Thomas Keller Night

I was home the week before Father's Day visiting my parents, so on the actual day of dads, I was back in Austin.

We'd set aside Sunday, June 20 for our Thomas Keller dinner night with friends, and unfortunately, Mike and I also waited until the morning of Sunday, June 20 to get prepared. (An invitation that Saturday to spend the afternoon at a friend's lake-adjacent cabin in Wimberley was just too good to pass up.)

We skipped about half the steps required to make a proper artichoke ravioli and striped bass -- there was no homemade, oft-strained broth, there was no emulsified butter, no real artichoke brugole (stew). In fact, we didn't have broth at all. And the stew recipe - from which you were to extract the artichoke filling - was so complex that we took the required ingredients, sauteed them together and threw 'em in the food processor for our filling. Measurements were 'eyeballed' and, as I said repeatedly, Thomas Keller would have been ashamed.

Despite all of that, our efforts yielded a tasty piece of fish and an edible ravioli. Edible mostly because we undercooked the pasta; I believe if we'd boiled it longer or chosen a thinner setting, it would have come out so much better. (And, I can say this with certainty because just this evening, Mike attempted ravioli again and it was spectacular! We took some of the veggies we had laying around for the filling and ended up with a sweet potato-onion-zuchinni ravioli topped with Antonelli's Bianco Sardo cheese and a little butter.)

There is so much more to say about our Thomas Keller dinner, but now's not the time as I'm headed home tomorrow with my lil' sis to visit our father in the hospital.

Instead, I'll post photos of Adam and Jodi's homemade mozzarella with a caprese mix and basil cream, of Nelson's duck confit with a lemon brussel sprouts cream sauce, of Ally's creme caramels, and of our dish.

In addition to some lovely company, the evening was a fete accompli for all. Even us cheaters.