Menu: the auction dinner

[Jenise]

Someone paid $800 for dinner for six at my home. I'm serving that tonight, haven't chosen all the wines yet but here's the menu, for which I haven't found all the French words just yet so excuse the Franglish:

Terrine de Jambon Persille, salade frisee, moutarde
Miraval Provence rose

Mousse d'asperge avec crevettes sauvage, vinaigrette d'shallot
Chateau Bel Air blanc

Saumon fume w/creamed leeks
red burgundy

Saute of asperge blanches, morilles fraiche, estragon
Bordeaux #1

Pan-seared beef tenderloin on a truffled potato galette with a layer of foie gras pate in between, chive sauce
Bordeaux #2

Tarte de Pomme

Wow. Nice ingredients, nice menu. Asparagus twice?

Wish I could count on a source for fresh morels!

Looks good. If you need help serving I will work for table scraps.

Lou said:

If you need help serving I will work for table scraps.

Might not be a good deal. Unless portions were really generous, you might be bussing awfully clean plates.

[Jenise]

Okay, so here's the final menu, with wine choices and pix:

Jambon Persille de Bourgogne, salade frisée, vinaigrette d'moutarde
2013 Miraval Rose

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Mousse d’asperge, crevettes blanche sauvage, vinaigrette d’echalotes
2013 Chateau La Graviere Bordeaux Blanc

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Saumon fumé, poireaux à la crème
2005 Lafaive 'La Croix', Mercurey

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Asperges blanches, estragon, ragout des morilles fraîches
2009 Rosemorin, Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux

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Filet de boeuf poêlé, pate d'foie gras, galette de pomme avec beurre de trouffe,
sauce à la ciboulette
1996 Beau-Sejour Becot, St. Emilion, Bordeaux

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Tarte aux pommes
Coffee

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[Jenise]

Wow. Nice ingredients, nice menu. Asparagus twice?

Wish I could count on a source for fresh morels!

Yes, asparagus twice--but check out the pix, the dishes were entirely different. Cold/green/with seafood/white wine vs. hot and white with mushrooms/red wine--not a rerun in any way. As for the fresh morels, I was over the moon when I found fresh morels AND white asparagus at Uwajimaya, an Asian store in Seattle, earlier this week. This particular sautee is one of my favorite combinations in the world but it's been years since the last time I did because when do I ever find morels and white asparagus at the same time? Like, never. I loved how it kind of shocked my guests to be served a vegetable course as the first of two Bordeaux pairings.

Jenise,
Yowza!!!
-Shaji

[Jenise]

You know, it dawns on me, that as host I always serve myself the least perfect plate; and of course, I photographed my plate. So I got the edge piece of the salmon vs. the perfect level rectangle, the filet dish with the steak I'd cut into to verify doneness, and piece of tart with the black edges that was this one spot in the center of the tart (besides, I actually like the singed bits), but it doesn't in the end give people who weren't there as good an impression of what my guests were served.

...but it doesn't in the end give people who weren't there as good an impression of what my guests were served.

Like we don't know! Girl, pleaz!

Even your "flawed" personal plates look great to me.
Lucky auction winners!
I'm curious how you thought the Mercurey rouge did with the smoked salmon.

Love the asparagus and morels!

[Jenise]

Love the asparagus and morels!

Bill, if I could choose one thing on that list to have for lunch today (only ham terrine is leftover), it would be that dish. It's such a simple preparation but so divine a result--few things in this world payoff as grandly. (It was also the most expensive per-serving, by far, it probably goes without saying.)

[Jenise]

Even your "flawed" personal plates look great to me.
Lucky auction winners!
I'm curious how you thought the Mercurey rouge did with the smoked salmon.

It worked very well, Dale. The dish is a modernized version of the only dish I remember, because it was THAT amazing, from a multi-course dinner we had at one Castel Girard in Burgundy back in the 90's when I was pretty naïve, when our somm insisted that we have red burgundy with a course that was smoked trout on a puddle of creamed leeks. I would never in a zillion years have served anything but white with that myself, and that's on behalf of the leeks as much as the fish, so that the match worked as brilliantly as it did was rather mind-blowing. It needs a maturing wine, not a youngster, but otherwise: it really works.

Very elegant and tantalizing pics. I can't even imagine the flavors!

Love the asparagus and morels!

Bill, if I could choose one thing on that list to have for lunch today (only ham terrine is leftover), it would be that dish. It's such a simple preparation but so divine a result--few things in this world payoff as grandly. (It was also the most expensive per-serving, by far, it probably goes without saying.)

This is the menu item I am most interested in. Did you do a riff on the ingredients by pure inspiration or is there a recipe. What kind of citrus did you use, if any? I'm thinking of recipes to try, demonstrate and share with member of my mycology group.

That looks WAY better than the auction items at the school fundraisers we've been going to (and a relative bargain, too!).

[Jenise]

Love the asparagus and morels!

Bill, if I could choose one thing on that list to have for lunch today (only ham terrine is leftover), it would be that dish. It's such a simple preparation but so divine a result--few things in this world payoff as grandly. (It was also the most expensive per-serving, by far, it probably goes without saying.)

This is the menu item I am most interested in. Did you do a riff on the ingredients by pure inspiration or is there a recipe. What kind of citrus did you use, if any? I'm thinking of recipes to try, demonstrate and share with member of my mycology group.

Jo Ann, this dish was based on one I had at Lucques restaurant in L.A around 15 years ago, a dish that restaurant was famous for. I'm not sure how many people knew that asparagus and morels belonged together before they had the dish at Lucques (which involved either a feta or goat cheese topping, can't recall at this point which), but once introduced it's obviously a great combination. The time I had it there, it was green asparagus btw, the white is my own idea of betterment. It had been so long since I'd made even my version, though, that to be more sure-footed yesterday morning about how I wanted to do it, I googled asparagus and morels and found a recipe on Epicurious. It was there I saw the addition of tarragon plus the finishing squeeze of lemon juice, which made perfect sense as a replacement for the tangy cheese element in the original. So I winged it: sweated some chopped shallots, added butter and the mushrooms until a few of the mushrooms (I bulked out the tres expensive morels with oyster and those little trumpet shaped mushrooms whose name totally escapes me) had browned just a little, then set that pan aside. Later at service, I added the asparagus (that I'd peeled, cut in sections, dropped into boiling water for about five minutes, and drained earlier in the day), more butter, and when heated through a handful of fresh tarragon, a few grinds of pepper and a squeeze of lime juice (that's what I had on hand, lemon would be fine). A bit of maldon salt over the top finished the dish. It's dead easy--ten minutes prep work earlier in the day and five minutes if that at service, and you have a great dish.

Beautiful Jenise! Would have loved to share in that dinner!
BTW, I poured a bottle of the Ch. Mireval Provence Rose last night to celebrate Beth's B'day. It's quite a stunning rose, isn't it, worth the price, IMO.

Plus, we felt it was only right to give Brad and Angelina a little more money. They need it, with all those kids.

[Jenise]

It really is stunning. Two of my four guests, including the person who paid for the dinner, enjoys wine without really knowing anything about it--but she'd know who Brad and Angelina were, so that's the wine I figured would impress the most. I wasn't wrong.

Btw, did you know there's a white, too? Apparently it's very rare (unlike the rose, which they must be making a boatload of if Costco AND Total Wine both have it), but I got a bottle from a small retailer which we haven't opened yet. Will post when I do!