On Monday, January 12th, I made a decision that I’d come to regret for precisely 55 days. I created the inaugural Breaking Bread WhatsApp group and sent invitations to the dinner party set for Saturday, March 7th.
I’ve posted on the idea before, but in case you’re reading and unfamiliar, as an excuse to get people together whilst doing some good, I’m testing whether I learned anything from my 12-week course in Ballymaloe Cookery School by cooking for some friends. In exchange for some of Darina Allen’s best recipes, I ask diners to make a contribution that will be donated to a worthy cause.
The Diners of the Evening – I invited 7 guests, 6 of whom I’ve lived with during my time in New York City. Muiris, who moved out of the apartment before Christmas, Matthew, who is my current roommate, Phelim, Tommy, Sinead & Rosie made up four of five roommates during the pandemic in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and finally Bridgette, Tommy’s fiancée, the only fortunate one to have not shared a roof with me.
Worthy Cause – Project Purple (U.S.-based non-profit Pancreatic Cancer organization).
The few dollars raised from Episode One will go to the charity listed above. Muiris (one of the diners) very sadly lost his father to a short illness with pancreatic cancer before Christmas.
https://www.gofundme.com/manage/cooking-for-a-cure-help-fight-pancreatic-cancer
Order of Work
New York City does not make for a streamlined dinner-party hosting experience. The rather simple task of food shopping is a multi-trip ordeal when riding the Subway. And, as with most kitchens in the city, my kitchen has a very small footprint, making meticulous planning all the more important. I did not do it, and unsurprisingly, it only fueled my regret.
Another recurring thought: whilst it’s meant to be a bit of a craic and simultaneously raise a few dollars for a good cause, I was feeling enormous pressure to deliver a decent evening. I felt that my ask for a donation might be audacious, I mean, I’m not exactly Thomas Keller in the kitchen.
The prep started the night before, but I really could have done with getting a couple of more things boxed off before retiring for the night. It was an early start on Saturday, but aside from the expanding to-do list, I quite enjoyed the day. The fun all stopped as the clock started rapidly ticking towards six; my composure faltered, and it made for a very hectic last couple of hours.
My roommate, Matthew, saved the evening by transforming the dining table and area into a setting that actually looked like we were expecting people over. He even managed to add a little finesse to it, also.
The girls arrived more or less on the button, whilst the lads came through fashionably late. Phelim, kudos to him, flew up from Florida for the weekend and arrived with a bouquet of red roses under his arm. Not my favorite flowers, so Rosie happily took them instead.
I struggled to balance the hosting with the cooking, but again, it is not helped by the fact that you could not swing a cat in the kitchen. I did not sit down for the starter, nor did I feel like I could be involved in any of the conversation up until that point.
As we settled into the living space after dinner, the art of conversation and laughter filled the room, and the entire effort became instantly worthwhile. There was a quiet sense of euphoria that everything had turned out OK. Once the wine supply dwindled, we headed out to the neighborhood bar Hi-Life to cap off the night.
Goods in transit, a Subway home from the grocery store
A generous dry salt brine for the Roast Ribeye
The Menu
To Start
- The Farmhouse Soup & Buttered Sourdough Bread
- The soup was the only recipe that I was confident about executing yet it proved to be anything but straight-forward.
- During culinary school, we were graded daily for our cooking and I don’t remember ever hearing that my food was over-seasoned, in fact, it much the opposite, I was often told that it was under-seasoned which never bothered me as I prefer a less-is-more approach to let the natural favors shine.
- So I found myself in completely unknown territory when I realized that I was way too liberal with the salt & pepper mill leaving me with an over-salted and severely over-peppered soup.
- With very little time to salvage it, I ran two plays that somewhat saved it, I scrambled to make another third of the recipe to dilute the over-seasoned taste and I dumped much more cream than intended to the finished product which done little only lighten the color.
- Needless to say, there was no salt or pepper on the table for the first course.
- HoneyDew Melon Wedges
- If there’s an occasion at my parent’s house, melon wedges are usually a staple at the dinner table. No frills, no fuss but delicious fruit
Mise en place, Farmhouse Soup
Main Course
- Roast Potatoes
- Roasted in Tallow.
- Mash Potatoes
- Ideally, would have liked more time to incorporate the butter and cream at the end.
- Honey Roasted Carrots
- A scramble to save the soup left me desperately shy of carrots to serve with dinner.
- Roasted Ribeye Beef
- Delighted with how the roasted ribeye turned out. Against the advice of the butcher, I reversed-seared it and absolutely no regrets.
- Au Jus
- Sacrificed a lot of time on the jus, and in hindsight, bisto gravy would have done just fine.
- Yorkshire Pudding
- With the serving time crunch, the Yorkshire Pudding batter (which I prepared the night before), did not make it out of the fridge, which was disappointing.
- Stuffing
• Italian sausage, pancetta, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, and chicken stock
Paired With
An affordable merlot dominated Bordeaux blend, Princess Gaby 2017
To Finish
- Sticky Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream
- I was delighted with how both the toffee sauce and pudding tasted despite having some small reservations that it wasn’t completely baked-through in the centre. I served from around the perimeter as a precaution.
Mind the jus – Sticky Toffee Pudding with Ice Cream
Peak
- Toasting to the recently engaged Bridgette and Tommy. Tommy, who, as long as I’ve known him, was never likely to fall in love with anyone other than Manchester United.
Kitchen Nightmares
- I had to ask the guests to delay their arrival by 30 minutes in order to buy some time.
- Chaos on top of chaos – The Farmhouse Soup
- Energy ran out – The Yorkshire Pudding batter stayed in the fridge
- All fur coat and no knickers – The Roast Ribeye, but no carving knife in the apartment, a serrated bread knife was the solution
- Pouring the Ribeye jus onto a dessert portion instead of the toffee sauce; luckily, it was caught before it reached the guest’s hands.
Overall, I was delighted with how dinner turned out regardless of the imperfections. Lastly, thanks to those special folk for making an effort to be at the dinner table.
It won’t be long before I’m back in the apron again and if you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed reading.
Chef Luke
Breaking Bread 
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