January 1, 2019. Lunch – Pork and Sauerkraut with ?Mashed Potatoes. Dinner – Beef Short Rib Goulash over a Mushroom Riisotto with Truffled Arugula

January 1, 2019. Lunch – Pork and Sauerkraut with ?Mashed
Potatoes. Dinner – Beef Short Rib Goulash over a Mushroom Riisotto with Truffled Arugula

I woke at around 7:00 and when I turned on the TV I was pleasantly surprised to see that Leicester was playing Everton.  I made myself a cup of chai and settled into the easy chair by the fireplace and drank my second mug, Vardy scored one of those amazing Vardy scores, where a ball is launched past the defenders and a Vardy runs rapidly past the defender and takes the ball down the field and scores. Vardy’s goal was the only score so it won the game for Leicester.

What a great way to start the year.

I ate a slice of bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with slices of Gravad Lax with another chai.

Suzette connected our new Ring doorbell in the morning, which will allow me to see and talk to anyone who rings the front porch door bell.
Around 10:00 I went back to sleep until around noon.  At noon Suzette made mashed potatoes, heated the PPI Pork and Sauerkraut, and served it on a pile of mashed potatoes. Pennsylvania Germans believe that if you eat Pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day you will have good luck in the coming year.  I hope it works.

Pork and Sauerkraut –

Pork and sauerkraut is the easiest dish I have ever made.  I bought a 5 lb. pork shoulder.  Suzette instructed me to put the pork shoulder in a casserole large enough to hold it and then cover the pork with sauerkraut.  Then I cooked the covered pork and sauerkraut slowly at around 300 degrees for four or five hours. It was so tender, it pulled apart easily.

Suzette plated a pasta bowl with potatoes, pork and sauerkraut and PPI asparagus.

I then worked until Willy came by around 3:00 to do laundry and eat a plate of pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes.

Willy then took a walk and left around 6:00.

Suzette was tired and let me cook dinner.  I decided to create two dishes using our PPI entrée from last night’s catered dinner at Gruet Winery, beef short rib cooked in a tomato sauce and served on a pile of mushroom risotto and garnished with truffle oil doused baby arugula.

I decided to loosen and expand the small amount of clotted tomato sauce and heat and further loosen the firm chunk of beef short rib.


I heated about 2 oz. of chopped red onion left from Christmas Eve in a medium skillet and added 5 oz. of tomato sauce and ½ tsp. of oregano to the skillet.  I then sliced the beef chunk into 1/8 inch
thick slices and added them to the skillet. The tomato sauce thickened as it cooked, so I added   Some Clamato juice to thin the sauce into a creamy texture.

I placed the firm risotto, arugula, and cheese into a medium sauce pan and stirred into it three eggs and 3 T. of Amontillado sherry to  make a smooth liquid mixture.  I heated olive oil and butter in a second medium sauce pan and poured in the egg mixture which covered the bottom of the skillet to a depth of ½ inch.  I cooked the egg mixture for about fifteen minutes until the bottom firmed then flipped it and cooked the other side for about 5 minutes until it was firm. Min essence I had created a
Spanish tortilla filled with risotto, arugula and Parmesan cheese.

I quartered the tortilla and placed two pieces on each plate and ladled ½ of the beef in tomato sauce over each plate’s pieces of tortilla.

We drank a glass of the PPI 2011 Vega de Origen Gran Reserva with dinner.  I loved dinner because I had made a delicious dish converting the leftover beef short rib and dried mushroom risotto into a Spanish tortilla garnished with a soft beef Tomato onion sauce.

I drank two glasses of water after dinner to help flush dinner through my system while cheering for my alma mater 15th ranked  Texas as it upset 5th ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Suzette ate a bowl of butter pecan ice cream with chocolate sauce and went to bed at around 9:00 and I followed at around 11:00.

Bon Appetit