Some trouble along the way but ultimately, a hugely successful dinner
/Ok, as friend CF can attest, something went wrong around the time I was to stuff the seafood sausages. You should have seen the seafood mousse- lighter than air, studded with lobster, shrimp, scallops and striped bass, soused with just a bit of brandy and ruby port, laden with cream, amped up with a hint of cayenne. I'd prepped everything but had neglected to cross-reference the diameter of my sausage casing with that of my pastry bag piping tip. Exactly the same size. Good god peeps, a mess. And all that glorious, not to mention expensive and so lovingly (and for hours) tended to, seafood. With the idea of going in the seafood flan direction, I 911'd the Food52 hotline and was indeed told I should go the Bain Marie terrine way: a water bath! Into porcelain ramekins went my mousse, into a water bath those went and out of the oven they finally came, warm and steamy and all second-best to a hot-grilled sausage. In the meanwhile I'd made a truly wonderful beurre blanc and we really enjoyed this wildly indulgent (read: don't have this more than once a year) entree!
To backtrack though, T loves a good grilled cheese so Chanterelle's truffled butter/fontina one served alongside creamy tomato soup sounded perfect. It was. Brioche is of the gods and when smeared with a mushroom-rich compound butter and grated fontina and then grilled? Good god. Heaven. This asparagus, simply roasted with olive oil and truffled Maldon salt, couldn't have been tastier either. Neither of us has room for the olive oil chocolate cake as of yet, but Oliver had a sizable piece before bed and declared it wonderful: "we have to make this again."
For once, it will be a joy to pack, whenever that may happen.
