Number 9 Restaurant and Catering Co.

Staying In?

Taryn — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:27:36 +0000

Are you staying in for Valentines Day? Maybe you want to create a wonderful meal at home for your loved ones? My favorite end to a meal is the chocolate molten cake. In my mind, nothing can beat this after dinner. I’m hoping to have one tonight myself.

Want to create it tonight? Well, here you go…

You will need:

6 T. butter
1 cup bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. cocoa powder
2 yolks
3 whole large eggs

Over a double broiler, melt chocolate and butter together. Mix all other ingredients together and whisk. Pour in chocolate/butter mixture. Fold into mixture. Pour in individual buttered 4 oz. foil cups.

Bake at 450 degrees for 7 minutes.

Enjoy!

Valentines Day

Taryn — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:16:26 +0000

This coming Tuesday is Valentines Day, a favorite day for love and for going out to eat. Want to enjoy a lovely meal out with your significant other this year, come to Number 9. Want to forget about all the people in love and go out with a friend? You should still come to Number 9!

Tim and I haven’t gone out for Valentines Day in years, because we’re always working. Same reason we haven’t gone out for New Years. I think the last time we went out was 2002, the year we got engaged. But if my memory serves me correct, we actually went out the day after Valentines Day. For some reason, I still always say we got engaged on Valentines Day. I just realized while typing this that it is out 10 year anniversary of being engaged! Wow, time sure does fly.

Tim has some great options for Valentines Day this year. Instead of just having a special menu, we decided to keep the regular menu, but still have some wonderful special things as specials, for those people who want something a little more fancy. And, of course, we have some lovely sparkling wines and champagnes, for those who are into bubbly (it’s one of my favorite things!).

He is still finalizing some things, but I did get some hints from him about what is in store this weekend, and all the way up to Tuesday, the actual “big day”.

Here’s a idea of what will be available on Tuesday:

Cream Hill Farm Veal Osso Bucco
with Porcini Mushrooms, Risotto & Celery Root

and one of my favorite desserts
Bittersweet Chocolate Souffle
with Grand Marnier Sauce

Wedding Season

Taryn — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:30:37 +0000

With wedding season rapidly approaching, I decided to post some information about our favorite vendors. First up is a amazing photographer and friend, Brooke Slezak. I met her a couple of years ago at a Harvest Party at Herondale Farm, which she took some gorgeous photos of, including a few of my adorable little girls. We then had the good fortune of having her take some pictured for our website. I was so excited when she told me she also does wedding photography. Brooke is truly a wonderfully, laid back person to work with, and you know you are getting the best. Do you need some wedding photography? Well, check out her website.

www.brookeslezak.com

Winter Soup

Taryn — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:39:31 +0000

Here is a recipe on one of my favorite winter soups. This is also one of the first courses at the restaurant. And, sometimes for holidays, we offer it to go in quart containers for our customers. Enjoy!

Winter Squash Soup

(serves eight)

Ingredients:

1 – large Butternut squash, peeled and cut into rough 1 inch dice
1 – large Spanish onion, sliced
1 – sprig of fresh rosemary and a sprig or two of fresh thyme
2 – oranges
1/2 pound of butter
1 – bay leaf
1/2 cup white wine
6 – 7 cups of chicken stock (or organic low sodium chicken stock)
2 Tbl. brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Crumbled ricotta salata (to garnish)
chives (to garnish)
Truffle oil (to garnish)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in large stockpot. Add onions. Add zest from orange, rosemary (thyme is optional), and bay leaf.

2. Cook until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and cook about 10 minutes until butternut squash gets soft, stirring every few minutes so it doesn’t burn on the bottom. Add white wine and juice from oranges.

3. Cook until half the liquid is reduced (almost syrup consistency). Add chicken stock (to cover squash about an inch). Simmer until squash is completely tender. Remove bay leaf. Blend until completely smooth.

4. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with ricotta salata, sliced chives and truffle oil.

Thanksgiving

Taryn — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:54:11 +0000

Tim and I love Thanksgiving! It is truly an American holiday about being thankful, and one that is centered mostly on food. What’s not to like? Tim’s birthday is also always on or around the holiday, so it is always a special holiday for him.
We are getting our turkeys from Northwind Farm. They are free range turkeys and are truly the best turkey I’ve ever had. Tim does a great job of providing traditional Thanksgiving food but with some other options too. We offer a fish option, venison, and a vegetarian option.
One of my favorites is Tim’s brussel sprouts. I didn’t even like brussel sprouts until I tasted this version of his sprouts. There’s really nothing not to like. Creamy and bacony, it’s truly heaven mixed in with some brussel sprouts. I’m working on getting a recipe for everyone. More on that soon…

Getting Involved

Taryn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:30:21 +0000

Number 9 is proud to be a big supporter of the Northeast Community Center in Millerton. We are involved in many of their events and we are excited to be in the midst of planning their annual benefit. NECC is having a Masquerade Ball on October 28th.
It will be at the home of Pilar Proffitt and Robert Bristow, who own the design company Poesis and were just featured in the NY Times for the beautiful, amazing home:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/garden/in-connecticut-making-a-prefab-home-their-own-on-location.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=robert%20bristow&st=cse

Tim will be making a charceuterie plate, as well as a cheese plate with cheese from The Amazing Real Live Cheese Co. Coco’s Crumbs will be providing scrumptious goodies. And Pointy Snout Caviar will be donated caviar to the exciting event.

