French Inspired

Deciding what to serve for Monday Night Dining this week gave us some qualms.  We talked over a few options and then out of the blue I blurt out “let’s do something they won’t expect…..  Like pizzas!”  Let’s just say the response did not have the enthusiasm that I was hoping for. We went back and forth on ideas, but were not getting a cohesive plan.  Then Shawn said “let’s do french.”  Now I love french food, but I had pizza on the brain….  Then Shawn found an Alsatian pizza recipe.  Suddenly we had a plan.

The guest list included our trio of MondayNightDining, Dermot, Carol and David. We were starting our prep and Shawn said “can we do a Paris-Brest for dessert?”  UUMMM  you want a what?  OK all I heard was breasts… Time for some research.

We were planning to eat inside, as the weatherman was threatening us with rain, but it was such a nice evening we tempted fate…  and won. The rain held off and we had a lovely evening in the yard. Tonight we started with Gougeres, but it wasn’t over the top enough, so we piped Mornay sauce into them.  Then we realized we forgot the camera and had to use the Iphone, so sorry if the pictures are not as clear.

We served this on the upper deck, which allowed our guests to watch us making the Alsatian pizzas. OK I gave it away.  Second course was the barbecued Alsatian Pizza.  We topped them with carmelized onions, bacon and Gruyere Cheese.

Starting with the rolled dough, slide it from your pizza peel onto the hot grill.

Another 4 minutes and voila!

For the main course we served planked halibut with a home-made Herbes de Provence, veggies brochettes and Rice pilaf. One cool thing about this dish is that once you mix up the fresh herbs, you marinate the fish and vegetables with them, but also use it in the sauce, so it helps bring the whole dish together.  The fish was definitely the star of the dish.

So the dessert is a Paris-Brest.  The name comes from a 1200 KM bicycle race, from Paris to Brest and back, that started in 1891 and is the oldest cycling event still being run.  A Pastry chef along the route decided to make a dessert, to commemorate the occasion.  He made it in the shape of a bicycle wheel. It consists of Choux pastry, piped in concentric circles and baked. Vanilla pastry cream, Hazelnut praline and Chantilly cream.  The problem is it can’t be assembled ahead of time, or it will get soggy. This was my only bit of angst.  A dessert we didn’t have a chance to test out and that could not be assembled ahead of time.  So I watched Jacques Pepin’s YouTube video and we were on! The best trick I learned was to cut the top of the pastry before assembly, that way when you serve, you don’t smoosh the filling.

Now the night was getting dark, so of course we went inside and had a sing in.  Dermot on piano, Steph on violin, Shawn, Carol and the two Davids singing.  The perfect end to a delightful night. If I may quote one of our guests “The food was delicious and beautifully presented , wine was great and the conversation was lively and yet thoughtful – great to get to know Pax family in a relaxed environment. Loved the “jamming” but I am instrumentally challenged – singing – that we can do.”

It is always a risk to try dishes you have not made before when planning a dinner but sometimes you have a gut feeling based on the ingredients that they will meet and even surpass your expectations. Two out of 4 courses we had not attempted before but we confident that they would provide the “wow” factor and they did not disappoint. The cedar planked Halibut with homemade herbes de Provence and the dessert, Paris-Brest, were truly spectacular and will definitely remain in repertoire for future dinners.

Sometimes the sum of the parts makes for a truly memorable evening; this was the case in point this Monday Night. The food, the company, lively and interesting conversation and a beautiful evening eating al fresco resulted in one of the highlights of our Monday Night Dining thus far.