Of Food and Art: January 2011

... and that's what you call a bird-themed dinner hosted by the Byrds, our first EGCC dinner for 2011. It was an awesome evening. We had a nice sparkling apéritif, delicious food (lots of it, as usual) and a great selection of red wines.

The dinner revolved around the star of the show - a TURDUCKEN. It's a bird within a bird within a bird. Oui, 3 birds in one. It's a stuffed boneless chicken that is stuffed in a boneless duck which is then stuffed in a turkey. The version we had was stuffed with 3 different kinds of stuffing. That is truly a lot of STUFF!

While waiting for the turducken to cook, we had a great time playing a game Connie brought called Foodie Fight where the men took turns with the women answering foodie trivia questions. What a fun fight it was! We ended with a tie. (Seriously, guys, we need a rematch.)

The Menu

The Place Setting

A beautiful bird plate. Thanks, Uncle Fred!

The plates looked great against the brown place mats.
Each plate had a different bird on it.

In line with the bird theme, we had 'flights'. Wine flights, that is.

The wines had a different color of ribbon to match those on the 4 glasses we each had.

That's a wild hibiscus flower in the champagne flute.
It gave the drink a nice rose color and a wonderful flavor.

So which came first - the bird or the egg?

We had deviled eggs - three different ways.
Why? Well, why not?

Niçoise Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

Horseradish Deviled Eggs

Now on to the dining table for the salad and the main course.
And the wine, of course.

Ten hours.
That's how long it took for the turducken to cook.
It was well worth the wait.
The turducken was tender and juicy, cooked to perfection.

Another 'bird' has landed on the table -
a cute little duck knife rest.

Homemade "No Knead" Bread
Yumm!

Bibb Lettuce with Feta Cheese, Chopped Apples
and Toasted Pine Nuts
served cold with French Vinaigrette

The color-coded wine flight

This is how the turducken looked like before roasting.

Big and heavy is what it was and stuffed with all the goodies.

And this is how it looked like when it came out of the oven.

The turducken joined by a rooster - because three birds is not enough! ... just saying!

A look inside the big bird

A closer look at the 3 birds and the stuffing.
Click on the photo to see all the wonderful colors and layers in between the birds.
Here they are from the outside going in:
Turkey
Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing
+

Duck

Wild Rice, Mushroom and Apple Stuffing
+
Chicken
Dried Cherry and Pecan Stuffing
=

TURDUCKEN

The side dishes:
Cauliflower Potato Mash
Homemade Green Bean Casserole
Maple Cider Braised Greens
Pomegranate Turkey Gravy
Spiced Peach Halves (a Byrd family recipe - not in photo)

And last but not the least, we had this mouth-watering dessert called

Valencia Orange Cake .

Click the link above to access the recipe.

Thanks, Walt, for sharing this!

Isn't it beautiful?
This work of art is drizzled with an orange liqueur glaze.

The Birdie Byrd Dinner was a great success, a fun event and an
amazing way to start the 2011 EGCC dinners.

Special thanks to Jean and Dean and to the EGCC!

(My nephew, Matty, is in town and he helped me with this post. Thanks, Matty!)

Last year, I bought a tub of Medjool dates with the hopes of baking these delicious date-and-nut bars but I never got around to making them. Sad to say, they made it to the trash.

This holiday season, I finally made a few batches. Yumm-ee!!! See the recipe below courtesy of my dear sister-in-law, Alice (thanks so much!).