Madison Club Cigar Dinner, April 14.2010

It is very difficult to pair dessert with pungent cigar smoke. In the past we tried cherry tobacco smoked cheese cake; the idea fell short during r&d and led us to finishing cigar dinners with a cheese course. This past dinner we finished with a trio of cheeses and cookies that included:

Carr Valley 5 year aged cheddar served with pain d'epices,

Future Fruit Farms apple butter, and toasted pistachio

Goat cheese panna cotta served with a walnut brownie and

thyme honey

Roth Kase buttermilk blue cheese and blue cheese hazelnut

shortbread

It is always a lot of fun to have your entire team working on a table full of plates.
This plate-up took 7 people 20 minutes.
Goat cheese panna cotta prepped for service.
Coco-nib and espresso encrusted lamb chop, smoked white bean puree, rustic greens, Brussels sprout leaves, braised lamb leg, lamb bacon pickled plum reduction sauce

Red wine and beet pasta filled with cabbage and duck confit, vanilla pickled and smoked duck breast, julienne beet salad, potato mousseline, port pickled walnut duck reduction
The walnuts are pickled and braised for 6 hours in port, red wine, salt, and 12yr. aged red wine vinegar

Passed Hors d' oeuvres:
Chili and ginger braised Berkshire pork, radish fennel salad, pineapple vinaigrette

Pate de Campagne, country toast point, jackfruit mustard, pickled chayote
We use this pate quite a bit at The Madison Club. It is a pork based pate that includes duck, Fountain Prairie Farms beef, liver, herbs, spices, and cognac.
We have recently started to play around with jackfruit due to a trip to the ethnic markets in Chicago. Jackfruit carries a very unique tropical, fruity, acidic flavor. We peel and cook the fruit very slowly in simple syrup for a couple of hours. This jackfruit "jam" has been finding it's way into many creative preparations in the kitchen.