Wedding Reception Menu

I'm getting married in 25 days.  25 days!  I'm a little nervous about getting married again but excited to start a new phase of my life.

We decided to get married in Las Vegas to avoid the hassles of having a wedding at home.  I'm not religious, so I don't want to be married in a church.  Besides just going to the courthouse for a civil ceremony, there aren't many options for a small wedding.  We looked into a few places, but they were simply too expensive for the short ceremony we wanted.  So, Vegas it is! This way, we can have our wedding and honeymoon all in one.  And, it looks like about 17 people will be joining us at the top of the Stratosphere for the ceremony!

When we get home, we're having a backyard pig roast at Jerad's parents' house with 70 of our family and friends.  Kirk Warner of Kirk's Traveling Kitchen is catering the reception. Once the idea of a pig roast came up, I knew right away that Kirk was the person for the job. He teaches classes at Kitchen Conservatory, especially many of our BBQ and whole hog classes, and he's a staff favorite.

Birthday Feasting

My birthday weekend (I turned 36 on Friday) revolved around--what else?--FOOD!

The celebration started on Friday with dinner at the chef's table at Monarch. To get to the table, you have to walk through the kitchen & up a narrow spiral staircase. The table is enclosed in a glass room that overlooks the kitchen.

We all ordered the 5-course tasting menu, but were treated to a few more. Here's the menu that Chef Galliano & his team constructed for us; we had two dishes per course (forgive me for the lack of dish details, but I'd had a few cocktails by then & didn't write anything down!).

We had so much wine with our dinner, that it was actually difficult for me to keep up!

Aperitif: We had joked around on Twitter about bringing jello shots. Josh (the chef) was nice enough to make them for us! GOURMET jello shots! Awesome. I wanted many more.

Jello Shots: Apple, Grape, & Cranberry

Appetizer:

Chicken Confit Nugget

(One of their signature dishes)

First Course: 

Foie Gras & Beef Terrine 

Poached Egg

Second Course:

Shrimp & Spoonbread

Squid Ink Fettucini with Crab

Third Course:

Salmon with Potato Cake, Beet Puree, & Horseradish Foam

Monkfish with Greens, Pasta, & Savory Broth

Fourth Course:

House-made Andouille Sausage with White Beans

Lamb Pot Roast with Ravioli

Fifth Course:

Turkey Shank with Cornbread & Cranberry (Thanksgiving on a plate!)

WITH A PIECE OF CRISPY SKIN ON TOP!!!

Butcher's Cut of Beef with Duck Fat Poached Potatoes, Mushrooms, & Greens

Dessert:

Chocolate Cake-Like Thing with Ice Cream

(By this time, I'd had A LOT of wine.)

Deconstructed Bananas Foster 

(I think.)

Everything was amazing, and all of my favorite foods were represented...poached eggs, pasta, Thanksgiving, & duck fat! We had a great time, getting too full & a little drunk.

On Saturday, the "Food Blogger Mafia" (stay tuned for more details!)--aka Stephanie, Kelli, Annie, & I--had a sleepover. 

So, of course, we ate junk food...which really meant we consumed our weight in cream cheese dips. I made my mom's infamous taco dip. Kelli made buffalo chicken dip (though, she got fancy by using shredded roast chicken). Annie made a radish dip (gimme the recipe, woman!). Steph made pretzel/rolo treats. I also brought a bag of giant Cheetos because...well...they are GIANT CHEETOS! Do I need another reason.

We also had two cakes. Yep, TWO cakes for FOUR girls. I made a mojito cake (recipe below) & Annie bought me a very pretty red velvet cake made by Mathew Rice (pastry chef at Niche whose recipe was recently featured in Martha Stewart Weddings). 

See that? That's what they call "name dropping."

But wait! There's more (name dropping, that is)! On Sunday, I walked around the Taste of St. Louis event and ran into Chef Hubert Keller! He was looking at some art at one of the booths. He was very kind...just as he is on television & just as he was the FIRST time I met him (I attended a Boulevard beer dinner at SLeeK & he was there to cook). That's right...I'm FANCY.

The look on my face is called "smitten fangirl."

