When I was 18, I went to the Inn at Little Washington in northern VA with my parents and grandmother to celebrate her 80th birthday. That was nigh on 10 years ago (cringe!) and the Inn still tops all the "D.C.'s Best Restaurant" polls around. The accolades are well deserved. 10 years on and I can still taste the food I had there, my favourite being the apple and rutabega (swede) soup. Yum! Anyway, as we were leaving to go back to DC my parents bought me a signed copy of Patrick O'Connell's then-latest book, which is something that I still treasure today. The recipes in it are challenging but not impossible, and the results are so worth it!
I won't be writing out the recipes to these dishes as they can all be found in the Inn at Little Washington cookbook (link above) and I'm fairly sure I'd be violating some form of copyright law by posting them on the internet.
I do have pictures, though, and if anyone has any questions, leave a comment!
In This Post
Asparagus Salad with Pickled Egg and Beet Vinaigrette
Carpaccio of Baby Lamb with Arugula (Rocket), a Mustard-Rosemary Sauce and Tabbouleh
Medallions of Veal Shenandoah with a Calvados Cream and Spätzle with Walnuts
Cheese Course
Duo of Chocolate Mousses
Asparagus Salad with Pickled Egg and Beet Vinaigrette
The recipe originally called for quail eggs but we decided to use chicken eggs instead. I think it worked, but the dish was certainly less delicate than it would have been should we have used a quail egg. The eggs were pickled using a beetroot broth for colour.
The garnishes are deep-fried asparagus shavings, pistachios, beetroot cubes and a beetroot cream. Inspired!
To drink we had a Sancerre from Domaine Naudet 2009. It was nice with the asparagus but we probably could have done with a richer wine due to the beetroot and egg components of the dish.
Carpaccio of Baby Lamb with Rocket, a Mustard-Rosemary Sauce and Tabbouleh
The lamb carpaccio was made using a lamb loin trimmed of all fat and sinew, rolled in dried herbs and seared for the briefest of periods over a very high heat. The loin was then frozen so it could be cut very thinly.
I must admit I was worried about the sauce and tabbouleh, as when I made them they tasted way too strong for the dish. However, they'd really mellowed out by the time we were ready to serve. I'll definitely be making this dish again!
To drink we finished off the Sancerre and moved on to a Rioja Viña Arana 2001. It was of course too heavy, but we'd also bought it for the cheese. It actually went alright with the lamb and was absolutely delicious.
Medallions of Veal Shenandoah with a Calvados Cream and Spätzle with Walnuts
Yes, I know, it's springtime now and this dish is totally autumnal. Still, it was lovely and I'd have it all year round if I could (and weren't worried about a coronary from all the cream in this dish...)
The garnishes were granny smith apples sauted in butter, calvados and cider and prunes macerated in cider. The sugar and acid from the garnishes really cut through the richness of the spätzle and cream sauce.
To drink, we had two ciders: Shappy's Dabinett Apple Somerset Cider and Waitrose Organic Vintage Cider 2009. The cider we used in cooking was Henry Weston's Medium Sweet Oak Aged Herefordshire Cider.
Cheese Course
Our cheeses were (clockwise from the top) Manchego, Cheshire, Bocconcino di Pura Capra, Compté, Taleggio.
The cheeses were accompanied by a quince paste, a rocket, chicory and hazelnut salad from the book Cheese Course, some bread and savoury biscuits.
To drink we finished off the red wine and had a glass of L'Ormarins Port from the Franschhoek Valley in South Africa.
Duo of Chocolate Mousses
These mousses were done using dark, unsweetened chocolate (Willie Harcourt-Cooze's Venezuelan) and white chocolate (Menier).
Unfortunately, the chocolate for the white chocolate mousse seized slightly during melting and the high cocoa content of the dark chocolate caused both the mousses to have weird textures, but they both still tasted nice. You live and you learn!
To drink we had decaff coffee. :-)
Ah, Sunday. This was certainly an epic Sunday dinner. I think next Sunday will have to be a giant salad...