A Great Dinner for a Great Cause

On Thursday evening April 21, 2011 we attended the Guest Chef Night dinner at FareStart (http://www.farestart.org/).  It was our first time there and not only was the meal wonderful, but the reason for having it was even more spectacular.  In their brochure it is described that:

FareStart provides a community that transforms lives by empowering homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training, and employment in the food service industry.

It was recently announced that FareStart received the 2011 James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year award which will be bestowed on May 9, 2011 at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.  This seems absolutely fitting given the description that “For nearly 20 years, FareStart has provided opportunities for more than 5,000 people to transform their lives through culinary job training and placement.”

This Thursday’s Guest Chef was Robert Spaulding from Elliott’s Oyster House.  The dinner was three courses that included an appetizer of cured sablefish on a corn blini.  This was followed by “King Salmon and King Crab Medallions.”

Dessert was a “Wild Huckleberry-Walnut Crostata.”

Every course was plated beautifully and tasted as good as it looked.  Further, the graduation ceremony of three students during a pause in the meal was very touching.  All in all we are anxiously looking forward to returning for another Guest Chef Night at FareStart.  I would also encourage everyone to partake of the experience as well.

BIG NIGHT DINNER – THE DAY OF THE MOVIE AND DINNER

With the recipe for the Timpano is a specific reference where to acquire several vessels for its construction.  As it turns out, an old-timey wash basin works perfectly.

The dough was made and allowed to rest before being rolled out very thinly and used to line the Timpano pan.

At this point all of the prepared Timpano ingredients were assembled.

The sauced pasta, the meats, the cheeses (sharp Provolone, Pecorino Romano, Mozzarella, and Parmigiano Reggiano), the hard boiled eggs and the ragout are repeatedly layered until the Timpano is filled.

It is then sealed at the bottom and placed in the oven to bake.

Given that the baked Timpano can end up weighing between 15 and 20 pounds, turning it over onto a cutting board takes both strength and agility.

All of the prepared Tourte ingredients are assembled and the spring-form pan is lined with puff pastry

Unlike the Timpano, the layers of the Tourte are done individually in a specific order to obtain the desired effect.

The Porchetta was slow roasted in the oven over three hours and then finished under the broiler.

Following the showing of Big Night the movie, all of the meats and several salads were placed on the table.  This meal was designed to be buffet style.

When everyone’s appetite was at the boiling over stage the Timpano was cut.

The Tourte was cut.

The Porchetta was cut.

After seconds and thirds of the main courses, it was time for some dessert.

In addition to the Tiramisu we earlier in the day prepared a second dessert, a Ricotta Chocolate Chip Pie.  For this, a chocolate cookie pie crust is basically filled with cannoli filling with mini chocolate chips and chopped almonds.  This is topped with a not too sweet whipped cream, shaved chocolate and toasted almond slivers.

Of course Italian desserts require Italian coffee made in a good Italian coffee machine.

Much like the movie, when our guests could eat no more, they nonetheless seemed pleased with the experience.

By the end of the evening everyone was tired including the puppy Danechka.

As Louise and I thought about the movie and dinner experience we both decided we really enjoyed every aspect of it.  Certainly the days of prep and cooking are always enjoyable; that our guests were seemingly pleased with the experience was very rewarding for us; but we most of all enjoy bringing together friends of ours who have never met before and watching new friendships grow.

I guess our next movie and dinner night will have to revolve around our second favorite foodie movie – “Mostly Martha. “  Stay tuned.

BIG NIGHT DINNER – THE PREP BEGINS

The first steps will be to make the two tomato sauces for the dinner.  The first is based on the recipe suggested in the Tucci and Scappin cookbook for use in the Timpano.  It is basically a ragout of pork and beef that is slow cooked for a long time.  The meat is then removed and the meaty tomato sauce is used in the Timpano.

 The removed meat makes a really good pulled pork/beef sandwich or topping on pasta.

The second sauce to accompany the Porchetta is based on a marinara sauce made with pancetta.

With the two sauces done it’s on to meatballs that will be part of the Timpano.  There must be thousands of recipes for Italian meatballs.  I like a traditional one simply made with pork and beef, bread crumbs, and flavored with fennel seed, garlic, oregano, and parsley.

These are made small and fried before mixing them in the tomato sauce to finish.

Next is the pre-cooking of good Italian sausage.

Genoa salami is diced.

