November 28, 2013 Lunch – Turkey
and Cranberry Sauce Sandwiches, Dinner – A Taste of Alsace: Chicken with Riesling
Wine Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage and Spätzel and Salad
This is re-written because I inadvertently overwrote the
original description.
We spent the morning getting packed and then we made turkey
and cranberry sauce sandwiches on sliced of mayonnaise smeared whole wheat
bread. Suzette’s Greenhouse Bistro and
Bakery had taken orders for 35 Thanksgiving Turkey dinners and had given her
two or three slices of turkey white meat and a small container of cranberry
sauce.
We also packed a small zip lock bag with organic greens and
put the sandwiches and greens into a carrying bag with an apple.
Once we were airborne we ordered a Bloody Mary for Suzette
and a Heinekins beer for me and nibbled on our sandwiches in flight to Dallas.
When we arrived Billy picked us up and took us to his house
where we were greeted by his wife Elaine and their daughter and my niece,
Rebecca, who now is working for Goldman Sachs in NYC.
After the greetings we opened the wine box we had brought
and gave them the bottle of Green Tomato Chutney we had made and a bottle of
Los Cuates Green Chili Sauce and the small bottle of black truffles we had
bought in Soria, Spain (16.20 Euros) during the same trip we had taken with
them two years ago and two bottles of Trimbach 2000 Hommage a Jeanne Pinot Gris.
After dropping our suitcases in our room we went back to the
kitchen and Billy poured Suzette a glass of scotch and me a glass of apple
juice and we watched and talked while Billy, Elaine and Rebecca prepared an
Alsatian meal.
Billy had already prepared the Braised Red Cabbage, so he
started making the Chicken with Riesling Wine by sauteing 8 chicken thighs in
butter in one large deep skillet and chopping shallots and mushrooms and sauteing them in another skillet. Here
is the entire recipe:
Rebecca then started making the spätzel by mixing the
ingredients (2 cups flour, 7 fl. oz. milk, 1 tsp. salt and 3 eggs) and letting them sit for thirty minutes. After they had sat she processed them by
using a spätzel tool exactly like the one shown in the pictures below. The dough was dripped and cut into a large pot
of boiling water and the cooked spätzel were scooped out of the boiling water
and dropped into a sieve resting in a bowl of ice and water that immediately
cooled the spätzel and kept them from sticking together.
While Rebecca made the spätzel, Elaine made a fresh salad
with locally hydroponically grown butter lettuce, with yellow and red cherry
tomatoes, sliced pitted kalamata olives and one large cubed avocado and dressed
it with a light vinaigrette dressing.
In about two hours the chicken dish and spätzel and salad
were finished and Billy did one more thing to enhance the meal, he opened the
small jar of truffles we had brought, sliced off a large slice from one of the
truffles and chopped it finely. Then I
chopped it some more and put 1/3 in the spätzel and 2/3 in the chicken dish and
we stirred them to mix the flavor of the truffles into the sauce and noodles and
we were ready to eat. Billy opened the
Pinot Gris and I poured glasses of it and we served the chicken, spätzel and
cabbage at their lovely dining room table in their remodeled dining room set
with our parents’ blue damask table clothe and napkins at the dining room table
set with the Florentine pattern of Wedgwood china our parents bought on our
1960 European trip. Billy inherited the
items in the dining room in the residence we grew up in on Manderly Pl. in Fort Worth.
I felt at home and very comfortable in their elegantly appointed dining
room.
I laid a mound of spätzel on each plate and Billy scooped
chicken and mushroom cream sauce over it and we each served ourselves red
cabbage and ate it with sips of the beautifully balanced fruity with a hint of citrus
2000 Hommage a Jeanne that complemented and cut right through the creamy
buttery sauce accented by the earthy flavor of truffle.
This was the best Alsatian meal I have ever
had.
The meal could not have been better
if we had been sitting in a great restaurant in Alsace.
Here is the information on the wine:
- "The 2000 Pinot Gris Hommage a Jeanne was produced from a
selection of Trimbach's best Pinot Gris parcels (all harvested at over
15% natural potential alcohol). It sports 25 grams per liter of dry
extract and 20 grams per liter of residual sugar. While at most firms
this wine would merit a Vendanges Tardives bottling, the Trimbachs chose
to pay homage to Jeanne Trimbach, the mother of Bernard and Hubert, who
turned 100 in May 2000 and continues to drink Alsace's lovely nectars
to this day. This gorgeous wine has mineral and smoke-imbued white peach
aromas. On the palate, it is medium to full-bodied, dense, and rich.
