Sunday is Family Dinner Night

It's funny how Sunday ends up being Family Dinner Night, but some chefs are completely pooped by the time Sunday night rolls around and the Family Dinner ends up being a quick and dirty throw-together. That is what Sunday night was like for me. After work, I cruised home, cracked open a beer while watching the second half of the afternoon NFL games and started thinking about how to quickly get this next meal off my schedule.

Quick scan in the fridge reveals some baked ham, a ton of eggs, fingerling potatoes, a variety of cheeses and a big bowl of risotto. I think it's going to be ham and cheese souffle time. Souffles are really easy to throw together, especially if you have a stand mixer. Quick bechemel, 4 egg yolks mixed in after it cools a bit, add diced ham and shredded fontina and asiago cheeses, whip the egg whites, put into a greased souffle pan and into the oven until done.

It never works out that way in the restaurant though. Souffles pretty much suck for service unless you have a really small place and several ovens. Plus, it's just a difficult dish to serve in general, with the exception of small plate size souffles that you can serve as an appetizer or for dessert. Tomorrow is Monday and oh happy days, I don't have to work. I will probably finish up the Christmas shopping, send the last few cards that need to be sent to arrive in time for the Big Day, and, oh yeah, I gotta start dreaming up ideas for the new Winter menu that we will start on January 1.