The Timpano also contains hard boiled eggs.  The easiest and best way to accomplish this is to place room temperature eggs in a single layer in a pot, cover by one inch with cold water, bring to a boil, cover and remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes for large eggs, then run under cold water until cool.  They can be peeled at that point or stored in their shells in the refrigerator for up to one week.

 Good Italian pasta is cooked al dante and some of the ragout is mixed in.  With this done all of the prep for the Tampano, with the exception of the external dough, is done.

Next is the prep of the Tourte Milanese.

Although many component items can be purchased in stores, some things are better done yourself.  The roasting and peeling of red peppers is one of those things.  First they are charred under the broiler and then immediately placed in plastic bags to steam.  This step allows for the easy removal of the skin.

Once peeled, the peppers are cut and cleaned for the Tourte

The life of a Sous-Chef de Cuisine is never easy.  Here Sous-Chef Louise, shortly after her latest and hopefully last surgery, is de-stemming two pounds of spinach.

The spinach is then sautéed with garlic.

Another ingredient in the Tourte are very loosely scrambled eggs (they will continue cooking when the Tourte is baked) which are flavored with tarragon, chives, and parsley.

Good quality ham and imported Swiss cheese are store bought.


Preparing the Porchetta requires a little butchering skills.  A skin-on pork belly which is basically uncured bacon and a pork loin roast are cleaned.

Slits are made in the meat and lemon zest, garlic, fennel seeds, salt and pepper are rubbed in.

The whole thing is rolled up and tied.

The Porchetta is then wrapped in plastic and then tin foil and is then placed in the refrigerator overnight for the flavors to meld.

The day before the party we made our two desserts.  First was a Tiramisu.  There are many recipes for Tiramisu, but one we think is the best is made from raw egg yolks and whites, and crispy imported Italian lady finger cookies called Savoiardi.

These cookies are dipped in a mixture of espresso and rum, and everything is layered.  This also goes in the refrigerator overnight.

BIG NIGHT DINNER – THE PRELUDE

In addition to being totally addicted to good food, Louise and I are also into movies.  Although our tastes in movies generally differ (Louise liking comedies and musicals and I liking action films), they also overlap in many areas as well.  Most importantly, we both love foodie films.  Although we have many in our collection one has always stood out as the best of the best.  “Big Night” which came out in 1996 has an incredible all-star cast, including Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Minnie Driver, Allison Janney, and Ian Holm.  Oh did I mention Isabella Rossellini?  Set in the late 1950s in a coastal town in New Jersey, two brothers come from Italy to open a restaurant.  Despite producing some of the most incredible regional Italian food, those Americans seem only to want meatballs and spaghetti.  In a desperate attempt to keep their restaurant afloat, the two brothers produce the most incredible Italian feast in the hopes that a famous musician and the media will re-vitalize their business.  

Not only is this movie a realistic depiction of the difficulty introducing new and wonderful culinary experiences to unsophisticated palettes, but it is also a metaphor for many experiences in life.  Sometimes someone can put in front of you something new and wonderful but fear of change or fear of the different precludes you from experiencing new opportunities, and as in the case of Big Night, to your own detriment.

Now that the “stage is set,” we decided to invite 15 folks, most of who have not seen the movie, to come watch it at our house.  Of course, it is physically impossible for us to show a movie without also cooking something for our guests to eat.  The movie makes it both easy and difficult to decide on a menu for the dinner.  On the one hand the movie presents multiple wonderful dishes.  On the other, many are complex and time consuming to recreate.  Of all of the dishes featured in this movie the one that is most prominent, and rightly so, is the Timpano.  Describing this dish is not easy.  I think of it as “What would an Italian grandmother do with a massive amount of wonderful leftovers and the need to feed 20 or more people?”

So influential was this movie in foodie circles that in 1999 the cookbook Cucina & Famiglia, authored by Joan Tropiano Tucci and Gianni Scappin, came out.  Not only is there a recipe for a Timpano but it is an all around good Italian cookbook.

With the Timpano as our starting point we devised a buffet style menu to celebrate this movie.  Included are the following:

·        A salad of plum tomatoes and mozzarella, with basil and balsamic vinaigrette.

·        The Timpano

·        A Porchetta

·        A Tourte Milanese

·        Tiramisu

·        Ricotta Chocolate Chip Pie

It is now about a week out from the party so the cooking must begin.  Not being an Italian grandmother I have to start making all of those leftovers to include in the dishes.