It is probably appropriate that I reach the threshold of returning to solid food by eating two of my favorite dishes. My favorite New Mexican Cuisine dish and my all time favorite dish.
Jill Duval brought my a beef pate for Christmas and Carole Levitt made me a Jewish Chopped Liver Pate for a Christmas, both of which I have been dying to try, but have not been able to due to my lack of bowel capacity. I decided today to at least taste the Chicken Liver pate.
I asked Suzette to cook a little bit into an omelet. Obviously, eating a few grains of chopped liver in an omelet is not the same as eating it directly on a piece of bread. But cooking the chopped chicken liver today presented a new taste treat, namely integrating the flavor of the chicken liver and smaltz (chicken fat) into the eggs. It is probably a poor analogy, but the idea is that you use eggs to convey the flavor of the chicken fat, which creates a new and better flavor than a direct taste; like soaking black truffles in water and then cooking them into eggs.
I loved the Chicken Liver Omelet and the three small rounds of toasted Costco baguette smeared with IKEA orange and elderberry marmalade.
After breakfast I dressed and we drove to MVD Express and transferred the title of the Toyota Highlander that Luke had bought with money I loaned him to SC, Inc., the non-profit corporation, affiliated with the Center for Ageless Living, which will provide me a charitable donation.
After going by the bank to make a deposit, we drove tonCynthia and Ricardo’s to return their casserole in which she had brought us the lovely turkey and vegetable soup. We sat with them in their back yard in the sun light and Suzette and Ricardo discussed mostly apartment design ideas. When we arrived home around noon we found Willy watching the end of Liverpool v. Arsenal match that Liverpool won by 5 to 1 and nibbling Boursin processed cheese spread. Suzette and I were hungry. So Suzette de-molded the second Van Cliburn Shrimp mold and we ate almost ½ of it on French multi-grain crackers and pita chips, after which Willy left and Suzette went shopping for coffee bar accessories.
I seem to have regained my appetite because a little bit latter I decided to eat a bowl of Posole and two tamales, one chicken bought at Costco and the other beef made by Jody and Loyda.
I shucked the tamales and heated them in a pasta bowl filled with Posole in the microwave. It was delicious and very filling. My favorite New Mexican Cuisine Christmas dish.
I read a chilling report in the current New Yorker during the afternoon on Trump’s diplomatic relations with the EU, Germany, and, particularly, Angela Merkel. It appears that rather than embracing his German heritage Trump rejects it. The most telling comment was that Donald’s dad, Fred, falsely claimed to be of Swedish descent rather than German. Perhaps that is how lying became inbred into Donald. Perhaps that kind of a fundamental lie somehow required Donald to oppose a working relationship with Germany, which surely knew the truth about Trump’s family lineage. I learned early in life that one small lie begets more and larger lies. President Trump does not seem to stop lying. Fascinating, that it might be a trait inherited from his father.
Later in the afternoon after Suzette returned and went online tipoffs find coffee related accessories for her Wake Up theme at the Spa for the New Year, I made a cup of hot chocolate and watched the Notre Dame v. Clemson Bowl game to determine one of the teams that will meet on January 7 to play for the NCAA National Championship.
Around 5:00 we discussed dinner and decided to sauté the duck breast Cynthia had brought us when she brought the lovely turkey and vegetable soup and chocolate chip cookies and to make a sweet and russet potato casserole using the rich salmon stock Suzette made at Christmas with the unused pieces of salmon and bones.
We felt the salmon broth was too rich for me to eat directly but could be used as the binder in the
casserole. So, Suzette sliced sweet and russet potatoes in the Cuisinart and layered them in a ceramic baking dish, seasoned them with salt and pepper from our new salt and pepper mills, and filled the baking dish with salmon broth and gratined the top with grated Swiss Gruyere cheese and baked it in the oven until the cheese browned, about 45 to 60 minutes at a moderate heat.
We had an open bottle of my new favorite red wine the 2011 Vega de Origen Grann Reserva from the terra Alta region of Spain. It’s 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah blend of grapes is similar to a Cotes Du Rhone, which is my favorite red wine with duck. Suzette poured us small glasses of it
I fetched the PPI orange sauce saved from the duck dinner I made before Christmas and added some Amontillado sherry to it to reconstitute it as a sauce and then sautéed the slices of duck breast in the sauce. Suzette also steamed the remaining fresh asparagus.
Duck L’Orange is my all time favorite dish. My mother would make me anything I wanted for my birthday from the time I was young and I always chose Duck L’Orange. The sauce can be made any where between sweet and bitter. As I age I prefer it to express both bitter and sweet notes.
Needless to say I loved dinner. The Potato casserole was absolutely fabulous and the duck was lovely in its orange sauce.
My first solid meal was a great success.
Bon Appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment