Monday Mayhem!

Last Monday was a day of firsts for me; the 1st time I cooked on a Thursday Club scale for a non-club meal, the 1st time I made Osso Bucco & the 1st time I cooked for my parents. Trust me, that last 1st was a major hurdle that I've finally overcome, but based on how the meal turned out, I think that Momma & Poppa Boogie feel that it was well worth the wait.

1) Spinach Soup

The first course was prepared by my brother, Sous Chef Stef. It was particularly good with an excellent texture, topped with a bit of cream & chives. We wolfed it down with lots & lots of deliciously warm, butter-drowned bread. A great start to the night.

2) Bone Marrow w/Parsley Salad

My feeble attempt to duplicate Fergus Henderson's signature St. John's dish. I think that the marrow itself came out very well, it's pretty hard to screw them up, mind you. Just a bit of salt & pepper & some olive oil. Brilliant! Unfortunately, I screwed up & bought the wrong type of parsley for the salad, I really didn't like the texture. I'll have to try this again.


3) Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella Salad

A simple dish to clear the palate before the main, I think this came out very well. I added a little basil to the plate & topped it with olive oil & some excellent Balsamic vinegar that I found lurking in my pantry. Simple yet effective.


4) Osso Bucco w/Rice

This was my first attempt at Osso Bucco, so I wanted to make damn sure that I didn't screw it up. I'm pretty sure that I braised it for way too long, so that the meat literally fell off of the bone. It made presentation somewhat difficult, but the flavors were great. I really enjoyed this dish, particularly scoffing down the leftovers 2 days later!

5) Saath Padar Pastry

I found this wacky dessert recipe from the Ny Times dining section & decided to try it out. What a mistake... I think that this is the only truly unedible dish I've ever served since I joined the Thursday Club. I'm not much of a dessert guy, but this dish bordered on the ridiculous. It's basically puff pastry stuffed with coconut, pistachios, almonds, sugar & cardamon. It ended up tasting like cardboard & was as hard as Wolverine's adamantium skeleton (comic book nerds rise up!). Thoroughly dissappointing.

A good meal all in all. My parents finally got to see what Thursday Club is all about & hopefully we'll be able to get Andre-Pascal to cook for us one of these days.