Last minute text invite for dinner yesterday, and what a dinner it was:
Appetizers: spanish tortilla, sardines in oil with crackers. Served with Tio Pepe Fino Sherry.
Main meal: cassoulet, wild rice, green salad (with toasted jamon iberico?), and a beef bourguignon. Served with red wine, whose name I can't recall since I wasn't taking notes!!!! Flowery and peppery notes, but an initial woodiness.
Cheese plate: 2 aged cheddars, a pecorino, and a guava pudding.
Dessert: homemade vanilla ice cream (made with 4 vanilla pods), prunes d'armagnac, and a dessert wine (vin de liquor) that was reminiscent of raisins.
The cassoulet was wonderful, with salted pork, the sausages, the lamb layered with the beans in a baked ceramic cassoulet pot. Dip the serving spoon way down into the pot, and as it comes back up, you have a slice of the layers taken from way down deep. A piece of baguette slathered with butter to sop up all the juices, or drizzle more olive oil over the serving for a final palate glide.
The beef was tender, meltingly good. Drive the fork into a mushroom, a piece of roasted onion, and then top it with the beef. Comfort food? More than comfort, more like happiness in a mouthful.
The guava pudding for lack of a better term is reminiscent of a very thick guava jelly, the perfect compliment to sharp cheeses. I wonder why we don't make it here, we have a plethora of the fruit, yet it has to be bought all the way in Mexico or Cuba. Calling Fidel!
"A" has reminded me to post the photos, as I now have a new digital camera! I will see if any of the photos I took are worth posting, testing phase of the camera's abilities means tons of pictures that look weird in a bad way. Don't blame the camera, blame the taker of the photo!
7 comments:
Cassoulet and cheese with guava pudding! And this just a few blocks from where I live? Homaylord!
Nena, do you mean this is a restaurant, not someone's home?! Where is this???
Katrina, this is at CJ's house, or "chez fil" as we call it. Homemade goodness over by Merville.
Katrina, twas in Merville! :-o
Ah, no wonder the food was so special! Cheese with guava pudding...it sounds so delectable! Nena, I just want to reiterate (again, again, again) how much I'm loving the guava jelly! I've been eating it with different things. You ought to try baking with it, maybe somthing like that Cuban pastry. Or little cheese tarts. Oh, I just had another idea what to eat it with -- those cheese twists from Dulcinea! Hey, maybe with ensaimada or cheese roll? That's it: I will buy all three from Rockwell tomorrow and find out! :-P
This sounds sooo good! Did CJ make all that??? Ooohlala!
because i drank so much and ate too much meat, i was sick for three days...
was very good nevertheless. i loooove the casosulet, better than what my nicoise chef makes. and the sherry is something else
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