MORSELS
Eat, drink, like you're in Rome
3/4/2012Gallia est omnes divisa in partes tres. Sic semper tyrannus. De minimis non curat lex. Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
That's right, the Toledo Museum of Art is holding another EpiCuratorial event, this one looking at the food and art of ancient Rome. On March 22 at 6 p.m., director of collections Carolyn Putney and associate registrar Andrea Mall will discuss Roman culture and antiquities and will show off the newly reinstalled, not-yet-open Classic Court.
In other words, statues 'n' vessels. Those who are more food-minded may be drawn to the six-course meal put together by the new executive chef, Drew Ruiz. Each course will be paired with an appropriate Italian wine.
The meal begins with an appetizer (gustatio) of butter-roasted date bread crostini (panem cum palmula fuerit assum in butyrum) with whipped goat cheese (caseus capri fuerit flagellari) and ham in pastry (perna in crustulis). A cup of stracciatella (pulmenti cum oro et caseum) will serve as the soup course (pulmenti ferculum).
The fish course (pisces ferculum) will be prosciutto-wrapped monkfish (pisces involvit in suilla), followed by pan-seared duck breast (anatis pectus cauteriatam in sartagine) as the bird course (avis ferculum). Perhaps the culinary highlight will be the four-legged course (quadrupes ferculum), a pistachio and rosemary-crusted rack of lamb (agnus cum pistacio et rosmarino).
Dessert (secunda mensa) will be a honey custard (tiropatinam) served with a pomegranate reduction (malogranatum condimentum) and fresh mint (nova menta).
Reservations are required, and can only be made through Thursday at 419-255-8000, ext. 7342. Tickets are $100 for museum members, $115 for nonmembers, and the price includes dinner, wine, tax, and tip.
E pluribus unum.
Wine
The reputation that kosher wine has for being disgustingly sweet and not worth pouring on a fire to put it out was, for a long time, well deserved. But those days are over.
Wine distributor Ann Kisin will hold a tasting of kosher wines -- particularly wines that are kosher for Passover -- at Congregation Etz Chayim at 7 p.m. on March 18. Cheese and other hors d'oeuvres will also be served at the event, which will discuss the many locations where kosher wines are now produced: California, Australia, France, Israel, and more. The cost is $10, and reservations must be made by next Sunday, March 11, at 419-473-2401.
The following week, March 24, the synagogue will hold a cholent cook-off, cholent being a traditional highly seasoned, slow-cooked stew. The food will be served following services, and attendees will vote on their favorite cholent. This event is free.
Congretation Etz Chayim is at 3853 Woodley Rd.
More wine
The wine keeps a-flowing at Walt Churchill's Market, 3320 Briarfield Blvd. in Monclova Township, which has announced its Saturday afternoon (noon-5 p.m.) wine tastings for the month of March. The tastings range from $10-$20 per flight of six samples, except where noted, and single samples may be purchased individually.
On Saturday, the store will open bottles of both red and white Bordeaux that cost less than $30, including several from 2009. On March 17, they will ignore St. Patrick's Day altogether by focusing on single-vineyard Pinot Noir from Oregon (this is a premium tasting, meaning the cost will be more than $20 for the flight).
March 24 will be wineless, although it is possible that beers will be tasted that day (details have yet to be released). And on March 31, they will contrast wines made from traditional Italian grapes from Tuscany with wines made by blending Italian grapes with varieties from other countries.
Tastes like crepes
Sometimes, the Morsels column writes about cooking demonstrations that, frankly, sound less good than others.
This is not one of those times.
Chef Roberta Acosta brings her monthly cooking demonstration to the Fresh Market Saturday from 1-4 p.m., and this time she will be cooking Provencal chicken crepes with Hollandaise sauce and decadent chocolate strawberry crepes.
As the kids would say, OMG!
The demonstration is free, and everyone gets to try some of what she makes (Provencal chicken crepes! Chocolate-strawberry crepes!). The demonstrations will be ongoing throughout the afternoon, so you can come at any time and see the whole thing.
The store is at 3315 W. Central Ave.
Still more wine
If you want to bid on some extraordinarily great wines, you'll have to act fast.
The sixth annual Knight of the Vine dinner and wine auction will be Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Real Seafood Company restaurant, 22 Main St., at The Docks. Only limited seating is available, we're told, for the event that mixes good food and good wine with an opportunity to buy even better wine. Much better wine.
And it's all for charity, naturally: the money raised goes to support the St. Francis de Sales High School Endowment Fund.
We don't know what wines and other goodies will be auctioned off this year, but last year they included a Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne Grande Cru 1996, a 5-liter Chateau Lafon-Rochet 1970, and a whole lot of wine -- we mean a whole lot of wine -- that was, shall we say, more affordably priced.
Meanwhile, dinner looks like it won't be shabby, either: a pairing of pan-seared scallops with fresh corn cream sauce and beef filet with chipotle Hollandaise and crispy fried Brussels sprouts served with mashed potatoes, an assortment of appetizers, a salad, and dessert of chocolate raspberry torte with Chambord gelato and bittersweet chocolate sauce.
Tickets are $125, and if you have a bottle of fine wine you'd like to auction off for the school, simply bring it with you. Reservations are required, and may be made by calling Ruth Young at 419-531-1618, ext. 308.
Items may be submitted to Morsels up to two weeks before an event at food@theblade.com.