February 6, 2018 Lunch – Chicken Salad Salad Dinner – Jose Andres’ Roasted Pork , Onion, and Apple Tapa, Catalan Spinach, and Baked Potato

February 6, 2018 Lunch – Chicken Salad Salad   Dinner – Jose Andres’ Roasted Pork , Onion, and Apple Tapa, Catalan Spinach, and Baked Potato

I slept until 8:00, perhaps unconsciously wanting to avoid the anxiety of the over 500 point drop of the Dow at the open.  By the time I had eaten breakfast Apple was positive and leading the market upward.  although there were plunges, by the end of the day the market was generally up, my portfolio regaining 25% of the losses of the last four trading days.

At noon I made a Chicken Salad Salad with Romaine lettuce, kalamata olives, diced tomato and cucumber red onion slices, and chicken salad with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice to loosen the mayonnaise in the chicken salad.  I toasted a piece of bread and covered it with slices of Manchego cheese which melted into the bread in the microwave in 22 seconds.

When the mail arrived I looked at the ads for Sprouts and saw scallops and asparagus were on sale starting Wednesday and decided to make the Roast Pork and Catalan Spinach tapas for dinner because we had spinach that needed to be eaten and no fresh meat. So,I removed two boneless pork chops from the freezer.

After lunch I rode north to Mountain Rd., where I turned around due to an 18 mph head wind and raced home with it at my back.

At 6:00 I began dinner.  Jose Andres’ Roasted Pork , Onion, and Apple Tapa and Catalan Spinach tapa from his Tapas Cookbook.

  I picked through the bag of spinach to separate the good leaves from the rotten leaves and then ran water through the good leaves to clean them.  Then I sliced 1 ½ medium onions and 1 cored apple into vertical slices for the pork dish and cubed another cored apple into cubes for the spinach dish.

Then I went the garden and picked a small handful of fresh oregano.

By this time Suzette had arrived and had her evening cocktail and announced herself ready to help cook the dinner.

Willy soon arrived and we discussed his efforts to buy a car while we prepared dinner.  He wants a Toyota Corolla.  Jody is helping us check cars for both Willy and Luke.  Luke is interested in a Toyota Highlander and Jody came by this evening to discuss the progress of his inquiry into purchase
 of one for Luke.  Suzette’s little truck that was originally purchased by Luke has died via a cracked


head, so Suzette also needs a truck and Jody mentioned that he has a dealer friend who has a Toyota Tundra that may be available soon.  Jody repairs cars for sale by dealers so he knows when vehicles are getting ready to be sold and their condition.

While I was outside picking oregano, Suzette fetched the large French sauté pan and started sautéing the sliced apples and onions in butter and olive oil and she sliced the two thick pork steaks into 8 individual portioned pieces.

After the onions and apples softened Suzette added the pieces of pork and braised them for a couple of minutes and then added the oregano to the pan and instead of slow roasting the pan in the oven, she continued to sauté the pan on top of the stove.  This the abbreviated method of making this dish, which results in a slightly tougher slice of meat but is much faster.

I made 2/3 cup of chicken stock by dissolving 2/3 tsp. of Knorr dehydrated chicken stock in a measuring cup filled to 2/3 with hot tap water.  When the pork was cooked Suzette added the chicken stock and stirred it into the pan ingredients and turned up the heat a bit to reduce the chicken stock and pan juices into a light sauce.  I fetched the bottle of cognac and Suzette added 1 or 2 T. of cognac to the pan and lit the sauce on fire to cook off the alcohol to finish the dish.

Burning off the alcohol

                                 Suzette then sautéed piñon nuts, raisins and the diced apple pieces in a large skillet in olive oil to brown them and then added the colander of spinach and sautéed it and then covered it with the wok cover to steam the spinach

We decided to heat the potatoes I had baked last night in the microwave to warm them and eat them with the meal.

When the spinach was cooked we were ready to eat.

Suzette piled the spinach on plates and lay slices of pork, apple, and onion on top of the spinach to make a mound of food and then lay a Potato beside each mound.

Suzette poured the 2015 La Granja Spanish Rose (Trader Joe’s $4.99) that I had fetched from the cellar and chilled in the freezer when we began cooking and I fetched the container of crema and thinly sliced two green onions to garnish the potatoes.

We opened and buttered our potato and dabbed the rather dried out potatoes liberally with crema and garnished them with green onion.  The best part of the potatoes was the thick roasted skin.

We enjoyed the meal.  This is one of our favorite ways to prepare pork steak and spinach.

The rose was adequate for the meal, but not a great wine.  We usually drink Spanish Rose with this meal because it is fruitier, especially this La Granja that is 100% Grenache grape juice.

After dinner Willy filled a tea infuser with Earl Grey tea and we enjoyed a fresh cup of tea with a splash of milk.

I then excused myself at 8:45 to get in bed to blog and asked Willy to wake Suzette, who was sleeping in her favorite chair by the fireplace, when he left.  A little after 9:00 I heard Willy say goodnight and soon Suzette came to bed.

This was a tour de force meal that we have cooked many times, so we have made prep and cooking of it easy.  We coordinate effort.  I prep and fetch ingredients for Suzette, who stands in front of the stove and quickly cooks the dishes, as she did tonight.  We stand around the stove and talk and hand her ingredients and watch her cook, which speeds the process, increases the family bonds of sharing the experience of cooking, and ameliorates the drudgery of cooking for her.

Bon Appetit