*SIGH* End Of Summer

For the last three years I have held an end-of-summer dinner, where I put together a meal over a couple of courses.  The idea is to show a complilation of new things that I have learned over the last year and to have a good time of it.  This year's meal consisted of a few recipes and techniques that I have learned from Weber, supplemented with techniques that I have learned elsewhere.  I'm still tired from yesterday's ordeal, so let's get right to it. 

After some basic appetizers, the first course last night was a plate of scallops in a beurre blanc sauce, matched with a grilled corn salad.  I first used scallops on The Forge when The Bride and I came back from Memphis, so I was pretty comfortable with them.  The beurre blanc sauce I have been making for several months now, so that was easy as well.  I wanted something a little refreshing to go along with it, and I had originally wanted to do a trio of stuffed vegetables with it.  But quite recently when I made a corn salad side dish I realized that it would go perfectly with the scallops that I was planning on making. 

This dish worked well, with the sweetness of the corn playing well with the natural sweetness of the scallops.  The mustard and dill added depth of flavor to the beurre blanc sauce, and I may have even converted a previously non-shellfish person to the other side. 

The second course featured something I did for last year's meal, but a little better.  I love grilled pork tenderloin, and when I recently did one of Weber's recipes for one, I noted that I preferred Alton Brown's technique of higher heat and faster rotation.  I also like adding a Calvados sauce, which is based on the French apple brandy that is awesome.  That in itself can be a little heavy of a sauce, so I made an apple and endive slaw which complemented that course with a nice change of texture and acidity.  

One guest mentioned that she wanted to cry.  I took that as a good thing. 

The third course brought in the heavy hitter of protein...steak.  To be honest, I probably would not have tried this recipe by now if it had not been for a guest chef picking it out.  It turned out amazing back then, so I brought it back for last night.  It has a rather Provencal feel to it, so I paired it with another classic dish from that region that I had done with Weber. 

The only addition I made was to add a classic French port-mushroom brown sauce. 

The final course had very little to do with Weber, but for the sake of completion, I'll show you the final course.  I made an apple tart tatin with a duo of sauces.  The first sauce was a classic crème anglaise (pictured on the right) and the second sauce was a riesling sabayon (on the left).  My oven wasn't working the way I wanted it do, so the tart tatin became somewhat of a cobbler, but that's just aesthetics.  It was tasty.

So summer is over, and tomorrow I get up real early to go sit in boring meetings.  In a couple of days I have a fresh set of students that I can't wait to mess up!