Food, Wine & Friends Page 175
A SUNDAY
VITTLES & VINO MARATHON
With Amy & Jesper, Aviva & Pierre, Nathalie &
Charles and The Kids
Chez Gerald -- Burlingame
October 2009
The kids were all excited to help make ice cream...and today we made a batch of
Nutella-flavored gelato.
A vanilla-bean infused cup of sugar, some cream, milk, eggs and Nutella...
Charles, meanwhile, opened the first bottle of Champagne for the adults...a
Louis Roederer Brut Rosé.
Back in the kitchen, the kids were hovering around the stove, all helping in
some phase of ice cream production.
Here they are, tempering the egg yolks.
Rosalie Neal took care of infusing the ice cream mixture with the Nutella.
Meanwhile, to pair with the Champagne, we had some olives. pâté
and foie gras...
...and in the oven, we had some mushrooms stuffed with sausage.
The ice cream mixture was then transferred to the gelato
'freezer' and we set it for an hour to whirl around and actually freeze...
The Piper Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage was much darker in color and
less toasty and yeasty.
After the various nibbles and bubbles we sat down at the dinner table.
To begin we had a lovely salad of romaine lettuce with finely chopped radicchio,
caper berries and fresh Dungeness crab.
A bottle of De Moor 2007 Chablis was quite nice, but more creamy and intense
than I had expected...
Next we planned a Saffron Pasta course...
I sautéed some onions and peppers and seasoned them with a bit of
saffron. At the last minute, I added small pieces of sea scallops and rock
shrimp as the 'sauce' for the pasta.
We had some bottles of Chassagne-Montrachet, figuring the
toastiness of the wine would work well with the saffron spice...
The Michel Coutoux 2004 1er cru was especially good.
Aviva and Nathalie
Amy and Jesper.
A nice palate-refresher was made of Beaujolais from Domaine Colette.
Charles decanted an old bottle of Chateau La Vieille Cure.
1989 vintage.
Meanwhile, the gelato was ready...
Back at the table...the wine had been poured.
Braised short-ribs
With Okra & Morels...and grilled polenta with portabellas and truffle cream.
Amy and Jesper...
We had a cheese assortment next...an artisan cheese from Alsace, one from
Burgundy and one from Champagne...
The "Delice de Pommard" was actually covered in ground mustard seeds.
We had a young Pommard from an old friend, Thierry Violot-Guillemard.
Delicious.
We had two dessert courses...first was a Plum Tart made at
Burlingame's "The Cakery," a great bakery.
And then the kids all appeared, what with their Nutella Gelato
being visible on the horizon!
And so we served the gelato and everyone was happy...
...and glowing.
Thanks to one and all for coming.
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