Entertaining at our place has been on hiatus for the past couple months as work, life, and trips enveloped us and left me wanting to order out, not cook in for a crowd. This past long weekend over Easter in Santiago was very quiet. A small exodus to the beaches had ensued and only the central fish market had been stormed by lukewarm Catholics looking for one last chance to eat away their sins. The party idea sprouted organically at the end of the week with the simple premise of catching up with a few friends who would be in town.
Something simple. Yummy. Easy.
It always starts like that.
Friday morning I still didn’t have a clue what to make. The only contents in my frig were a kilo of fresh ricotta. Then it hit me. Hello Cheesecake!
A romp in the pantry looking for oatmeal lead to the discovery of a forgotten box of Arborio rice.
“Man, risotto is a lot of last minute stirring”.
One quick swoop on the Internet to learn how to pre-cook the risotto and I was ready to take on the Project.
Later that afternoon at the supermarket looking for steak to with our EPU Cab, I spotted fresh Chicken livers.. “Yeah baby, paté”.
The rest is cooking history.
Planning a party so enormously gratifying because I connect fully with the creative process from idea to finish. I visualize (and taste) the end in sight before I have even started. It’s exciting to watch, like alquimia, everything come together. I think a lot of my own intensity and emotion are poured into the recipes and the guests experience that.
Saturday night, I wanted to cook and nurture my guests. And it was one of those nights that just hit it. Flavors. Textures. Wines. People.
What I most remember was the sound of laughter. That high of having bonified fun. After all, that’s the real purpose behind cooking.
Appetizer
Chicken liver paté and baguette with fresh apricot chutney or cornichons
Steak tartare bites
Cruzat Rosé (Mendoza, Argentina)
Viña Mar Sauvignon Blanc Gran Reserva 2007 (Casablanca, Chile)
Notes:
I haven’t made this paté since my 30th birthday blow out two years ago. Chicken livers soaked in milk overnight plus (lots of!) butter makes it creamy. Onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and cognac create this deep blend of flavors—gamey, metallic and sweet. Delectable on fresh baguette, I like to counter the intensity with something slightly sweet like apricot chutney or cornichon.
The sparkling was brillant. As good as in the Mendoza tasting. Bright with good body, amazing acidity, tiny bubbles and it totally stood up to the paté and steak tartare (thus confirming my theory that bubbly, indeed, goes with just about everything). Unfortunately there were six of us to a bottle so it went fast. I could have e-a-s-i-l-y kicked another glass.
Viña Mar’s Sauvignon Blanc was new to me. I was skeptical since I had tried a couple forgettable, flat wines from them before. However, this was a nice surprise. Zesty and grapefruit-laden, it felt somewhat explosive on the front of the mouth. Actually, remembering it now, the acidity may have been on the pushy side and it felt like there were some green notes (early picking?).
Main Course
Pumpkin risotto with roasted pumpkin cubes, crumbled goat cheese, and arugula
Marcus Pinot Noir 2006 (Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina)
Kingston Family Vineyards, Alazán Pinot Noir 2006 (Casablanca, Chile)
Notes:
I par-cooked this risotto in the interest of time. This was a gamble since I had never done this before but I have ordered it in restaurants and obviously there is not one cook standing around stirring for hours on end. It worked beautifully. The pumpkin was so subtle, the rice perfectly al dente, and the goat cheese and arugula nice fresh notes.
The first Pinot my wine loving friend, Marie, brought. Another Argentine winery, Marcus is located in the cool area of Patagonia, east of Bariloche, known as Río Negro. This area, in my opinión, is really starting to come into its own. I have tried some very interesting Merlot from this area. This Pinot had that “wild” factor that I find in a lot of Argentine wines. There’s something about the reflection and the altitude that give the grapes this intense nature in addition to pretty high alcohol (pushing 14.5%). It was not restrained and sort of in your face in a nice, fruity way.
Kingston’s Pinot is one of my favorites. Restrained at first but then it opens into earthy, Black cherry love with these wonderful silky tannins. Everybody loved this wine and I will add my two cents that I think it’s probably one of the best Pinot’s from Chile today.
I should mention, for both these wines, we used my favorite wine gadget, the Metrokane Wine Funnel which aerates the wine beautifully.
Dessert
Lemon-Ricotta cheesecake with fresh raspberries.
Notes:
This was a nice, light ending with a lemony note. I was so luck to have found fresh raspberries on Saturday morning, plump and juicy, from the southern city of Linares.
We were wined out so the guys hit the Glenlivet and I nursed the rest of my Pinot. Buenas noches…
