Category Archives: Blog

French Bistro Menu

One has to be a  fan of French Bistro dishes. The classic French Bistro has a relatively small menu of items that are made to perfection. The chef knows what his customers like and he knows what he can make well. Consequently, it makes excellent supper club fare. This menu combines some old favorites with a few new items.

The problem with the menu is that it calls for a lot to be done at the last minute. The solution is:
 
1. Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
2. Make as much as you can in advance (Mise en place)

Canapés

What is not to like about the combination of classic flavors that can be consumed in one bite? These canapés are a little different in that they are low carb with the Parmesan Crisps replacing the traditional bread or cracker.

Bistro Clams

The goal here was to recreate the classic flavor profile of escargots in a simple format without the polarizing snails. The best part of this dish is garlic herb butter. It is recommended that you drizzle the plate with a little extra butter and provide a crusty piece of bread to sop up the butter. The beauty of this dish is that it can be made in advance and quickly baked and served.

Grilled Steaks

Steak is a cornerstone of the Bistro menu. This version is different in that it calls for a 2-inch-thick steak. The thicker steak takes a little longer to cook, but the window to get the perfect medium rare is wider as well. Paring it with Mushroom Aus Jus sauce works really well. My buddy Lucien, the French Chef, hates that I use the packaged sauce, but it is simple to make and delivers a wonderful flavor complement. Plate with 3 slices of steak.

Pommes Macarre

This dish is an old standby that was Scotty Flora’s favorite. It incorporates all the basic food groups, potato, butter, onion, bacon and cheese. What is not to like? We should probably have French Fries with this menu, but Pommes Macarre can be made in advance and if it was good enough for Scott, it is good enough for me.

Roasted Asparagus Et Jambon

This is a dish that combines a classic French cooking method (Large pot blanching) with roasting and ham. It just works. It is also great in that 90% of the preparation it can be done in advance with the final step of roasting done at the last minute.

Baba au Rhum

This was my buddy John Argiro’s favorite. John was our Sales Manager for Europe who grew up in the south of France (The actor Yves Montand was his first cousin). John couldn’t pass a patisserie that had Baba au Rhum in the window. The recipe is from Ina Gartner, the Barefoot Contessa who lives on Long Island, but is a real Francophile.

Staging

With the exception of the steak, everything can be delegated. I recommend designating one person to do the grilling and another to do manage the broiler. This way while the steaks are grilling you can first broil the asparagus to crisp the jambon and then broil the clams. When the steak is done:

  • Spoon on the compound butter and let the steak rest for 15 minutes
  • Get everyone to sit down
  • Serve the clams while the asparagus and potato are being warmed in the oven.
  • After the clams are done, plate the main course
  • Plate the main course with a spoonful of the bearnaise sauce under the steak
  • Enjoy

French Menu Production Plan

Delegate

  • Asparagus
  • Pommes macérer
  • Baba au ruhm

Make ahead

  • Compound butter 
  • Garlic parsley butter 
  • Parmesan crisps
  • Cucumber/Celery/Scallion Mélange 
  • Waste cream

Saturday Final Prep Plan

Between 2 and 5 pm (Mise en Place)

  • Make canapés 
  • Lightly sauté mushrooms 
  • make au jus
  • broil clams to open
  • lightly sauté bacon
  • open cooled clams
  • top clams with butter and bacon

6:30

  • set up bar
  • put canapés out

7:00

  • Warm
    • au jus
    • bread
  • Preheat broiler and grill
  • Greet guests serve drinks/canapés 

7:15

  • Grill steaks
  • Delegate broiling asparagus

7:20

  • Delegate broiling clams
  • microwave extra butter

7:30

  • Apply compound butter to cooked steaks 
    • Note: pull steaks off of grill at rare as they will continue to cook as they rest
  • Warm
    • potatoes
    • asparagus
    • mushrooms in aus jus
  • Serve clams with extra butter and bread

8:00

  • Plate and serve main course

Wine

I should recommend a few bottles of Bordeaux, but you can’t beat a glass of California Chardonnay with the clams and California Cabernet with the steak

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

 

It’s A New Year – Start A Supper Club

Who doesn’t like to socialize over a meal with friends? That is the whole premise behind supper clubs. Why not make a New Years resolution to start or join a supper club. The biggest challenge that keeps potential supper clubbers from starting a club is that hosting dinner parties is too much work. If that is the case for you, go to a restaurant. Whatever the case, don’t miss the chance with the New Year, get a group of friends together to socialize over a meal.

If you are a follower of this blog, or better yet, have read Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide To Supper Clubs, you see some benefits from hosting dinner parties. With some advice (Buy the book) dinner parties don’t have to be that hard. There is also a chance that you know some folks that like to cook.

