April 20, 2019 Lunch – Tuna Salad Salad. Dinner – Grilled Steak and Asparagus with Sautéed Mushrooms and Baked Potatoes

April 20, 2019 Lunch – Tuna Salad Salad. Dinner – Grilled Steak and Asparagus with Sautéed Mushrooms and Baked Potatoes

I started by watching soccer at 6:00.  At 9:00 I toasted two slices of an everything whole wheat bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with slices of red onion and Gravad Lax and a few capers.

I watched soccer until 10:30 and then rode my bike about eight miles to the Nature Center and back.

When I returned Suzette had just returned home and was heating the leftover enchiladas and beans from my lunch yesterday at Padilla’s.

I chose to make a salad with the last of the tuna salad Suzette made yesterday with the PPI grilled tuna.  I used the last of the red leaf lettuce we bought last Saturday at the Farmers’ Market, diced a tomato, sliced two radishes and several slices of red onion, added six or seven sliced cooked asparaguses.  Suzette hard boiled four or five eggs and peeled and sliced one and lay it on the salad.  I dressed the salad with Cesar salad dressing.

After lunch we lay down for a nap.  After our 1 1/2 hour nap we toured the gardens and saw a few plants beginning to sprout .

Suzette said I should make the Clafoutis, so I scalded 1 ½ cups of heavy cream with 1 ½ cups of half and half.  In a small bowl II whisked three eggs.  In a larger bowl I mixed 10 T. of powdered sugar, 7 T. of flour and ½ tsp. of salt. I buttered a ceramic baking dish and pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.  I mixed the egg into the dry ingredients and then stirred in the scalded milk. Finally I mixed the rhubarb and blueberry compote and finally 18 oz. of fresh blueberries and poured it into the baking dish and baked it in the oven for 50 minutes.  Suzette Baked seven potatoes while the Clafoutis Baked.

At 5:15 we made dinner.  Suzette gGrilled the steak and the large artichoke that I boiled on Wednesday.  I sliced 4 oz. of red onion, two cloves of garlic, and four large mushrooms and  Suzette started heating butter and olive oil in a large skillet.  We sautéed the diced red onion and garlic and then added the mushrooms. I opened a bottle of Trader Joe’s 2017 Grand Reserve Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands that I bought for $12.95 on Friday.  We did not care for it,  it lacked depth and complexity and was slightly bitter.  I was glad I had bought the six bottles of 2017 Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir from Sonoma Valley for $14.99 each on Friday, a superb bottle of wine.

After the mushrooms began to take on color, I added about ¼ cup of Amontillado sherry to make a light sauce.

We then made a quick dipping sauce for the artichoke with ½ cup of mayo, the juice of ½ lemon, a pinch of salt, and three sprigs of dill finely minced.  Suzette has picked the dill and some fresh tarragon and some chives in the garden.  I finely diced three sprigs of tarragon and put it in the mushrooms and Suzette finely diced the chives to garnish the baked potatoes.

When the steak and artichoke were ready, Suzette set the table on the patio.  I sliced the steak and we filled plates with a baked potato and strips of bone-in rib steak.  Suzette put the artichokes on a plate with the dipping sauce and we ate a lovely dinner except for the wine. 

The grilled steak and artichoke and baked potato were all delicious.  We agreed this would be a $50.00 meal at any restaurant and we had quickly and easily created it.  We felt good about the meal and our lovely table with a view of our garden next to the lovely aromatic blooming wisteria.

After dinner we came back inside the house and made cups of tea and shared the plate of desserts Suzette gathered last night from among the large selection of desserts at Buddi’s 80th BD party as we watched Rachel Maddow and other news we had missed Friday night and watched Washington destroy Carolina 6 to 0 in the Stanley Cup preliminary playoff.

We got in bed at 10:00 and watched the local news and then a re-run of Saturday Night Live from 10:30 until 11:15.

Bon Appetit