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Father’s Day dinner

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Well unlike Mother’s Day, our oldest had to do this one without his brother, as Zach is still in Vienna, learning German. Lucky for him, his lovely girlfriend offered to help and be part of the celebration!Tyler Florence's recipe for Beef Wellington as a Father's Day meal.

The guest of honor requested Beef Wellington, and left the rest of the menu up to the team. They decided to go with the complete bill of fare of Tyler Florence’s Beef Wellington meal, posted on the Food Network site. It consists of The Ultimate Beef Wellington with Green Peppercorn Sauce, Roasted Potatoes with Fresh Herbs and Garlic, and Warm Wilted Greens.

Green peppercorn gravy in a balck cast iron skillet - Tyler Florence recipe.Whisking a balsamic honey sauce for wilted greens with garlic scapes for a Father's Day dinner.

Washed chicory with garlic scapes for wilted greens recipe.Four or five years ago, I made this same Beef Wellington recipe for Steve’s birthday. Whenever he gets a chance to make a request, he goes for this dish. It is not hard, just a lot of work and very time consuming. But now to do Tyler’s whole meal is a lot! Complete with flaming skillets, they made every recipe and used chicory with garlic scapes for the wilted (winter) greens, which was brilliant! The honey combined with the balsamic vinegar and toasted walnuts was divine. And it was enough cooking of the chicory to just pour the hot liquids over the washed greens. (I was secretly concerned about that but I did a good job of keeping my mouth shut.) The potatoes were amazing. And the beef, well, the beef was divine! So good in fact, it really didn’t need any green peppercorn gravy.
Father's Day dining table of Tyler Florence's Beef Wellington, Green Peppercorn Sauce, and Herb and Garlic Roasted Potatoes.

They did an amazing job on the whole meal. It was delicious, beautiful and brimming with LOVE. For dessert, they made a Blackberry Raspberry Coconut Tarte, from Smitten Kitchen, that was buttery and rich. A delicious ending to the meal, while we all watched Mad Men, although we all agreed it needed more fruit than the recipe called for.Coconut, raspberry, blackberry tarte in a Le Creuset pan.

Steve was treated like a king, as well he should be, as he is a fantastic Dad!

Hope all you Dads out there enjoyed a magnificent Father’s Day too!!

Epic Mother’s Day dinner

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I am still basking in the glow – of being treated like a queen! My boys made me the most amazing dinner on Sunday night. My mouth is still open in awe. Recipes were made that I wouldn’t even attempt. The whole meal, including cocktails, wine and dessert, planned to perfection, made and served with love.

I am so, so lucky.

When I arrived home, I was greeted with hugs and flowers and told to shower. Zach said I definitely smelled like a bike ride. (nice!) I’m sure I did.

After the bath, perfectly chilled martini glasses appeared, with all the proper frost, and Vespers were poured. A drink made with vodka, Gordon’s gin, Lillet and lemon. Divine.Vespers being poured into chilled Baccarat martini glasses for a Mother's Day dinner.

Thomas Keller's French Laundry cookbook recipe for poached shrimp on a sterling fork with a mound of avocado, red onion and cucumber deliciousness.Here is our first course – a drop dead gorgeous presentation!! (They even pulled out the sterling!) This is a recipe from Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry cookbook. I have looked at that book and decided the recipes were too much work and too precious for my style, yet my oldest son uses it a lot! He made a homemade poaching liquid and poached the shrimp, leaving them in the liquid overnight. (so this was a two day affair) Then split them, serving them on the edge of the fork with a small mound of avocado, red onion and cucumber deliciousness. A small bite, perfect with the Vesper. The shrimp were so yummy, infused with flavor from the poaching liquid and sublime in texture. Really, this amount of time spent, I have to admit, is worth it. They tasted similar to the amazing poached salmon at Aquavit, a 4 star Swedish restaurant here in NYC.Gazpacho served in a glass, recipe from The French Laundry cookbook with a glass of Vouvray wine.

Next course was a homemade spicy gazpacho, again, the recipe from the French Laundry, pureed moments before and served in a small glass, with a glass of Vouvray, one of my favorite wines and perfect with the soup. The soup sparkled with freshness, a riot of flavor in your mouth, with the perfect amount of kick from the jalapenos.Potato crusted halibut on a plate with skillet ratatouille, recipes from Food Network and Food and Wine magazine.

Now for the main course, it was potato crusted halibut served with a skillet ratatouille. It was amazing!!! Zach said he watched a video on Food Network on how to coat the fish with the potatoes and that it really took the two of them to do it, needing 3 or 4 hands, and boy did they do it properly. They were beautiful, as you can see! The fish was then sautéed in olive oil that he had infused with garlic, fennel seeds, bay leaves, fresh thyme and lemon zest from a whole lemon. It was so delicious! Crispy and moist all at the same time.Skillet ratatouille being made in a black cast iron skillet, recipe from Food and Wine.

The skillet ratatouille was spectacular – the fresh flavors all melding together – it was really, really yummy. This recipe was from Food and Wine. We had the leftovers for lunch yesterday and it was still spectacular!Beautiful pear upside down cake on a white Wedgewood plate.

And now for dessert. They even did dessert!! Well, sort of. My oldest son’s girlfriend was so sweet, she made a really beautiful and delicious pear upside down cake on Saturday night, the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Yes, you know it had a lot of butter in it and it was darn good!!! Just look at this beautiful cake!Slice of pear upside down cake with a small scoop of ice cream on a light blue plate from Williams Sonoma.

This whole meal was so impressive, beautiful, fun and scrumptious. Really, as good as the finest restaurant, I’m sure because it was also made with so much love on all sides. And I love seeing them work together in the kitchen, they’re so darn cute! (One of them even said it was nice to have quality time with his brother.)

We ended our evening together watching MadMen, a very perfect day with my boys and husband.

I hope all you moms out there had a fabulous Mother’s Day, I’m sure filled with LOVE as well!!

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