Last night Laura Chancellor and Larry Archibald came over for dinner. We started with three jumbo Stone Crab Claws each with Remoulade & Melted Butter to dip them in. Wine was a lovely, tasty 2004 Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Les Caillerets’ - rich complex fruits in nose & flavors, balanced mid-palate with adequate acidity; and a long complex fruit finish. It was exquisite with the crab claws.
Then we had the entrées; veal porterhouse chops, seasoned with granulated onion & garlic, and pan-grilled in a mix of blood orange olive oil and regular olive oil. They were served with a sauce made from baby portobello mushrooms, quartered and sautéed in a mix of butter and blood orange olive oil, seasoned with granulated garlic & garlic pepper; then adding a couple cups of a rich veal stock, reducing that and thickening with arrowroot mixed in dry vermouth. Vegetable was broccoli cooked in water seasoned with Thai fish sauce and garlic. The broccoli was finished with EVOO. This all was enjoyed with two 1999 Grand Cru red Burgundies, Faiveley Clos Vougeot and Jadot Clos de la Roche. The Vougeot was rich red & dark fruit and amazingly open and tasty. The Clos de la Roche was somewhat closed and tight, so we got out our Vinturi and all poured subsequent glasses through the Vinturi. This brought out the rich fruit and opened the wine and made it more enjoyable.
We then moved to the living room in front of the fireplace for a dessert of Fourme d’Ambert bleu, Affinois Goat Brie, and Old Chatham Sheeps’ Milk Camembert with apricot-almond and pear-vanilla fruit pastes. The cheese and fruit were enjoyed with a 1978 Ch, Coutet Barsac - not paticularly sweet, with rich tertiary fruit, adequate acidity, and a long complex finish. It was very good with the cheeses with or without the fruit.
This all made for a very nice 4+ hour dinner with good friends, interesting conversations, and enjoyable food.