You improvise. You adapt. You overcome. –Heartbreak Ridge

I had it all worked out in my mind: I’d start with the gougères, move on to dessert, then work on other parts of the meal that would keep until dinner, saving the soup and beef wellingtons until last, to serve piping hot to applause — nay, cheers. Like Ralphie, daydreaming in class …

The reality was, well, I really need to start writing things down. But overall, the dinner was successful and definitely worthy of the Krug, so the few things I forgot or completely messed up would’ve been lagniappe had they gone as planned. With Gil in charge of the music, we dined to some Coltrane & Hartman, Jim Hall and Zero7, and it was a fine evening. A very fine evening.

And so without further ado, I present The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of anniversary dining.

The Good

Did you hear? There’s a new cheese delivery system in town, and it’s called the gougère! They’re obscenely good — light and crusty profiteroles laced with gruyere and parmesan, shot through with black pepper, and dusted with bittersweet paprika. Oh, my.

I couldn’t be happier with the cream of potato and parsnip soup, not least because this was the only dish I winged completely and it exceeded my expectations by half. At least. So many people use the term “velvety” to describe soup, but I’ve never had one that fit the bill until last night. Since the parsnips weren’t terribly sweet, I added a touch of maple syrup at the end to punch it up a bit and temper the rootiness of the dish.

Holy cow. Emeril’s done it again. He’s never let me down with any of his recipes and this one for individual beef wellingtons may be the best of the lot. It looked like a hokey, throwback kind of recipe — the perfect thing for a “special occasion” evening — and the ingredient list wasn’t two pages long, so I had to give it a go. This is a gestalt dish: The final result is so far beyond what you’ve imagined that the only proper response is to close your eyes and moan. Maybe rock a little. That seemed proper for me, anyway, but when I opened my eyes, Gil was laughing at me.

And then he took his first bite.

HaHA…who’s laughing now?! The paté had melted into the mushrooms and coated the filet in a rich earthiness that made the buttery puff pastry sing. And I don’t mean no wimpy Antonella warbling; this was a full-bodied LaKisha throwdown. A Melinda-no-neck performance.

If all of that hasn’t convinced you to try the recipe, how about: This was the easiest dish of the night. I’ll probably make it with foie gras next time instead of paté, just cuz.

The asparagus and mushrooms didn’t suck either.

Chocolate pots de creme always sound like a good idea, but adding chocolate to the heavy cream usually leaves me very sorry indeed for experimenting. So when I saw a recipe for honey pots de creme, dessert was decided. We had just enough honey leftover from a trip to the Destrehan farmer’s market last summer to make a half recipe, which was MORE than enough for us. The flavor of the honey deepens as it cooks, while the addition of heavy cream and whole milk rounds it out, and egg yolks turn the whole thing silky. It really was the perfect ending to our meal.

The Bad

Sigh. As I mentioned, the planning thing really gets to me, and I have to stop winging it so much. I’d planned to use roasted garlic in the soup, but forgot to, you know, actually roast it, so I had to cook it down with the onions as they carmelized. Not a huge deal, but it would’ve added another layer to the soup, which I’ll try next time.

I did manage to frizzle some shallots early in the day to top the soup, and I put them in the fridge so they wouldn’t spoil and poison us — a constant worry for me. As I was doing three other things, I took them out and put them in the microwave to remove some of the chill, then noticed the kitchen was filling with smoke. Did you know it’s really easy to confuse the seconds and minutes buttons on the microwave when you’re not paying attention? So yeah, they weren’t so much frizzizzled as bizzurnt. No soup topping for us!

I don’t know what I did wrong to the pots de creme. Swear! I followed the instructions to the letter (as I always do when baking), but they still weren’t set after an hour in the oven. Nor were they set after 90 minutes. And they still managed to jiggle after a full two hours, at which point I removed them from the oven, since the water bath had nearly evaporated, and I thought we’d just eat them a little soupy. After sitting in the fridge for a few hours they transformed into an edible texture, but it wasn’t nearly as flan-like as I was expecting. Maybe it was halving the egg yolk for the reduced recipe that threw it off. I’ll make the full six servings next time and see where that gets me.

This isn’t strictly related to the meal, but my camera’s focus options are the bane of my existence. Auto focus does a fine job until the very last second, then goes just hazy enough to throw off the shot. Manual focus always looks blurry on screen, so it’s a crapshoot as to what I’ll get. Am I doing something wrong? If anyone is having similar problems with a Kodak P880, please share.

The Ugly

I always clean as I go along and still this was waiting for us this morning. Oh, well, it’s a small price to pay for such a good meal.

Time to hit the treadmill!

recipes after the jump

Gougères from Sunset Magazine via MattBites

ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
5 eggs
1 cup grated gruyere
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
bittersweet Spanish paprika (my addition, but feel free to leave it out)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat butter and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture comes to a simmer. Turn heat to low, add 1 cup flour, and stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball that pulls away from pan sides, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each. Dough will separate after each addition, but keep stirring until it forms a smooth paste. (You might want to begin a workout regimen about a month before making these if you, like me, have little wimpy girly arms. Seriously, this is exhausting work.)

