Ebony's Pearls

Apple Pie
Originally uploaded by nodigio

This is the official inaugural luncheon: http://inaugural.senate.gov/luncheon/index.cfm

They call the first course a seafood stew, but it’s really a pot pie since it has a crust. Paired with sauvignon blanc.

Second course is pheasant and duck with a sour cherry chutney, a wild rice stuffing, winter vegetables (which includes asparagus – a spring vegetable), molasses whipped sweet potatoes, paired with pinot noir.

Dessert is a sponge cake served with champagne.


This is what I would serve:

First Course: Appetizer

Bread Cornucopia filled with tiny breads, winter vegetables, and fruits cut for dipping, surrounded by large hollowed vegetables filled with dips, paired with a sparkling apple cider. One per table to be shared among guests, already on the table when guests are seated.

Second Course: Soup

A roasted hubbard squash soup with hazelnuts and chives, garnished with delicate star shaped crackers and paired with a sparkling pomegranate cranberry juice

Third Course: Entrée

As a tribute to Obama’s origins, I’d select a tripartite entrée of beef, tuna, and turkey (beef for Chicago, tuna for Hawaii, and turkey for America):

Small portions of Chicago-style beef tenderloin slices with bleu cheese butter, grilled tuna cubes tossed with pineapple, scallions, and a lime sauce, and a honey brined smoked turkey loaf with cranberry apple chutney (although it was very tempting to consider a turbaduken) in the middle of the plate surrounded by a medley of roasted winter vegetables (Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower, fingerling potatoes, onion, sweet potatoes, apples, and savoy cabbage in a warm mustard sauce) and a puree of swirled mashed potatoes (sweet potatoes and white potatoes, swirled yin/yang) with an herb butter pooling in the "eye" of each half. Pair this with a choice of pinot grigio or pinot noir. I think either would go well with the entree.

Fourth Course: Dessert

A medley of cupcakes served with fruit sorbets, paired with a bubbling champagne.