* * * * *

MOJITO CAKE WITH RUM BUTTERCREAM

(cake recipe from Warren Brown's Cake Love cookbook)

FOR THE CAKE:

Dry Ingredients
2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 whole cloves (ground into a fine powder)
1/3 cup oven dried mint *, crumbled

*Dry the mint in a 350 oven, watching carefully so that it doesn't burn. It should crumble easily. This took me about 20 minutes.

Liquid Ingredients
2/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons dark rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon limoncello (or 2 tablespoons lemon juice)
juice of two limes

Creaming Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups extra-fine granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lime zest
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Incorporated all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, whisk briefly,  and set aside.
• Incorporate all of the liquid ingredients into a bowl, whisk briefly,  and set aside. 
• Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, and yolks into separate bowls and set aside.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) cream together the butter, sugar, and lime zest on the lowest setting for 4 to 5 minutes.
• With the mixer still on the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time followed by the yolks, fully incorporating after each addition.
• Add the dry ingredient mixture, alternating with the liquid mixture in 3 to 5 additions each, beginning and ending with the dry mixture.  Move swiftly through this step to avoid overworking the batter.  Don’t wait for the dry or liquid mixtures to be fully incorporated before adding the next.  This step should take a total of about 60 seconds.
• Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl (don’t miss the clumps of ingredients hiding on the bottom of the bowl).  Mix on medium speed for 15 to 20 seconds to develop the batter's structure.
• Prepare the cake pans.  For 9-inch-round cakes, line the bottom of each pan with parchment.  Deposit the batter evenly into the pans and smooth out with an offset spatula, making sure the pans are two-thirds full.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes.
• Remove the pans from the oven and cool to room temperature on a wire rack, about 25 to 30 minutes before removing from the pan.  Loosen the cake gently from the pan with a small offset spatula and invert onto a flat surface.  Remove the parchment from the bottom of each cake and wrap the layers tightly in plastic.  You can refrigerate the layers overnight or up to 5 days before frosting.  

FOR THE FROSTING:

Buttercream is easy. I simply mixed together 2 sticks unsalted butter (at room temperature) with 1 package powdered sugar (adding in gradually). I added tablespoons of light rum until I had the consistency I wanted...creamy, smooth, spreadable. It's pretty boozy, but I wanted to taste the rum!

* * * * *

Here are a couple more pictures from the weekend:

The crispy skin garnish reminded me of a scene from Silence of the Lambs. 

Only much tastier.

Trying to play a tune on the many wine glass I had accumulated throughout the evening.

Our view of the kitchen from the chef's table.

It was fun watching our dishes come together & trying to guess what it was before we were told.

Me & my BFF Sarah

Preparing the dipstravaganza at Annie's downtown loft.

We're on a roof!

Thanks to Steph for taking pictures on Friday & Saturday. Most of these are hers!

Lambstravaganza

Yesterday, I spent 8 hours at Prairie Grass Farm in New Florence, Missouri, for Slow Food St. Louis's annual Lambstravaganza event, an 8-course meal prepared by the city's top chefs and featuring the farm's own lamb.

According to FairShares.org: Prairie Grass Farm is a third generation, small family owned farm that produces grass fed lamb and free-range eggs in New Florence, Missouri. The Hillebrands, husband and wife, raise nearly 700 lambs a year on their 520-acre farm. They sell an array of lamb products, including summer sausage, lamb kabobs, racks, and stew meat. During the summer season they also offer blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and tomatoes. David Hillebrand grew up on this farm, which has been in the family for three generations. As a kid, his parents focused mostly on row crops, though they kept some livestock, and often while the others left home each morning to tend the field crops, David stayed behind to take care of the chickens. His interest in raising sheep came from his grandfather, who was the first in his family to raise lamb. Prairie Grass Farm's grass fed lambs and free-range eggs are served up in some of the area's finest restaurants.

Dave Hillebrand gives us a tour of his farm.

Some of their lambs with one of the ferocious guard dogs.

They keep over 600 free-range chickens.

I've bought eggs and lamb from PGF at the farmers market before, and it was so awesome to see where that food came from and to meet the people who tend the animals...including the Hillebrand girls who are in charge of the goats.

Baby goats like this one were born on Saturday.
(photo from BabyGoatFarm.com)

Dinner was wonderful. I thought I would be sick of lamb after 7 lamb dishes, but each was unique and I didn't feel too lambed out at the end...though I was full!

