Gift

In my family we draw names at Christmas and make the gift. This year I made my brother-in-law a dinner. Originally conceived as a tasting menu (eight or more small-portion courses) it ended up being not-so-many courses that were a bit larger. The awful photos on the left are by me - evidently I was feeling too rushed to pay attention to focusing the camera. B-I-L took the photos on the right, fortunately.

1. "Shrimp Cocktail" - one large, cold shrimp in a sauce of tomato, garlic, chili pepper, soy, honey, brown sugar worcestershire and butter - reduced until it is fairly thick.

2. Green beans, cashews and fish sauce (from the Girl and the Goat restaurant here in Chicago). The fish sauce is a little misleading: it consists of Asian fish sauce, soy sauce, dijon mustard, lime juice and habanero sauce.

3. Chilled corn soup with strips of spinach and spam croutons (seriously).

 4. Cauliflower, mint, pickled peppers, bread croutons.

5. Whole wheat pasta with pistou and romano cheese.

6. Slow cooked baby back ribs, scallion ginger sauce and fries with bacon powder (the bacon never quite powdered).

7. Key lime buttermilk ice cream with crushed graham cracker.