February 28, 2016 Lunch – Salad and New Recipe Salmon Bisque, Dinner – PPI Roasted Potatoes, onions, and Brussels sprouts and Bratwurst with Pork Confit

February 28, 2016 Lunch – Salad and New Recipe  Salmon Bisque,  Dinner – PPI Roasted  Potatoes, onions, and Brussels sprouts and Bratwurst with Pork Confit

We had fresh blueberries, yogurt, and granola for breakfast.

We discussed what to do with some of the salmon we had and decided to make a salmon bisque.  

Suzette researched recipes and found this one.

Salmon Bisque

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Adapted from [An Edible Mosaic|http://www.anediblemosaic.com/?p=9560]

Yields: 4 servings

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup white wine

5 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 lb salmon (I used wild sockeye), seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked and flaked

2 tablespoons fresh chives, finely chopped, for serving

To a large pot over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the onion, carrots, celery, cooking about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the garlic, thyme, bay, tomato paste, paprika, salt and pepper. Cook another 1 minute. Turn the heat up to high and stir in the wine, followed by the broth and Worcestershire. Bring to a simmer, turn down the heat, cover and cook 20 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and discard bay leaves.

Using a hand immersion blender, blend the soup until very smooth. Stir in the lemon juice and heavy cream. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with flaked salmon and chives, with lemon wedges on the side.

Suzette also decided that a salad with fresh greens from the garden would be lovely, so at 10:30 we took the car to be serviced and then went to Lowe’s to pick up a 6 oz. can of tomato paste.  When we got home Suzette picked a handful of celery stalks and a basket of greens in the garden.  I went to the garage and fetched the PPI salmon poaching medium, two carrots from the bag Jefferson had given us, and the leek I had bought at Sprouts several weeks ago.  I diced the celery, carrots and leek and then three cloves of garlic from out garden.  Suzette picked some thyme from our dining room herb pot and put out two bay leaves and I fetched the sweet paprika from the fridge. She then Sautéed the leek, celery, and carrots and then added the broth and other ingredients and washed and  spun the greens, while i reconstituted the shallot vinaigrette dressing with some balsamic vinegar and Sprouts’ Spanish olive oil.  I also minced several sprigs of chives Suzette had picked in the garden to garnish the soup.

Soon Suzette removed the bay leaves and puréed the soup with the hand immersion blender, added the ¼ cup of heavy cream and lemon juice and we were ready to eat. 

   The salmon bisque in its cooking pot

   Some of the fees green from our garden

What a lovely lunch!  I loved the interesting blend  of flavors of lemon, cream, with the tartness of the herbs and spices and tomato paste that makes bisque such an interesting soup.

We drank the last of the 2014 Italian Bellini Vernaccia di San Gimagnano. It's heaviness went well with the complex flavors of the bisque.

We started simultaneously watching the red carpet for the Oscars and the Downton Abbey Marathon at 5:00 and we decided to make a simple dinner with PPIs. Suzette heated the Brussel Sprouts, onion, Bratwurst, and potato casserole I had made earlier in the week and added some pork confit in a large Le Creuset casserole.  I poured the last of the 2007 Eguia Reserva from Rioja and we had a hardy dinner of peasant food.  

Suzette made an ice cream float with the last remaining coke left by Kathryn and Mike during their visit in January and the cherry vanilla ice cream.  I resisted dessert because I had eaten several forks full of Susan’s delicious Shed mocha Cake after lunch, while we talked to Bea Torgerson.  She liked the new movie "Race".

There were lots of phone calls today, including one from Willy and Luke from New York City.  Willy plans to return to Albuquerque on March 6.

Bon Appetit