It’s opening night and it’s going to be big…

We welcome you to the Inaugural Underground Dinner! Other foodies have gone before us, but we’re going to come out of the gate huge. What is it? It’s an intimate prix fixe dinner, sans Health Department, hosted at a house in Ferndale already familiar to many of you. We know the date is Oct 18th. The menu however, is still being reduced to five or six courses.

Our version of the underground restaurant will be small. Eight guests or less will join us for an evening spent chatting, enjoying and savoring. The kitchen will plate dishes made with the tastiest beef available, fish caught in the ocean …not on the farm, organic legumes and greens, boutique wines chosen to pull out their subtleties and then dessert …luscious, drippy, creamy, delicious dessert all prepared and presented at a simple square table. Are you in???

How does it work? An invite with the ‘table d’hote’ (aka the menu), date and cost per person will be sent via email to our group of friends who live to eat. Reservations are on a first come, first serve basis. You are welcome to sign-up one friend each who is not on the email list for the dinner (if you are part of a pair and we failed to email both of you…yes, you can each bring a guest). We do ask that all guests be people we know or they accompany people we know. That’s the underground part of the underground. Sign-up and show-up! Simple. We provide the food, drinks and setting. You bring a love of food and something to jaw about, joke about or sit up straight and look good.

You can’t sign-up just yet and there will be no VIP passes. We wanted to start you drooling early and remember, when the invite arrives there are only 8 seats. We hope you are in one of them.

For the love of food…

http://singleguychef.com/chefs/

(If there is someone we love and forgot to invite, let us know. Or, if you don’t like us as much as we thought you did, let us know and we’ll pull you off the email list. We happily fulfill requests to cook on-site …so long as the site is within cocktail distance of a warm beach or snow-covered mountain.)

Speaking of the Chef, the other day he asked me for some recommendations for everyday white house wines. Among those recommendations was German Riesling. I love German wines. I enjoy them when they are sweet (Spatelese/Auslese) or dry (Kabinett). But above all my friends, they are wonderful with most any food. Ok, maybe the spicier the better; but take the SGC?s last carrot soup recipe. That pesto he puts in there would pair perfectly with a Riesling. Oh yeah!

So, how about a 2006 Schlink Haus Riesling that is currently widely available. Pale yellow in color, the light nose is a grand opening to wonderful fruits and light honey. The finish is very, very long. Is it a great wine? No. Is it a very good wine? Yes, yes yes! And are you ready for the price? How about less than ten bucks? I?ve seen it as low as $6.50. Much too cheap for serious winos, but not for me and I can?t think of a better wine to start off the spring of 2008 ? with or without food. Let us raise our glasses to the daffodils

This is a favorite of C’s, my sister and myself. Natural sweetness from the carrots gets enhanced by the natural earthy, woody flavors of cumin and coriander. The dill pesto, done with roasted peanuts instead of pine nuts, give the soup a great bright herbal kick. I often serve this soup with home made sour dough croutons.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the soup:

3 lbs carrots - peeled and chopped
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons coriander seeds
4 cups of chicken stock
2 heaping tablespoon of ground cumin
1 tablespoon of ground coriander

For the dill pesto:
1 cup packed coarsely chopped fresh dill
3 tablespoons roasted peanuts
3 tablespoons (or to consistency) olive oil
2 cloves of garlic

Preparation

For the soup:

1. Heat a heavy large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add carrots, onion and coriander seeds and sauté until onion is translucent and tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 35 minutes.
4. Add the ground cumin and coriander. Use an immersion blender and puree the soup, until the consistency is smooth. If you have to use a blender, make sure you don’t seal the lid completely. Mixing a hot liquid in a sealed blender is bad news!
5. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
6. Continue to simmer until carrot flavor comes through and color brightens back toward carrot orange (20-40min)

For the pesto:

While the soup is simmering, prepare the pesto.

1. In a small processor, pulse the peanuts until coarsely chopped.
2. Add the dill and garlic cloves. Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped.
3. Stream in the olive oil and pulse until desired consistency.
4. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Anyway, I was going through the pics from the last few dishes and…blank. I couldn’t remember exactly how I made them. So, that’s the caveat for the next few postings. I’ll have to try and remember what I did. They should be close though, wine will help.

Here’s the first. C’s mother was in town several weeks back. This is one of the dinners I had made for them.

Green peppercorn fillet with cream sauce
Baby green salad with herb, Parmesan phyllo crisps
Coconut creme brulee with coconut phyllo crisps and fresh mango

Serves: 3

Ingredients

For the fillet:

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 6- to 8-ounce filet mignon steaks

For the peppercorn cream sauce

1 3/4 cups beef stock or veal stock
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
2 tablespoons drained green peppercorns in brine

Preparation

For the fillet:
1. In a small sauce pan, reduce the beef stock to 3/4 cups.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Generously season the fillets with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Cook the fillets to desired temperature. About 4 minutes per side for medium rare.
5. Leave the brown bits in the pan- don’t clean it.

For the peppercorn fillet cream sauce
1. Saute the shallots until they’re softened. About 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the reduced stock, whipping cream, Cognac and peppercorns.
3. Boil until sauce begins to thicken. About 6 minutes.

