Dinner for Eight

On Saturday night our friends Eric and Barb, who own the Waterfall Tea Room in Yarker invited us to help cook a dinner for 8 at their apartment above the Tea Room. The eight people invited had won a charity auction prize. The menu (arrived at after months of discussion) was as follows:

Smoked Trout Mousse
Charcuterie Plate

Roasted Squash and Apple Soup
Warm Mushroom Salad
Grapefruit Sorbet
Beef Tenderloin with green peppercorn demi-glace/shredded brussel sprouts with pancetta/potatoes Anna
Chocolate-dipped poached pears stuffed with apricots and pecans on chili sabayon
Local cheeses


The smoked trout mousse I made ahead (described elsewhere in this blog) and froze. Freezing did it no harm and we served it on Rainforest salty date and almond crackers with capers and a sprig of dill as a canape. The guests got a Cava cocktail (Cava with sweet Oloroso sherry)
The charcuterie plate consisted of home made duck prosciuttto (also described elsewhere), a slice of Elk terrine (from Quebec) and two slices of Wild Boar sausage (also from Quebec) which we served with a dab of home made port jelly, home made apple and pear chutney (I made this ahead and brought them with me) and Koslicks orange and ginger mustard
Eric made the soup by roasting acorn squash, apples and onions and pureeing them. I didn't get to taste it but it looked great
Barb made the warm mushroom salad by roasting chanterelles, oyster mushrooms and creminis with olive oil and herbs, deglazing with balsamic vinegar and tossing the mushrooms and warm dressing on a bed of mixed baby greens
The palate cleanser was a grapefruit sorbet which I made with water, sugar, the zest of one grapefruit, the juice of four grapefruits, a splash of campari (mainly for colour) and a few sprigs of mint. This mixture was chilled, strained and churned in the ice cream maker. really refreshing.
The main course was a whole beef tenderloin (picked up that day at the local butcher/slaughterhouse) , rolled in salt and chopped rosemary and roasted on high heat for 25 minutes. It was served with a wonderful demi-gace to which was added green peppercorns and cream. Accompanied by Potatoes Anna (thinly sliced russet and red potatoes, cooked in a skillet in a hot oven, beautifully browned and sliced in wedges) and shredded brussel sprouts, stir fried with pancetta and pecans. Unfortunately I slightly burned the pecans and add to pick most of them out before serving!
Eric was responsible for the poached pears - they were cored (but left whole), poached in spiced red wine, cooled and then coated with chocolate and cooled again. Eric made a sabayon with egg yolks and white wine and a teaspoon of chili powder and the chilled pears sat in a bowl on the sabayon. Beautiful!
The cheeses (which I picked out) were Riopelle (a soft cheese from Quebec - one of my favourite cheeses), Victor and Berthold (washed rind semi soft also from Quebec), Lemon Fetish, a lemony chevre from Fifth Town in Prince Edward County, another semi soft Fifth Town cheese and an old chedder from Wilton cheese (just down the road from Yarker)
A couple of glitches - Eric burnt his hand,  I almost burnt the brussel sprouts, the potatoes Anna lacked slat and the pacing was a bit off (although Kerry did a fantastic job of serving) but all in all a great success!