Hello long lost readers. It’s hot as hell in Washington, DC, so when it came to making a French-themed fete for Bastille Day, Coq au Vin was out of the question. Essentially anything Julia Child would make was out of the question. We needed light, refreshing, and fresh. So the dinner I ended up making was more of a French-inspired dinner, but with lots of good stuff from all over.
It began in the early afternoon with some prep. Pate Brisee in a food processor, i.e. the best kind:
I also made some basil sweet syrup (more on that later…)
And of course, very slowly caramelized onions
The meal commenced with this plate of goodies (with Manchego, Havarti, Jarlsberg and Feta)
It continued with a little appetizer of stuffed fried zucchini blossoms (I stuffed them with red onion instead of shallots)
It went on to this onion tart
But we couldn’t help and have a drink before digging into the tart. My sous-chef/best-friend/cocktail-master/benetton-twin made this gorgeous Blackberry Caipirinha
Which was a perfect summer drink
And then proceeded to pull the tart out of the oven, burn my arm really badly, drop the tart face down, which meant we ate this instead. It was still delicious but a bit on the salty side.
Luckily, the faux Niçoise was still real pretty
Dinner ended with delicious grilled peaches, honeyed mascarpone, and the delicious basil syrup (an amalgamation of three recipes which worked real well)
And to all, bon nuit!
Ivy Gourmet 
This is the only time I’ve ever seen anybody else make zucchini blossoms! Joann and I picked our own from Lyman’s Orchard several times last year, stuffed with cheese, battered, and fried.
Everything looks lovely as usual! I’ve missed your updates (you’re on my daily food blog reading list) so I’m glad to see this post!
I popped over from Jenny’s post on Food52. Your blog is great. The photographs and the recipes you chose are lovely. I especially like this post on your Bastille Day buffet. Your premise of unemployed Ivy League is charming. I always seemed to hit the job market when it is at its worst. One day, you will be slugging out at the office, so in the meantime, embrace your freedom. Your blog shows that you do.
Thank you for the sweet words Waverly! I hope you’ll come back and check out the Ivy Gourmet for inspiration 🙂 I’ll definitely be doing the same at P+L in the Kitchen.
Susan Holt: Okay, let’s do that. The first thing we want to do is put the little raspberries in concentric circles. You could throw all the raspberries in it if you want a big tart, but it is going to look prettier. Just you could –Rob Carson: Presentation is half of it.
Maddy’s Bar and Grille is named after Madeline Shields. Maddy was a mother, a school teacher, and a fighter. She lost her battle with cancer in 2003, and in her honor, Maddy’s Bar and Grille will be celebrating her life. For the month of May, we will have drink and food specials, with 100% of the profits from these specials going to the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in recognition of the loving care they gave her. The Shields family started Maddy’s as a celebration of life—after all, mom loved her beer…….