Do It Yourself Gourmet

I posted earlier about dining at Sanford. I mentioned in that post that the chef there, Sanford D'Amato, writes a weekly column which offers recipes and stories from his cooking career. So, borrowing the idea from Alinea at Home, a food blog which I like very much, I'm going to prepare one of those recipes. This one, to be exact.

I haven't yet created it as I write this, so this post will be updated throughout the evening, or maybe tomorrow.

Back later.


UPDATE:

Well my shrimp shell tea is steeping and vegetables are chopped and ready to go. I would like to take this opportunity to brag about my perfectly julienned leeks and carrots, but my knife skills aren't that great. So instead of perfect little matchsticks, I have more of a short-bus julienne. No matter, I think it will be fine.


UPDATE #2:

Holy crap I just flambe'd! That was easily the most terrifying thing I have done today. I was pretty sure for about 10 seconds there that the flames were never going to go down.

FINAL UPDATE - THE VERDICT

Absolutely delicious. The peppercorns were obviously the dominant flavor in the sauce but the subtle brandy, shrimp stock, and oniony leek/shallot flavor came through as well. For the wine, I used 2007 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, which is a perennially well received New Zealand white. The nice thing about only having to use half a cup of wine, is that you get to drink the rest of the bottle yourself. I recommend you try this one. It doesn't involve very advanced cooking technique and all the ingredients are readily available. If you are having trouble locating green peppercorns, look in the pickle/olive aisle, near the capers.