Dinnergeddon 7

Dinnergeddon, I shall miss you. This was the seventh incarnation and by far our largest gathering. As usual the menu was Paleo friendly: tamarind-citrus chicken, poblano plantains and cilantro-jicama slaw. With the new TechStars teams in attendance we reached full capacity and spilled out onto the patio. Thankfully Boulder held back her Springtime tears and rained down only perfect sunshine and clear skies.

This will be my last dinnergeddon for a while; I’m moving back to New York in a few days. I want to send hearty thanks to Andrew Hyde for letting me cook and bringing me into his fold. Dinnergeddon will always be one of my favorite memories of this past year in Boulder. I am lucky to have met so many people through these parties, and I’ll miss the laughs.

Cheers to all!

Dinnergeddon, Western Style

First thing Andrew Hyde said to me last night?

“Hold on, I’m shaving a dirty ‘stache.”
And thus began Dinnergeddon 4.

This time the dinner party had a theme, inspired by the anonymous delivery of a life sized John Wayne cutout to Casa Hyde. Andrew requested a Western motif, which was music to my ears. This boy loves a good theme party.

So. Let’s get down to it.

The menu:
Braised Chipotle Chili
Vegetarian Chipotle Bean Chili
Salt and Pepper Cornbread
Raspberry Peach Cobbler

As usual, everything was gluten free and dairy free. Because this is how rockstars eat.

This may have been my favorite Dinnergeddon menu to date. Smokey, meaty, sweet and salty-this food filled all my cravings. By Andrew’s calculations we served 30-35 people, a new record for Dinnergeddon!

Thanks to all who came, conquered and dressed in their western best.

I cannot wait for the next one.

Enjoy some pics of the food being cooked. And some pictures of some special guests. Extra special.

Cheers,
Dan

Dinnergeddon 3

Raindrops on Roses and Mittons on Kittens,
Sparkles and Ice Skates and Pants I can fit in,
Carnivores, Dinosaurs, show-tunes to sing,
These are a few of my favourite things

and-
DINNERGEDDON.

Last night was another wonderful rendition of Senor Hyde’s magical mystery evening. In preparation for the party I asked Andrew if he had any requests for food. His response?

“Would love to do something with bacon.
Yep. Went there.”

Of course, in addition to this request, the dinner would have to stick to the Paleo Diet for our CrossFit members. Here are the rules:
-The first rule of CrossFit is: You do not talk about CrossFit. Except when other CrossFitters are around. Then talk about it a lot. Seriously.
-Meat, Veggies and Fruit are in.
-Sweeteners, Dairy and any foods that cannot be consumed raw are out.

The real goal for the evening? Make a meal for all the guests (of the paleo persuasion and otherwise) that wouldn’t feel like “special-diet food.” No one likes that. Especially not Kirstie Alley, to whom I dedicate all meals.

In my mind.
(side note, I know we talked about getting Johnny Weir as our guest of honor next time, can we maybe find a seat for Madame Alley as well?)

So, the menu:
Chicken Legs braised in White Wine, Pancetta and Leeks
Mashed Delicata Squash with Sage Oil
Parsley and Garlic Roasted Mushrooms

The braising of the legs left me with mucho extra chicken skin. I normally take it off the legs if I’ll be braising, otherwise it turns into a rubber flap in the stew. Gross. Do not, however, mistake me for the type of person to remove skin from chicken and other meaty things for the sake of calories. I would not discard this extra skin, but rather, give it the royal treatment it deserves.

Warning-this gets slightly Hannibal Lecterish:
I stripped the legs of their skin, sliced each piece so it could lay flat and then stretched all the skin over a rack. I put the rack inside a roasting tray, sprinkled everything with salt and pepper and then placed another rack on top-chicken skins have a mind of their own and I wanted neither curls nor shrivels, I wanted thin, delicate, flat crisps. Throw that in the oven at 500 degrees for 10 minutes (or until golden) and you’ll never regret it.
The skins would be the garnish, a salty/crispy bite atop each bowl.

The meal was lovely, the company-divine and the evening a success. Thanks to all who came!

DinnergeddoNYC

Testing recipes leaves me with an abundance of food. I eat a lot of it. Really. But sometimes, there’s one too many cakes in the freezer, and/or I have to make two batches of dinner back to back to unwind a kink in the works My fridge can only take so much. I could buy another refrigerator but they really have shown very little capacity to digest the food I feed them. They’re horrible pets. My food just sits there, deep in a cold belly taking a slow nap to decomposition.

And so, instead of investing in an icebox companion for my current GE monolith, I invite friends. They have shown propensity not only in eating my food but also in regurgitating compliments to the chef, something, I assure you, that soothes the belly better than the finest digestif.

I’ve been back in New York for almost two months now and the dinner party craving has taken strong hold. I owe much to Andrew Hyde but chiefly among my debts lays a passion for opening my door to friends and sharing whatever food I have. We had a wonderful habit in Boulder called Dinnergeddon. The premise? Food for an army, wine supplied by the soldiers, laughs, hugs, chatter, challenges and smiles the explosions of our war. The measure of the night taken not in warrants and arrests but in the negative space withing out pots and pans, the line of empty bottles standing guard on Andrew’s sill. 

I couldn’t imagine doing this without him.

And yet, it was time.
This is DinnergeddoNYC

The kitchen is challenging, the humidity oppressive and the gathering smaller. But-the laughs are still here, the chatter infectious and the hugs at the end of the night just as strong. It was my first dinner party in NYC.

Everything tastes better with company.