What I Learned Thursday Night: A Review of Third Thursday from the Chef PART 1

As much as I love writing and talking about food all day long, there is nothing better than the instant gratification attached to feeding people and getting their reaction. In our three years of business, we haven’t ever prepared the same menu twice, so the new recipes we post are meals we ourselves have served to real people.

How the Event Works

Cooking with Caitlin is made up of two major parts. One is our website, and the second consists of the actual act of feeding people. As much as I love writing and talking about food all day long, there is nothing better than the instant gratification attached to feeding people and getting their reaction. In our three years of business, we haven’t ever prepared the same menu twice, so the new recipes we post are meals we ourselves have served to real people. (Of course, there are a few dishes whose recipes we will never publish, but, for the most part, everything goes on cookingwithcaitlin.com.)

Our major event (my favorite) is called Third Thursday. Once a month, people sign up for nine courses of unique food and delicious drinks. Every month there is a different sponsor or theme that gives us a new ingredient to showcase. Thursday night was sponsored by Francis Ford Coppola Wines which is not only a ridiculously amazing wine to drink, but, as it turns out, a fun wine to play with as an ingredient!

The Menu

Egg salad with red-wine reduction and fresh dill served on a pretzel chip with crispy bacon
Homemade ravioli stuffed with braised beef, mascarpone cheese, and lemon zest served scotoni-style
Sliced zucchini salad with a white-wine vinaigrette, homemade ricotta, and crispy chickpeas
Lamb chops marinated in red wine and fresh herbs, grilled
A waffle sandwich with almond butter and homemade white wine-raspberry jelly
Broiled salmon sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and a white-wine reduction served on a Servatii’s knot
Homemade pop tart filled with dark chocolate and a red wine-berry compote
Homemade pizzelle cones with vanilla ice cream and a white wine-peach chutney
Watermelon soaked in red and white wines topped with a ginger mint sugar

See the pictures from the Francis Ford Coppola-themed Third Thursday right here.

What I Learned

So, after preparing for over 24 hours and feeding 90 people, I have learned a few less lessons. Here are the first of the notes I have to share:

1. When making homemade pasta and following the recipe you don’t have to use all the flour it calls for. Being a good Italian girl, homemade pasta was one of the first things I tried to master. I remember spending my babysitting money buying a fresh pasta machine and trying batch after batch to make it taste good. I remember reading recipes, following them religiously, and trying to force the eggs to take all of the flour. My dough was often dry and crumbly, and, needless to say, not good eats. My mom always enjoyed my fresh pasta (but she promises to love me no matter what).

With the aforementioned experiences in mind, this is how I tweaked my ravioli recipe: First, I used bread flour versus all-purpose. I poured a mound on the table and then made a well in the center of it. Then I cracked six eggs into the middle of the well, drizzled it with olive oil, and then seasoned it with salt. I whisked the eggs together using a fork, and slowly incorporated the flour. Once it was too thick to mix with a fork, I started to work the dough with my hands, slowly kneading it until it no longer stuck to my hands, and had a nice yellow color. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and then let it rest for about 30 minutes in the fridge. Once it had rested, I followed the rest of the fairly standard directions for using a pasta machine.

2. Just because you boil an egg in wine, it doesn’t mean the egg itself will be affected. I painstakingly boiled all of my eggs in wine with the hope of the brilliant color infusing and coloring the eggs. Well, after spending a good chunk of time on this experiment I found out that the eggs were not affected at all. They looked perfect for Easter; flavor wise, the eggs were un-changed.

3. Everything is better with bacon. As many Americans these days do, I myself love bacon. After my trouble with my red wine-boiled eggs, I settled upon an egg salad with a red-wine reduction. Unfortunately I did not have the best of luck adding the reduction either. While I had hoped for a beautiful violet color, the salad turned out to be an interesting hue of grey-ish-brown. The only way to fix it was to add a little bacon on top. In the end, nobody said a bad thing about it. Plus, it was the first thing of the night on which my mom complimented me (refer to #1 where my mom will love me no matter what).