Guys Night (A Dinner Party of Sorts)
I think it started as a joke. They knew I made pancakes for the kids so someone said “why not have the next one at Skees’s house?” And I ran with it. The only thing I did last minute was this menu graphic, which I made on a whim in indesign about an hour before they showed up. (Still working on the text here but nobody reads this page anyway.)
Fig, Lemmon, and Rosemary Jam
I fucking love figs. And as far as I could tell by the shrinking display at the grocery store, it’s the end of fig season, so I wanted to make them last. Adapted from this recipe in NYTCooking, (I cut the sugar and increased the cooking time) it is my favorite thing to come out of this event. I’ve been giving away small jars as a gift, and that might just become a tradition.
Assorted Baked Goods
The sourdough bread taken from this Alton Brown Recipe. The Pumpkin and Oat Scones, Pumpkin Donuts, and the Whipped Cream Scones with Chocolate all came from NYTCooking, the Fall Whipped Creme Scones I made up using The Times as a starting point. (Decor because, well, it’s the season for it.)
Main Courses
Sheet Pan Pancakes original recipe is also from NYTCooking. I divided each batch into three sections, one plain, one with pecans, and one with chocolate. I put demerara sugar on top to give it a crunch and some extra sweetness, Angela says you don’t even need syrup after that (which keeps the mess down when feeding these to my kids.
The hit of the evening was probably the Baked Egg With Prosciutto and Tomato. That’s our simple Sunday breakfast in this house. Even Aiden will eat the eggs if he sees us doing it. (Nowadays Sophie just mostly eats the prosciutto.)
My Teahouse Oatmeal was ready but I never served it. Too much other food. It’s adapted from an adaption of a dish from a Santa Fe favorite of ours, the Tea House. Black rice, steel cut Irish Oats, A little brown sugar, served with nuts (pecans and almonds) creme or milk, and a little whipped creme on top.
To round things off, Angela also made bacon and scrambled eggs. And Conor brought fresh eggs from his chickens, but I saved those for us…
Spirits
Bloody Marys. Mimosas, and a dangerously easy to drink bottle of coffee-infused Jameson Irish Whiskey that by brother-in-law brought as a gift.
We never made it to dessert. Which was totally fine. Too much good booze and good company. I think that I will continue this theme. Lunch for Dinner (sandwiches and finger foods, dips, salads, and lots of beer?) Dinner for Dinner (any actual dinner food, salad, soup, and main courses, baked pears?) I’ll think on it.