September Dinner Party

Lets get down to it.  Here was the menu I put together for the dinner party.

Corn Soup with a dollop of crab and sprinkled chives

Farro vegetable salad

Roasted heirloom carrots with sherry vinegar and crushed pecans

Slow roasted pork

Apple tart

Pumpkin seed brittle

Corn Soup:

1 cup chopped shallots

6 cups fresh corn kernels (+ one ear of corn)

6 cups chicken broth ( you could probably do vegetable broth too )

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

salt/pepper

Crab meat (optional)

Chives

Remove the corn kernels from the husks.  Keep the husks and break them in half.  Remove the husk from the one ear of corn and keep the corn kernels on it.

In a deep soup pot melt the butter and saute the shallots until they are really soft.  Add the corn kernels and stir until complete incorporated.  Let this hang out for about 5 minutes on the stove on low before moving to the next step. 

Add in the chicken stock, the broken cobs and the whole ear of corn, about 1 tsp. salt and a few pinches of fresh ground pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes take the whole ear of corn out of the pot and set aside.  Let the soup continue to cook for another 10 minutes.  When done, let cool

In batches, put about 2 ladles full into a blender.  Blend until really smooth.  Return to a clean soup pot.  Continue until nothing is left.  My soup was thick.  If you like it thinner, just add a little stock to the soup and stir.  Taste too to see if you need a little more salt. 

Take the kernels off the corn that you set aside and put them back into the soup. 

I served this at room temperature.  You could serve this cold or even hot.  Put a few chopped chives on top and serve. I put a little crab too.

Farro Salad

1 cup farro (cook like pasta, in salt boiling water for about 10/12 minutes)

5 radishes thinly sliced ( I used regular radishes and watermelon radishes too)

1 pint cherry tomatoes sliced in half ( I used a few bigger tomatoes and cut them into small pieces too)

1 cucumber peeled and sliced into moon shapes

1 cup of loose arugula leaves

1 cup chopped basil

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Cook the farro and then set it aside to cool.  Mix in the rest of the vegetables right before you serve it and dress with vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Serve

Pork

Preheat oven to 250

I prefer boned pork shoulders but I ended up receiving shoulders with bones.  I butterflied them along the side of the bone to rub with the herbs and then tied it up with a string.  Make sure to get pork with the skin on the top.  Roast with skin side up.  I cut off the fat before I served the pork.  But it is key to the process.

Chopped Sage, Rosemary and Thyme – about 2/3 tbsp each

Fennel Pollen (you can buy this online and it is well worth it) – 2 tbsp.

1 tbsp. salt, 2 tsp. pepper

1/2 – 3/4 cup red wine or white wine

olive oil

Mix together the herbs, pollen, salt and pepper.  Rub the pork down with this mixture using olive oil all over the pork to evenly distribute the mixture.  Pour the wine over the pork and roast for 3 hours.  The pork should be coming apart when you take it out of the oven.  Let it sit for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Roasted Heirloom Carrots

I love the mixture of colors.  Roast at 400 after rubbing down the carrots with olive oil and kosher salt. 

Bake until the carrots start to caramelize.  Take out of the oven, splash some Sherry vinegar over the top.  Serve with crushed pecans over the top or not. 

I will save the dessert recipe for another day.