Text 32037, 89 rader
Skriven 2012-12-27 22:36:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Christmas dinner 780
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Rob & Anouk came over for Christmas dinner; later Annie's
regular waiter at the Ichiban sushi parlor joined us - he
had three parties to go to but chose this one to provide
his main meal: good choice. Anga is half Chinese and half
Indonesian, so what he's doing in a sushi parlor is anyone's
guess. What he's doing in Williamsport is somewhat less
opaque - he came over here for the usual immigrant reasons
and wanted to be close to New York; there he met the owners
of Ichiban, who own another Japanese restaurant in the
suburbs, and presumably they (Taiwanese!) recruited him to
staff the Williamsport location. Nice kid.

Annie told me she got oysters, and when the time came to
open them, I discovered to my chagrin that opening meant
popping a plastic quart container rather than endangering
myself with an improvised shellfish knife (I have used
screwdrivers and can openers, both suggested tools, with
some success but far prefer real shellfish knives). My
job turned out to be to put the meats in a dimpled dish
so each one nestled in a dimple. There were 16 or 18
places and a flat middle, whereupon Annie said, well,
dump the rest in the middle. Sigh.

The oysters were mostly intact and mostly pretty fresh;
there were a several slashed up ones and a couple dubious,
which I saved for stew the next day (I ate it; Annie
wouldn't touch them). Despite her insistence that they
were Chesapeakes, in fact they were Gulfs - it is easy to
tell the difference, as the latter don't have that briny
snap that a good east coast oyster has. Translation: they
are pretty tasteless.

Rob made a cocktail sauce from ketchup, horseradish,
Worcestershire, and Tabasco. It was needed.

Mirassou Pinot Grigio 11 is an overtly grapy, unsubtle
wine; it had a bit of maderized tang, which actually
improved it. I quit drinking it as it really overpowered
the rather weak oysters.

Rob also made prosciutto wrapups around fig jam and
arugula; Anouk contributed a quite tasty vinaigrette
to go with the garnish of extra greens. The original
recipe called for goat cheese as well in the wrapups,
and I thank Rob for his mercy in omitting it.

There had been some contention about how to cook the
two rib roasts (4 to 4 1/2 lb each). Annie wanted me to
do one in each oven, which would have not only been
wasteful but would set off the hyperactive alarm in
the other kitchen. I told her to mind her own business.
What I did: I froze one and cooked them side by side,
one from room temp, one cold, for 20 minutes at 525F
and let them sit in the oven with the heat off for 2
hours. They were perfect for their purpose - mine was
nice and crusty outside and nice and super red inside;
hers was medium-rare-to-medium. Rob and I ate heartily
of mine. The others ate off the other.

We got Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau, because Rob likes
it and because Anouk is French. I wasn't thrilled with
the pairing, but the acidiness did cut the fat a bit. The
disadvantage of a raw roast is that the interior fat is
also raw. Over the next couple days I trimmed off a bunch
and made some excellent cracklings.

Rob put together a huge creamed spinach casserole that I
thought a bit underseasoned; he crowned it with an amazing
amount of breadcrumbs - he is diabetic, for crying out loud,
so what's that all about. Everyone took a ceremonial couple
tablespoons of it, and the rest went to waste.

Annie made Yorkshire pudding in the other oven. Despite
her not heating it enough to make the things puff (they
tasted fine, just were flat as a board), the smoke alarm
went off twice, annoying me muchly and not stopping until
I opened a bunch of windows, including one that didn't
have a screen on it, upon which she accused me of trying
to get rid of the cats (they were actually cowering upstairs).
Question: why do "go off" and "go on" mean the same thing in
this situation?

Nobody had room for dessert - Rob was supposed to bring it,
but he forgot, which was fine; but we had nightcaps of
Godiva liqueur instead (I passed).

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