Text 17025, 156 rader
Skriven 2008-11-28 17:19:00 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
  Kommentar till text 16961 av Hap Newsom (1:124/311)
Ärende: blud 281
================
 HN> Anne usually gets a vacant look on her
 HN> face and keels over...I can't seem to get
 HN> accustomed to it, and react quite badly 
 HN> when she does this!

That does seem to be a signal that she's on
minimum. I can see it being sort of distressing.

=

Yesterday it was the usual fare, more or less, but with
the perhaps unique situation that I was responsible for
none of it. I'd signed on very late to be with my friends the
Fishers, and by this time all the tasks had been allocated.

The menu:

sweet potato soup with rum cream - this was the Inn at Little
Washington's recipe, except that nobody remembered how to make
the rum cream, so I made that off the top of my head later on;
the result was similar to but much more highly seasoned than
the original, which I looked up after the fact. The soup itself
was exemplary, though the surface oxidized (that word!)(with
oxygen) and turned an unappetizing gray. The flavor balance
was good, the level of richness perfect for the meal - a
mouthfilling quality but not much fat, so that one could in fact
proceed to a big Thanksgiving dinner after drinking a pint of it.

arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette - the usual, but it
was cheap cheap balsamic, not worthy of capitalization

roast turkey - I wasn't responsible for this, and as a result,
it was well well done, almost enough so to bring the hostess
to tears. I ate half the skin off the bird, which was very
brown and decent though nearly fatless, and was about to call
it a meal, but then the host gave me a drumstick, which had
about a pound of somewhat incinerated meat on it

gravy - I made this, and it was mediocre, sort of brown
tasting, as the turkey drippings were weller done than
the turkey itself; I didn't like it much but it certainly
improved the stuffing

bread, walnut, and mushroom stuffing - severely underseasoned
- no discernible onion, celery or herb - also undersalted
and underpeppered - tasted sort of like wet Wonder bread

bread and walnut stuffing without mushrooms - better, as inside
the bird, but also severely underseasoned

brussels sprouts with walnuts and balsamic vinegar - even
though made with cheap cheap vinegar, this was pretty good,
probably my favorite thing

sweet potato rounds baked in maple syrup - fine

mashed sweet potatoes with garam masala and onions - fine,
but the garam masala, a whim of the hostess, was unnecessary,
as was the whole dish - three sweet potato dishes and one
nonsweet potato dish was a bit of overkill

mashed regular potatoes - appropriately rich, as I sneaked
some turkey fat in when nobody was looking; I thought the
amount of butter in the recipe was puny and pathetic

brown 'n' serve rolls - salty, by report; I didn't try

chocolate pecan pie - quite nice and chocolaty and pecanny;
I had just a taste

pumpkin cheesecake - quite nice and pumpkinny; I had the
smallest piece that the host was willing to cut

various cookies of which I had none, being starched out
and fairly full.

Beverages:

A Chimay Trappist ale tasting.

Chimay ales

red (7%) - caramelly, rich, not much punch though despite
the high alcohol content. Smooth, enjoyable and clean.

Tripel (white) (8%) - sort of lemony and wheaty; I didn't
care for it.

blue (9%) - very dark and malty; a bit of acid that was
similar to the above, but quite a bit richer on the palate,
with coffee/chocolate notes and a bit of spiciness; my
favorite of the lot.

Some off brand rose Champagne was fine but sort of wimpy
after the Chimay.

A to Z Pinot Noir was rich and meaty, though sort of generic.
Cherries, berries, la la la, a bit dusky with dark spices,
quite good with many kinds of sweet potatoes; Jezebel Pinot
Noir was light red, cherryful, and a quaffing wine. Both I
believe from Oregon.

Hazelnut decaf coffee from "H. T. Traders," Harris Teeter's
attempt to be cool and funny like Trader Joe. It was strong
and okay.

On the whole a meal that was funner for the company than
the food.

Sweet potato soup with rum cream
cat: Thanksgiving, celebrity, soup
servings: 10

3 Tb butter
1 md onion, chopped coarse
9 c chicken stock
1 ts curry powder
6 md sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed
1/4 c maple syrup
2 sprigs fresh thyme
- or 1 ts dried
1 pn cayenne
1 c cream
1/2 ts fresh ground nutmeg
salt
white pepper
h - rum cream
1 c heavy cream
1/2 ts lemon juice
1/4 ts lemon zest grated
3 Tb dark rum
1 pn sugar

Wilt onion in butter with curry powder for 6 min in a
large heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Heat stock to a simmer in a separate pot.

Add sweet potatoes to onion mixture; then add the
heated stock, syrup, thyme, and cayenne. Cook until
sweet potatoes are soft, about 25 min. Discard thyme
sprigs. Puree soup in batches and strain. Return soup
to heat and add cream and nutmeg, Season. Serve hot
with a dollop of rum cream.

For the rum cream: beat cream to soft peaks. Add
remaining ingredients and beat until almost stiff.
Refrigerate until serving time. M used 3x the lemon
juice and added pinches of allspice, nutmeg, and salt.

Patrick O'Connell, Inn at Little Washington

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