Suzette decided to make a Lax omelet for breakfast. I chopped 2 oz. of red onion, and diced an avocado, and diced about 1/3 cup of Lax, and peeled and sliced about ¼ lb. of Camembert cheese. Suzette made a beautiful omelet combining those ingredients. I made a cup of hot chocolate coffee.
Today I did a lot of food and wine shopping. I started at 10:30 driving to Talin, where I bought oyster sauce, pho seasoning, and fresh dill.
I then drove to Trader Joe’s where I bought artichokes, and twelve bottles of wine, including a 2012 Graham’s Late bottled vintage port for $21.99, a new 2015 Next Station Douro red Wine, two Trader Joe’s Grower ‘s Reserve Petit Sirahs for $7.99 each, two new 2017 Picton Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for $6.99 each, a 2014 Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Pinot Noir for $7.99, a2015 Valreas cuvée Prestige 2015 Cotes Du Rhone Villages red for $5.99, and two 2016 Belles Vignes Sauvignon Blanc for $6.99 each and a bottle of Chatelier VS Cognac for $19.99.
I then drove to Total Wine to check out the 20% off offerings on French wines and bought a 2016 Nages Rose from Costieres de Nimes for $7.50, a Pure Loire Brut Sparkling Chenin Blanc NV from the south side of the Loire rather than within the Appellation for $16.00, a 20015Chenevieres Chablis for $16.00, a new bottle of 2016 Noble Rivers by Cave de Tain Marsanne for $10.00 and a bottle of Calvados Berneroy XO for $27.00.
I then met Mike at La Salita at its new location on Juan Tabo at Brentwood Stairs for lunch. I had my usual Lite Bite Chile Relleno with refried beans, which is now $9.99. Mike had his usual turkey meat stuffed Sopapilla. I like the new place which is larger and at 1:00 on a Saturday filled with folks, including two large tables filled with birthday party celebrants. La Salita batters their Chile Relleno in a cornmeal batter that is gluten free. We ordered our sopapillas for delivery after the entrees were eaten to make sure they were steaming hot. I love sopapillas, those pockets of pastry thin deep fried dough, with honey that are served as dessert with the meal.
After lunch I drove to Sprouts and bought 1 lb. of fresh Dover sole for $7.99/lb., two fresh Atlantic
Salmon filets for Gravad Lax for $8.99/lb., 6 oz. of blackberries for $.98, 6 oz. of blueberries for $2.00, and three eggplants for $1.00; all specials.
I then drove home and napped from 3:00 to 4:00, when Suzette called me to tell me Willy’s plane was running late.
So I got dressed and rode 7.5 miles south to the bend in the trail and saw flocks of sandhill cranes and Canada geese gleaning the fields next to the bike path.
When I returned at 5:00 I had decided on a menu for dinner, poached sole in a Bercy sauce, which is a cream sauce and the addition of sautéed mushrooms broiled in the oven for five to seven minutes, with mashed potatoes and steamed string beans. I put a bottle of Belles Vignes Sauvignon Blanc into the freezer to chill.
I started by boiling the four small artichokes I had bought at Trader Joe’s for $2.49 in the large Le Creuset casserole for 50 minutes. The I peeled and diced six small russet potatoes (10 pounds for $1.99 at El Super). After I started the potatoes boiling at 5:55 Suzette arrived and Willy called to say he had arrived at the airport, so I drove to pick him up and Suzette took over the mashed potatoes.
When we returned Willy removed the hard tips from about ½ lb. of string beans while I sliced about 1/3 lb. of white mushrooms and 3 cloves of garlic and Suzette sautéed them in a large skillet.
sliced them.
Suzette and I decided to use about 1 cup of the liquid in which the artichokes were cooked plus ½ to 1 cup of wine as the poaching medium for the six sole filets. We poached them in the large casserole while we sautéed the mushrooms and I made a beurre Marie by blending 3 T. of softened butter with 2 T. of flour. When the fish were poached Suzette removed them from the casserole and we added the beurre Marie and whisked the liquid and beurre Marie into a thick sauce to which we added ½ cup of heavy cream to make a quick rich cream sauce.
We started the string beans and Suzette whipped the cooked potatoes in the Kitchen Aid into mashed potatoes withheld addition of butter and cream and I grated 1 cup of Jarlsberg cheese.
We then assembled the dish in the large skillet with fish on the bottom, then the mushrooms, then the cream sauce and finally I sprinkled grated cheese on the top. Suzette set the oven to convection broil and she broiled the dish in the skillet for five minutes, while I poured the white wine.
It was a relatively quick dish to prepare although you must poach the fish before you can prepare the final dish, so there are several relatively easy steps. The most interesting thing for me was the making of the beurre Marie. I had softened the butter for about ½ hour so it began to integrate into
the flour but I put the mixing bowl onto the top of the casserole in which the fish were poaching pbecause steam was billowing out the edges of the lid and that heat was sufficient to allow me to cream the butter and flour into a fluffy paste.
The wine was delicious,a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Colombard grapes from the Cotes de Gascogne region just west of Toulouse and north east of Pau and a good value at $6.99.
Here is some info on the wine region from Vinvino:
“Cotes de Gascogne is the IGP title for wines that are produced in an area centered on the Gers administrative department of South-West France. The IGP complements the region’s AOC appellations, which include Armagnac, Madiran and St-Mont, providing growers with a geographical indication for their wines with less-rigid winemaking requirements.
IGP Cotes de Gascogne
The catchment area for the Cotes de Gascogne IGP covers all of Gers, as well as smaller parts of Landes and Lot-et-Garonne. The countryside here is verdant, and the low rolling terrain is interspersed with small, picturesque villages. This landscape has been nearly constantly home to
viticulture since Roman times.
The terroir across the Cotes de Gascogne area is transitional, with the maritime effects of the Atlantic ocean giving way to a more continental climate in the east of Gers. Nearer the coast, loose, sandy soils with good drainage and high rainfall characterize the vineyards. In the east, summers are warmer and drier, and the clay limestone soils retain water more effectively. All in all, this is well suited to viticulture, as the soils and climate work together across the area to create an optimal environment for vineyards.
Cotes de Gascogne IGP wines are predominantly white and are made from local grape varieties like Courbu, Gros Manseng, Colombard and Arrufiac. Better-known grape varieties like Sauvignon Blanc (borrowed from Bordeaux to the north) and Chardonnay are also planted here, as well as red wine grapes such as Tannat, Cot (Malbec) and Cabernet Sauvignon. Red wines make up only a small percentage of Cotes de Gascogne IGP wines, but this is increasing.”
Here are the two recipes for the fish dish from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking:
After dinner I drove Willy to his apartment.
When I returned I watched NE easily beat Tennessee and then watched some of Saturday Night Live with Suzette.
To avoid an upset stomach from the cream sauce, I ate a bowl of yogurt with fresh blueberries and some of the blueberry Quince sauce Suzette made. Then I ate a bit of chocolate with a sip of Calvados for a classic finish to the meal.
We went to bed at 10:30.
Bon Appetit
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