Blue Duck Tavern Blog

Christmas Brunch at Blue Duck Tavern

'Tis the season to celebrate the Christmas Day holiday and gather with friends and family around our open kitchen. On Sunday, December 25, from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm, Chef de Cuisine John Melfi will prepare a farm-fresh Christmas menu using the season's best ingredients. 

Brunch begins with first course starters set throughout the kitchen, including seasonal salads, breads, cheeses, and meats, followed by choice of plated entree and side dishes, and holiday desserts on display in the pastry pantry. 

Menu hightlights include: Baked Eggs with Pipperade, Petit Salad, and Creme Fraiche (Crazy Chicks, PA); Muscovy Duck Breast with Duck Leg Ragout & Roasted Quince (Grimaud Farms, CA); Slow Roasted Rib Eye of Beef, Au Jus & Horseradish (Creekstone, KS); and Roasted Denver Leg of Venison with Asian Pears and Winter Cherry Jus (Herndon, PA); Roasted Fingerling Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter, Charred Meringue & Sage (Gpod, ID); Creamy Stone Ground Grits with Red Eye Gravy and Smoked Gouda (Anson Mills, SC); Braised Escarole with Sharp Provolone & Fig Vincotto (Path Valley, PA); Five-Spice Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze; Sticky Toffee Pudding with Bourbon Hard Sauce; Devil's Food Cake with White Chocolate Ganache, Holiday Sugar Cookies and Gingerbread People.

Brunch is priced at $90 per person and $42 for children between six and 12 years of age; under six are complimentary. For reservations, please call 202 419 6755 or visit our website.

Thanksgiving Day Brussels Sprouts with Pickled Red Onions

Yesterday, Chef de Cuisine John Melfi made his first TV appearance on WUSA9, preparing Brussels Sprouts with Pickled Onions alongside news veteran JC Hayward.

Click here to view the video, plus get the recipe to make this delicious side dish at your own Thanksgiving Day gathering. 

To make reservations for Blue Duck Tavern Thanksgiving Day Brunch, click here or call +1 202 419 6755.

 

 

Capital Food Fight

Last night Blue Duck Tavern participated in the 2011 Capital Food Fight benefiting the DC Central Kitchen.  Over 900 attendees were treated to tastings from their favorite area restaurants while watching John and I battle Equinox's Todd Gray in this year's "food fight."  Sadly, we lost to Todd, who then went on to compete against Estadio's Haidar Karoum who ultimately took the crown!

Former 'Top Chef' all-stars Mike Isabella, Jennifer Carroll, Carla Hall and Spike Mendelsohn also battled it out with Carla & Spike taking top honors. 

To see more photos from last night's event, LIKE us on Facebook.

Recipe for Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, now is the perfect time to start thinking about your family feast.  To bring a little bit of Blue Duck Tavern into your house this holiday season, we are sharing a traditional stuffing recipe using chanterelle mushrooms and chestnuts. 

Chanterelle and Chestnut Stuffing

Ingredients

1 cup chanterelle mushrooms

1/2 cup cooked and peeled chestnuts

1 onion, diced

4 ounces sausage meat, casing removed

6 - 8 croissants, broken up

2 stalk celery, diced

2 clove garlic, diced

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup chicken stock

3 eggs

1 pint cream

1 teaspoon sage, chopped

salt & pepper

Method

Melt butter in large saucepan.  Add mushrooms, celery, onion and garlic.  Slowly saute until vegetables become translucent.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dice chestnuts and add to vegetables.  Add sausage meat and allow to cool for 8 - 10 minutes over low heat. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil and remove from the heat.  Allow to cool.

When cool, mix eggs, cream and sage in a bowl.  Add broken-up croissants to the vegetable sausage mix, fold in cream and mix well.  Place in a buttered casserole. Bake at 350F for one hour.

DC Central Kitchen's "Capital Food Fight"

Following up on yesterday's post....this morning we had the pleasure of hanging out in the pastry pantry with FOX5's Holly Morris & DC Central Kitchen's Brian MacNair.  While Pastry Chef Peter was preparing our delicious apple pies, in conjunction with their feature on the area's best pies, I joined Brian to talk about next Thursday's Capital Food Fight!

While I've done a tasting table for the past few years, next week will be my first time on stage battling fellow DC chefs to held end hunger. I really believe the Kitchen is one of the best charities we have - not only do they help the underprivileged and former inmates, but now they are also providing local, healthy food to a handful of DC public schools. 

Here are some images taken from this morning's live shot with Holly Morris, along with a link to watch the segment, just in case you missed it this morning.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/mornings/holly_live/holly-morris-favorite-local-pies-110311

 

It's an Eventful Week

Next week will be quite the week for me! On Monday evening, November 7, I will be joining our friends at FRESHFARM Markets for their annual fundraiser, 2011 Farmland Feast, celebrating our local farmers and producers. The feast benefits their 11 area farmers markets.

For the feast, I will be preparing Confit of Lamb Belly with Eggplant Jam.  I am one of six chefs preparing the evening's hors d'oeuvres, using ingredients sourced directly from the markets.

Then, on Thursday evening, November 10, I am one of the four battling chefs participating in this year's Capital Food Fight, benefiting the DC Central Kitchen. Join me as I battle against chefs Jeff Black, Haidar Karoum and Todd Gray to fight against hunger. The evening is hosted by Jose Andres and Anthony Bourdain, along with battle judges Ted Allen, Joan Nathan, and Ming Tsai. 

The Capital Food Fight brings the industry's best talents together to support DC Central Kitchen. Dozens of restaurants will be onsite serving their signature dishes while I & other chefs will battling it out on stage.

I look forward to seeing you, out of the kitchen, next week :)