September 13, 2015 Lax Salad And dinner at Cynthia's

September 13, 2015 Lax Salad and dinner at Cynthia's 

I lost my first rendering of this blog several days ago and then got busy, so it is now four days later and I am trying to reconstruct several day’ meals, which will necessarily cause the descriptions to be more cryptic.

I worked at my desk and Suzette cleaned out the shed this morning.  When I went to help her, she said, “Why don’t you make a lunch salad with the fresh lettuce and cucumbers I bought at the Farmers’ Market.”

I went to the kitchen and found the bag of young shoots of lettuce and divided most of them between two bowls.  Then I thinly sliced about two or three slices of one of the fresh red onions for each salad. I found a cucumber and seeded and sliced about a third of it.  I then sliced chunks of Gravad lax and put them on the salad.  We did not have any salad dressing, so I took the bottle of two year old laxsas that I had bought at IKEA and added some olive oil and mayonnaise to help reconstitute its smooth creamy texture that had been destroyed by heat and cold as we have moved it around over the years.  I then dressed the salad with the sauce.  We took our salads to the gazebo by the pond with glasses of Santiago Station Sauvignon Blanc and had a delicious meal that made me think I was back in Sweden on a warm summer day when the sun shone, which would have been a rarity in Sweden.

Cynthia invited us for dinner, so at 6:00 I grabbed a bottle of Winterhaven Columbia Valley Washington State Pinot Gris and we drove the four minutes to her house.  She had told us she had made three salads and when we arrived a lovely Caprese salad of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, garnished with basil threads and red onion rings and a light balsamic vinaigrette welcomed us from the kitchen table.  The salad was served with slices of fresh Fano sourdough bread. 

 I opened the Pinot Gris and poured us each a glass and we laid sections of slices of salad on the small appetizer plates provided.  Cynthia caught us up on the progress of Ricardo’s set design duties in Austin for the TV series he is working of Urban Cowboy and we discussed last night’s street fair, etc. while Cynthia breaded and fried fresh tilapia in about ½ inch of oil in a large skillet on the stove.

While the fish was frying Cynthia put out a bowl of cauliflower slaw with sliced black olives in a light mayonnaise dressing and made her fabulous balsamic dressing for a tossed greens salad.  She also had made a tartare sauce, which she placed on the table.  I re-filled the wine glasses and when the fished was fried we filled our plates with fish filets, cauliflower slaw, fresh green salad, and tartare sauce.  Everything w as wonderful.  For Cynthia the meal probably harkened back to summer meals in Portland, Maine.  For us it was eating a meal at the pinnacle of freshness and maturity of all the ingredients.  Everything tasted wonderful.  

We soon finished the Pinot Gris and looked in Cynthia’s fridge and found a Spanish cava rosado, Conde de Calbart, with a dark red tint.  We opened it and found it delightfully light in taste and very refreshing. 

After we finished our meal we moved to a small table on an elevated area on the large patio in the back yard.  Soon Cynthia brought out a bowl of fresh sliced peaches marinated in honey and lemon juice and a container of Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream.  We filled small ramekins with ice cream and peach slices and enjoyed yet another wonderful fresh summer treat. 

The next day when Cynthia came to our house for dinner she told us that Ricardo had bought the Spanish rosado at Lowe’s for around $25.  On Friday we found the same bottle at Total Wine for $8.

I loved the meal and still wonder how Cynthia makes such a creamy tartare sauce.  Perhaps that is the answer; she uses cream to loosen up the mayonnaise.

Our other discovery was that Lowe’s now must be counted among the places that offer interesting wines.  

Bon Appetit