July 1, 2014 Budai Restaurant and Dinner Bobby Flay’s Pan-Roasted Chicken with Mint Sauce, Greens Catalan style, Fresh Corn on the cob, and Birthday Cake

July 1, 2014 Budai Restaurant and Dinner  Bobby Flay’s Pan-Roasted Chicken with Mint Sauce, Greens Catalan style, Fresh Corn on the cob, and Birthday Cake

Today was one of those great days that just happened to contain great food also.

I met Jim Stout for lunch at Budai.  Jim was head of legal for the Department of Energy and had wonderful stories to tell, including those about his year serving as a Congressional Fellow in Washington.  

I tried to order the modified Shrimp in Lobster sauce with scallops instead of shrimp.  It was not completely successful because they restaurant used bay scallops and cooked them first rather than putting them into the sauce at the end, as East Ocean does.  Otherwise, the food was great.  Each dish is served with a small ramekin of pickled vegetables and an egg roll.  Jim ordered Cashew Chicken, which he seemed to enjoy with its dark soy or oyster sauce and lots of vegetables.  

We then went to Sprouts and Jim showed me the cheese curds that he likes on salads and to snack on and I bought some.  I then said goodbye and continued shopping.  I bought a Mahi Mahi filet ($4.99/lb.), two chicken, feta, and parsley sausages ($1.99/lb.), six lovely fresh ears of corn (2 for $1.00) for dinner at Susan and Charlie’s house, some more asparagus ($1.98/lb.) and russet potatoes ($1.50 for 5 lb.).

Then I went home and watched Belgium beat the U.S. in the World Cup.  I then made the

Clafoutis with 7 Tbsps. of flour, 10 Tbsps. of powdered sugar, three eggs plus ½ yolk, 3 cups of scalded milk, ½ tsp. of salt and a dash of vanilla.   

First, I mixed the three dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Then I scalded the milk in a sauce pan ( I used 2 cups of half and half and 1 cup of 2% milk to enrich the custard and added 1 tsp. of vanilla).  Just before the milk came to a boil I turned it off and let it cool.

Then I mixed the eggs into the dry ingredients until there were no lumps in the dry ingredients.

Then after about ½ hour I skimmed and removed the sheet of coagulated milk fat off the top of the scalded milk and added the milk slowly to the other ingredients stirring with a wooden spoon until everything was emulsified.  I then coated a pyrex baking dish with butter and dusted the butter with sugar to keep the Clafoutis from sticking to the baking dish and turned on the oven to 400˚ to preheat the oven. 

Then I added the four cups of fruit (pitted and halved cherries, apricots and raspberries) that had been soaking in the Aria White Port and Grand Marnier overnight to the other ingredients and mixed them for a moment to put everything into solution and poured that solution into the buttered baking dish and lowered the temperature of the oven to 350˚ and put the Clafoutis into the oven and set the timer for 50 minutes.  Since I used a larger baking dish instead of my usual smaller ceramic baking dish, the Clafoutis baked to the firmness I like in about 45 minutes at 350˚.

Susan had said she wanted to see how we made our sautéed greens dish, so at 6:30 we went to the garden and picked some greens, including turnip leaves, chard and kale.  Suzette found the recipe for Spinach, Catalan style on page 109 of José Andrés Tapas cookbook and gathered up the ingredients for the dish (we use piñon nuts instead of almonds), I chopped up 1 gala apple into chunks and de-stemmed the greens and Suzette then washed and spun them to clean them.

I grabbed a bottle of 2013 Autrebois Pinot Noir Rosé (Total Wine) and we walked over to the Palmers for dinner.

When we arrived there was a table full of appetizers, including small cubes of fresh mozzarella marinated in black and green olives, an herbed soft cheese, Kalamata olives, and a lovely tapenade with capers.  Charlie made me a gin and tonic and I enjoyed eating the appetizers while Suzette and Susan worked on dinner. 

Susan was making a new recipe she had shown to me.  In fact she had come down to gather fennel and mint in the afternoon for the sauce.

     

The Palmers have a lovely large open kitchen with a raised island on one side where folks can sit without interfering with the cooking on the other side of the kitchen (the kitchen is large enough for the cooks to carry on a conversation by the stove while a different conversation is going on at the island or alternatively, since the kitchen is open the cooks and islanders can talk together at any time.  While Susan and Suzette cooked, Charlie and I sat at the raised island and ate and we all talked.   I asked for a container and went home and fetched some of the warm Clafoutis but when I returned I noticed that there was a cake box in the Palmer’s fridge.  I said to Susan, “I see you have been shopping for desserts at Whole Foods” and she answered instantly in a precise lawyerly manner, “Yes, someone has a birthday on Thursday.”  Only then did I realize that this was a birthday dinner for me and I was thrilled.  

Susan also steamed three ears of the fresh corn and had chopped a watermelon into chunks and served that on the table as a cool salad.  When everything was ready I opened the 2013 Autrebois Rosé and we served the dishes from the buffet top near the dining table.

Everything tasted wonderful.  I especially liked the chicken which with its crisp skin and tender meat and the wonderful parsley and mint sauce.   Suzette sautéed the greens perfectly, avoiding burning any of the tender ingredients.

By 9:30 when we finished eating birthday cake (white cake and white icing decorated with sprigs of fresh lavender from Susan's garden) and vanilla ice cream, we all felt stuffed and happy.

Suzette and I walked home and fell into bed immediately.  Suzette had had a full day also, having driven to her facility in Santa Rosa, working all day and driving back and arriving around 6:15 p.m.

Bon Appétit