Cocktail Roulette: Livin' the High Life

In another edition of our Cocktail Roulette, and yet again from our Rags to Riches dinner... here's the perfect Hipster Beverage, "Livin' the High Life."

Livin' the High Life

• 1oz Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
• 5oz Miller High Life
• 1/2oz fresh lemon juice

Combine over ice until chilled. funnel into chilled beer bottles in paper bags. 

Note that you will have a bunch of High Life left over after bottling up these oh so satisfying cocktails.  That's when you whip out the extra solo cups you have lying around and initiate a game or two of flip cup!

Muddled Meals: The Duck Confit & Orange Marmalade "Cinnabon" Roll

At our most recent Cloak & Dinner: Rags to Riches, we cobbled together an eclectic menu full of what we'll lovingly call "college" food and classed it up a bit with smoked this, pate that, bacon wrapped bison.  7 courses & 4 cocktails later, we unveiled our "surprise guest" a take-home "Cinnabon" morning roll so our guests could continue the party well into the morning (although from hearing reviews post-dinner, I'm guessing most of those rolls didn't quite make it to the next day...)

But since these were Cinnabon's gon rags to riches, we of course added our own little twist... a heavy helping of Duck Confit & Orange Marmalade!  Because, why not?  One of my hero duo's in the culinary world are the extremely talented Aki & Alex of Ideas in Food, a collection of inspired ideas, photos & videos of their adventures & experiments.  I look to them for little clues as to how to make everything I make even better & when I saw them post photos of their insanely delicious breakfast, I knew I had to try it myself. 

And boy did these turn out well... So well in fact, that I feel compelled to share my take on their idea here!

The Duck Confit & Orange Marmalade "Cinnabon" Roll
prep 2 days + 2 hours || bake 30-40 minutes || yields 3 dozen

• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tbl instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tbl kosher salt
• 4 lg eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup mashed Duck Rillets
• 1 jar of Orange Marmalade
• 1/4 cup salted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2-3 fresh oranges
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp water

First, mix up a batch of simple brioche.  The trick here is to prep it 2-3 days ahead of time so it has loads of time to rise in the fridge.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast & salt.  Once your starter is nice & mixed, slowly add in the flour.  Get your hands in there & work it in, making sure not to leave any tiny dry bits.  It's pretty overwhelming mixing in 7 cups of flour, but the end is totally worth it!  Cover it up and stick it in the refrigerator at the very least overnight, but give it a few days to really set up.

When you're ready to make the rolls... first thing's first.  Take the dough out of the fridge, divide it into thirds.  Take the first batch, flour your board & rolling pin & shape the dough into a large ball with no air pockets.  Let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes.

Roll out the dough into the largest square (or oval if you can't quite get the square right) as possible.  You'll know your dough is ready if it doesn't keep springing back into a smaller state.  Make sure that you keep your board well floured so the dough won't stick.  Once it's rolled out, evenly spread your duck confit on top.  Then spoon out 1/3 of your Orange Marmalade making sure to cover the entire area.  Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with sugar.

Then, very carefully, start rolling it up.  Make sure to keep it tight as you're rolling.  Once you have a log, flour a serrated knife & cut the roll into 12 pieces.  Place your rolls into a greased pan, cover with a towel & let it rise for another 1-2 hours. (Yes I know there's a lot of waiting around, but really, it's worth it!)

Preheat your oven to 350F & then bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the tops are nice & browned.  While your rolls are baking, mix up a simple glaze with the powdered sugar & water.  Zest the oranges & set aside.

When your rolls come out nice & hot, drizzle on some "icing" dust with orange zest & a sprinkle with a little cinnamon!  Enjoy!

Cocktail Roulette: The Shiny Moon

Insomuch that we're creating a whole dinner from the ground up for a "One Night Only" event, we thought it'd be nice to share a few of our favorite recipes & cocktails from time to time. So here you go... Cocktail Roulette and Muddled Meals.

From our Rags to Riches dinner - here's the Shiny Moon!

• 1 oz. HUDSON NEW YORK CORN WHISKEY
• 2 oz. fresh apple cider
• 0.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 0.25 oz. cherry infused brandy (optional)
• 2 drops Fee Brothers Orange Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a coupe. Garnish with the peel of a kumquat.

Cloak & Dinner: The Time Machine Invite

ÜBER MORLOCK

We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories... And those that carry us forward, are dreams. 

There's no time like the present, but tonight we tastefully disagree. We've pondered over many a quaint and curious menu of forgotten food to discover the very best this past century had to offer. Cramming for this culinary history lesson has provided us ten decadent decades worth of tantalizing ideas, and we've selected our favorites from every era to create a meal worthy of Doc, Marty, Bill, and Ted. Sit back, relax, and strap your taste buds to their TARDIS because we're time travelling through the tasty twentieth ten years at a time. Let's see if you bastards can do ninety.

