October 2, 2012 Dinner- Grilled Salmon, Asparagus and pasta with pesto and crabapple jelly

October 2, 2012 Dinner- Grilled Salmon, Asparagus and pasta with pesto and crab apple jelly

When Suzette got home we talked to Willy and decided to cook the lamb chops in the fridge.  Willy loves mint jelly and lamb chops.   We did not have any mint jelly; so, of course, we decided to make fresh mint jelly.   We first looked to see if we had any pectin and we did not.  So Suzette and I did some cookbook research (she in “Betty Crocker” and I in “Joy of Cooking”) and we both found that crab apples were a good source of pectin.  When I told her that we had crab apples, Suzette suggested a rosemary and mint jelly, so we went out to our crab apple tree and picked up about three cups of crab apples that had fallen on the ground.  We then walked around the back of the house and picked a handful each of fresh rosemary and mint.

Suzette then put the fresh mint and rosemary leaves into a large, heavy bottom pot and added two cups of sugar and two cups of water and made a simple syrup while I plucked the stems and removed the spoiled spots from the crab apples.  Suzette then added the crab apples to the mint and rosemary simple syrup and simmered them together for about 1/2 hour.  We then strained the liquid and bottled it to see if it jelled.  The liquid did not jell. so Suzette said that she wanted to make a thicker syrup and made another batch of simple syrup in the same large pan with the crab apples, mint, and rosemary with 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water and it thickened more.

We poured off the second syrup into a jar and when Suzette tasted the remaining sludge in the bottom of the pan, she declared it to be delicious and we saw that the fruit had become glazed.  So she put the glazed fruit and herbs into an old cognac bottle with some vodka.   The start of a great martini.

After our mint sauce diversion we turned our attention back to dinner.  When we took the lamb chops out of the package, they smelled spoiled, so we threw them away.  I then pulled the PPI salmon filet left from our Sunday evening meal and it was fine, so we decided to grill the salmon and serve it with asparagus and pesto tossed sautéed pasta.  Willy and I went to the garden and picked a handful of fresh tarragon.  Then Willy made a compounded butter with butter and tarragon and lemon juice, which he and Suzette smeared onto the salmon.  I snapped 18 stalks of asparagus and got the pasta and pesto out of the fridge.

Suzette grilled the salmon and I steamed the asparagus.  While the salmon and asparagus were cooking, Suzette put about 1Tbsp. each of butter and olive oil into a large skillet and sautéed the PPI pasta and, when it was heated, Willy and Suzette added 3 large Tbsps. of pesto to the pasta and heated it thoroughly.  

I then ran downstairs and fetched a bottle of Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie “Reserve de Cleons” from the Loire valley.   The Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation is at the western end of the Loire Valley near the sea, around and west of Nantes.  It is a very light wine but very good with seafood, especially with the delicate flavor of oysters and mussels.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner with bits of PPI basil mayonnaise sauce Willy had made a couple of days ago and spread it on the asparagus and fish.

 Bon Appétit

 

       

 

 

 

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