This was a PPI day because we used some of the grilled steak, potatoes and rapini with its lemon and olive oil sauce to make our omelet this morning plus the last 3 T. of red wine and about six freshly sliced mushrooms and about threeT. Of butter. When we added four whipped eggs to the pan there was too much liquid so Suzette cooked it for a while on the stove top, while I sliced thin slices of Brie cheese and garnished the top of the frittata with cheese. Suzette then put the cast iron skillet into the oven to dry out the mass of food and o bake and brown the top of tHe frittata. The result was fabulous . Elaine sliced and toasted Fano Baguette. I smeared orange marmalade on my toast and drank a cup of mint tea.
Then we cleaned up and left a little before 11:00.
We drove to Santa Fe and went to Stephen’s, but did not find anything of interest.
We got back to Albuquerque at 2:30, we discussed dinner and agreed to make French Onion Soup. Then I rode from 3:00 to 4:00 to Rio Bravo and back.
I ate a few slices of apple spread with peanut butter before I rode. When I returned I showered and dressed by 4:30 in time for the SuperBowl. Suzette had thinly sliced 7 cups of onions. Since Julia Child’s recipe for French Onion soup calls for 5 cups of onions, I made 1 ½ recipes worth of the other ingredients, of which there are not many.
French Onion Soup (Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, page 43-44)
5 cups of thinly sliced onions Simmered covered with 3 T. of butter and 1 T. of oil for fifteen minutes.
Then add 1 tsp. of salt and ¼ tsp. of sugar and raise heat to moderate heat and cook for 30 minutes stirring often.
Then add 3 T. of flour and cook 3 minutes to cook the flour.
Then add 2 quarts of good beef stock and ½ cup dry white wine or white vermouth.
We had cooked beef bones into a stock earlier this year with a mirepoix and fresh oregano, that I thawed and used.
I added about a lb. of PPI grilled beef and the 3 bones from last night’s steak dinner and simmered the mixture for an additional 30 minutes.
When ready to serve Suzette. added 3 T. of cognac.
We have my mother’s French brown glazed clay soup bowls. Suzette sliced and toasted slices of French baguette and put one piece of toasted French bread on each bowl of soup and then laid Slices of French Comte’ cheese on top of each crouton. She then baked the soup bowls for ten or fifteen minutes until the cheese melted and the crouton became golden brown.
http://www.cellartracker.com/label.asp?iWine=1800104&iLabel=639144
I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of Wellington 2008 Victory, which is a Bordeaux. Style blend of 55%Cabernet Sauvignon plus 16% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot, and 20% Petit Verdot ranked 90 points with a retail price of $60.00; Wellington's top bottle.
We enjoyed the clean tasting wine with the soup.
After dinner Suzette made a dessert by scooping the PPI Chocolate Mousse with its accompanying tart cherry port wine reduction sauce from the smashed box and mounding it in the middle of a small plate and surrounding it with a ring of whipped cream. It was a communal dessert. We were each given a small fork and took bites. Willy really enjoyed it. Billy and Elaine made another of mint tea and we drank tea and watched the greatest finish to the greatest Super Bowl game ever and then the last half hour of the PBS series, "Victoria" , in which she marries Albert and then talked for about 1/2 hour, until Willy left and we went to bed.
Bon. Appetit
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