Cooking for the girlfriend's parents this weekend.
Discussion
So after successfully cooking a beef wellington on valentine's day, I've offered to host the girlfriend's parents on Sunday by cooking the same dish again. Her mother is quite an accomplished cook and last time we were round, she cooked a really nice pheasant dish in a red wine and mushroom sauce with some amazing side dishes.
I'm going to sear a decent sized fillet joint, wrap it in pancetta with mushroom duxelles and a smearing of pate with puff pastry. I'm planning on serving this with potatoes dauphinoise and some french beans. Do you guys reckon this needs some kind of a sauce. Maybe a red wine reduction? Do you have any decent recipes for it?
Given I'm serving a pretty rich main course, I'm planning on getting some coconut and mango jellies from a chinese bakery and serve it with some tropical fruit (mango and lychees) with pouring cream. Is this reminiscent of a lowly fruit salad and carnation? Alternatively, I've found a recipe for a baked Polish cheesecake involving a digestive biscuit base, a layer of Polish poppy seed mixture and then a baked ricotta cheese layer with some vanilla vodka soaked raisins folded in.
This lot will be followed by a decent cheeseboard.
I'm planning on serving kir royales as an aperitif and some Malbec with the main course.
Any other tips or ideas?
I'm going to sear a decent sized fillet joint, wrap it in pancetta with mushroom duxelles and a smearing of pate with puff pastry. I'm planning on serving this with potatoes dauphinoise and some french beans. Do you guys reckon this needs some kind of a sauce. Maybe a red wine reduction? Do you have any decent recipes for it?
Given I'm serving a pretty rich main course, I'm planning on getting some coconut and mango jellies from a chinese bakery and serve it with some tropical fruit (mango and lychees) with pouring cream. Is this reminiscent of a lowly fruit salad and carnation? Alternatively, I've found a recipe for a baked Polish cheesecake involving a digestive biscuit base, a layer of Polish poppy seed mixture and then a baked ricotta cheese layer with some vanilla vodka soaked raisins folded in.
This lot will be followed by a decent cheeseboard.
I'm planning on serving kir royales as an aperitif and some Malbec with the main course.
Any other tips or ideas?
You're a braver man than I, doing Wellington for a decent cook. If you can pull it off, great. Personally I'd chicken out, be tempted to lower the stress a bit and go with easier sure-fire winners like cannon of lamb with garlicky dauphinoise or crispy belly pork on really good mash.
Red wine reduction, I do something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HIcQ9rvOQE
Pud, -I'd go with the jellies and fruit pudding you mention, sounds interesting and light after a rich main -and before decent cheese.
All the best!
Basic red wine reduction:
1 part red wine
1 part beef stock
(a glass of each will do)
half a medium shallot
butter
Saute the finely chopped shallot in a little olive oil (ideally not butter as you run the risk of it splitting) until translucent but not coloured.
Add both the wine and the stock and reduce over a rapid heat until you have achieved the consistency you're looking for, allow to cool slightly and whisk in a little bit of butter to add gloss.
If you wanted a smooth reduction, you could just strain out the shallot before you add the butter.
Depending on how intense you want the reduction will determine how much you let it reduce, but it's the sort of sauce that you will sparingly drizzle over the meat.
You could prep the sauce in the same pan you seared the fillet in, which would also improve the flavour by deglazing all the caramelised beef juices.
1 part red wine
1 part beef stock
(a glass of each will do)
half a medium shallot
butter
Saute the finely chopped shallot in a little olive oil (ideally not butter as you run the risk of it splitting) until translucent but not coloured.
Add both the wine and the stock and reduce over a rapid heat until you have achieved the consistency you're looking for, allow to cool slightly and whisk in a little bit of butter to add gloss.
If you wanted a smooth reduction, you could just strain out the shallot before you add the butter.
Depending on how intense you want the reduction will determine how much you let it reduce, but it's the sort of sauce that you will sparingly drizzle over the meat.
You could prep the sauce in the same pan you seared the fillet in, which would also improve the flavour by deglazing all the caramelised beef juices.
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