Layer after layer of apricot, poached pear, white peach, and spices can
be found in its highly expressive, velvety-textured personality. It is
an intensely concentrated, wonderfully balanced, fresh, and structured
wine. Drink it between 2005 and 2018." - 93 Pts Pierre Rovani - The Wine Advocate
Product Info
Closure Type
Cork
Collectable
N/A
Kosher
No
Sparkling
No
Dessert
N/A
Taste
lemon, apple, and pear
Nose
floral, butter, cream, almond, and citrus
Here are the recipes for each of the dishes and pictures of
the dishes and plates of food:
 |
| Chicken in Riesling Wine sauce |
 |
| Voila |
 |
| Elaine and Rebecca |
 |
| Chicken with Riesling Wine |
 |
| Braised Red Cabbage |
After dinner Billy made decaffeinated coffee and we moved to
the table in the den beside the fireplace where Elaine had made a fire and in
the semi-darkness Rebecca showed us the pictures she took on her trip to Israel and Switzerland last year. Billy’s family is friends with the family of
the Swiss exchange student they hosted several years ago who live in Zurich
while we sipped a wide selection of liquors collected by Billy, including most
of the ones listed in the description of the November 30, 2011 meal below and
several new ones like Deau cognac from France, Ditta Bortalo Nardini Grappa
Riserva from Italy, and Fidelitas William Birne (Pear Brandy) from
Germany. I enjoyed the pear brandy the
best because it had a slightly sweet flavor.
Billy also served Lindt chocolate bars.
We all liked the pieces of dark chocolate filled with cranberry paste. I sipped several glasses of Franagelico and
felt like I was in heaven.
It is wonderful how well organized Billy and Elaine are in
designing and executing and presenting elegant celebratory meals such as this
sumptuous Alsatian feast. It makes me
realize that Suzette and I have a very different approach that is decidedly
less elegant and emphasizes simple dishes cooked quickly with fresh ingredients
from our garden and PPIs. We are either
lazy or pressed for time or lack the level of creativity and organization of
Billy and Elaine.
Rebecca said Billy had changed the menu slightly when I told
him what wine we were bringing. So
everything was orchestrated into a great Alsatian dining experience. We could have just as easily have been at one
of the best Alsatian restaurants in France tonight.
Bon Appétit
Here is the review of the great Thanksgiving meal Billy and
Elaine prepared for us in 2011, which I believe further confirms my theory that
they have a real skill for menu and meal design and execution.
November 30, 2011 – Extravagant Continental Thanksgiving
Dinner and Italian pasta lunch
If I had to describe how I feel about the last day’s food
and activities in an anthropomorphic simile, I would say I feel like a happily
overstuffed sausage.
I started the day getting packed in the Teak wood house in
the jungle south of Sayulita.
I then fixed breakfast of left over fish stew on a toasted
tortilla with a fried egg on it and a cup of peppermint tea.
After packing and a near disaster backing out of the
driveway of our rental house, it was on to Puerto Vallarta to meet Harold Lott,
Suzette’s ex-husband for lunch. We
suggested meeting him at a small Italian Restaurant named Moka Caffe located at
Plaza Marina just south of the airport.
He arrived a bit after 11:00 am with a friend from Lake Chapala
named Lupe. Suzette and I split a Cesar
Salad and a fresh made linguine with butter and sage and we opened our bottle
of French champagne that Billy and Elaine gave us. Luke and Harold ate fresh
gnocchi in a tomato sauce and Lupe had the special of the day Lasagna. I loved the lightly sauced fresh pasta,
although the Cesar salad was dressed with a mayonnaise and Worcestershire
dressing that as goopy and there were no whole anchovies as I had requested.
Total bill 530 pesos.
After lunch Harold invited us to visit his boat at the
marina about one mile south of the restaurant.
Harold owns a 38 foot Juneau
that has four rooms that sleep two comfortably
or three uncomfortably and a space for crew with a large galley and
bathroom and shower.
We sat on banquettes on either side of a table under the
main sail on the deck behind the galley and in front of the steering wheels and
drank beer for about an hour in the sun and shaded by a rigged bimini utilizing
the tarpaulin cover for the lifeboat.
There is not a lot of room on a sailboat but it was comfortable. We met Harold’s other sailing mates, Mary
Ann and Tom and Rick, who had accompanied him from PV to San Diego and back on
the fourteen day sail from which he had just arrived back. In fact on November 29, 2011 we had seen them
motor into the Banderas
Bay from the seafood restaurant
at Punta Mita at around 1:30 p.m.
Harold has a home at Lake Chapala
that he is developing into lots and condominiums that we discussed among other
things, like old friends; as we caught up on the last few years of individual
histories.
After a pleasant visit on the boat we drove to the airport
and returned the rental car and departed PV at around 4:00 p.m.
We arrived in Dallas and made our way through customs and
immigration by around 7:00 p.m. and were met by Elaine Simon, Bob’s sister in
law.
She called Billy, Bob’s brother and
told him we were on our way and Billy started the final prep of dinner.
When we arrived at Billy and Elaine’s house
in north Dallas,
dinner was prepped and the table set and wine decanted.
So as soon as we dropped our bags in our
respective rooms, we re-assembled in the kitchen.
While Billy and Elaine did the final cooking,
we nibbled duck pate on toasted slices of French bread and Leyden
cheese (which we all love).
