of the event. We'll share a complete photo essay / multimedia thing soon as we work through the hundreds and hundreds of great shots she captured. Here's her website - www.TheBubbleYears.com 

Tom’s Chris Steak House

An evening of fine steakhouse dining inspired by the elegant style of Mario Batali’s Babbo and the comfort of Frankie’s 457 Fourth Street Spuntino. These two ends of the dining spectrum have been transplanted from New York to Texas for our honored guests.  


REFRESHERS

Apple – Ginger Spritz

Pomegranate and Soda

STARTERS

Roasted Corn, Bacon and Cheddar Gougeres
Antipasti: Cravanzina Two Milk Cheese, Aged Provolone, Molinari  Salumi

Verdure a Scapece: Marinated Roasted Eggplant, Zucchini, Squash, Cauliflower, Red and Yellow Peppers and Olives

SALAD

Caesar Salad, Garlic-Rosemary Croutons, Crispy Pancetta

Homemade Rustic Bread

ENTRÉE

Porcini Crusted Grilled Ribeye

Grilled Calamari Steak with Tangerine Vinaigrette 

Cheesy Grilled Polenta

Spinach with Roasted Shallots and Garlic

Summer Vegetable Scafata: Asparagus, Artichoke, Baby Carrot, Fennel, Haricot Vert, Leek

DESSERT

Hazelnut Panna Cotta Topped with Amaretti Crumbles and Raspberry

Family Dinner for the staff:  Texas Hill Country Sausage and Seafood Gumbo (Shrimp, Crawfish, Crab).

Beach Vacation - Rita's Crab Dip

Remember when Rita brought over a warm crab dip? I guess you had to be there. It was delicious and simple. Here's her recipe:

6 ounces of crabmeat
8 ounces of cream cheese
1 tablespoon finely minced onion
1 tablespoon mayo
Tabasco sauce - 5-10 drops.

Warm it in the oven. OK - I forgot what Rita told me specifically. I guess about 350 for 20 minutes. I'd brown the top under a broiler if I had the chance too.

This recipe is so basic, you'd initially want to doubt it. But don't. If you use GOOD crab, it will work. If you're stil skeptical, do this......

- replace the onion with 1 tablespoon of shallot, and a tablespoon of really finely diced green onion.
- cut the cream cheese by 1/3 and add a tablespoon of lemon juice
- add a dash of salt and a good grinding of fresh ground pepper

But honestly, Rita's version is really, really good.

2008 Christmas Menu

At the request of Ms. Finn, the Christmas menu was downscaled. Totally appropriate after the blowout Thanksgiving and lots of other great holiday meals. I did try a few new recipes, with a couple being keepers, and one not to bother with again.

• Parmesan Cheese Puffs, Gourmet December 2006
• Dinner Rolls, Cooks Illustrated #95, Nov/Dec 2008
• Crown Roast of Pork with Winter Fruits and Port Sauce, Gourmet December 2008
  
• Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms
  
• Green Beans with fresh herbs and Lemon
• Brussels Sprouts with Fried Shallots and Wild Mushrooms, Gourmet November 2006
  

Let's start with the bad news. The dinner roll recipe is far too much labor for an adequate result. Since this menu was essentially pretty simple (I know, it doesn't look simple - but the quantities were small since it was just our family, and some things are easier than they look)....anyway, I was willing to invest some time in a pretty complex technique for dinner rolls. Not only were there multple kneading steps, but there were multiple cooking steps. The rolls were first baked in a cake pan, then broken apart and baked at a different temperature on a sheet pan. I was expecting something really sublime - like the crusty exterior and delicate interior promised in the recipe. But no luck. The rolls were ordinary and the preparation process was anything but. So no go on this one.

The Pork Roast is a variation of a Gourmet recipe from this December's issue. Instead of a straight roast, I use a crown cut, which really just means it was trimmed in order to be tied into a circle for impressive presentation. Here's picture prior to cooking.

This recipe is quite nice - a blend of apricots, prunes and granny smith apples is combined with shallot, onion and port, then stuffed into a cavity in the center of the roast. A port / shallot reduction becomes the sauce, which would be better thickened in another manner than cornstarch. But very nice nonetheless, and a GREAT presentation. In the first picture above, you'll see the circle of stuffed fruit in the middle of the chop.

The parmesan puff appetizer is totally simple and delicious. The only downside is the mess (and hassle) of deep frying. I used a very shallow depth of oil in a pretty small pan to reduce the amount of oil. The only way I committed to frying was that I used the same oil for frying shallots for the Brussels sprouts dish. Unless I kept a mini deep fryer around, I don't have much desire to fry. But if you've got oil going, this is a good recipe to add to a menu.

Wild rice and mushrooms were standard - roast mushrooms in high heat with garlic and oil, added them to wild rice cooked with sauteed onion, thyme and chicken stock. Solid complement to this menu, as were the simple green beans to please the kids (few sprouts eaten by the younger crown in this house). It's a risk to add herbs and lemon zest, but sometimes I can get away with it at a holiday meal.

The Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushrooms recipe is totally awesome - and simple if you skip the fried shallots. I didn't think they were worth the extra effort, and will continue to simply roast shallot slices with the sprouts or mushrooms. Instead of sauteing the mushrooms separately, I also roast them in the oven, separately from the sprouts but same technique. Toss with thyme and finish with some butter. To match the recipe, a quick saute of shallot, reduced white wine and thyme could be tossed to finish this dish.

