EP 21 : Team Cuisine

EPsters from far and wide gathered on the evening of Saturday, Jan 21 for Team Cuisine at the home of Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon (all right, we gathered only from the East side of Portland, but we did represent N, NE, and SE). Team Cuisine, you ask? Here's Miss Tasty's original e-mail detailing the event. A few moderations were made, but we'll get to those later.

We all arrive and talk, and eat, and drink, as tends to happen at EP gatherings. Then, names are put into a hat. We are short a few people, so we decide that 2 teams of 3 are better than 3 teams of 2 (there are 4 crusts anyway, so each team will be able to craft 2 pies).

As the hosts, Miss Tasty holds the hat and Smooth Melon draws names for team captains. Then, each captain draws 2 additional names from the hat to complete the teams. Here are the details on round 1.

Team 1 - Hungry T as captain, Scoop and Smooth Melon as co-conspirators. The pie: coconut red curry sauce, curried potatoes, goat cheese, cracked black pepper, and cilantro, baked to perfection (or maybe just a touch short of perfection), served with wedges of fresh lime to be squeezed on top. Everyone agrees, points for both taste and creativity. By the time we get to eatin', the pie has cooled ever so slightly, and I feel it would have been a bit better if consumed when piping hot.

Team 2 - Miss Tasty as captain, V-Licious and JH as co-conspirators. The pie: tomato sauce, mozzarella, hot sopressata, and caramelized fennel. Then the twist, in the center, broccoli shavings and a dollop of goat cheese. This is genius, as it serves as a sort of built in amuse bouche for the slice, as the center is naturally the first bite. Pie was done perfectly, sopressata was slightly crispy. Lovely.

Oh, while photographing pie #2, I tweaked some setting on the camera that threw off the white balance, so pies 2, 3, and 4 will look a little darker than pie 1.

There are a few late arrivals, as we agree to add their names to the hat and re-draw for teams. Again, as hosts, Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon draw for captains. In turn, each captain draws three more names from the hat to complete the teams. After a short break for digestion and discussion, the cooking continues... Oh, forgot to mention that using the same ingredients you used on the first pie has been forbidden.

Team 3 - Scoop as capitan, with RT, KL, and Hungry T as sous chefs. The pie: olive oil base, zucchini sauteed in oil with a dash of salt and drizzled with agave honey, topped with a cheese blend, crushed Marcona almonds, and cracked black pepper. Tasty, well prepared, albeit a touch sweet, and all agreed that the color combination and overall visual design were lovely.

Team 4 - Smooth Melon as capitan, with JH, V-Licious, and Miss Tasty as sous. This will be the final pie of the night, and the pressure is on. The pie: tomato sauce base, sauteed asparagus, truffle oil, garlic, mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan. With this pie, Team 4 used on of those metal pizza pans with holes in it instead of the pizza stone (which had been used all night). Bold move at experimentation, which resulted, unfortunately, in a limp and somewhat soggy crust. The pie itself was delicious, though, faint hints of truffle, and that tasty asparagus. Mmm.

JH had a birthday last week. V-Licious made a carrot cake in his honor (and from a recipe from his youth). It was amazing. Moist, great frosting (just sweet enough, leaving plenty of zip from the cream cheese), no nuts or raisins, either. Just moist, lovely cake. Happy b-day, JH!

As always, a magical evening of food and friends. But, we are left with one unanswered question, does cheese count as a topping? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments section.

EPsters, if I've left anything out, please feel free to add to this, and if I've gotten anything wrong, correct away. Oh, and now that I have this all written, and practically posted it, it occurs to me that it may be very bad form to post if you didn't host. Hopefully Miss Tasty will forgive me?

Until next time...