Ioana came over this morning to work and we finished a little before noon so I invited her to join me for a salad. At first she declined, so I made one of my Super Cesar salads with a diced tomato, 1/3 of a peeled cucumber diced, some croutons, some diced red onion and a few anchovies dressed with the eternal Cesar salad dressing we keep in the fridge and add olive oil and lemon too to keep it going.
After I made the salad I recalled that there was a small piece of PPI Salmon souffle from last night’s meal. I heated it and Ioana and I split the salmon souffle and she ate a few bites of salad. We went to the back yard and picked lettuce and fresh dill after lunch.
March 14, 2017 Lunch – PPI Salmon Soufflé and Cesar salad. Dinner – Roasted Apple, Onion, and Pork Tenderloin Tapa with Catalan Chard and Mashed Potatoes
Ioana came over this morning to work and we finished a little before noon so I invited her to join me for a salad. At first she declined, so I made one of my Super Cesar salads with a diced tomato, 1/3 of a peeled cucumber diced, some croutons, some diced red onion and a few anchovies dressed with the eternal Cesar salad dressing we keep in the fridge and add olive oil and lemon too to keep it going.
After I made the salad I recalled that there was a small piece of PPI Salmon souffle from last night’s meal. I heated it and Ioana and I split the salmon souffle and she ate a few bites of salad. We went to the back yard and picked lettuce and fresh dill after lunch.
After our Brunch Mike called and suggested we go to lunch. I said I had eaten but would he like to join us for dinner. In the afternoon I thawed a two pack of Hormel pork tenderloins and called Suzette to let her know we were cooking this evening.
When Suzette arrived we agreed upon an all Jose Andres tapa menu by cooking the Catalan Spinach tapa with the Roasted Pork tapa and serving the PPI mashed Potatoes from last night’s meal with them. I asked her what wind she preferred and Suzette said, “I like a Rose with this dish, so I chilled a bottle of Lagranja 100% Grenache Rose in the freezer (Trader Joe’s $5.99). This is currently my favorite Rose’ wine at that price and was a perfect complement to the pork dish.
I went to the garden and picked a full basket of chard plus six or seven sprigs of oregano and a garlic plant.
Suzette cleaned and destemmed the chard leaves while I sliced 1 Gala apple, the garlic plant, and one large brown onion into thin slices for the pork tapa and peeled, cored and diced another Gala apple for the Catalan Chard dish.
We started to cook at 6:30.
We started by sautéing the apple slices in olive oil in a long French copper sauté pan. ThenSuzette added the onions and sautéed them with the apples until both were tender and stopped cooking until Mike arrived. I butchered and sliced one of the tenders, but I sliced it into thinner slices than usual which meant we would need to cook the pork much more quickly.
When Mike came at 7:00 I poured us glasses of Spanish rose and we resumed cooking. The Pork dish is a three step recipe. First the apples and onions are sautéed in olive oil on the stove. Then the pork and oregano is added to the pan and the pan is placed in the oven to roast the meat. Tonight we only roasted the pork at 300 degrees for ten minutes and it was overcooked a bit. Then the pan is deglazed with ¼ cup of chicken stock and 2 T. of cognac. Tonight we used Calvados.
Catalan Chard
This dish is easy. You sauté ¼ cup of piñon nuts to golden brown. Then you add apple, raisins, and chard and sauté until cooked.
We heated the PPI mashed potatoes, poured more wine, and Suzette plated our plates with the three dishes.
What a lovely meal! I loved every bite of it.
After I poured small amounts of Calvados into our wine glasses and served the chocolate covered orange peel candies we bought a Chez Mamou several weeks ago. The candies were wonderful. Bitter orange peel that had been glaceed (cooked inSyrup until it slightly crystallized) and then dipped into milk chocolate. The Chef owner of Chez Mamou is a master pastry chef and a darn good chocolatier.
After a lovely meal, we said good night a little after 9:00.
Bon Appetit
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