March 14, 2012 Lunch – PPI Ma-Po Do-Fu Dinner - Salmon Medallions with Asparagus and Orange Hollandaise Sauce

March 14, 2012  Lunch – PPI Ma-Po Do-Fu  Dinner - Salmon Medallions with Asparagus and Orange Hollandaise Sauce

Peter Eller came by for lunch and when I showed him the bucket of PPI Ma-Po Do-fu and rice in the fridge, he said that looked good, so we heated plates of rice and Ma-Po Do-fu and took the plates outside to the pavilion in the garden and sat in the warm sun light and talked about his recent decision in the Court of Appeals in Hicks v. Eller and the world of art in general.

When I arrived home after meditation, I suggested to Suzette that we use the two small medallions of fresh salmon I had cut off the larger medallions we used to cook Tuesday (March 14, 2012) evening’s Northern California Salmon and Grilled Tomato wedges and sliced asparagus dish, but to make a more classically French meal.  Suzette agreed and said she would help. To save time we decided, rather than poaching the salmon and reducing the poaching medium to a fumè to enrich the Hollandaise sauce that we would sauté the salmon in the skillet with the PPI olive oil and some of the sliced asparagus from Tuesday evening’s meal.  So I opened my “Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1” to the page on Hollandaise sauce and got an eight ounce stick of butter from the fridge.  Julia Child’s recipe for Hollandaise Sauce is a little tricky, but works beautifully.  I melted 6 ounces of butter in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave and after it melted, put it aside to cool.  Then I got an enameled sauce pan and we put three well beaten egg yolks and 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice in the sauce pan and then 1 ounce of the remaining cold butter and Suzette started heating the mixture over very low heat to melt the butter into the egg yolk/lemon mixture. When the butter has melted we took the pan off the heat and added the remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter to cool the mixture down.  Then we put the mixture back on the stove and added some orange zest and a dash of salt and white pepper and began dripping the melted butter into the mixture at a rate of about ¼ tsp. at a time and then stirred in the butter until the mixture was smooth.  After a few drips of butter the sauce began to thicken.  I added about ½ Tbsp. of tomato paste and stirred it into the sauce.  We drizzled more butter and stirred the sauce until we had added all of the melted butter (about four or five Tbsp.) but none of the thick white butter fat at the bottom of the cup.  Then I added about ½ Tbsp. of fresh orange juice instead of the finishing lemon juice the recipe called for.  Suzette wanted some color and asked me to chop some chives, so I fetched five or six chive stalks and chopped them into short pieces for garnish.  We heated PPI basmati rice and steamed 10 stalks of asparagus.  

Suzette then plated up the dishes and drizzled Hollandaise sauce onto the grilled fish and asparagus and we got the open bottle of Raymond Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc from the Tuesday evening tasting from the fridge.   I loved the dish and felt comforted by it, but Suzette found it too heavy and said it gave her indigestion. 

I need to make a statement here because in this evening and last evening’s meals, we have in front of us a clear example of the distinction between Northern California Cuisine and French Cuisine. Tuesday evening’s recipe did not have any sauce and Suzette felt compelled to make a simple sauce out of the left over tomato pulp and liquid from inside the tomato and a bit of balsamic vinegar.  The dish as written in the Wine Country Cookbook had no sauce.  Northern California Cuisine emphasizes the freshness of the ingredients.  The California recipe garnished the dish with a mound of micro greens instead of a sauce (the recipe photo showed what appears to be baby red kale leaves).  The French would never serve an entrèe without a sauce and Hollandaise sauce is a classic accompaniment to sautéed fish and asparagus.  I tried to soften the sauce and giving it a California sensitivity by adding orange juice instead of lemon juice, but Suzette said she preferred the sharper tanginess of lemon in Hollandaise, so that was not a great modification.  But the contrast between the thick creamy sauce and the grilled fish and fresh steamed asparagus was pleasing to me and I thought that the absence of a sauce in the Northern California Cuisine recipe left the recipe lacking a necessary dimension, as did Suzette, apparently.  Perhaps the problem with the California recipe, as we prepared it, was that we lacked the micro greens; so Suzette had garnished the dish with finely chopped romaine lettuce, which is not as interesting or delicious as micro greens.  I can imagine the combination of the salmon flavored olive oil from the grilled salmon combining with the micro greens to make a pleasing mélange.

So where does that leave us.  I think it indicates to me that it will be interesting to eat several meals at the Green House Bistro and Bakery during the period it serves Northern California Cuisine from April through June 2012 to see how the Bistro chefs interpret and present Northern California Cuisine.  Perhaps they can encourage me to adjust my taste to accept its simpler style of cuisine.      

Bon Appètit