This week was the transition point between Christmas food and new food. I went shopping for food at a Sprouts on Thursday we went shopping for wine, scotch, and beer on Saturday, and today I went to El Super to replenish produce.
We ate light breakfasts of peanut butter mixed with Nutella in toast.
I finished the last of the posole for lunch, while Suzette was sanding cabinet doors in the garage.
I then drove to El Super in the rain. It was full of Sunday afternoon shoppers, but the prices, even at their regular prices were super.
I bought four Bartlett pears to poach for $.67/lb., limes were expensive at $.79/lb. but I bought about a ten, I bought a bag of dried tamarind for $1.99/lb., onions were expensive at $.33/lb., but I bought about three pounds, I bought four zucchini at $.79/lb. then I bought a gallon of milk marked $3.00 but was charged $3.99 for it and 1½ lb. of medium heads off shrimp for $6.99.
When I got home at around 2:45 the Playoff game between Dallas and Green Bay was just starting. Suzette and I watched that while flipping back and forth to two Jennifer Aniston movies, Bounty Hunter and The Switch. The game was heartbreaking because Dallas lost in the last ten seconds, but the movies were fun.
We started cooking at 4:00 because we told Willy we would eat at 5:00
Yesterday I had boiled the fresh artichokes we bought at Trader Joe’s. Mayonnaise Dill Sauce
Today we inspected and threw out the PPI sour cream dill sauce from the Christmas Party and I made a fresh sauce for the artichokes with about 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1/3 cup fresh dill, 1 minced green onion, ½ tsp. Fleur de sal with herbs Provence that Kathryn and Mike brought us last year, and about 2 T. of lemon juice. I mixed these ingredients together until smooth and set the sauce aside to meld its flavors.
We had selected a 1997 Brunello, but when our latest project to have Mario replace the door jam went haywire and Suzette became upset, I decided on a slightly less wonderful but still good bottle of wine. I selected a 2012 Banfi Chianti Reserva (Total Wine $20.00 reduced to $16.00).
Eggplant Parmesan
I sliced the eggplant I had bought at Sprouts on Wednesday into ½ inch thick slices.
Suzette on pie pan with egg and the other with Progresso bread crumbs.
She coated the slices first with egg and then with crumbs and the sautéed them in a combination of olive oil and butter until golden brown.
She grated Pecorino Romano cheese and filled a Pyrex baking dish with layers of spaghetti sauce, spinach, eggplant, cheese spinach and cheese and baked the dish in the oven for 45 minutes until the ingredients began to bubble.
We made the spaghetti sauce last week with ground beef, mushrooms, three chopped leeks, fresh oregano from the garden, and two cans of Spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage.
I made a lb. of spaghetti by boiling a pot of water with ½ tsp. of salt and a bay leaf and then adding 1 lb. of Italian spaghetti.
We finished cooking the meal by 5:30, but made a mistake because we waited for Willy and he did not arrive until 6:30 or 7:00, which meant that the spaghetti became cold and stuck together and the Eggplant became dried out as we kept it warm in the oven.
While waiting for eating our artichokes with the wonderful dill mayonnaise lemon sauce. We thought the fresh boiled artichokes with the fresh mayonnaise sauce was exceptional.
We agreed with Willy that next time we would eat when the food was ready and he can heat up the food when he arrives.
The 2012 Banfi Chianti Reserva was fabulous. It had a chalky bite and a smoothness with a clean finish, everything one would want with a red wine, except it did not have that exceedingly long finish that great Red burgundies have. Just a very solid wine that Suzette kept drinking until it was gone (the true test of quality).
The Eggplant Parmesan with spinach was also delicious even though the eggplant slices collapsed a bit more than I would have liked due to its overcooking. The benefit of overcooking is that the cheese melted fully and became a creamy binder in the dish.
We loved the meal and wine. It was a very successful and simple meal.
We tried the new bottle of Armagnac that we bought for $15.00 at Trader Joe’s on Saturday, which was soft and creamy tasting. It won a gold medal and well worth the price.
Bon Appetit
onion, ½ tsp. Fleur de sal with herbs Provence that Kathryn and Mike brought us last year, and about 2 T. of lemon juice. I mixed these ingredients together until smooth and set the sauce aside to meld its flavors.
We had selected a 1997 Brunello, but when our latest project to have Mario replace the door jam went haywire and Suzette became upset, I decided on a slightly less wonderful but still good bottle of wine. I selected a 2012 Banfi Chianti Reserva (Total Wine $20.00 reduced to $16.00).
Eggplant Parmesan
I sliced the eggplant I had bought at Sprouts on Wednesday into ½ inch thick slices.
Suzette on pie pan with egg and the other with Progresso bread crumbs.
She coated the slices first with egg and then with crumbs and the sautéed them in a combination of olive oil and butter until golden brown.
She grated Pecorino Romano cheese and filled a Pyrex baking dish with layers of spaghetti sauce, spinach, eggplant, cheese spinach and cheese and baked the dish in the oven for 45 minutes until the ingredients began to bubble.
We made the spaghetti sauce last week with ground beef, mushrooms, three chopped leeks, fresh oregano from the garden, and two cans of Spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage.
I made a lb. of spaghetti by boiling a pot of water with ½ tsp. of salt and a bay leaf and then adding 1 lb. of Italian spaghetti.
We finished cooking the meal by 5:30, but made a mistake because we waited for Willy and he did not arrive until 6:30 or 7:00, which meant that the spaghetti became cold and stuck together and the Eggplant became dried out as we kept it warm in the oven.
While waiting for eating our artichokes with the wonderful dill mayonnaise lemon sauce. We thought the fresh boiled artichokes with the fresh mayonnaise sauce was exceptional.
We agreed with Willy that next time we would eat when the food was ready and he can heat up the food when he arrives.
The 2012 Banfi Chianti Reserva was fabulous. It had a chalky bite and a smoothness with a clean finish, everything one would want with a red wine, except it did not have that exceedingly long finish that great Red burgundies have. Just a very solid wine that Suzette kept drinking until it was gone (the true test of quality).
The Eggplant Parmesan with spinach was also delicious even though the eggplant slices collapsed a bit more than I would have liked due to its overcooking. The benefit of overcooking is that the cheese melted fully and became a creamy binder in the dish.
We loved the meal and wine. It was a very successful and simple meal.
We tried the new bottle of Armagnac that we bought for $15.00 at Trader Joe’s on Saturday, which was soft and creamy tasting. It won a gold medal and well worth the price.
Bon Appetit
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