Inaugural Luncheon
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): 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.
Sides would be a medley of roasted winter vegetables (Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower, fingerling potatoes, onion, sweet potatoes, apples, and savoy cabbage in a warm mustard vinaigrette) and a puree of swirled mashed potatoes, (sweet potatoes and white potatoes swirled into a yin/yang with pools of herb butter as the "eyes" of each half).
The potatoes would be centered on the plate, with small portions of the meats spaced around it and the vegetable medley either ringing them all in or divided between the meats.
Pair this with a choice of pinot grigio or pinot noir. I think either would go well with the entree and vegetables.
Fourth Course: Dessert
A medley of cupcakes served with tiny scoops of fruit sorbets, paired with a bubbling champagne.
If this were a dinner instead of a luncheon, I'd add a salad course and serve a fancier dessert.
