May 22 and 23, 2016 Sunday Brunch – Shrimp and Swiss Cheese Omelet, Monday Lunch – Gravad Lax Salad, Dinner – Roasted Spanish Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions and Grilled Asparagus

May 22 and 23, 2016 Sunday Brunch – Shrimp and Swiss Cheese Omelet, Monday Lunch – Gravad Lax Salad,  Dinner – Roasted Spanish Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions and Grilled Asparagus 

Sunday morning we made a shrimp omelet with the PPI BBQ'd shrimp, a couple of sliced mushrooms, a sliced Mexican Green onion, and grated Swiss Gruyere cheese.  

For dinner I had a bowl of consommé and then at around 8:00 began preparing myself for my colonoscopy by drinking the liquid that forces you to clean your bowels until about 11;00 p.m.

Monday morning at around 9:30 Willy drove me to my colonoscopy.  I was groggy after having a general anesthesia, so Willy drove me home.  I decided to have a simple salad for lunch using the greens from the garden to keep the stomach clean for a while, so I went to the garden and picked a basket of lettuces, red giant, cress and tatsoi and cleaned them.  I sliced a tomato, peeled, seeded, and sliced a 3 inch section of cucumber, a radish, and sliced a Mexican Green Onion.  I then sliced and chopped two slices of Gravad Lax and added that to the salad.  I then made a simple, clean fresh Dijonnaise dressing with Praegers’ white Port vinegar, Sprouts Spanish Olive Oil, 1 tsp. of Grey Poupon mustard, chopped leaves from three sprigs of tarragon and ½ bulb of fresh garlic from the garden and a bit of salt and pepper.  Since I had not eaten for over 24 hours, I was in the mood for something special that was creamy and protein rich and settled on a slice of Bosque Bakery whole wheat sourdough bread smeared with the goose foie gras we bought in Montreal.  When we were in Monteeal we went to the Atwater Market, which is one of Montreal’s main markets.  We found a purveyor that made and sold whole goose livers and a variety of goose liver pate’.  After the butcher acclaimed the differences between the various preparations, we went a little crazy and decided to buy a slice of pure goose liver pate without any preservatives.  The price for pure goose liver pate’ was Can. $255.00/kilo.  The cryovac sealed slice of pate’ we selected was Can. $30.00, so it must have been about 200 grams or just over two oz.

To say the pure goose liver pate’ melted in your mouth is an understatement.  I have never had such a delicious pate’.

After my re-introduction to food I rested,but did remember to thaw out a package of Pork tenderloins.

I had forgotten to buy milk, so I asked Willy to go to Sprouts and buy milk and large asparagus. My dinner menu was to make the Spanish tapa from Jose Andreas’ tapa cookbook and grill fresh asparagus for a wonderful early summer meal.  

Here is the recipe:

I sliced a apple and an onion and Sautéed them in butter and Spanish olive oil.  I went to the garden and picked five or six stalks of oregano, which is growing beautifully now.  After I had sautéed the apples and onion and laid the oregano sprigs on top of the and sliced a pork tender into two inch long slices and placed them on top of the oregano, Suzette rallied and took over the cooking.  She added butter to the pan to create more cooking grease and put the Sauté pan into a 225 degree oven while I snapped 15 stalks of asparagus and brushed them with olive oil and salted and peppered them.  Suzette then grilled the asparagus over low heat on the propane grill while I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of La Granja red wine (Trader Joe’s $4.99 50/50% Tempranillo and Grenache), my favorite under $5.00 Spanish Rioja.

The meat was cooked to light grey at the same time Suzette removed  the asparagus from the grill so I dispensed with the final two steps of the pork recipe of making a simple sauce of Spanish Brandy and chicken stock.  Suzette’s addition of extra butter had made an enriched apple and onion sauce of sorts that satisfied my taste, which met my plan for this meal, Which was to reintroduce myself to food by eating simpler food.

Suzette grilled the asparagus beautifully.  They were grilled but firm in the middle so you could taste the fresh crunch of the asparagus.  It takes an asparagus that is at least ½ thick in order to grill properly.  I had salted and peppered the asparagus slightly heavily and I could taste the tangy flavor of the salt and pepper with the asparagus that I enjoyed also.  I had a déjà vu memory of the first time we ate grilled asparagus at about this time of the year in Segovia four or five years ago.

The Rioja La Granja was a little heavy for the meal according to Suzette, but I liked its smooth almost buttery texture.

After dinner we ate bowls of ice cream and I had a bit of bittersweet chocolate with almonds and later a White Russian.

The joy of being back on food.

Bon Appetit