Suzette then sautéed the duck, onion and potatoes and decided to make a hash. So, she layered the cheese on the mixture in the skillet and covered it with a lid to melt the cheese and then she carefully laid several eggs on the top of the cheese, added three Tbs. of water to the skillet and re-covered the skillet with the lid to poach the eggs, while I toasted slices of French baguette and squeezed fresh orange juice. We then got a jar of Heidi’s Raspberry Jam from the fridge and plated the bread and hash and had a wonderful breakfast.
It seems to me that in the course of a year’s cooking we make about three or four really important discoveries about cooking and the hash today provided one such discovery. The eggs on top of the hash were cooked perfectly to my liking: the white was firm on both top and bottom and the yellow yolk was creamy and runny. I think this was done by Suzette adding the 3 Tbs. of water to the hash filled skillet and covered it to create a steamy atmosphere in which the eggs poached. This worked better than a poaching skillet because the eggs cooked into the hash and became more of an integrated dish, unlike the usual when you get an watery egg poached in water laid on the top of the hash.
This small but meaningful change in the preparation made a huge difference in the total taste profile of the dish. Voila
I wanted to use up the turnips and PPI potatoes and red and yellow bell peppers, so we decided to make a veal stew for dinner. We knew that cooking the broth would destroy the integrity of the ingredients, so we decided to use the left over duck bones from the thigh and leg we had just eaten in the stock.
I filled a large pot with water and then added 1 large chopped brown onion, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 3 stalks of chopped celery, 3 chopped carrots and a few sprigs each of thyme, oregano and sage..
We cooked the stock for several hours and then turned it off and went to Costco to buy a container of baby Portabella mushrooms and then on to the Garden Gate Day Spa for treatments.
When we returned home at around , I turned the heat on under the stock again and cleaned and diced 1 lb. of veal stew meat (Alpine Sausage Kitchen $6.99/lb.), while Suzette cleaned and peeled the turnips and minced ½ brown onion and a red and a yellow bell pepper. I then chopped the five or six turnips, three more carrots, the two remaining PPI baked potatoes and five or six portabella mushrooms. Suzette then tossed the veal in flour, salt and pepper and then sautéed it in a large pot with about 1 ½ Tbs. of freshly made garlic infused olive oil that had been made and given to us by Chef Eric. We had gone to the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery after our treatments at about 3:30 p.m. to pick up a fresh fruit strudel baked by the Bistro’s head baker, Armando and Eric surprised us with the olive oil, perfect for dinner.
After the veal had braised, Suzette added the chopped onion, red and yellow bell peppers. After it had sauteed for about 3 minutes she deglazed the mixture with about 1/2 cup of leftover German Reisling. We then started to add the hot stock slowly to the mixture and it turned a lovely creamy consistency. Very simliar to making a roux. We then added the turnips and carrots and cooked the stew for about 45 minutes. At about we added the potatoes and mushrooms.
When our dinner guests Jane Phillips and Max Aragon, arrived at around I went to the garden and picked four or five small sprigs of parsley and chopped it and threw it into the stew pot and fetched the bag of spinach from the garage fridge (a Costco 2.5 lb bag). Then Suzette spun about three cups of the spinach to clean it and I shredded about 1 cup of Romano Pecorino cheese.
We went to the cellar to fetch a bottle of white wine and a bottle of La Granja Spanish wine (Trader Joe’s $4.99 50% Tempranillo and 50% Granache), we opened the La Granja and had a glass and talked while the stew cooked. I added about 1 or 1/1/2 cups of water in small amounts to the stew during the hour of cooking and stirred it so it would maintain its light creamy texture and not get thick or gooey.
Then I heated the last half of the French Baguette (Trader Joe’s $2.99) and opened the 2009 Marsanne white (Wellington Vineyards, Glen Elyn, CA $20.00).
We covered the bottom of a large pasta bowl with a handful of the fresh spinach and about ¼ cup of the grated cheese and then ladled over it about 1 cup of the stew and served the bowls of stew with warm bread and the rich Rhone style Marsanne in front of the fire. We all felt like elegant peasants feasting on the winter vegetable stew on a winter’s night in front of the fire.
The veal stew’s texture was light and creamy and a nice balance of fresh root vegetables (turnips, potatoes, and carrots), flavorful stock, and veal, spinach, bell peppers and mushrooms.
After saying goodbye to Jane and Max, while we cleaned the kitchen and discussed the day’s cooking. Suzette said, “I think I am becoming a better cook.” I agreed with her and emphatically believe that. One by-product of cooking together and blogging has surely been the strengthening of our bond as we become a better team in the kitchen and work together to streamline the cooking tasks to reduce the time it takes to cook. The food and recipes show that, I hope.
Bon Appètit
No comments:
Post a Comment