May 15, 2012 Lunch – Hamburgers Dinner – BBQ Shrimp and Rice

May 15, 2012 Lunch – Hamburgers  Dinner – BBQ Shrimp and Rice

This morning after I watched the news programs I went shopping to replenish our larder.  I first went to Ranch Market, where I purchased avocados at 5/$.99’ Mexican Green Onions at 3 bunches for $.99, heads on 30-40 count shrimp for $4.99/lb., a papaya, a mango, sweet potatoes, eggs, apricots for $.99/lb., a cucumber for $.33, tomatoes for $.99/lb., and fresh Hoja santo.

I then went to Albertson's and purchased chicken thighs for $.89/lb., 80% lean hamburger meat for $2.77/lb., two containers of ice cream, a rack of lamb for $9.99/lb., zucchini for $.99/lb., aluminum pans for sprouting plants, milk, and cherries for $1.77/lb.

When I arrived home Suzette could make her coffee.  At noon I was hungry and asked Suzette what she wanted for lunch.  She said, “A Hamburger.”

So I made a large hamburger for Suzette and two sliders each for Willy and me.  I picked four of the smaller Mexican onions to grill, sliced a sweet potato and ½ of a poblano chili into strips to grill.  I went to the garden and picked a handful of lettuce.  Willy sliced one of the tomatoes and the avocado.

Suzette grilled the hamburgers, the chili strips, the onions, and the sweet potato slices.  Suzette sliced the muenster style cheese we bought in Quebec and melted slices of cheese onto the hamburgers after she had flipped them.

We fetched Willy’s Basil mayo and ketchup from the fridge.  I selected four frozen dinner rolls from the freezer and sliced them in half and toasted them in the toaster.  When the hamburgers, onions and sweet potatoes were grilled, Suzette made each of us plates.  Hers was a bed of lettuce and her grilled hamburger, onion, and sweet potato slices.

Willy and mine were two sliders , an onion, and slices of sweet potato, plus we put a plate with tomato and avocado slices on the table.  We drank PPI Sangiovese Italian red wine for a lovely meal out on the patio.

after lunch we worked in the garden.  I pruned the dead roses from the bushes and cut three nice ones from those still in bloom for our table.  Suzette worked most of the day.

At 5:00 I began making Clafoutis by pitting and dicing five or six firm apricots and about 1 ½ lb. of cherries, which I the marinated with 1 T. each of cognac and Courvoisier.  I then measured 10 T. of flour, 10 T. of powdered sugar, and ½ tsp. of salt into a large mixing bowl.  I then scalded 1 cup of heavy cream mixed with 2 cups of whole milk and let the milk cool. While the milk mixture was cooling I stirred the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and made a well in the middle of those ingredients into which I added 3 large eggs and stirred the eggs into a thick paste.  I then strained in the cooled scalded milk and stirred the mixture to eliminate any lumps.  I pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees and buttered and coated the inside of a ceramic baking dish with granulated sugar.  I then combined the marinated fruit to the mixture and stirred that mixture to get all the flour evenly integrated.  I then poured the fruit and batter mixture into the ceramic baking dish and baked the mixture for 40 to 50 minutes in the 400 degree oven until it firmed and the top became a golden brown.  

Here is the recipe from Gourmet Cookbook Vol. 1:

Here is the finished product:

After I put the Clafoutis mixture into the oven Suzette started making the BBQ shrimp using the recipe we always use from Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen Cookbook.  Here is the recipe:

When the shrimp were ready Suzette put rice in a pasta bowl and then ladled shrimp and sauce onto the rice to make a spicy shrimp and rice stew.  We drank beers with the BBQ shrimp.  The shrimp were not as good as some we have bought.  There may be a problem with the way they are processed.  These were farm raised in Ecuador according to the label at Ranch Market.

Although we were full after eating our BBQ shrimp I tried the Clafoutis and it was wonderful. The first breath of fresh summer fruit.

Bon Appetit