Drink ‘n’ Dive

On a recent Sunday I went to a Chicks with Knives dinner that was just amazing. Not that the other two I have been to haven’t been amazing, but this time the group was a fantastic size and I just so loved it. There were only 18 of us, and the tables were close enough that you could heard some of what the peeps at the other table  were saying, but you could also have a nice conversation with the people at your own table.

I first found out about Chicks with Knives because of the fabulously halfway useless Daily Candy emails. But this one… this email was fabulous. I learned of something that I really wanted to take part in: a dinner club of people who enjoy good food that follows the SOLE principle. Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical food. I first met Rachael at an event downtown, where she and her bizness partner, Suzanne, were providing the apps for a loft shindig – I’m not sure what to call it. But it was great, and I vowed to go to a dinner. The first one was at a home in Silverlake that was amazing. The second one was mid-city and had yummy padron peppers (something I started after reading a tweet – weird). The most recent one was in Hancock Park and was I think the best. The entree was lamb, and I don’t generally order lamb, but I decided that it had been a long enough time that I needed to go to another dinner! Apparently this year is about expanding my food horizons.

I gave a friend at work the list of all the food, and she recommended some F&E wines – so, I brought four bottles of wine, obviously to share. The first course was an Autumn Chowder that consisted of butternut squash, clams and homemade chorizo. I could have been happy eating only that all night. But, knowing what I knew, I couldn’t fill up on only that. It was creamy to a good degree, and not overly heavy. The combination of flavors was just sublime. The salad was a persimmon, celery, red onion & fennel salad with La Tienda Spanish – amazingly light, but now I need to know what the dressing is! I’ve never had persimmons before this year, and now I’ve had them all the time in the last month. Rachael cut hers up very thinly, perhaps using mandolin (and now I know what a mandolin for food is!), along with the fennel. And the chorizo – wow – it added a great kick. In my spicy world, it could have been hotter, but mellow spiciness has it place! Crunch-tastic and full of flavor. Now I need to try to make it. But (hint, hint), I need the dressing recipe.

Oh, and now comes the piece de resistance: the lamb chop. It was gorgeous looking and this is when I wish I had taken a picture. But, I didn’t, so, you get to imagine along with me. It was on top of a puree of beans & eggplants, served with sauteed sweet peppers and I asked Rachael how to make it, because it was amazing. It took her days and days and I just don’t see that happening for me. If I do decide to make it, I’ll let y’all know. And then eat it all myself. For reals! I think with all the agony of making it, I would NOT share, nosiree bob. The flavor of the lamb chop combined with the delicious bean and eggplant yumminess was perfect. I’m not sure how to get all the complementary flavors together, but if I figure it out, I’ll be sure to let you know. I think in one sense, it’s better that only a few peeps have that talent, but I’ve gotten better. The buttermilk onion rings not JUST onion rings, but they were buttermilk battered Sweet Sierra onion rings. They were on top of the lamb chops and the flavor of those buttermilk rings may make me never again want any sort of onion ring that isn’t a CWK ring. It’s the principle, damnit. I was able to procure a picture, so you’ll get to see that too. Long blog post!

The desert was an amazing apple tart that was served with house-made vanilla ice cream – the apples were so flavorful and the whole shebang made me want more. That was the simple description, the complete description is this (again with the amount of time put into these meals – just no for me, but I will reap the rewards): the apple tart was a 24-hour apple tart with vanilla ice cream as above; candied walnuts with rosemary & dried apple sugar. I really enjoyed the apple dessert, mostly because it was delicious, but also because I wanted to go to Julian this year to get pie. Mass-produced pie from Julian. Instead, I got homemade apple tart by CWK. Yeah, that works better.

How could I forget the appetizer & drink? Amazing – me being a cocktail fanatic. So, here it is: the appetizer was house-made (HOUSE-MADE!) bacon jam served on a blitz puff. How does one even MAKE bacon jam? I will leave it to the pros. There were amazing picked candy striped beets (which I’ve recently made, and which I hope the beets in my fridge are, as opposed to yellow) and breakfast radishes with house-made butter. Yes, CWK makes butter. And then used the buttermilk for the onion rings. It was so sweet and delicious it makes me want to learn how to do it. And then I clear my head and come to my senses. The cocktail was called a 15 Cocktail. It had quince, clove, fresh lemon juice and 360 Organic Vodka with a lemon twist. The lemons were from a tree outside, so they certainly were local! It was tart enough to make this lemon girl happy and the cloves were just nice and spicy. Not hot, but full of spice, y’know? I’m game for trying it again. Only I’m adding my Voyager gin – therefore would have to change the spices, but the gist is there, right?

I got to share F&E wines with newbies and I got to share dinner with a fabulous crew! I took my friend Nastassia, who writes her own blog at LetMeEatCake, and she then took a class from Rachael & LA Food Works. Y’all know that I’m a networker, so here I am, happy to have brought Nastassia & LA Food Works together. I only wish I could have gone to the Great Pumpkin cooking class – but my lovely god daughter Caroline needed to get baptized in Seattle, so I went there instead.

Now everyone who reads this blog (which is like 2 people right now) needs to get tickets to the next Chicks With Knives dinner. Or take a class, or just general join in the awesomeness that is CWK. Rachael tweets recipes at times, or her favorite find at the market – you can always find her on twitter: http://twitter.com/chickswknives

Maybe next time I’ll get to take pictures and then you can see the amazing food. For now, use your imagination.