Don't Trust Snakes: MWR entertains

Sunday, April 15, 2007

MWR entertains

I hosted a brunch this morning for a dear friend who was in town from NYC for her first brief return visit in several years. (Translation: Don't you be asking for your own brunch.) It was all a great success. Because Don't Trust Snakes Is Not A Food Blog^TM, and because I'm weary, I'm not going to include recipes here, but just the menu and a few illustrations. With the dishes not yet all done, the thought of giving recipes and directions daunts me greatly, and renews my respect for my friend(s) who can produce a fabulous meal and then turn right around and craft a blog entry about it worthy of The Way to Cook by Julia Child or that early Jacques Pepin book. If you would like a recipe or more information, please leave me a comment and I will provide something in the fullness of time.

Menu
Pastrami-cured gravlax with assorted bagels and scallion cream cheese

Frittata with lemony roasted cauliflower, zahtar and sage

Salad of shredded raw parsnips, chopped dates, yogurt and mint

Cardamom-and-honey-scented red-grape clafoutis

Fresh fruit

Orange juice

Coffee

Everything was delicious, and one guest pronounced me "ready for marriage." (Moreover, it was a great opportunity to use those Twin Peaks / Double-R Diner mugs so laboriously assembled some fifteen years ago.) Surprisingly, most of the guests had gorged on parsnip/date/yogurt/mint salad at dinner the night before, but everyone was good sport. I had made the gravlax as part of a Thanksgiving spread in the mid 90s, and this time had the wisdom to take David Burke's recipe with a grain of salt, so to speak. Let's just say that last time it was way too hot and spicy and this time I have a jelly jar of unused rub left even after leaving out two of the specified four tablespoons of cracked peppercorns.

Damn fine clafoutis and coffee mugs
I was especially happy with the clafoutis, a last-minute addition that I improvised after spotting some nice-looking grapes. Take your favorite clafoutis recipe (what, you don't have one?—and you call yourself a metrosexual!) and replace half the sugar with honey, add maybe a bit more honey (these grapes were fairly tart) and instead of any vanilla add a tablespoon or more of fresh-ground cardamom. Be sure to grind the cardamom fresh . . . otherwise, the recipe won't turn out, and your family will hate you. (Free DTS t-shirt for the first person to correctly source the bit after the ellipsis.)

Here are some gravlax-assembly shots. Allow five days if using fresh salmon, including 24 hours in the freezer to kill any parasites and nearly that long for a gradual thaw in the fridge.