~ nicole iizuka | sean brogan | isaac zucca ~

Please join us for the 6th Cloak & Dinner supper club. Details below.

10 Seats || 7 Courses + 4 Cocktail Pairings

$60

Saturday September 24th

6pm

Location will be given out once you have a confirmed spot.

Please visit our event on Gusta to enter the lottery & if you're picked (by Random.org) to attend I will email you further payment instructions by Tuesday September 20th.  You will then have until Thursday September 22nd to pay otherwise your spot will be given away.

https://www.gusta.com/events/51-cloak-dinner-the-time-machine

** if you have any food allergies, let us know. will do our best to accommodate.**

A few other nit-picky notes

please plan to be on-time and for the dinner to last from 3-4 hours

there will be 3-4 paired cocktails, but you are more than welcome to BYO, beer, wine, soda

this dinner will be on a rooftop, so dress appropriately for sundown

Previous Dinners + Photos

Any Colour You Like || 5/30/11

Rookie Blunders || 6/11/11

E Pluribus uNOM || 7/3/11

A Day in the Life || 7/23/11
Rags to Riches || 8/13/11

Any other questions, please check out our FAQ on our website.

Cloak & Dinner: Rags to Riches || 8/13/11

Having recently moved offices (like the big move... building to building) I totally forgot to do my little write-up / photo log of our latest & greatest. So here it is, Cloak & Dinner: Rags to Riches!

It doesn't take a Swiss bank account and a majority share of Microsoft to appreciate a tasty meal, and you'd be remiss to find a foie gras eating, souffle spooning, champagne sipping trillionaire who doesn't long for the simple days of Slim Jims, Twinkies, and Kool-Aid. Be it in dorm or double-wide, school lunch or stadium, we've all come to adore the bounty of salt, sugar, and cellophane that is America's vast extra value menu. Tonight, we've raised the bar on low-brow, bleached the blue collar, and taken classless cuisine to culinary school. Savor the sweet taste of success as some of our favorite down-and-out delicacies finally get a piece of the pie.

This was perhaps our most successful dinner yet... everything running smoothly and (for the most part) on time, thanks to the newest addition to the happy little family, our Captain Matt Portman!  It's always nice to have helpful friends & extra hands :-).  C&D will be taking a mini-break, Labor Day - Vacay whatnot, but follow us on twiter @cloakanddinner to get the scoop on our next invite expected mid-late September!

Also, if you'd like to be added to the mailing list for future C&D dinners, please email rsvp@cloakanddinner.com.

the table is set, the day is gorgeous, we're ready to go!

bread & water || stuffed baguette & cucumber acqua frizzante
this came out quite beautifully, a delicately stuffed baguette with a decadent array of Mediterranean goodies, chilled & then sliced into edible bites. 

~ shiny moon ~
hudson new york corn whiskey, apple cider, lemon, fee brothers orange bitters

fish sticks || sesame encrusted ahi tuna with mango wasabi tartar saucego figure, i scour all the asian markets and find nothing suitable, but lo & behold the awesome pavillions on santa monica had the freshest ahi.

p&bj || truffle mousse pate & blackberry jam
a little polarizing, this is definitely a dish for those who enjoy a heavy helping of pate.  i for one definitely enjoyed the balance of meat & sweet.

~ livin’ the high life ~
domaine de canton ginger liqueur, miller high life, lemon

chef Boyardee || smoked salmon lasagna
this came out freaking amazing.  and we put it in a bed of spicy dill mustard sauce & topped with goat cheese & heirloom tomatoes.  

~ lemonade stand ~
gin, cucumber, lemon, simple syrup.  mason jar.
 

danger dogs || bacon wrapped bison with onions, garlic aioli & curry ketchup
no words can describe.  the lean bison paired with the fatty bacon did wonders to the palate & who doesn't love a nice splattering of garlic anything?

fla-vor-ice || lemon mint granita
let's just call it what it is.  pennsylvania water-ice.  pronounced watah. a super fragrant lemon mint granita on top of a creamy mint soft serve.

~ homemade horchata ~
horchata, rum. made from scratch.

gruel || arroz con leche
topped with what else, disco dust!  who doesn't love eating gold?

cinnabon || duck confit brioche rolls
and finally, the surprise guest of the evening... a take home cinnabon for those midnight munchies.

you can read all about it here: http://www.cakeandheels.com/2011/08/suprise-cloak-dinner-guest-duck-confit.html

Cloak & Dinner: Rags to Riches Invite

RICHARD RICH SR.

Perk up, son. It won't be long before you're having tea and crumpets with the queen!

RICHIE RICH

I'd much rather eat a hot dog at Wrigley Field.

RICHARD RICH SR.

So would I, son. So would I.

