June 23, 2016 Lunch. Vietnam 2000. Dinner Grilled Rib Steak with Eggplant Provençal

June 23, 2016 Lunch. Vietnam 2000.  Dinner  Grilled Rib Steak with Eggplant Provençal

Willy, Suzette, and I met Luke at Vietnam 2000 for lunch.  We ordered three No. 21’s.  Suzette and I split one.  Luke and Willy did not finish their bowls of noodles, so we boxed their for later consumption.

I went through the fridge and found a steak I had bought at Sprouts a week ago,so we decided to grill it with slices of eggplant.  We sliced the eggplant and tossed the slices in a freezer bag with a bit of olive oil and the Suzette dusted them with large crystals of sea salt and pepper.  I sliced a tomato and Suzette laid a slice of tomato and slices of fresh mozzarella on each piece of eggplant. 

This the first time we have grilled an eggplant topped with a slice of tomato and cheese and it turned out to be delicious.

I sliced baby portobello, white and white beech mushrooms in butter and olive oil and three small cloves of garlic from the garden.  After the mushrooms were coated with butter and softened for about four minutes, I added 2 to 3 t. of Amontillado Sherry and a small 2 T. of fresh chopped oregano and cooked the mushrooms on low heat until Suzette finished grilling the steak.

The steak was delicious a hand trimmed 1 inch thick steak from Sprouts for $6.99/lb; well worth the money.  

We drank glasses of La Granja 50%Tempranillo and 50% Grenache from Rioja. ($4.99 at Trader Joe’s), which is still my favorite bottle of wine priced for less than $5.00.

Bon Appetit