Dinner time...

I decided to go ahead and make something a little special for tonight's dinner. I like to think of Sunday as the day of the week where a little extra time is spent in the kitchen. Growing up I would watch my mum preparing a Sunday roast or ham and it would be the only time we would try to sit around a table and eat at the same time. The rest of the week didn't quite work out like that.
I was inspired to dig out my Bouchon cookbook due to Maura being invited to her friend, Kimberly Ohlson's birthday party last night. Whats the connection you ask? Well Kim's husband Ken just so happened to be a high school friend of Jeff Cerciello, executive chef for Thomas Keller owner of the famed French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley. Jeff and another friend are about to open a new restaurant in Beverley Hills called, The Farmshop. Ken somehow struck up a deal to have Jeff and his friend cook a private dinner for some of Kim's closest friends at his home in Malibu and try some of the menu items to be served at the future Beverley Hills Farmshop. Well the limousine came and picked up my exquisitely dressed wife last night and I watched them drive into the sunset...that's right I was on babysitting duty with Miranda and Quinn. Now I'm not trying to sound bitter as I would have LOVED to be going for this kind of special treatment, but I had a great night eating dinner in front of the television and watching Dr Dolittle with Miranda.
So to cut a long story short I was given this cookbook, written by Thomas and Jeff as a gift from Kimberly and Ken and have never used it to its full potential until today. Next time I wont let it gather so much dust.



We started with Mussels and braised leeks






I turned these into a ragout of shitake, oyster and cremini mushrooms

A simple roasted chicken with some chicken au jus and thyme

Cauliflower gratin

The finished plate

Sour cherry tart and vanilla bean ice cream, not from the book and not made by me, I'm fast but not that fast...