My favorites were the potted lamb (similar to a rillette), the vindaloo braised shanks & mango lassi (I can't wait to make a lassi at home now!), and the tongue faggotini (a stuffed pasta served in a delicious broth).

Tables were set up in an old barn, and I was relieved we weren't sitting out in the sun all afternoon! (Yes, those are flowers potted in a blender on our table!)

First course: Potted lamb with a salad of pickled spring veggies (radish, carrot, squash) & egg. Prepared by Margaret Kelly & Dave Owens of Bissinger's Chocolatier.



Second course: Vindaloo braised lamb shanks & toasted naan with pepita coriander pesto & a shot of mango lassi.
Prepared by Andy White of Schlafly's Tap Room.


Third course: Grilled leg of lamb with homemade feta (using the farm's goat milk), crispy mint gremolata, & shaved radish salad.
Prepared by Josh Galliano of Monarch.


Fourth course: Chermoula spiced smoked lamb with harissa & saffron aioli.
Prepared by Timothy Grandinetti & Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe.


Fifth course: Lamb's tongue faggotini.
Prepared by Gerard Craft of Niche.


Sixth course: Rack of Lamb with orzo & asparagus.
Prepared by Lou Rook of Annie Gunn's.

Seventh course: Lamb loin & sweetbreads with beet risotto.
Prepared by Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Cafe.

Eighth course: Pistachio cream puff with local strawberries, homemade jam & local honey.
Prepared by Christy Augustin of Sydney Street Cafe.

After dinner, I stuck around talking & drinking wine (and homemade limoncello) with a few friends and the Hillebrand family. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day. I can't wait to go again next year!

In the meantime, I am going to (finally) become a Slow Food member and I'm going to continue supporting local farmers by buying meat & produce at the farmers markets. It really is amazing to see where our food comes from and to know that a family is behind that food...that they live and work the farm as they had been for generations.

Chef for a Day at Monarch

My friend and Kitchen Conservatory co-worker Ruth won a silent auction during the Slow Food trivia night recently to be "chef for a day" with Executive Chef Josh Galliano at Monarch. And since Ruth is such a nice person, she invited me and Teresa Sweeney to come along with her.


First, I have to say that Chef Galliano was so nice to us. I was a bit worried about being in the way, but he put us to work (nicely, though I did ask him to yell at me in a British accent to complete my fantasy) and seemed to trust that we were doing everything correctly. We worked for four hours & between the three of us we scaled trout; blanched, peeled, cut & de-seeded tomatoes; cleaned 10 pounds of morel mushrooms; trimmed what seemed like a hundred artichokes; cut homemade marshmallows; rolled dinner rolls; pickled beans; cleaned scallops; and shelled raw fava beans.

10 pounds of fresh morels & only a few crawly critters to be found!

I don't think Teresa wants to cut another tomato for a LONG time.

I didn't hear Chef say I only had to trim HALF of those artichokes, so I did them all...happily.

While that might not sound like a lot of fun to most people, I had a blast! I find that cooking, even prepping, is very therapeutic. I also enjoyed seeing how a restaurant kitchen like that operates. It was a quiet, laid-back kind of atmosphere...at least from 12-4. Everyone was nice and patient with us.

The kitchen at Monarch is huge. And, I was impressed to find out that everything on the menu--charcuterie, desserts, stocks, breads, liqueurs, etc--are made in-house. I was also impressed to see Chef Galliano doing his share in the kitchen (as well as running finished plates to tables in the dining room)...and not just delegating tasks as I imagine several executive chefs do.

Afterward, we had a few cocktails & a snack in the bar. Teresa asked us to stay for dinner with her and her family & friends. Thus began a 6-hour orgy of food and drinks. I loved seeing how the ingredients we prepped were prepared & presented in the final dishes.

Limoncello Mojito.

Monarch martinis: Orangecello & Tea-infused.

The infamous Chicken Confit Nugget with Salsa Verde.

Such beautifully rolled breads!

Apple of my Rye.

Stinging nettle & ricotta gnocchi with asparagus, mushrooms & bacon.

Diver scallop with olive oil mashed potatoes, fava beans, tomato confit, preserved lemon, & thyme foam.

Soft chocolate fudge with avocado ice cream, chocolate & vanilla soils, & candied pepitas.

Many thanks to Josh, Ruth, and Teresa for a fabulous day!