Dinner was kind of a last minute idea this week. D’s brother Kevin was in town to hang, Nancy was down for the week, and everyone had Saturday off.  Everything just fell into place for us to have a family dinner.  See, most of us rarely get to show our families what we do. Even though, except for P’s folks, most of our families live rather close by, dinners as you all know are not too easy to get into.  So about once or twice a year we try to get everyone together and catch up. This being somewhat impromptu, not everyone could come but we made the best of it.  There was even a last minute opening (Steve for the win!). Thanks everyone who got in touch with us! It is so amazing the response we have received these last 4 years.  We know it can be difficult to get into dinners. It’s a small little place that can fill up real quick. We’re never going to stop, so you will get here at some point. This is not a restaurant. This is our hobby, our passion and our home (ideologically and, on some late nights, literally).  If you’ve not yet been, keep trying.  We want to meet you and share our home with you. Just watch out for Matt, he’s a hugger. (Just kidding OB)

Ok, enough digression. DINNER! Kevin being in town provided us an excuse and an opportunity to show him what inspires us here in this wonderful place called Athens. The sheer glut of badass things happening around here now is awesome. Farmers market twice a week, local eggs, milk, produce, and protein! Thank you P.L.A.C.E, all the farmers at the market and who deliver to the restaurants, Moonshine Meats, and anyone I left out and also to everyone who supports this with your time, your energy and your wallet. Again with the digression. Sorry. If you know me you know that tangents and rambling are my specialties.  Long story short, we had an opportunity to go talk with Jared (www.imhighoncooking.com) who is basically running the pork operation for Moonshine meats. Jared is an amazing person and very much an inspiration to me. Read his blog. Get to know him. Buy him a beer and tell him he’s pretty rad.  He toured us around the whole pork operation out at Fowler Farms. That is some back braking and intense work going on out there, but totally worth it. You taste the time and care that goes into these animals in the meat. Know where you meat comes from!

Ok, dinner for real this time. Started the day off at the market @ bishop park. Got some amazing toms and heirloom melons from Boo & Becky, green toms from McMullen, blueberries from Jim. Cut to D’s house where he is putting the Boston butt in the big green egg to hot smoke. Back to the 4CM house where Matty and I start grinding and casing some sausages  (promise to get some pics of this up in the future, missed ‘em this time). The rest of the day is the usual blur of the high-energy kitchen.  Highlights of the day: Patrick being a sauce wizard with everything, D rolling out the pasta and then turning around to see the shower bar covered in coat hangers full of fettuccini, first slice of gravlax, first bite of the INSANELY good pork butt, stealing Rando’s gruyere crisps when he was not looking, first sip of the consommé.  Speaking of the consommé, we never repeat a dish, but we will revisit it. I loved this. We’ve made the straight-up tom one before, but the addition of the melon was sooooo good.  The best dish of the night has to go to the gravlax, though. Dear sweet Jesus. Might be one of the best dishes ever in the house. Totally simple but with the wine and the perfect bite with every element, well, just damn. Everything else was great as well, but to be honest, not totally pumped on the dessert.  I mean I’m not disappointed in it, but the weather and the size of our lil’ oven did not work with the idea I had in mind. Still good, but this blog is here for us to be honest. Not my favorite I’ve ever done. Ok, I’m done. Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for staying interested! See you soon.

-e.

MENU:

Tomato Two Ways:  Consommé w/ Heirloom Honeydew,
Roasted Roma Tartare, Gruyere Crisp, Arugula
w/ Domaine Regusse,”L” Rose Brut,  FR NV

Wild Sockeye Gravlax w/ Cucumber, Mint, Candied Lemon, Crème Fraiche
w/ Kiralyudvar, Tokaji Sec, HU ’05

Housemade Fettucini Carbonara w/ Pork Sausage, Sweet Corn, Piquillo Pepper
w/ Mer Soleil, Chardonnay, CA ‘07

Smoked Pork Shoulder w/ Fried Green Tomatoes, Sweet Slaw, Blueberry Sauce
w/ Can Dez Mas, “L’Equilibrista”, ES ‘07

Oatmeal w/ Local Blueberries, Lemon Yogurt
w/ Justin, “Obtuse”, Late Harvest Cabernet, CA ’07

Patrick and Damien Explain Brining

So we had a little get together at the house to demonstrate some things you could do with all the wonderful fruits and veggies you get in your local CSA bag. Post-demo we had quite the time drinking schnapps (the banana was particularly popular) and talking shop with the folks that came. Here’s a couple of CSA-friendly recipes we came up with:

Tomato Consommé

Ingredients:
- 8 medium sized tomatoes (roughly 4 pounds)
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 tbsp fresh horseradish, grated
- 1/2 cup vodka
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 3 tsp black pepper
- basil blossoms and olive oil to garnish
- 1 slice of fresh red beet (for color)

Implements:
- cheesecloth
- kitchen hook
- butcher’s twine
- food processor

Process:
- cut tops off of all tomatoes the quarter them, cut and quarter bell peppers as well
- put all ingredients (except beet, basil blossoms) into a food processor, puree until slushy, note that this may have to be done in two batches depending on the capacity of your food processor
- double the cheesecloth and lay it across the top of a large bowl, slowly pour the tomato mixture onto the cloth, you may need someone to help hold the cloth to ensure nothing spills over the edge
- carefully bring the four corners of the cheesecloth together and tie it closed with twine, this essentially creates a bag of tomato mixture
- hang the bag using the kitchen hook from a shelf in your refrigerator over the bowl and let the liquid drip into the bowl until there is no more juice dripping (approximately 6 hours)
- serve chilled in a bowl or cup and garnish with a few drops of olive oil and basil blossoms

Tomato Jam

Ingredients:
- 3 lbs cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 lemons, halved and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- pinch of cumin
- 1 cinnamon stick

Process:
- combine all ingredients in a pot an cook until mixture thickens, stirring occasionally
- remove cinnamon stick and chill jam for 1 hour
- jam can be served or placed in a jar and stored in the refridgerator for up to 1 month

Stuffed Squash Blossoms w/Chevre, Zucchini, Bacon, Cilantro & Crispy Leeks
w/ Calera, Chardonnay, CA, ’07

Scallops w/ Farrotto, Lady Peas & “Olive Oil”
w/ Domaine du Salvard, Cheverny, FR, ’08

Lamb Chop w/ Mint Gelee, Roasted Tomatoes & Raspberries
w/ Punters Corner, Cabernet/ Merlot, AUS, ’98

Beet Parfait w/ Red Beet Pudding, Yellow Beet Mousse, White Beet Whipped Cream, Candied Ginger & Black Pepper Granola
w/ Kerisac, Sparkling Cider Cuvee Speciale, FR, NV

This weekend we created a very light menu with dishes that reminded us of summer.

• Cold Tomato Consommé with Basil Flowers
• Avocado Salad with Kumquats, Shaved Fennel, and Tomato Oil
• Tuna Carpaccio with Pickled Daikon, Lychee, and Szechuan Peppercorns
• Shoestring Squash and Poached Eggs with Parmesan
• Braised Pork with Peach Salsa and Grilled Corn Succotash
• Fresh Figs with a Balsamic Sabayon