Texas Monthly: Elouise Cooper’s City Lite

Featured in the November/December 1989 issue of Domain Magazine

Elouise Cooper’s City Lite

New Year’s Eve revelers will appreciate this stylish repast for two, created by Elouise Cooper, formerly of Ouisie’s Table in Houston.

Crab-and-Ham Pasta Sautè
Norwegian Salmon Filets
Chocolat Pot de Crème

As an appetizer, angel-hair pasta is crowned with sautèed crab, shrimp, and ham and jalapeño-tarragon butter. The entrèe is Norwegian salmon — rosy-pink filets beaded with caviar and served with braised endive. Cleanse the palate with a mixed-greens salad tossed with olive oil and lime juice and sprinkled with sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and cracked pepper. Then get ready for dessert — chocolat pot de crème capped with shave chocolate. Loyalists with fond memories of the late, lamented Ouisie’s Table (the restaurant closed in August) will find solace in the chef’s current project: a cookbook of Cooper’s greatest hits.

(Below lists ingredients for complete menu; for individual recipe grocery lists, see separate recipe pages.)

Meat & Dairy
butter
1/2 pound lump crabmeat, lumps intact
1/4 pound salad shrimp (optional)
1/4 pound diced baked ham
heavy cream
2 seven-ounce Norwegian salmon filets
eggs
milk
unsweetened whipped cream

Produce
1 red or green jalape�o pepper
fresh tarragon or marigold mint
1 orange
1 shallot
2 lemons
fresh dill
4 endives

Grocery
salt
angel-hair pasta
whole peppercorns
white pepper
cayenne pepper
chicken broth
nutmeg
olive oil
caviar
sugar
12 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels
vanilla
chocolate or white-chocolate

Liquor Store
dry white vermouth