October 4, 2016 Lunch – Salad. Dinner Grilled Rib Steak and Sautéed Mushrooms with Shishito Peppers and Squash soup and Steamed Broccoli

October 4, 2016 Lunch – Salad. Dinner Grilled Rib Steak and Sautéed Mushrooms with Shishito Peppers and Squash soup and Steamed Broccoli

We are leaving town on Friday, so this is the period that we try to use all the PPIs and stuff left in the fridge, although Willy will be in town and have access to everything while we are gone.

I ate my usual yogurt, granola, with  diced canary melon for breakfast, since we ran out of blueberries.

For lunch I made a salad of Romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes and some of the cubed pieces of prosciutto left from Sunday’s dinner appetizer and refreshed the Cesar salad dressing wth more olive oil.  

We had invited Willy to join us for dinner and to watch the V.P. debate, so I thawed out two rib steaks, one thin and one thick ribeye from Sprouts for $7.99/lb.

Suzette had roasted the French red pumpkin we bought at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday, so she scooped the flesh out of it careful to keep the seeds for planting next year, cooked the squash with the baby ginger we bought at the Farmers’ Market and added heavy cream to it after purée int it to made a lovely thick cream of squash soup.

Sautéed Mushroom Sauce

I sliced about ½ lb. of portobello mushrooms and de-stemmed the large handful of Shishito papers we bought at the Farmers’ Market and added the two from our garden plus five or six cloves of garlic.  I went to the garden and picked six or seven short stalks of thyme and one of tarragon and de-stemmed the leaves and diced ¼ of a red bell pepper for color and 2 or 3 T. of  onion.  

I then sautéed the onion, garlic, and red bell pepper in 2 T. of butter and 1 to 2 T. of olive oil until they softened and then added the mushrooms, herbs, and Shishito peppers.  There was not enough fat to soften the mushrooms so I added 1-2 T. of Amontillado Sherry.  This my usual strategy.  I use less fat and then add Sherry to soften the mushrooms, knowing that the mushrooms will throw off lots of liquid when thy cook, which makes a light sauce with the butter and Sherry.

Since the large skillet was filled with more than one layer of mushrooms and peppers I covered the skillet with the wok cover and reduced the heat slightly to sweat the ingredients so they would cook and yield their juices and flavors to the sauce.  I added about 1/8 tsp. Of salt. 

While I was sautéing Suzette started the steaks grilling and I de-stemmed the flowerets from a stalk of broccoli and started the broccoli steaming on the stove.

Willy arrived around 7:30 just as everything was cooked.  I put out the  open bottles of three red wines, Chateau Sorillon Bordeaux Superior, Tuella, and a Beaujolais Village from Trader Joe’s I had opened for the dinner party on Sunday but we had not finished.  

Suzette set the table and placed a small bowl of the cream of squash soup at each place, then fetched the grilled steak that was seasoned with sea salt and pepper.  I sliced the streaks and we each served ourselves broccoli and covered the steak slices with the mushroom and pepper sauce.  I had also wrapped the last six inches of the baguette I bought at Trader Joe’s in aluminum foil and heated it in the oven, so we would have warm bread with dinner.

We ate, drank wine, and watched the debate with gusto.

There was a small end of the baguette left after dinner so I had a few slices of old somewhat ammoniated Brie cheese with the bread. 

I then ate some chocolate truffles with small glasses of plum brandy and calvados out of force of habit to complete the meal in the French style.  Alas, I am acculturated to the French style of eating in a few rare occasions.   Tonight was a great fall French meal; a warm Potage of squash, followed by the entrée of a sauced grilled meat and a vegetable with warm bread.  Then a cheese course, and finally chocolates and brandies.

I loved dinner that turned out to be closer to a French meal than a bunch of PPIs.

Bon Appetit