OMG I love wine dinners! There is such good food, such good people, such good wine, such good life involved.

The menu

• coulibiac filled with mushroom, tarragon, and carrots;boiled egg;sorrel soup
  Coulibiac are new to me, but from what I gather it is a Russian turned French version of a brioche filled roll
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• nettle angolotti with spinach soup; leeks; snap peas; shaved parmesan; parsley and olive oil
  No Picture to share because if I had had the chance to snap one, no picture would ever again measure up to the beauty of this dish. I think every shade of green was on the plate, it was the epitome of springtime

• bacon wrapped sablefish; polenta; a rabe (broccoli, I think); carmelized shallots
  I mean just check out those stripes! My favorite part of this dish was not the bacon though, it was those carmelized shallots, oh jeez I could’ve ate a whole pound of ‘em.

• a palate cleanser of alexander/lovage lemonade
  Mmm I want to start an artisan Lemonade Stand, I see many herbed Lemonades in big pitchers, 25 cents please

• beef brisket;carrot;carrot;carrot
  No I didn’t type stutter. It was really just carrot everywhere! Thin curried carrot puree, thick carrot mash, wispy dried carrot threads, all with a big cube of beef brisket! I really had the urge to roll a couple because of its resemblance to dice, but it would have been quite messy, better to just eat one, so I brought one home for breakfast.

 

• rhubarb maple mousse cake; almond jaconde; champagne maple rhubarb coulis; tuile; candied rhubarb
  I was so happy with this dessert! I used Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio which made the recipe very simple and easy to flavor. The tuiles were a very basic sugar tuile cookie, just a little crunch for the plate. The candied rhubarb is something I would live to perfect but candied fruit is just so temperamental. It was more like a tiny strip of rhubarb leather. Delicious though, I ate the leftovers by the handful. The coulis was actually made by my amazing roommate and the farm CSA coordinator Lisa. That woman is a force! Today she is making her first hard cheese (she’s already  perfected mozzarella, ricotta, yogurt, and butter) from the cows she milks every day. I mean really!

Rhubarb Anglaise:
3-4 stalks of rhubarb
1/2-1 honey
whatever spices, herbs, flavoring things you like, I used vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and ginger
4 oz Egg Yolks (about 6 yolks)
4 oz  Sugar
1 pt Milk

• Chop the rhubarb into 1-inch pieces, cook in a pot with the honey and flavoring things until the rhubarb breaks down and some of the moisture evaporates. It should be a little thicker than applesauce, if it’s too runny, add a little (not alot; like a tablespoon)cornstarch slurry and cook until it thickens up a bit.
• Just let that hang out for a second while you make the anglaise
• Heat the milk and half the sugar on the stove
• Whisk the eggs and remaining sugar lightly when the milk is scalding
• Temper in the eggs by pouring a little warm milk into the eggs and sugar, whisk them together and pour them back into the warm milk on the stove
• On low heat start stirring the anglaise, add the cooked rhubarb
• Over low heat stir with a spatula until the anglaise has thickened to ‘a la nappe’, which is the fancy people term for thickened enough to coat the spatula, but not thick enough to curdle, I like to call it the nappy stage.
• You should strain this, but most of your rhubarb solids will come out of it, so I strained it, took out the big things like vanilla bean, and cinnamon sticks, then put the rhubarb back in because I wanted it in the final mousse cake. If you don’t, then leave it out :)

Almond Joconde (this is a very large batch for what you actually need for a mousse cake, eat the leftovers, or find a different recipe, joconde recipes are everywhere :) )
3.5 oz Almond Meal
3 oz Powdered Sugar
4.75 ozWhole Eggs
2.5 tsp Sugar
3.25 oz Egg Whites
1.25 ozButter, Melted

• Preheat the oven to 400F
• Whip the almond meal, powdered sugar, and whole eggs till very pale and fluffy.
• Whip the egg whites and sugar till stiff and glossy
• Fold in the melted butter
• Bake in 2-Half sheet pans for 15 minutes

The Bavarian Mousse formula from Ratio:
1 C Anglaise
1 C Heavy Cream
1/4 oz Powdered Gelatin, the cold set kind
1 T cold water, (I used about 1 teaspoon extra to make sure the gelatin was completely set)

• Bloom the gelatin by sprinkling it over the water.
• Whip the cream to soft peaks and put in the fridge till the anglaise is ready
• Melt the gelatin in the anglaise if it is still warm, otherwise microwave for 10 seconds and add it to the anglaise.
• Stir over an ice bath till the consistency is like an egg white, or snotty.
• Fold in the whipped cream
• Use this technique for both maple and rhubarb mousses

Assembly

• I used a loaf pan but and container will work.
• Lightly grease the container and line them with plastic wrap and portion the mousse equally in layers
• In the time it takes to prepare the next layer, the previous layer should be set enough to add the next one
• Allow it to set for at least 8 hours before flipping them out and serving!