Elaine
sautéed blanched broccoli in a pan with minced shallots, lemon, thyme, black
pepper and garlic (America’s
Test Kitchen Recipe for Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Lemon Browned Butter).
Billy heated up broad strips of Caramelized
butternut squash garnished with a sage, ricotta salada, and crushed hazelnut
Pesto (
www.Food52.com Caramelized
Butternut squash Wedges with Sage Hazelnut Pesto).
Billy also had made a lovely sweet potato
casserole with sweet potatoes cooked in cream and sugar and garnished with a
streusal of flour, cream, butter, brown sugar and pecans Sweet Potatoes with
Streuseled Topping from Cook’s Illustrated).
The meat was slow cooked pork tenderloin (America’s Test Kitchen.com Pan
Seared Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloins) served with a lovely sour cherry and
white onion in port sauce (Americastestkitchen.com Dried Cherry-Port Sauce with
Onions and marmalade) but without the marmalade.
Finally there was a bowl of brown rice
risotto.
A real Thanksgiving feast.
Let me discuss an issue that I noticed when both I and Billy
cooked the slow cooked pork tender described above. Billy has a fancy thermometer that has a long
probe that he used to measure the internal temperature of the pork
tenderloin. The recipe says to cook the
meat until it reaches an internal temperature of 135 to 140°F, which we
did. Unfortunately, the meat does not
appear cooked because the center of the meat is not fully coagulated and still
appears undercooked at this temperature, but I encourage you to fight your
tendency to continue to cook the meat until it looses its color and turns pink
or gray and try to eat the meat a little less cooked than you are used to
because that is the way the Spanish and French eat it. Billy did what I usually
do and that is to slice the meat and place it in the sauce to “finish cooking
it”, but I do not think that is the intent of the recipe. Billy left some pieces less well cooked and
they were very tender to the point of melting in your mouth.
To accompany this lovely array of foods, Billy opened two
beautiful bottles of wine; a silky smooth and elegant Gevrey-Chambertin Premier
Cru La Combe aux Moines 2000, Domaine Dominique Gallois and a Savigny-Les-Beune,
veille vignes, 2006, Domaine Phillip Girard, fruity with a hearty finish. We could not have had a better Thanksgiving
meal.
After we ate our fill of these lovely dishes and the food
cleared and talked for a few minutes, Billy said are you ready for coffee and a
disgutive and brought several hands full of bottles to the table, including
Mathilde Liquer Poire, Cognac Claude Chatelier XO, a Mercedes Eguren
Aguardiente de Orujo, Licor Valvanera from the Hospederia (Monastery) of
Valvanera in Rioja, a Pere Magliore Calvados and a Germain Robin brandy. Then Billy served coffee and delicious
Ghirardelli Ultimate Chocolate Cookies (allrecipes.com) and fresh
pineapple. Billy and Elaine had
purchased the Aguadiente the day we had our lunch at Eguren Vineyard near Laguardia, Spain,
in April 2011. After lunch Billy, Elaine
and Rebecca took the vineyard tour while Suzette went to the spa in Laguardia
and I took the vineyard tour at Marques de Riscal at Elciego. What a nice surprise! The Aguardiente had a lovely, clean slightly
fruity eau de vie, grappa taste; just the way you would want it to taste. Then I tried a few sips of the Licor
Valvanera. We had thought hard about going
to the Monastery when we were in Rioja, but we did not have time. Billy said he found the Licor in Segovia. I missed it.
What a nice treat and memory of our trip to Spain, reignited in my mouth. Then after a few sips of coffee and a cookie,
I poured a glass of the Chatelier XO and it was much softer and nicer than the
VS cognac we buy at Trader Joe’s. What a
pleasant finish to a fabulous meal.
It is interesting that Billy and Elaine use the same method
for constructing dinners that we do of going to the internet to research dishes
and construct menus. It is also
interesting that Billy and I seem to have inherited from our Mother and share
the same Simon gene that constantly fires our passion for fine food.
Although it is not often that one finds the type of meal
described above, such a meal is out of the price range of almost every person,
surely us, unless one buys the ingredients and makes the meal oneself. The other reason to cook yourself is that you
can adjust recipes to your specific taste as noted above with regard to the pork
tender. When you love the above kind of foods, how and where are you going to
find them, except perhaps in Paris, Madrid, or New
York?
Otherwise, you can only assemble them and cook them yourself to achieve
such a high quality of food and wine on any kind of regular basis. I hope
everyone who reads this blog realizes that they too can stand at the top of the
food chain and enjoy such wonderful food on a regular basis. Perhaps not as grandly or in such plentitude,
but at least sequentially and of the same quality and that is just as satisfying. Only occasionally does one enjoy such a meal
as the magnificent Thanksgiving table laden with so many wonderful dishes and
wines presented to us by Billy and Elaine.
Another reason to give thanks to God; that I have a brother
and sister-in -law who have good food genes.
Bon Appétit
