Fish Night

This week's Fish Night was a very simple affair -- seven people and a simple crab and pasta dish. I had seen the recipe in the Food Section of the Washington Post the preceding Wednesday. Our Fish Night cocktail was really good -- something called an Apple Ginger Calvados Cocktail from a beautiful website called "Gourmande in the Kitchen." The honey ginger syrup that you make for this is a real keeper. I'm going to try to think of other ways to use it -- otherwise I might simply drink it straight from the fridge!

Last week's menu was more interesting, however, and I did not get a chance to blog about that because I did some traveling starting before dawn the next morning. Last week, our Monday Night cocktail was a Nassau Sam (using Hugo's Nassau Royale which I forgot to return to him on the preceding Fish Night). It was OK -- not very interesting. With our drinks, we munched from a cheese, olive, marcona almond platter.

There may actually have been a theme to this dinner -- four of the recipes I used are from "Essential Pepin" which is a collection of Jacques Pepin's recipes from throughout his career. He's one of my favorite TV chefs and this book is considered by many to be the best cook book of 2011, so it was a no-brainer to add it to my collection and starting cooking from it right away. We started with his Onion Soup-Lyonnaise Style which is truly wonderful and far easier to make than the classic version. I highly recommend this recipe. Then we had:

• Mousse-Stuffed Trout with Sweet Vermouth Sauce -- this is also from "Essential Pepin" but I can't find an internet link that will allow me to share the recipe. This is really sad because the dish was terrific -- very, very elegant and tasty! It would be perfect for a special dinner and makes an amazing presentation. So buy the book!
• "Cottage" Fried Potatoes -- just because I had some small red potatoes that needed to be used as they were starting to sprout!
• Braised Endive with Olives -- I don't get much positive reinforcement for this (to say the least!), but I love trying new and unusual side dishes for my Fish Night guests. I loved this, but it was not unanimously appreciated! Again, no link to the recipe, but you can watch Jacques make it online.
• Butter Glazed Carrots -- again from my "Essential Pepin." These were good, but I actually like other glazed carrot recipes better.

For dessert, with our coffee and tea, we had shortbread. I can say, without hesitation, that I have finally found the best recipe and technique for shortbread. I'm experimenting now with different flavors and seasonings. Tangy Line Shortbread? Lavender-Scented? What do you think? I'm convinced I can do even better next time.