Can I say I'm a little excited to see the Nets in Brooklyn?? The Times reported today that the Nets vendors are all not just local, but specifically coming from Brooklyn. This makes me very happy.
Josh and I teamed up with a good friend Davis Anderson who's the wine director at Maslow 6 and Eleven Madison Park and Josh's friend from NYU Aaron Polski who serves drinks at a great bitters bar Amor y Amargo and Netta. they both formed an underground dinner club [featured in Thrillest] called The Sinners Club. They meet every three weeks and believe that 'wine comes first and then food must match it's majesty.' They asked Josh & I to supply maybe 6 passed hors d'oeuvres before the main event
For dessert I always go back to tarts. a homemade crust is about 3 ingredients. very easy to assemble, simple, impressive, and so fulfilling..when you get the right ratio of a good firm almond and jam tart middle with a crispy vanilla shortbread crust, very thin. make a standard shortbread but then flavor it with some vanilla bean pods and lemon rind. when made ahead of time it gets better when it sits and sets in after a few days.
Ive been experimenting with quiches, fruit tarts, custard tarts, chocolate tarts since watching Jaime Oliver on the BBC way before he attached himself to anything outside England. I would do spins on some of his tarts when I first began catering my own gigs. The baked chocolate tart, my favorite anytime, works best with 2 things. Sour cream and eggs because it rises like a soufle. To a standard double boil of cocoa powder & butter, instead of regular semi sweet chocolate I used a Lindt mint dark bar and crushed some girl scout thin mints into the mix.
Here are some sweet n savories we'll pass around for the Sinners Club event
 |
| almond butter & rhubarb jam, baked thin mint truffle, and two quiches with thyme oil, speck, drunken goat & cheddar |