Okay, that might be a bit of an ambitious title. But knowing that Carolynn was going to be gone tonight, I invited my buddy Steve Williams up for some Bryan Flannery meat (filet tails and hangers). We got a little geeked up and made a “constructed caprese” which turned out pretty darned good. Small diced some fresh mozzarella and concasséd some heirloom tomatoes (which Steve got from Vons!). Mixed with some fresh basil, a bit of Maldon salt, some white truffle oil, and served in a ring mold with reduced balsamic drizzled on top. Tried it with golden balsamic as well, and while I preferred the golden balsamic reduction by itself, with the dish the additional acid in the regular balsamic proved the better match.
One of us (that would be me) completely jacked up the Chinese long beans which were a bit mushy, but the flavors (shallot, garlic, ginger, and toasted sesame oil) were a good match had I not screwed up the beans.
Steve also brought some awesome jamón ibérico de bellota–at two bucks per slice, it wasn’t cheap, but man, was it good. He also brought the 2001 Numanthia which was a good match with the ham as well as the Flannery beef.