It doesn't take a Swiss bank account and a majority share of Microsoft to appreciate a tasty meal, and you'd be remiss to find a foie gras eating, souffle spooning, champagne sipping trillionaire who doesn't long for the simple days of Slim Jims, Twinkies, and Kool-Aid. Be it in dorm or double-wide, school lunch or stadium, we've all come to adore the bounty of salt, sugar, and cellophane that is America's vast extra value menu. Tonight, we've raised the bar on low-brow, bleached the blue collar, and taken classless cuisine to culinary school. Savor the sweet taste of success as some of our favorite down-and-out delicacies finally get a piece of the pie.

~ nicole iizuka | sean brogan | isaac zucca ~

Please join us for the 5th Cloak & Dinner supper club. Details below.

10 Seats

5~6 Courses + Cocktail Pairings

$45

Saturday August 13th

6pm

Location will be given out once you've RSVPd & have a confirmed spot.

Please RSVP to rsvp@cloakanddinner.com. First 10 people to do so (per timestamp) will be confirmed.  We will not accept more than a +1 RSVP.  This will also be the last dinner in which we do the RSVP on a first come first serve basis.  From here on out we're changing it up to a lottery!

*Also, as we are buying ingredients for all of the courses based on the RSVP, once you've said you're in, you're responsible for the $45*

** if you have any food allergies, let us know. will do our best to accommodate.**

A few other nit-picky notes

please be prepared to bring CASH to the event, I can't take credit cards

please plan to be on-time and for the dinner to last from 3-4 hours

there will be 3-4 paired cocktails, but you are more than welcome to BYO, beer, wine, soda

this dinner will be on a rooftop, so dress appropriately for sundown

Previous Dinners + Photos

Any Colour You Like || 5/30/11

Rookie Blunders || 6/11/11

E Pluribus uNOM || 7/3/11

A Day in the Life || 7/23/11

Any other questions, please check out our FAQ on our website.

Cloak & Dinner: A Day in the Life || 7/23/11

Dear Foodbuzz 24 x 24 Challenge ~

Recently I've started an underground supper club with a few friends in which we design to push the boundaries of cuisine & cocktails in an intimate dinner party setting.  I've roped in my good friend Sean Brogan to help with the cooking (and the witty invites) and my wonderful boyfriend Isaac Zucca, a self taught mixologist to design our drink menu.  Together we warp expectations & redefine what one can expect from 3 amateur foodies.

For July, our challenge was this: design a menu which crams twenty-four hours of human sustenance into one hearty dining experience, featuring food and drink from dawn til dusk (and then some.)   So, come join us for a night of bastardizing temporal conventions as we aim to prove that good food doesn't own a watch.

Sincerly,
Cake & Heels

Breakfast

 "Air Toast" filled with Butter & Jam

to make air bread, we rolled out pizza dough until it was incredibly thin & then baked it on high so it puffed up into adorable little pockets of joy.  i added a few smiling strawberry toasts with little chocolate eyes for a flare of fun.

Morning Glory Fizz

 designed to look like a fried egg, this delicate cocktail is refreshingly light, but packs a nice punch with a heavy helping of scotch.

Second Breakfast

 Quail Eggs Royale w/ Caviar

homemade mini english muffins topped with a bit o lox, poached quail eggs, hollandaise and a spoonful of caviar for a nice salty finish.

Spicy Mule

 made with a ginger & chili simple syrup and a touch of ground black pepper on top.

Luncheon

 Grilled Avocado Boats stuffed with Buffalo Chicken

when pondering how to make best use of our barely functioning kitchen with no oven & one burner, firing up the grill is the next best option.  with that as the inspiration, this dish ended up being a slice of genius, the spicy buffalo sauce cooled off by a heavy handful of blue cheese and a creamy melted avocado to finish the flavor.

Mr. Brogan clearing a few empty dishes. 

Snack

 Jicama Chips with Strawberry & Jalapeno Salsa

diced farmers market strawberries tossed with a nice dice of jalapeno, garlic & red onion, the flavors all mixed quite nicely, and we got a chance to use our new mandoline on perhaps one of the largest jicama's we've ever seen.

Barkeep Mr. Zucca serving up cocktails

Vesper Martini

 shaken not stirred

Inspiring Mr. Brogan to slice the steak cutely.

Supper

 Steak Dinner w/ a Taster of Exotic Salts

espresso, garlic, applewood smoked & ghost pepper salts to accompany a nice steak, roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts.

Sangria Flora

 light & fruity, a nice little transition into the succulently sweet...

Midnight Munchies!

 Compost Cookies, Smores, Chocolate Covered Banana Pops & Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

all of my favorite midnight munchies piled high on a plate! 

Cloak & Dinner || A Day in the Life

Thank you Foodbuzz 24x24!