Summer BBQ

Summer 2009 brought on a move from trendy Silver Lake to slightly less gentrified Echo Park, and a house on a hill with a backyard. Between move-in day and feast day our "yard" transformed into a dirt plot, the patio was under construction and our grill was covered in dust and leaves. If this wasn't the perfect excuse to have a summer barbecue I don't know what was.

An indoor "BBQ" using the oven seemed to be the glaring alternative...

Ethan and I sorted through Food & Wines, Gourmets and Bon Appetits to find the best dishes to fit our interpretive BBQ needs and came up with a menu that did not disappoint.

We greeted our fellow feasters with a homemade fruit punch a la Ethan, and shortly afterwards Becca and Jason served the amuse of Margarita Watermelon and Lime Ice Pops to help combat the scorching inland sun - especially being that we were kept indoors without central air. The pops were the perfect bite to get us salivating for real food.

The group sat at the table to enjoy Elise and Philip's Fresh Corn Soup topped with Roasted Corn Guacamole. So refreshing! Next Becca and Jason served their Watermelon, Feta & Arugula Salad with Balsamic Glaze. (At the time we were still intimidated by their status as league commissioners and made sure to give them two dishes to satisfy their culinary demands.)

For the entree, Ethan and I made Honey Tamarind Baby Back Ribs with Asian Vegetable Slaw, which were complimented beautifully by Liz's Braised Collared Greens and Cara's Cheese Monger Mac and Cheese. Rick was sick in bed at home, so Cara came with tupperware in tow - especially due to the small fortune they spent on the international cheeses that accompanied their mac.

This meal was truly satisfying, comforting and as they say in culinary la-la-land - unctuous. However, the last component to this feast was a dessert that I still dream about to this day. Adam and Jen's Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookie and Strawberry Gelato Sandwiches. Why only have 1 chocolate when you can have 2?! These sandos were the proverbial icing on the cake to a fabulous meal, and possibly the culmination of my life as a foodie. You get it. I liked them. A lot.

As this was Liz's first feast, Jason decided post dinner to make her feel useful by spilling his wine all over my (new) dress and upholstered chair. In homage to Larry David, Liz spent the following hour utilizing the club-soda-and-salt method for stain removal, with moderate success. To this day, Ethan and I will treasure supper club every time we look at our maroon-ish beige chair with nothing but happy memories.

We finished off the evening with an exhilarating round of Chilean Scattegories, aka Celebrity, aka Charades and then passed out from our imminent food comas.

Simple Ingredients, Bold Flavors

Given hosting honors for May, Jen and I decided to slow things down a bit with a feast focused on seasonality, local produce and simple ingredients. Leading up to the meal, Moveable Feasters could be found at local farmers markets, tasting what was fresh and adjusting their dishes as necessary.

Top Chef moveablestyle

With the ceramic baby proudly propped on our kitchen table, Rick and I sat down to consider what we might bring to our culinary cousins next. With five seasons of entertaining, culture-shifting Top Chef behind us, we decided to celebrate our new idols. Holy Hosea, Fabulous Fabio, Crazy Carla, Sleezy Stefan, Jaded Jamie and a few others. Tom and Padma were busy that night, so we came up with our own way of judging who would take the title of Moveable Feast LA Top Chef.

Each couple was assigned a former contestant and one of the chef’s best recipes, all with varying degrees of difficulty. Once the menu went out, we had some interesting - or - bleat responses:

“Are you trying to make us go bankrupt over this dish?! Filet is like $30 a lb at whole foods.” --Overlooked that one.

“Good luck finding nectarines, sour cherries and plums during spring, this sounds like a summer dish to me” --Really? We live in a global economy. It must be summer somewhere.

"Do any of you have xanthan gum, calcic acid or sodium alginate? PLEASE let me know because they are hard to find and pricy!!" --Again, overlooked.

“Is someone going to have to pack their knives and go home before the end of the night??” --YES.

Despite the complaints, all feasters complied with the challenge of their dish and brought forth impressive results. We started with Jenny and Ethan’s Fabio-inspired beef carpacio and spherical kalamata olives (aka, olives deconstructed and reconstructed to look exactly like their original form via calcic acid, xantham gum, and sodium alginate). The result reflected a somewhat different object, but we were all impressed by the brave attempt.

We moved on to a delectable soup and salad. Both seemed somewhat simplistic, but actually had a long list of ingredients. Becca and Jason mastered the apple fennel soup, receiving oohs and ahhs. Jen and Adam took on Jamie’s famous salad with fried duck egg. I can’t remember how they found duck eggs, but they were another example of commitment to authenticity regardless of the hunt.

The main dish – compliments of the hosts – came next. Sometimes hosting can become distracting and can take away from the focus of a dish. I think that happened this time. Rick and I attempted Stefan’s much talked about duck breast, pretzel dumpling and braised red cabbage. We hadn’t ever cooked duck breast and shamefully handed that over to Jenny (thanks for coming through, sous [exec?] chef). The dish was… nice, but overcomplicated.

After rumor’s of a pissed off member, Libby did not disappoint with her “easy and boring” vegetable side dish. Whatevs, Lib. We knew you had a secret crush on Hosea since you both have Boulder roots. We were just trying to give you a chance to cozy up.

Elise and Philip’s delectable nectarine and strawberry tart completed the evening. We had heard that they also had a special affinity for a particular top chef – Crazy Carla! I mentioned delectable, yes, but a bit off on presentation? I’d say so. I believe we had some structural issues. Maybe too much butter? That’s the problem with baking. Who wants to follow a recipe exactly anyhow? Regardless, we devoured the deliciousness.

Our bellies were full, confused by a complex menu and proud to have partaken in top chef consumption. We casted our votes based on some wack criteria… and the winners were… Becca, Jason and chef Jeff. The apple fennel soup would go down in the books as a Moveable Feast LA fav! The losers, unfortunately, were the distracted hosts.