Stir in gruyere, parmesan, Dijon mustard, and black pepper. Drop mixture in heaping tablespoonfuls onto 2 buttered baking sheets. Dust with paprika. Bake until puffed and brown, about 30 minutes. Cut slits in sides of puffs, return to oven, and lower heat to 350°. Bake for 10 minutes.

I might add a little mustard powder and cayenne next time to give them more of a kick. Not sure, but I think adding extra Dijon might throw the whole thing out of whack unless you compensate with more flour.

Makes about 50.

Cream of Potato and Parsnip Soup

ingredients
3 large baking potatoes
3 medium parsnips
1 small yellow onion
1 small head of garlic
1 box of low sodium chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
heavy cream to taste
salt
white pepper
maple syrup, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off the top of the head of garlic, douse with olive oil, wrap in foil, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Peel open foil and let cool until it can be handled. Squeeze out a few cloves of garlic or use the whole head if you’re feeling adventurous and plan to be alone for the next couple of days.

Thinly slice onions. Chop peeled parsnips into 1/2-inch cubes. Chop peeped potatoes in slightly larger cubes (they cook faster than the parsnips).

Melt butter in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. When foam subsides, throw in the onion and a pinch of salt and lower heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly, until onion begins to caramelize, about 12 minutes. Add chicken stock, roasted garlic, potato, and parsnip and stir. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until parsnip is tender. I had to add about a cup of water to this when the soup looked a little too thick.

Remove from heat and purée in batches in blender (or use an immersion blender, which I avoid after having one too many splatter incidents). Return to the pot and add cream. Taste, adjust seasonings, and add maple syrup if you like your soup a little bit sweeter.

I’m thinking that adding an apple to this would be really good, as would topping the soup with the lightest dusting of nutmeg.

Individual Beef Wellingtons courtesy of Emeril Lagasse/Food Network

ingredients
4 (6-ounce) thickly cut filet mignons
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (1-ounce) slices goose or duck liver, or pork country-style pate
One-half (17 1/4-ounce package) frozen puff pastry (1 sheet), thawed
Mushroom Duxelles, recipe follows
1 large egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water to make an egg wash

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Season both sides of each filet with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper.

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the filets and sear for 1 minute on each side for medium-rare. Transfer to a plate to cool completely.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 14-inch square, and cut into 4 (7-inch) squares.

Spread one-quarter of the mushroom duxelles on top of each filet and top each with 1 slice of the pate, pressing to flatten. Place one filet, mushroom side down, in the center of a puff pastry square. Using a pastry brush or your finger, paint the inside edges of the pastry with egg wash. Fold the pastry over the filet as though wrapping a package and press the edges to seal. Place the packages seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the egg wash over the tops and sides of each package and bake until the pastry is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers 140 degrees F for medium-rare, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Place the Beef Wellingtons in the center of 4 large plates, and accompany with the sauce and vegetables of choice.

Mushroom Duxelles

ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
10 ounces button mushrooms, wiped clean, stemmed, and finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons dry white wine

Heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, salt, and white pepper, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms begin to caramelize, about 12 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring to deglaze the pan, until all the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and let cool before using.

Yield: 1/2 cup

Marchand de Vin Sauce courtesy of Emeril Lagasse/Food Network

ingredients
1/2 pound meat from beef shanks or oxtails, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup roughly chopped shallots
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 cup dry red wine
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme
4 cups reduced veal stock or demi-glace (I halved the recipe and used one part veal stock to one part low-sodium beef broth because I’m not made of money)
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Season the meat evenly with 1/2 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a medium heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook, stirring, until evenly browned, about 6 minutes. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft, about 1 minute. Add the red wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Bring to a boil, add the bay leaf and remaining 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and cook until reduced to 1/4 cup in volume, about 10 minutes. Add the thyme veal stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced by half and the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 1 hour.

Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer, reserving the meat for another use (snacking for us, as it turned out). Over low heat, add the butter, one piece at a time, whisking constantly to incorporate. Remove form the heat and adjust seasoning, to taste. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 cups

Honey Pots de Creme courtesy of Gale Gand/Food Network

ingredients
3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups cream
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean (not split)
5 yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whipped cream
Honey comb

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a saucepan heat the honey until it bubbles, allow to boil for about 10 seconds which will intensify the flavor. Add the cream, milk, and vanilla bean to the pan and bring just to a boil, then turn off the heat and let infuse 10 minutes.

Remove vanilla bean, rinse, and reserve for another use.

Whisk the yolks with the sugar and salt well and temper them by slowly whisking in the hot honey cream. Pour this into individual ovenproof 4-ounce dessert cups and fill them to the top. Place the dishes in a water bath and bake until set, about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until set. Chill, then serve topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a chunk of honey comb on top of that.

* When I give my work friends the weekend recap on Mondays, I always feel like the 40-Year Old Virgin describing how he satisfied his egg salad craving. So I’ve decided to own it and spare them the conversation by posting weekly updates of my cooking exploits for all to see, share, and nod at sadly.

Update: I whipped up a second batch of gougères last night with a few changes. I reduced the amount of gruyere cheese slightly (there was a grating mishap Saturday so it got a bit compressed and overrepresented in the dish) and added a touch of powdered mustard and cayenne. They baked up airy and crisp with just a little bit of a bite this time … much better.