Had dinner at the most wonderful old inn in Paris, Va this weekend for DH's birthday.

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
We tried it by chance and it definitely exceeded our expectations. I should have taken my camera to take pics of each course. I have attached the menu, they serve only local fare. I started with a wonderful cold cider, calvados and sparkling VA wine drink and things only got better from there!

For starters DH had a scotch egg that was wrapped in chorizo before it was fried and I had the turnip caesar salad both were amazing. The turnip salad was in thin shoestrings about 3" long dressed in caesar dressing. Next to it was a little pile of garlic crouton crumbs and next to that was a little pile of parmesan cheese all was topped with a large half of anchovie and a bit of parsley. WOW!! I have got to try to make this at home. But how do I get the turnip cut into thin shoestrings?

For dinner DH had the rockfish + mussels in garlic broth with a polenta like croutons-crusty on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. I had the cold smoked beef with sauteed cauliflower, a wedge of a crispy riced potato tart and the foyot (a sort of rich hollandaise) (there is a picture of this on their site). The beef just melted in my mouth---big sigh!

For dessert we both got the apple ice cream with very unusual shortbread cookies and ginger "pearls". The pearls looked like little tapioca pearls but the were ginger. How did they do that???

What a treat for us! I just had to share. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it. It is in a very picturesque farm region and their rooms looked beautiful.

http://www.ashbyinn.com/?name=Site&catID=12412&parentID=12401

 
If you have a Cuisinart food processor, they make a julienne blade

that cuts the skinniest strips-- I love it for making a cooked mixed veg slaw-- very colorful and easy for company.
A mandoline would work too.

Sounds like a great weekend! Thanks for sharing!

M

 
Yes, at the intersection of 17+50. It was beautivul even tho there was

still snow and the trees have not yet bloomed.

 
How intriguing! I tool that molecular mixology class, I wonder if they used alginates to make the

Ginger pearls. Sounds so creative and fun! And - deilicious....

 
Wow...fabulous description Barb! H-Day to hubbie! Some ideas on your questions:

You can use a bernier (like a mandoline, only cheaper..$25). The thin, slicing blade can fit an optional "toothed" blade perpendicular to it. So...depending on the width of the "teeth" and how big you open the slicing cut size, you can easily julienne anything...including your fingers. You would slide the turnip down the slide and across the cutting blade for the thickness and the teeth would make it julienned.

About the ginger...there are lots of clever ideas out there, but I wonder if they just used freeze-dried ginger/honey tea. I buy it at the Oriental grocery store and it comes in individual packages filled with tiny ball-bearing size pellets that dissolve in hot water. I imagine those would create a burst of flavor if left dry and used as an ingredient.

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Instant-Caffeine-Sampler-Sachets/dp/B000B8ZA60/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1268097735&sr=1-1

 
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