Delicious Double Header In Astoria...

One sleeps, the other keeps an eye out for Fergus Henderson...

Double header, as in 2 dinners. In one weekend.
Oh yeah, Baby. Demand... demands it.

Below, the invite.
To follow, the pictures and the rundown.

Stay tuned...

Well well.

You are hungry kiddies indeed.

In the time it took me to take the N train to work, take a couple of calls from people freaked out about their wine orders and have a cup of coffee, you guys filled all the seats. Damn.

So instead of saying YES to everyone over the magical number, and ending my marriage before I even get my Christmas present, I decided to add a REPEAT on the very next day. As in Sunday. Sunday Dinner on Sunday, Dec 30 @ 5pm, dinner at 6. Same menu, (the croquembouche might be replaced with something slightly less... dangerous to assemble.

So if you didn't get confirmation from me, or if you want to come twice, or if you can't come Saturday but you CAN come Sunday...

RSVP. First 20 get the seats. Original invite is below.

DUCK FAT!!


Hello again Hungry Kiddies--

Some people think of the New Year as a time to make resolutions, give up old habits, drop people, seek new and better relationships, drop dead weight, change jobs.... look inward for spiritual worthiness and the meaning of life. In short, Change. At Sunday Dinner, New Year's is just another time to cook with duck fat. Oh-- and make a Croquembouche after a 3 year respite. Zora will be off for an exciting month of travel, but Karl and I will be here holding down the fort and doing everything in our power to resist the siren song of RESOLUTIONS.

So on December 29 at the Reynolds/Wasserman Love Shack/ Ranch we will be throwing what you should think of as a warm up for the New Year. Athletes train for their big event and you should too! I thought this dinner should bring a look back and forward-- dishes we have had in the past, (croquembouche, gravlax) and things I have never even considered making until a low point at work yesterday (Roasted pheasant with confit legs). Menu as of now is below; if you are a veteran, you know that this can change at any time due to availability or just shaky mental health.

Homemade Gravlax with accompaniments
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Country pate (PIG LIVER! DUCK LIVER!)

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Frisee salad with fig balsamic redux and pomegranate seeds

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Roasted Pheasant with confit legs and maybe some confit duck legs thrown in
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Flageolet and cranberry bean ragout
Roasted Fennel
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Croquembouche!!!!

In love and garlic,

Tamara (Mrs!!)

Happy Harmonica!

Hanukkah.. late and deconstructed.

First off, I know you're all thinking: "What's with the redheaded shiksa cooking a Hanukkah Dinner?"

In fact, I had the identical thought, during both the planning and the cooking stages, but I soldiered on gamely because, frankly, Hanukkah dinner was pretty fucking fun to cook.

So, having never attended a real, honest to God (you should excuse the expression) Hanukkah dinner, I felt somewhat liberated from outside expectations.


Here's the Invite:

Yep, hungry kiddies, That’s right… Hannukah. Late. And not your Bubby’s Hannukah.

Zora is off in Pittsburgh singing along with Loretta Lynn, I am returned from a very Christian funeral in Phoenix, and the only thing I can think of is….. Beef Cheek “brisket” with wild mushrooms. (Wild—Wild I say! I’m just wild about Harry……”) I know they are saying the entrée is dead, but I just don’t believe it. I WANT to eat a main course along with a bunch of other vegetable sides… I guess that makes me behind the times, but I don’t care. I am going to continue to foist this ideal on you—continuing with…. Latkes with Karl’s famous (in our house, anyway) applesauce. Roasted beets with garlic aioli. Leek Cauliflower puree, some sort of bitter salad with roasted pears and sherry/pomegranate dressing, sweet and sour red cabbage with chestnuts. And to top it all off…….. apple FRITTERS.
Sorry about the late notice—think of it as a whim. Arrive anytime after 4pm, dinner at 5. If you have a menorah, bring it along—we don’t. I can’t promise the dreidle song, but I can promise a rollicking good time.

Sunday, December 9th 4pm Reynolds/Wasserman Love Shack/Ranch
In love and garlic (and fritters!!)

Mrs! Tamara

Crispy potato goodness...

I knew potato latkes would definitely be a starting player...

I was obsessively (some might say) focused on cooking a brisket-type dish with beef cheeks. Sadly, late planning and a required minimum purchase of 60 lbs (!) kept it from becoming reality, so I used short ribs and oxtails instead.


It's Meat-o-riffic!

Oxtails are good food...

To my taste, they are the "beefiest" cuts of beef... you can really taste the animal, so to speak.

Served the delicious faux brisket with fabulous simmered Wild Mushrooms...

I also knew that perhaps (my favorite) Candied Bacon might NOT be an ideal Hanukkah accompaniment, even though it goes perfectly on a roasted pear/mache/bitter green salad with pomegranate seeds, as we have seen before...



I thought I might give a perverse little shout-out to my people (the Austrians) by making a sweet/sour Riesling Braised Red Cabbage With Caraway and Chestnuts that shows up in many Jewish and Austrian cookbooks.

Riesling makes it even better!

A delicious Leek Cauliflower Puree was nearly overpowered by a few Jerusalem artichokes (note to self), but underneath the braised shortribs and oxtails it was wonderfully starchy, silky and nutty.


Cuisinart love...

Leeeeeeks...

