January 28, 2015 Lunch Noodle soup Dinner Roasted Pork Tapa with PPI Couscous and Steamed Broccoli

January 28, 2015  Lunch  Noodle soup  Dinner Roasted Pork Tapa with PPI Couscous and Steamed Broccoli

I invited Bill Turner over for lunch and made a full medium pot of noodle soup with flour, rice and bean sprout noodles and adding dashi and red miso to make the soup stock a adding the PPI salmon from last night, three frozen shrimp, four Pollack fish balls, 1 large Mexican green onion and two stalks of celery from the garden (chopped), some PPI sugar snap peas, and about 4 oz. of tofu.

We ate the soup with Hoisin Sauce and fresh lime juice. Bill drank a beer.

We had agreed last night to make one of our favorite dishes tonight; a slow roasted pork tapa from José Andrés’ Tapas: a taste of Spain in America cookbook:

Here is the recipe;

In the morning I thawed out two pork chops for dinner and sliced on brown onion and one gala apple into ½ inch wide slices before leaving for meditation.  We have a pot of oregano growing in our dining room, so we had fresh oregano.

When I returned at 8:00 Suzette had sautéed and was roasting the pork in the oven.  I fetched a bottle of 2012 Chateau Belingard Bergerac Rosé that I bought recently at Total Wine.  This 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot rosé had the characteristics of a Bergerac rosé; light, clean tasting but not much character.  Actually it went pretty well as a food wine; not offering any conflict to the strong caramelized onion and apple flavors in the pork dish which were overpowering.  Since I wanted more character I should have selected either a Southern Rhône (usually Grenache and Syrah dominated) or rosé of Pinot Noir, both of which I had, but I wanted to try this new wine.  Since this is an Alfie Moriconi selection, it appears to be a Total Wine exclusive wine, which means that Total Wine buys the entire allocation of the Chateau's production for the U.S.  This can be either good or bad, depending upon the price point.  last night's Santiago Station Sauvignon Blanc seems like a good value at $3.99.  I am not sure about this wine because it is not a wonderful as Total Wine's Autrefois Rose of Pinot Noir and depending upon whether its price is below or above the $10.99 of Autrefois rose, should be judged accordingly.  Of course, the uniqueness of a Chateau bottled Bergerac rose  is definitely a plus.

I added a bit of chicken stock to the couscous to introduce moisture into it when it heated in the microwave and which made it more delicious.  

Suzette did a great surgical job on an old stalk of broccoli and steamed the bite sized flowerets when the pork finished roasting and during the final step in making the pork dish which is the final addition of chicken stock and cognac to make a light sauce.

We cook our pork much more than the picture indicates although tonight the center of one of the chops was light pink (not red), tender and very delicious.  We combined pieces of apple and onion slathered with sauce with small pieces of pork for a lovely meal.

I ate some Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream with a splash of cognac for dessert.

Bon Appétit