First thing I must do: Formulate menu. I will go with something simple and classic, something that shouts (simply and classically of course) of Sunday Supper. Roast chicken, I think, with roasted root vegetables as a nod to the official, if not obvious, passing of winter come a few weeks from now. I know root vegetables are the "nice guys" of the food world, being pleasant but not flamboyant, rather dull but always reliable, and with a nice personality if not Abercrombie looks. But I have a fantastic recipe from Suzanne Goin's "Sunday Suppers at Lucques" that is perfect and will elevate the lowly root vegetable to celebrity status at my Sunday Supper table.
I decide I will preface the main course with a salad of greens, minced herbs, and a dressing of dijon, red wine vinegar, and canola oil (pinched from the pages of Thomas Keller's "Bouchon" cookbook, which is also directing the roasting of our chicken.) Dessert shall be a recipe I have been dying to try, from the March issue of Gourmet, a Meyer Lemon Cake with Lavender Cream (www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/241740). Oh my. I skipped my usual visit to St. Cupcake today in anticipation of making this. Such sacrifice!
Now that the menu is set, I set out to shop for ingredients. I am resolved to Shop Local, and get all my ingredients within a few blocks of my Northwest apartment. First stop: City Market for the centerpiece of my masterpiece of a Sunday dinner, The Little Chicken. Thomas Keller has instructed me to get a 2 - 2.25 pound chicken. An in-depth discussion with the butcher at the Viande counter reveals that this size chicken does not exist. What? I can have a 3.5 pound chicken, he says, nicely. I don't want a 3.5 pound chicken I point out, nicely. Thomas said I should get a 2 pound chicken and I want to be like Thomas. They can't buy such little chickens, the butcher says. I can buy a poisson though, which is a fancy way of saying "super tiny chicken," only weighing a pound or so. But super tiny chickens are nearly three times the price of big fat ones, so I decline and go on my way. Having already argued with the butcher at Whole Foods last week on this issue I know better than to head down to the Pearl for my chicken--not only would he be a diva and require me to serve him on a Baccarat crystal platter, which I don't own, but he would be too big--Whole Foods' chickens are the brutes of the dead poultry world--last time the butcher could hardly find one under five pounds. Thomas would cringe.
So it's off to TJ's. Trader Joe's, how I love thee! Let me count the ways. Your inexpensive blue cheese, your Dark Chocolate Pistachio Toffee, your cute check-out boys, and...your small Aaron's kosher chickens. I am able to buy a 2.7 pound chicken, undoubtedly as close as I will come to Thomas' 2-2.25 pound dream chicken. I buy a few more necessary items, give the check-out boy a wink, and head back to City Market for root vegetables, since I forgot them the first time, I was so flustered about the whole chicken thing.
I am in line with my carrots, parsnips and turnips when I see Ben Dyer (co-owner of Viande and Simpatica Dining Hall) walk behind the Viande counter and start talking with the butcher on duty. I am very tempted to ask him why it is so hard to get a 2-2.5 pound chicken around these parts, but I don't want to lose my place in line, and besides, I'm bashful. Maybe I will call him about this later. He seems like a nice guy. After I buy all my groceries, I head up to Square Deal Wine Company on NW Thurman, between NW 23rd and NW 24rd. Becky helps me choose a bottle of wine to go with my dinner. Becky is amazing-I tell her what I'm cooking and how much I want to spend ($10--I'm cheap!) and she immediately points me towards a French grenache, La Friande, Cotes du Rhone, 2006. It sounds lovely, and it's exactly $10! Becky is amazing, you should go visit her. (www.wineaccess.com/store/squaredeal)
It's nearly lunch time, and I can't resist popping into the always crowded St. Honore Boulangerie (2335 NW Thurman, www.sainthonorebakery.com) for a Paris Ham Sandwich. Salty ham on a fresh baguette, it is perfect. If I weren't so responsible, I'd go back next door to Square Deal and ask Becky to pair a bottle of wine with this divine sandwich. But I have to get back home and start cooking, of course.
-J
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