Our neighborhood group will be getting together in January to enjoy what I am calling the French Bistro Menu. I am a huge fan of French Bistro fare. The classic French Bistro has a relatively small menu of items that are made to perfection. The chef knows what his customers like and he knows what he can make well. Consequently, it makes excellent supper club fare. Here is my feeble attempt:

French Bistro Menu

Hors d’oeuvre

– Seared Beef Canapes

– Poached Lobster with Wasabi Cream Canapes

First Course

– Bistro Clams with Herb Butter

Main Course

– Grilled Steak with Sauce Bearnaise

– Pommes Macarre

– Roasted Asparagus Avec Jambon

 Dessert

– Baba au Rhum

(Click on menu items for link to recipes)

 

Start the New Year right. Get together with friends and socialize over a meal. Go crazy, START A SUPPER CLUB.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

 

It’s Christmas…Don’t Overcook The Prime Rib

Every family has their holiday traditions. The Kenny family has a wonderful set of quirky traditions that keep us laughing and crying. For several years after my dad died in 1995 the whole family travelled somewhere to celebrate Christmas together and developed a special set of traditions. 

  1. Overcooking the prime rib

A prime rib of beef for the Christmas meal was the standard fare. Without fail, no matter who was the cook the prime rib would be overcooked. Most cookbooks call for cooking to 135 degrees. This is a recipe for disaster. If you take the roast out of the oven at 135 it will continue to cook to 145 degrees and higher. That produces well done versus medium rare.

Paula Dean’s recipe that targets pulling the roast out at 120 degrees works really well just don’t tell my sisters.

A reader asked me how Paula Dean’s recipe would work for a roast other than 5 pounds? I am a big fan of Chef John and his Food Wishes site.He promotes the “Method X” approach which I will be trying this year

“Method X.” The rib is brought to room temperature (this is CRITICAL), and seasoned anyway you like. Then you multiply the exact weight times 5 minutes. For me it was 7.2 x 5 = 36 minutes. This is said to work for any size prime rib.

The rib is cooked at 500 degrees F for exactly that many minutes. Then the oven is turned off. You wait 2 hours, without opening the oven door. Then you remove the prime rib and slice into the juiciest, tenderest, most perfectly medium-rare meat you’ve ever seen!

I will use an external read thermometer and pull the roast out of the oven if the temperature reaches 120 degrees fahrenheit

 

2. Christmas Vacation

How many times can you watch the same movie? Owning copies in VCR, BETA, CD, Blue Ray and DVD is an indication that we like it no matter the technology. You have to love the fact that every time you watch it you notice something different. We all have our favorite lines that have become part of our holiday vernacular. Some of my favorites:

Clark to company execs: “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Kiss my ass, Kiss your ass, Kiss his ass, Happy Hanukkah”

Cousin Eddie to neighbors: “Merry Christmas, the shitter was full”

Ellen to daughter: “It’s the holidays, we are all in misery together”.

 

3. Feast of the seven fishes

I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and loved the excitement at the fish store on Christmas Eve as Italians purchased seafood for the traditional Christmas Eve feast. One year we had the whole clan to Memphis and my menu for Christmas Eve called for seven fishes. My scientist brother in law called me out on the fact that cod, shrimp, scallops and clams totaled only four fishes. I made sure that he had at least 3 shrimp and 4 clams to keep his count accurate. Ho Ho Ho.

4. The blessing turns to tears.

Invariably our traditional blessing turns to tears when loved ones no longer with us are remembered. This painful tradition took a break when my son then aged 7 attended a southern Baptist grade school. Brian picked up the wonderful Baptist cadence of talking to god and thanking him for the family, the meal, the day and all our blessings. Brian’s rendition was a big hit and much to his chagrin the whole clan wanted Brian to give the blessing for years. Don’t cry for me Argentina.

5. Waiting for the holiday meal

My mother would tell us that dinner would be at 6 pm. Invariably 7 pm would roll around and dinner would still be 15 minutes away. My dad claimed it was part of mom’s strategy. By the time she served dinner everyone would be so hungry “shoe leather would taste good”. He also called her the “Brains of the operation” for good reason.

6. Westhampton Tee Shirts

My mom lives near the beach in Westhampton. The whole clan grew up spending summers visiting mom-mom. Westhampton has a great tee shirt shop and we all have years of summer purchases in our wardrobes. No matter where we celebrate Christmas, December mornings can be pretty chilly. Invariably, Christmas morning attire for a large segment of the clan involves Westhampton tee shirts. I never said we were smart.

7. Favorite memories

One of my personal favorites goes back to the year we went to a ski resort in New Hampshire. On Christmas Eve a big snowstorm hit while we were on a horse drawn sleigh singing Christmas carols. My middle sister (The college professor/smart one) got caught up in the beauty of the moment and proclaimed: “Isn’t this perfect, it’s a winter wonderland”. To which my oldest sister (The corporate executive/New Yorker) leans over to her then college aged niece and whispers: “Winter wonderland my ass, It’s a “F—-ing blizzard”.

You can’t buy memories like that.

Are these the quirkiest holiday traditions? My guess is that they aren’t even close to the record. Hopefully they generated a chuckle or two as you wait for that over-cooked prime rib. “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Kiss my ass, Kiss your ass, Kiss his ass, Happy Hanukkah”.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.