#14: A Night at the Pub

Our pub table setting, including Kevin's grandmother's vintage china.

I play on several Stonewall “sports” leagues here in DC and one of my favorite leagues is bocce.  We play outdoors at Logan Circle on Thursdays in the spring and fall and it’s a treat to be able to be outdoors doing something here in DC.  The bocce courses, if that’s what you want to call them, are studded with acorns, broken glass, manhole covers, and dog poop.  But it’s an even playing field for all thankfully.  The teams are comprised of 14 players and overall there are over a thousand teams (not really).  Needless to say, sometimes our team needs to recruit or select random players to fill the large roster of 14, as people come and go each season.  Our captain did so about three years ago and we met this group of guys who are from a different group in the gay scene, which was great.  One of the guys from that group is Ben (we call him Boston Ben to differentiate him from another Ben, who we called Bocce Ben).  He’s from the Boston area (hence the name) and I felt comfortable with him immediately as a result of our shared backgrounds, and more importantly, our shared interest in food and drink.

A wee pint glass for wine - keeping in the pub theme.

Ben travels the world for work and spends time at home, when he can, baking bread and other awesome pastries.  He is also an avid fan of the Great British Baking Show.  His boyfriend Brandon, whom we just recently met at our Holiday Brunch where he had a starring role in movie trivia, is a great guy as well.  We met them for dinner earlier this year at A Rake’s Progress here in DC (which was really quite amazing I must say) and proposed the idea of a You Pick Two to them. Luckily, they were on board so we planned a date.

For the menu I was really not sure what to do this time, but after talking with Ben about the Great British Baking Show I thought maybe British pub food would be a good idea.  I admittedly have never been to Britain (next year hopefully) but I am an unapologetic Anglophile when it comes to just about everything - culture, movies, TV, etc.  I have talked ad nauseum about my admiration and love for Nigella Lawson, but that’s me dipping the toe in the pool frankly.  Kevin and I spend many a night after dinner with a drink and pull up a British detective show to enjoy (favorites include Inspector Morse/Lewis, Prime Suspect, Vera, etc.).  So, in the spirit of those shows, I called this dinner “A Night at the Pub”, trying to evoke the spirit of the now disappearing neighborhood pubs in Britain.  One of these days I will make it there and have a pint and a bite at such a pub.

Our glorious Beef Wellington.

I follow Food52 on social media and a couple months ago they published a recipe for Beef Wellington that broke it down into lots of manageable steps (it’s a great site btw), and I decided to try it.  For those that don’t know, Beef Wellington is essentially a filet of beef, wrapped in a “duxelle” mixture (finely chopped and sautéed mushrooms), and then the whole thing is encased in a pastry dough and baked.  The goal is to get the pastry brown and cooked while making sure the filet is not overdone (ideally the meat would be medium or medium rare).  I was super happy with the way it turned out.  I let it rest for about 20 minutes to ensure the juices got back into the meat, however after doing this once, I would let it rest even longer since it takes a while for the encased beef to set up and the juices to redistribute in the meat.  Regardless, I was thrilled and it tasted amazing.  I had intended to make a mushroom gravy to go with but realized it didn’t need it really.  But feel free to add one!

Beef Wellington and sides.

I have had Scotch eggs a few times here in the U.S., but I don’t think they are super popular.  After making them I can kind of understand why, it’s not easy.  Again, it’s another encased kind of thing where you are trying to brown/fry the outside coating and not overcook the yolk inside.  I luckily found a great recipe online that worked.  Brown crispy coating, runny yolk - success.  The curry aioli dipping sauce is a must if you make this.

Scotch eggs frying in oil.

Mushy peas are something I have made a few times before - however, these are not true mushy “peas” like you would find in Britain (I believe they use a special dried pea).  Regardless, this version is quite delicious and maybe one of the easiest sides I have made for these dinners.  Going down the schoolhouse cafeteria route, carrots had to accompany the peas.  The one I made was a based on a recipe I saw Alex Guarnaschelli make several years ago.  You sauté sliced carrots in a good amount of butter and add seasonings, water and honey and let it cook down.  Toss in some fresh chopped parsley at the end and you are good to go.

I think the biggest hit of the night though was dessert: sticky toffee pudding.  I had never made it before, but it’s pretty simple to do.  You make a sponge cake and then as it cools you poke a bunch of holes in it with a skewer and then pour over this buttery, sugary syrup so that it soaks in to the sponge.  It needs nothing else to go with it.  Everyone had seconds.  Thanks again to Nigella for the recipe.

Sticky toffee pudding in all its shimmery glory.

Ben and Brandon brought Phil and Jeff – making this the first all gay male You Pick Two since the second one back in April 2014!  It was fun, Jeff plays on Brandon’s Stonewall darts team and is from rural Idaho.  He works in the policy arena and is well versed in politics and DC.  Phil, who is from Australia and has a wonderful accent, also works in education policy.  I think as a result of everyone’s backgrounds, we talked a lot about the politics, as is expected in this town frankly, but managed to keep it mostly friendly. One thing is for sure – we all agree the current President and his administration are horrible.  Most of our conversation centered on how to prevent it from happening again.  Get out and vote in November everyone!!!

The group (from left to right): Phil, Kevin, Ben, myself, Brandon - Jeff had to leave before we thought to take photo :(.

It was a really fun night and we can’t wait to do it again.

MENU

A Night at the Pub

May 12, 2018

Cocktail

Earl Grey Sparkler

Earl grey simple syrup, Sapphire gin, sparkling wine

Starter

Scotch eggs

Soft-boiled egg wrapped in ground pork and sage

 with a panko crust

Curry aioli dipping sauce

Main

Beef Wellington

Beef tenderloin wrapped in duxelles, prosciutto, and

puff pastry

Sides

“Mushy” peas

 Sweet pea puree, sour cream, garlic

Honey carrots

 Sauteed carrots, butter and honey glaze, parsley

Sweet

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Dark sponge cake, molasses and brown sugar glaze

Guests

Ben Picillo

Brandon Gryde

Phil Evans

Jeff Carlson