Premier Dinner - The Aftermath

All in all things went splendidly.

Despite summer selecting yesterday to finally arrive with a vengeance and my kitchen subsequently being a sauna, I can report that our first Farmhouse Nummy dinner was a success.

The day got off to a lazy start. I'd just finished a 5 week run in a show at a local theatre the night before and been out until the wee hours so my energy was a bit tapped out. Jeremy was brewing a batch of Worthington White Shield and we had a couple of friends over to help.

I started prep at about 3pm but was in no hurry. I figured I would start with the Raspberry Cream dessert first and then let it chill for a couple of hours. I quickly realized that I didn't have enough raspberries but luckily there's a farm a mile and a half north of our home that sells them. I also stopped by our local market to pick up a bottle of wine to help lubricate the culinary senses. I prepared the raspberry purée and then ran in to a bit of a hitch.

The recipe calls for Double Cream but I can't get it. Double Cream is 48% milk fat and the highest milk fat content I can readily get in the States is Heavy Whipping Cream at 36%. I'm going to need to attempt to make it in the future because there are many instances where 36% is just not going to cut it. The case in point is that Heavy Whipping Cream will not reach the desired fluffy and stiff consistency with the raspberry purée added. Adding more whipping cream did not rectify the issue. I placed the raspberry cream in the freezer for about 30 minutes which did help to thicken it a little bit (the heat in the kitchen did not do me any favours) but in the end it turned out to be a gloopy yogurt consistency. The result was totally delicious but not exactly what I was aiming for. Sort of like a cross between kefir and ice cream.

Next up I prepared Franklin's Potatoes. Simple, easy, and a perfect pairing with the main course. Milk is first boiled and infused with the cloves and shallots and then those vegetables and spices are strained out leaving the milk infused with their flavour. Fresh bread crumbs are added to the milk which is then heated again. In the mean time I boiled the 2 lbs of medium sized yukon gold potatoes for about 15 minutes and then rinsed them in cold water to cool. I removed their skins and then sliced them in to thin rounds (think scalloped potatoes).

I arranged the slices in a casserole dish alternating with layers of the breadcrumb milk (start with the milk on the bottom first and end with potatoes and a light layer of dry breadcrumbs on top) and then pop it in the oven. It was done in about 30 minutes - half the time the recipe recommended.

The boys had completed their brewing session by this time and so while the potatoes baked Jeremy and I got cracking on the main course of Lamb Steaks with Quince. I cooked up shallots, garlic, and a fresh picked sprig of rosemary with a little olive oil while Jeremy fried the lamb steaks in a little butter. We purchased a lamb shank from our local meat market (lambykin raised near Brownsville about 20 miles away) and they kindly cut us 4 lovely steaks with enough left over to make a shepherd's pie.

With the steaks fried to perfection and set aside the shallots and garlic went in to the frying pan with home made chicken stock. Cream was added and then the quince jelly. We weren't able to make the jelly from scratch but the stuff we found at the store is quite tasty. A splash of lemon juice and a dash of salt and pepper and the sauce was complete.

And that was it. We sat down with our friends to what I feel fairly comfortable saying was one of the nummiest dinners I've ever had - let alone made. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. I can live with that. I should probably start working out a bit more often though if I'm going to keep this up for the next year...