Verdure in Scapece - Marinated Vegetables

I ran across this in an advertisement in Gourmet magazine's May 2008 issue. The technique for sweating out the vegetables is ideal - low maintenance, high effectiveness. The very small quantity of vinegar added (in comparison to the quantity of vegetables) is the second key to this dish.

After making it a few times, I noticed that it's included in Mario Batali's cookbook Molto Italiano. I share the concept of the recipe here as a convenience only, and encourage you to buy the book - just ordered my copy. If Mario has even just one additional technique as effective as this, the book will be a permanent addition and my admiration for him will climb greatly.

Mostly, though, I want to share the technique and proportions. I've followed this approach with other ingedients, quantities and even just for roasted eggplant.

1. Sprinkle eggplant and zucchini slices with kosher or sea salt and arrange on a baking sheet. Cover with a second baking sheet and weigh it down with something heavy. Let sit for 2 hours.
2. Grill or roast eggplant and zucchini after brushing with olive oil.
3. Brush red and yellow peppers with oil and grill.
4. Combine vinegar, garlic, olives, anchovies and fresh oregano. Our over other vegetables and let sit overnight.

Gumbo and African Wings for the Swim Team Board

• Goat Cheese with olives, thyme, lemon
• Marinated roasted vegetables
• African Chicken Wings
• Cheeses with herbed flatbreads
• Fresh Bread
• Shrimp, andouille and chicken gumbo
• Mascarpone cake with sherried berries

Herbed Cheese Spread

I found this in the “You Asked For It” column in Gourmet, probably sometime in the late 80’s. I remember it came from a B&B, which served a crock of it to their guests right after they checked in. But I don’t keep issues that old, so can’t go back and attribute it properly.

½ lb Feta cheese
¾ lb cream cheese
½ C mayo
1 garlic clove, mashed to a paste in salt
¼ t dried dill
¼ t dried basil
¼ t dried marjoram
¼ t dried thyme

Blend all in a food processor. Yes – it’s that simple. You can play around with the consistency some, based on how long you spin the processor. I prefer this more on the coarse side, rather than creamy. It has a little more character IMOO. This is also the only dish I can think of that is better with dried herbs than fresh. But, I think I’ll test that assumption again this summer.

Two quick anecdotes related to this recipe – (isn’t it cool that this recipe has anecdotes?). First is that I suggested to the head chef at my country club that he should do an amuse bouche prior to the monthly steak dinners. I gave him this recipe. He made it, but brought it out in a small crock, which had been run under a broiler to brown the top. It was great. I’ve always served this chilled or room temp, but like his version too.

Second story – until posting this blog entry, this recipe has lived on a small piece of notepaper for 15+ years. It could easily have been discarded during preparation for a big party, could fall out of its notebook, anything. Fortunately it survived long enough that I memorized it, but I lived a life fraught with risk along the way.

New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp

After golf Sunday morning Paul dropped by to watch a little of the AT&T Pro Am at Pebble Beach and was thinking that a shrimp appetizer was appealing. I grabbed a couple pounds of shrimp on the way home, but still had no plan upon arriving. Knowing that I was limited to whatever specialty ingredients were already in hand, I decided to go with an all time favorite: BBQ Shrimp.

This dish is a New Orleans creole classic, having nothing in common with grilling or barbeque sauce. 

Rather, it is a rich pan fry of shrimp in herbs, garlic and butter which is then finished as a rich sauce. I am not personally familiar with the history of this preparation, despite a cursory Google search, but know with certainty that it is a staple in New Orleans restaurants.

My adaptation is based on an out of print cookbook: Pierre Franey’s Cooking in America (Knopf, 1992). Pierre in turn adapted it from Paul Prudhomme, which in part explains the excessive quantity of butter. But before you back off the butter, realize that a large group can dig into this sauce and still leave a major portion of it behind – as it is so rich, I don’t remember ever seeing it completely consumed. Typically, we’ll run out of toasted bread for dipping even before the shrimp itself is gone.

I use the spice mixture in the same proportions as Pierre, and think that he mellowed the vast quantities of pepper in a Prudhomme recipe by using artful selection of herbs. In fact, I think it’s the rosemary that marks the secret to the flavoring of this dish. I also greatly increase the quantity of shrimp, as the volume of sauce is ample for as many as 3 or even 4 pounds of shrimp. If cooking more than 2 pounds of shrimp, be sure to cook them in multiple batches.

New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp

• Seasoning mix; 1 t cayenne, 1 t kosher salt, 1/2 t thyme, ½t fresh black pepper, ¼ to ½ t oregano, 1 T dried rosemary, crumbled. 
• Alternate: two large sprigs fresh rosemary, 6 long sprigs of fresh oregano, 4 sprigs fresh thyme.
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 t worchestershire sauce
• 2/3 C shrimp stock (see below)
• 1/3 C bottled beer, preferably hearty (yesterday I used Fat Tire)

1. Melt 1 stick butter, add seasoning mix and garlic, mix to combine
2. Add shrimp, cook approx 2-3 minutes, shaking pan and turning shrimp
3. Add stock boil 1-2 minutes
4. Add beer and additional 2-4 T butter, simmer until butter melts.

Serve with toasted baguettes or sourdough bread. The NYT no-knead bread would be an ideal choice.

Shrimp Stock

• Shells from 2 pounds shrimp
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 6-10 black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 7 C purified water
  

Bring to boil, simmer 5-20 minutes. Strain.