I copied Prune's roasted beets with their tops (and beautiful blenderized aioli!) to the letter, which I considered a feat, a) having never made it before, and b) being an avowed beet hater. Strangly, I do like the tops and the aioli, but that's a discussion for another day.

Lots of boiling, peeling slicing and other prep...

After his own multi potato/onion grater workout, Karl fried and topped the latkes with his fabulous homemade applesauce.

The Apple Corer: Best 99 cent expenditure, ever.

The secret is bay leaf and a little apple cider vinegar... Shhh!

Miss Beth declared it the Greatest Applesauce Of All Time and (I believe) managed to score a little "traveller" to take home...

We polished it all off with some Apple Fritters. The batter I chose wound up kind of thin (a beer batter with flour, sugar, beer and salt) and wouldn't adhere to the skins well, so we added a little more flour and an egg. That helped a bit, but next time I'll use Jean Halberstam's Fried Peaches batter...



Whatever batter you use, fried apples make everyone happy; It's like the State Fair right at home, only without Journey and Bob Seger playing...

There were new peeps and old peeps-- and most impressively, STARVING peeps.

The Butcher's Bill: 11 pounds of short ribs and 8 pounds of oxtails fed 14 mouths with very few leftovers.

Now THAT is what I call fucking delicious.

"Add Strong Drink To The Autumn Diet..."

Wine Pigs - Ethan Cornell 2007; Garnacha on Butcher Paper

"In October and November, and likewise after the middle of September, according as you shall find the season to alter, you may begin to arme your body with stronger drinks against the cold of the ensuing winter, and to feed more liberally, and on stronger meats."

Thomas Venner in Via Recta: The Right Way Of Living (1650)

Well, okay... You're the doctor, Thomas Venner...

"The Softer Side of Fergus..."



...Henderson, that is. This week's dinner was a tribute to Fergus Henderson and his great ideas. It was a bit of a pussy tribute in a way, because I didn't do any braised brains, or testicles on a stick, or crispy fried pig's tails or, you know, even hog face.

Because, who doesn't love a nice crunchy piece of hog face?

Occasionally, I come across a Fergus recipe that makes me need to lie down with my feet elevated, until the urge to hurl passes, and still, I can't put his cookbooks down; They read like great prose.

That being said, I would prefer to never, ever see the phrases "pig's head" and "disposable Bic® razor" used together in a recipe again.

So, I didn't cook hog face.

What I did cook was:

• Radishes With Butter and Salt
• Onion Soup With Cider Vinegar, Duck Stock and Toasts
• Butterbean, Cauliflower, Leek & Caper Salad in Garlic Vinaigrette
• Jerusalem Artichokes roasted with red onions and kalamata olives
• Turnips With Their Tops, Brussels Sprouts In An Anchovy Dressing
• Glorious, slooow-roasted Rack of Pork
• Parsley Salad
• Lentils Which Got Completely Overcooked, But Were Then Saved At The Last Second With Balsamic Vinegar, Which Made Them So Delicious That They Were Gone In Six Seconds
• Extraordinary Cortland Apples Roasted In Calvados With Burnt Caramel Ice Cream and Sauce.

Mmmmmm... Anchovies.

The "lentil gruel" mistake that was saved by balsamic...

...and the aftermath

Onion soup Super-charged with duck fat, veal stock, and duck stock. Oh, and time.

Praise Jeebus. Best Thing Ever.

...Parsley salad

Poooooooooorrrrrk. We drank a glass of wine in honor of the pig.

Green goodness. Well, green and white.

Cavalo Nero (Tuscan Black Kale)..... which I forgot to serve. Whoops.

Turnip tops. They were braised and then covered in anchovy vinaigrette.

Here's The Invite:

The Softer Side of Fergus… Or, How to cook from “Nose to Tail” without actually cooking any noses or tails.

So Fergus Henderson seems to be everywhere these days. For weeks I have been dreaming of his marrow bones, so desperate that I was ready to cave and go to Prune to get them, when POOF! Just like that, the recipe appears in the Wed Dining Out section of the Times. Then I was reading “Beyond Nose to Tail” graciously given to us by Dapper Dan, and wondering if I might like Campari in the white wine and Campari cocktail that leads off his book. I pondered this for a couple of days and POOF! There in the style section in the Sunday Times…. The recipe. Huh.

You can understand how this led me to “the softer side of Fergus”. I will indeed explore the “gung ho take no prisoners” side of Fergus when Zora is returned from her travels. Somehow, taking apart an animal alone seems like ½ of the fun, so I will wait. So, hungry kiddies, this week we will explore some autumnal weather, and some warm and delicious food from a man whose genius will be appreciated for many years after my stove has disintegrated or gone up in the flames of a duck fat fire, whichever comes first.

We will also be *inside*-- as our outdoor dinners seem to have vanished with the chill.

Onion and Cider soup with Marrow Bone and Toast
Bitter salad
Jerusalem arichokes, red onions and olives, roasted
Brined Pork Loin with Turnips and their tops, garlic and anchovies
Lentils to soak up the fat and juices
Leek and cauliflower salad with vinaigrette
Some sort of calvados and apple dessert creation


Burnt Caramel Goodness...

and again, in its pure, non-ice cream form...

The Butcher's Bill: 22 autumnal souls gathered and ate and drank until it hurt. New friends and old friends.

Just the way we love it here at The Sunday Night Dinner.