Tuesday, January 12, 2010

"That's Freaky Good"


That's what Josh said after his first bite of souffle.


The dark edge is not burned. The baking dish was coated in sugar and cocoa powder. And it was really, really good. It's important that you understand that the harder I work on something (and this one used a lot of brain power) the less likely I am to be pleased by the result. This was good.

I'm going to quote Josh some more, rather than toot my own horn:

"Souffle is the holy grail of dessert baking...and you nailed it on the first try."
"It's ridiculously good."
"It's a lotta good."

So we finished it.


Granted, I misread the recipe and thought I needed a 1/2 qt baking dish and that's what I made it in. I was alarmed by all the custard left over. The recipe actually called for 1 and 1/2 qt baking dish. Now I know for next time.

So the souffle wasn't the only thing we ate (although that's not a bad idea for future date night...hmmm...it is eggs, after all).

I made mashed potatoes. With roasted garlic and rosemary. Josh had something to say about those, too. "It's piney fresh--I'm not gonna get mosquito bites after eating this." I know he's a purist about his potatoes and adding garlic AND rosemary was gonna push him over the edge...but I made him a souffle, dang flabbit!


He does like that I leave the skins on when I mash them. Or that's what he said. After the mosquito crack, he may have been goin' a little nuts with compliments.

The last addition that I made to the menu was to add caramelized onions. I had seen Giada DeLaurentis do it on her show, so I gave it a try. She thinly sliced 2 or 3 large onions, added a pat of butter, a tsp of sugar and a pinch of salt and left the saute pan on low for like an hour and a half. So I used one medium onion. (That should have been a big clue that I was going to get very different result.) It was a happy, happy accident as the onions moved past caramelization to crispy. To quote my husband again, "The onions were the best part of the main course."


The filets were HUGE! We are eating them again tomorrow night for dinner and I'm going to cut mine in half before reheating so Josh has lunch for Thursday. Maybe I'll make another batch of crispy onions.

Salads were good. I forgot the parm on Josh's Caesar, but he didn't seem to mind.


Cocktails, both shrimp and alcoholic were great. See for yourselves:



That's all I've got. I had one request to hear about my never ending spaghetti and one not to talk about the "p" soup. That will be fodder for another post. I also found out that the most difficult thing A made was Limoncello cheesecake. Or was that the most decadent thing you've made? Do you think you could share the recipe with us?

4 comments:

kate said...

I'm thinking that the onions and potatoes looked good enough to not even need the filet. Your salad looked fabulous, JPS's not so much. And of course the souffle is in a class by itself. I'm dying to try it.

drevas said...

Ahhh... cocktails...

Allegra said...

it was both the most difficult and the most decadent thing i've ever made. oh wait ... soft pretzels are the most difficult thing i've ever made. dinner and dessert look delish!

xoxo,
leggy

Colleen said...

I like the sound of rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes.