Tom's Big Dinners

by Douglas, Tom

• ISBN13: 9780060515027
• ISBN10: 0060515023
• Format: Hardcover
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

One of the best-known chefs in America shares his innovative "big time" recipes and unique menus for easy home entertaining. Full-color photos.

Author Biography

Tom Douglas and Jackie Cross opened their first restaurant, Dahlia Lounge, in 1989. They followed with Etta's Seafood in 1995, and in 1996, they opened Palace Kitchen. In 2001, Tom and Jackie opened the Dahlia Bakery

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. IX
Introduction	p. 1
Basics	p. 7
Chinook Salmon Roast	p. 11
A Chinese Feast	p. 29
Pike Place Market Menu	p. 51
Wine Cellar Dinner	p. 71
Dinner with Dale Chihuly	p. 89
Puget Sound Crab Feed	p. 107
Grandpa Louie's Dream Greek Vacation	p. 125
Screen Door Barbecue	p. 145
Pop Pop's Winter Solstice	p. 169
Remembering Labuznik	p. 185
Kay and Clay's Merlot Release Picnic	p. 203
Spring Chickens	p. 217
Christmas Eve With the Dows	p. 233
Equipment	p. 261
Ingredients	p. 264
Sources	p. 265
Index	p. 267
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Tom's Big Dinners
Big-Time Home Cooking for Family and Friends

Wild Mushroom Pan Roast

Makes 8 Servings

A few years ago Jackie, Loretta, and I stayed at Anne Willan's Château du Fey in Burgundy with a group of our friends. It was an off week for Anne's school, so we had the La Varenne kitchens to ourselves. Most of the week was spent shopping the local markets and returning to the fabulous facilities to cook for our group of twelve. One of the few meals we did end up leaving the château for was lunch at the famed three-star Cote St. Jacques on the main highway through Joigny in central Burgundy. Our lunch consisted of seven courses enjoyed over three hours with the consensus highlight being a simple plate of roasted wild mushrooms, flavored with just a bit of veal stock, salt, pepper, and duck fat. This is my humble attempt to recreate this simple but fantastic dish.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds assorted wild and cultivated mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, chanterelle, black trumpet, or portobello
2 tablespoons bacon fat, duck fat, or unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Twelve 4-inch fresh thyme sprigs
Four 4-inch fresh rosemary sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup Chicken Demiglace (page 9), or store-bought demiglace (see Sources, page 265)
Eight 1/2-inch-thick Garlic Toasts, cut in half

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Clean any dirt off the mushrooms by wiping them with a damp cloth and trim off the tough bottoms of the stems. Leave small mushrooms whole and cut the bigger ones into large attractive pieces. Set the mushrooms aside.

Put the fat and olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a single layer. (If you are using butter, add it to the pan when you add the mushrooms so the butter doesn't burn.) Place the pan in the oven for 5 minutes to get the pan and the fat hot. Remove the pan from the oven, add the mushrooms, thyme, and rosemary, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Shake the pan to distribute all the ingredients. Return the roasting pan to the oven and roast until the mushrooms are thoroughly cooked, about 25 minutes turning once with a spatula. The mushrooms may initially throw off a lot of juices, but as you continue roasting, much of the liquid will evaporate. Remove the pan from the oven and pour in the demiglace. Return the pan to the oven for a few minutes more to heat the demiglace and combine the flavors. Remove the pan from the oven and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pile the mushrooms onto a large platter and surround them with the garlic toasts.

NOTE: If you're making the whole menu, clean the grill with a grill brush after you remove the salmon, then grill your toasts for the wild mushrooms.

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Grilled Lamb Skewers With Red Wine and Honey Glaze

Makes 6 Servings

I like the flavor of red wine with lamb, but a long marinade in red wine breaks down the texture of the meat and makes it a little mealy. So, to give the lamb a good hit of rich wine flavor, I make a red wine and honey glaze and brush it on the meat as it grills. Try this glaze on lamb T-bone chops or even a grilled steak.

The lamb skewers marinate several hours or a day ahead, so plan accordingly.

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1-inch chunks
Six 10-inch bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutesand drained
1/2 recipe Greek Marinade
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 cups dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
2 tablespoons honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 recipe Parsley Salad (page 136)

A STEP AHEAD Marinate the lamb skewers up to a day ahead, You can make the glaze a day or two ahead and store, covered, in the refrigerator. Allow the glaze to come to room temperature before using.

Instructions

Thread the lamb chunks on the bamboo skewers and place them in a nonreactive pan. Pour the Greek marinade over the lamb, turning the skewers to coat. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.

To make the red wine and honey glaze, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the shallot for a few minutes, until lightly browned. Add the red wine, increase the heat to high, and boil until the wine is syrupy and reduced. You should have about 1/3 cup reduced wine. Whisk in the honey, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook the glaze for another minute. Then remove from the heat and allow the glaze to cool.

When you are ready to grill the lamb, fire up the grill. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator and allow the meat to come to room temperature. Remove the skewers from the marinade, shaking off the excess marinade. Season the skewers on both sides with salt and pepper. Grill the lamb over direct heat, with the lid off, turning frequently with the tongs. Brush with the glaze as you turn them the first time and keep brushing as you turn them, using up all the glaze, until the lamb is done to your liking. The skewers will take 7 to 8 minutes for medium-rare, depending on how hot your fire is. Pile the skewers on a platter and top with the parsley salad.

Tom's Big Dinners
Big-Time Home Cooking for Family and Friends. Copyright © by Tom Douglas. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Tom's Big Dinners: Big-Time Home Cooking for Family and Friends by Tom Douglas
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.