Serves: 3

Ingredients

For the herbed, Parmesan crisps:
3 sheets of phyllo dough
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon of freshly chopped thyme
1 teaspoon of freshly chopped sage

For the baby green salad:
8 oz. of mixed baby greens
Champagne Mustard Vinaigrette

Preparation

For the herbed, Parmesan crisps:
1. Preheat the oven 375 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay one sheet of thawed phyllo dough and brush generously with the melted butter. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan herb
4. Repeat with the other two phyllo sheets.
5. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes or until the butter firms up.
6. Cut the phyllo sheets into 3″ squares.
7. Back until golden brown. Approximately 10 mins.

Serves: 3

Ingredients

For the creme brulee:

1 cup of unsweetened grated coconut - divided
2 cups of canned unsweetened coconut milk
2 vanilla beans, split the long way
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 a mango cut into match sticks

For the coconut phyllo crisps

3 sheets of phyllo dough
1/4 cup of melted butter
powdered sugar as needed

Preparation

For the creme brulee:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Place the grated coconut into a small skillet over medium heat. Toast the coconut until it’s fragrant and golden. Continue to stir it. Should be about 1-2 minutes.
3. In a sauce pan, combine the coconut milk, vanilla and half of the toasted coconut. The remaining coconut will be used with phyllo crisps. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes until small bubbles begin to rise.
4. Remove from heat and cool for about 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until it turns to a light yelllow.
6. Pour a quarter of the coconut milk into this mixture. Stir and then pour this mixture back to the remaining coconut milk. Mix thoroughly.
7. Line an 8″ square baking pan with plastic wrap and pour in the mixture.
8. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the center is barely set. Chill for several hours or until firm. Cut into squares.

For the coconut phyllo crisps:
1. Preheat the oven 375 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay one sheet of thawed phyllo dough and brush generously with the melted butter. Dust with powdered sugar and toasted grated coconut.
4. Repeat with the other two phyllo sheets.
5. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes or until the butter firms up.
6. Cut the phyllo sheets into 2″ squares or the serving size of your creme brulee.
7. Bake until golden brown. Approximately 10 mins.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the phyllo wrapped banana:
3 sheets of phyllo dough
1/4 cup of finely chopped pistachio nuts
2 ripe bananas
6 TBs. of melted butter

For the pistachio vanilla ice cream:
8 oz. of vanilla bean ice cream
2 TBs. of honey
2 4 oz. ramekins
1/4 cup of chopped pistachio nuts

1. buy depakote
2. buy diovan
3. buy ed trial pack
4. buy effexor xr
5. buy enhance9
6. buy euphoria cologne
7. buy euphoria perfume
8. buy female rx oil
9. buy female rx plus
10. buy flomax
11. buy florinef
12. buy glucophage
13. buy glucotrol xl
14. buy hoodia gordonii
15. buy hoodia patch
16. buy human growth agent
17. buy imitrex
18. buy isoptin
19. buy joint formula
20. buy kamagra
21. buy kamagra oral jelly
22. buy lamisil oral
23. buy lasix
24. buy levitra
25. buy lexapro
26. buy lioresal
27. buy lipitor
28. buy liquid rx plus
29. buy lopressor
30. buy lotensin
31. buy mevacor
32. buy multi vitamin
33. buy neurontin
34. buy nexium
35. buy nolvadex
36. buy norvasc
37. buy pamelor
38. buy paxil
39. buy plavix
40. buy pravachol
41. buy premium diet patch
42. buy prevacid
43. buy prilosec

Preparation

For the phyllo wrapped banana:
1. Preheat the oven 375 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan. I don’t like microwaving to melt butter because of structural change of the butter.
3. Lay one sheet of thawed phyllo dough and brush generously with the melted butter. Sprinkle the the sheet with the pistachio nuts.
4. Repeat with the other two phyllo sheets.
5. Cut the phyllo sheets in half on the vertical.
6. Place a banana on each half and roll them up.
7. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with pistachio nuts.
8. Bake until golden. Approximately 15-20 mins.

For the pistachio encrusted vanilla ice cream:
1. Set the ice cream at room temperature til softened but still firm.
2. Brush some honey into each ramekin.
3. Sprinkle the pistachio nuts into the ramekin and roll them around in the ramekins to get good coverage.
4. Spoon the vanilla ice cream into each ramekin, cover with saran wrap and place into freezer until hardened.

Serve with a simple chocolate sauce and fresh berries.

Serves: 2 as main courses or 4 as starters

Ingredients

For the grilled halloumi:
8 oz. of Halloumi cheese
1 TBs ground aleppo pepper
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for grilling
1/2 cup of sliced red or black grapes. Green grapes don’t work for me in this recipe. They’re a bit too tart.

For the salad:
5 oz. of mixed green salad
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For balsamic vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation

For the halloumi:
1. Preheat the grill or grill pan to medium high heat.
2. Cut the halloumi in half vertically and horizontally and coat with a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil.
3. Season with freshly ground black pepper and ground aleppo pepper.
4. Grill the halloumi until golden. Approximately 2-3 mins. per side.
5. While the halloumi is grilling, slice the red grapes.

For the salad:
1. Season the greens with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper/
2. Whisk the balsamic vinaigrette ingredients together and drizzle over the greens.