lemon party

On the evening of December 14, 2008 4 of the 5 chefs and one drink master met at the Lopez-Betanzos Residence to compete in the first EAT THE IDES.

Drink Master D. Shannon made a French 75

Chef T. Lopez-Betanzos made an orzo lemon egg soup with carrots, parsley, and a turkey broth base

Chef E. Gladish made a riff on a traditional Moroccan Tagine with lamb shanks served over a bed of lemon couscous and roasted carrot-ginger-onion puree, topped with a lemon micro green salad and lemon hummus.

Chef A. Adduci made homemade gnocchi covered in a lemon alfredo sauce, parsley, and Parmesan cheese.

Chef A. Lopez-Betanzos made cauliflower, potato, lemon latkes with a lemon dill yogurt sauce, and a side of gouda lemon cornbread, and asparagus.

The drink was well balanced and had a sophisticated flavor suited for a mature palate. All other dishes were enjoyed, but the winner of the evening was Amanda Lopez-Betanzos with 55.7 points. Ellen Gladish was a close second with 55.4 points. Abra Adduci followed with 50.1, and Tomas Lopez Betanzos finished out the quartet with 48.9.

Later in the week the blog master will go into more detail about scoring.

January’s ingredient is FENNEL. The IDES will occur on January 18 at Danielle and Ellen’s house.

lemon

Lemon is a most interesting ingredient, and it is surely a boon that it is the chosen one for our first meeting in December.

According to Wikipedia, Lemon cultivation began in India.

Here is a diagram of a lemon courtesy of Wikipedia

Wow. What would we do without Wikipedia? To tell you the truth, I’m a little depressed

Now is a good time to get our creative “juices” flowing with ideas of lemon.

Eat The Ides

After eating a hearty meal on Sunday, November 16, the dining club Eat The Ides was born.

The snow of the evening officially commenced another brutal Chicago winter. The 6 guests remaining at the dinner party were basking in the glow that comes from sharing delicious food and artisanal drinks with enjoyable company. Upon further reflection, everybody at the party decided that it was important to get together for good food and drink, once a a month, on a decided day. It was additionally decided to make the party more exciting by creating a competition not unlike Iron Chef.

Eat The Ides consists of 5 Chefs and one Drink Master. Each month, one ingredient is chosen. The Chefs must make a dish hi-lighting the glorious nature of the chosen ingredient for that month. Recipes from other sources can be used as a base, but not copied ingredient by ingredient. This will be particularly helpful when a competing chef is making something such as a custard. The Drink Master will make a drink that shows off the beauty of the ingredient.

Eat the Ides will take place on the Sunday closest to the Ides of the given month. The hosting of Eat the Ides will rotate between the houses of the Chefs and the Drink Master. In the event that a chef is unable to participate in an Eat the Ides dining club meeting, he or she has the option to tap out and choose a replacement. Planning ahead is vital in this competition, as the replacement’s points become your own upon your return to Eat The Ides. If you do not find a replacement, barring unforseen circumstances (a death in the family, your own illness, etc) you will be subjected to a score of zero for that month. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING TO BLOW OFF.

You might wonder how a chef incurs points. Each month 6 tasters are invited to the Eat the Ides meeting. Each chef will have an index card printed on two sides. Each taster will get a card from each chef. One side will describe his or her dish (the template will arrive in the chefs email box well before the first competition) and the other will have the scoring. The categories are Presentation, Use of Ingredient, and Execution (the marriage of both other categories). The maximum scoring in each category is 5, so a perfect score is 15. At the end of the meal, the cards are scored, and a winner is chosen for that month. The score cards are identical, except for the description of the dish the chef is presenting. It is important to keep things anonymous so that the chefs’ scores are not impacted by things such as how stylish their haircuts are.

The Drink Master also acts as a sort of liason between the chefs and the diners.

This document will be amended as seen fit.

Eat the Ides December
Date: December 14th
Where: Tomas and Amanda’s house
Time: TBD (suggestions welcome, perhaps earlier than 7 is good because people need to work on Monday)

Here, watch a VIDEO of the Selection of December’s Ingredient

INGREDIENT: LEMON