Derby 2015

Behold the lovely, fragrant lilacs! I do hope your Derby was fun (and profitable!) this year. I bet, as is my foolish wont, and once again, I didn't win a dime. At my party, I put out the usual spread of Martha Stewart's shrimp and grits, Benedictine sandwiches with cream cheese and cucumbers as well as sliced tomatoes sprinkled with freshly ground pepper and salt that filled flaky Pillsbury Grands biscuits. Cornbread was another addition this year and chocolate chip and sugary gingerbread cookies provided a fine finish to the race. And of course, there were mint juleps!

Here's this year's steaming stew of shrimp and grits, laced with thyme and parsley and topped with crisp bacon!

Lazy afternoon views of the table just before the guests arrived...

and more of the room, flooded with flowers!

Giddyap, everybody--and do enjoy!

Tonight's Menu - Quenelles!

I'd wanted to make quenelles for years, after having once had them at an intimate summer dinner party in the back garden of a friend's apartment in Greenwich Village. Finally, having found the occasion, my own particular pale, fragrant, light fish dumplings were absolutely delicious and were served as our main course, preceded by a green salad, hosted with roasted potatoes, and followed by chocolate mousse cake. Quenelles were once served as a side dish, next to such things as seared scallops perhaps or even a steak but I think they very much stand on their own. The spongy little fellows in question here were made with pate de choux (paht ah shoe--sounds like you're sneezing, anyway it's a French thick sauce base) for substance from a Julia Child recipe. There are so many versions of this delish fish so search quenelles online for your favorite but to see the great lady at work, go here for the video or purchase a copy of The French Chef Cookbook as I did. I draped my quenelles with an impossibly easy, ingenious, really quick hollandaise sauce made in a blender, courtesy of Ina Garten. I shaped the quenelles into balls with two spoons before dropping them into barely simmering water to poach--however next time I would form them by hand, in more sturdy, cylindrical shapes. Whatever your preparation, this is an elegantly arranged, readily prepared dinner for any evening!

Tonight's Menu
Delightfully Served Two
Green Salad of Baby Lettuces (prepared a la minute, table side, with a few good sprays of squeezed lemon juice, a dose of balsamic vinegar, and freshly ground pepper and salt all tossed together)
Monkfish Quenelles (any lean fish fillets may be used) with hollandaise sauce (don't be shy on the cayenne pepper)
Roasted Potatoes (in olive oil, with salt and pepper, and topped with shredded flat leaf parsley--I used perfectly suitable canned potatoes, don't tell anybody!)
Individual Chocolate Mousse Cakes (I bought them at a local patisserie--don't tell anybody!)

Do enjoy!