The NECC is a wonderful organization that I went to when we first moved here and joined their Mommy playgroup called, “Growing Together”. I made wonderful friends and connections there, one of them being Pilar Proffitt, who is hosting the party. The NECC has groups for toddlers, after school programs, GED classes, exercise classes. It also has a wonderful teen program and Care Car program that I would highly suggest checking out. It also runs the fabulous Millerton Farmers Market that is one of the highlight of our week. We love walking around there with our kids and checking out all the great local foods. The NECC is right on South Center St. in Millerton.

If you’re interested in attending the fundraiser, it would be a great place to go after dinner at Number 9, it’s at 8 pm on Friday October 18th. It’s a Masquerade Ball so the dress is costume chic! Get your tickets at www.neccmillerton.org

2nd Annual Beer Dinner

Taryn — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:05:49 +0000

Well we have been quite busy over here lately. First of all, look at our beautiful website! We are so excited to unveil our new look.

We have also been working on our Beer Dinner menu. We also did the Beer Dinner last year and it was a huge success. We’re excited to do it again. We decided this year to use New York State Beers, and we went with Ommegang and Sixpoint. They both make some wonderful beers.

I’m not a huge beer drinker myself, I leave that to Tim, but Ommegang Witte has converted me. It is practically the only beer I will drink now. It’s pretty amazing. It will be one of the beers featured in our dinner and it will be paired with some Blue Point Oysters on the Half Shell. It has actually won awards in 2008 for the best in its category. It is a Belgian White. And this is what they say about Witte on their website, “Imagine…High, white, fluffy summer clouds. A soft breeze through a citrus grove. A heavenly bite of orange chiffon cake. All of these come to your mind as you lift our pale golden wheat ale to your lips. It’s so soft, so light on your tongue, you think, as the tart lemon, bitter orange, and subtle spiciness of coriander arrive to round out the intriguing delicacy of this delicious ale.” It’s kind of funny to me to see that kind of detail on a beer description, but it’s pretty accurate and delicious.

The Beer Dinner will feature 7 different beers and 6 courses. One of Tim’s favorites that will be featured is the Sixpoint Autumnation. It comes in a can! There’s something about drinking really good beer from a can that just makes it more fun. This is how Sixpoint describes Autumnation, “Brewed with pumpkin, ginger and white pepper, and wet-hopped with just-harvested Citra hops from the oldest continually farmed hop farm in the country, it’s a burst of fresh, seasonal spices trapped in a 16-ounce. can.” Tim has paired the Autumnation with some Grilled Foie Gras with Honeycrisp Apples and Caramel Gastrique.

Well there you have it, a little teaser to tempt you for our Beer Dinner, tickets are available now. Limited seating is available. Thursday October 27th 7 pm. 518-592-1299.
Well, there you have it, a t

Cocktails

Taryn — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:54:31 +0000

One of our favorite things to do is to make seasonal cocktails for you all to enjoy. I have to be honest, this is not my area of expertise, this is left up to Tim and our manager, Josh. We try to come up with monthly new cocktails. Currently we have a pretty good mix going. We also love to infuse our vodka to use in these drinks. It has been very popular and it’s fun to be creative and try different things. One of our most popular drinks is the Spicy tomato martini. It’s been on the list since we opened and is still a big seller. Want to know how to make one at home? Here is is:
2 oz. spicy tomato vodka (we infuse this ourselves but you can also try it at home)
1 1/2 oz. tomato water
2 lemon wedges squeezed
splash of olive juice

shake and garnish with 2 tomatoes and 1 olive.

Enjoy!

Happy Fall

Taryn — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:37:59 +0000

Wow! It is unbelievable to me that it is September. The summer flew by. We loved seeing all you happy customers in the restaurant. Already, I see the leaves starting to change color. Fall in the Hudson Valley is one of my favorite things about this area.
On a personal note, our daughter Samantha started kindergarten yesterday, and I really can’t believe it. She is such a big girl. When I asked how her first day was, she exclaimed, “It was great!” I’m so glad she was happy and I hope she continues to love school.

We’ve been gearing up for a busy September too. This month we are catering parties from a private dinner for 8 and a large birthday party for 100. I love catering. Everything from planning the menu, to seeing the hosts enjoy their special day is so fulfilling.

Tim and I have been busy planning our fall and winter, we have lots of fun events coming up. Columbus Day weekend is our annual Harvest Party with Sol Flower Farm and Herondale Farm. Last year was a huge success and we’re hoping for nice weather and a good turnout again this year. We also have some Wine Pairing dinners coming up as well our our Beer Tasting Dinner. All this info will be available on our website and in our emails.

Tune in for some recipes of our drinks later this week!

Tomato Time

Taryn — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:45:16 +0000

Tim is so excited for the start of tomato season, finally! We are just getting the first tomatoes in the last few days. We will have a wonderful panzanella salad this weekend. It is truly one of my favorite things to eat in the summer. This year we are featuring tomatoes from our own garden. We are also featuring tomatoes from Old Forge Farm. The cucumbers come from my parents garden, we like to keep it in the family. We also have cucumbers from Sol Flower Farm. The herbs are from our own garden. Come on in and try our panzanella salad, and then try it on your own at home!

How to Make a Easy Panzanella Salad:

35 % Tomatoes

20% Cucumbers

Fresh Basil (a mixture of different basils, African, Thai, Opal, Lemon, Lime Basils)

20% Cheese, we like Mozzarella de Buffalo from Italy. You can also use feta, fresh mozzarella, fresh goat cheese, Amazing Real Live Co. Farmer Cheese

25% Bread (We like Bread Alone breads and we make croutons from it. Dry it out, bake it. It’s a great way to make old bread fresh again by

using fresh vegetables.)

Fresh Oregano

Fresh Marjoram

Olive Oil and White Balsamic Vinegar (3 to 1 Oil to Vinegar) (It’s key here to use a really good, extra virgin olive oil)

Salt and Pepper to Taste