May 10, 2019 Lunch – PPI Bun Cha Gio and Chirashi Donburi. Dinner – Baked Fish with Duchess Potatoes and steamed Green Beans

May 10, 2019 Lunch – PPI Bun Cha Gio and Chirashi Donburi. Dinner – Baked Fish with Duchess Potatoes and steamed Green Beans

I ate two slices of whole wheat everything bagel with cream cheese and white fish and sliced onion with hot tea for breakfast

Then I went to see Krystal my new pharmacist Consultant.  After a blood daw I went to Costco to pick up a prescription and fill the mini with gas.  Then I went to see a client and after went to Sprouts.  I was mistaken about the sale of scallops, but found fresh diver sole instead for $7.99/lb., so I bought one pound of it, plus a green bell pepper, green beans, and a large leek.

I went home and ate the PPI lunches from the last few days, ½ each of a Bun Cha Gio from Vietnam 2000 and ½ of the  is sashimi lunch at Azuma.

It was wonderful.

After lunch I made a teriyaki sauce with 1/3 cup each of sake, Aji Mirin, soy sauce and 1 T. of sugar and when it cooled I placed the two tuna fillets i bought yesterday in a freezer bag and added the teriyaki sauce and put it in the fridge to marinate.

In the afternoon I checked in with Willy to see if he wanted to join us for dinner and he had parties planned for this Friday and Saturday evenings, so we decided to have dinner together Sunday evening and serve the teriyaki tuna then.

I napped in the afternoon and awakened refreshed at 5:00. Suzette came home shortly after 5:00 as I was cleaning the pots and pans.  I then sliced 3 or 4 cups of leeks and about the same quantity of potatoes and put them in a large casserole with 1T. of salt and 2quarts of water and simmered them for about an hour until 7:15.  Suzette then puréed the soup with an emulsion mixer and simmered the purée until it reached the thickness we preferred.  We then added 5 T. of heavy cream and 2 T. of thinly sliced chives. This is Julia Child’s first recipe from Masering the Art of French Cooking.. Leek and Potato Soup.

                                                 The soup before it it is emulsified and finished

But that was not dinner.  For dinner I decided to make one of my favorite Swedish fish dishes, Fish au Gratin from one of my favorite cookbooks, Swedish Cooking at its best by Marianne Gronwall Van Dee Tuuk

It is a fairly elaborate three step assembly.  You douse the fish fillets with lemon juice and dot them with butter and bake the sole fillets.  Then you mince ½ lb. of mushrooms and sauté them in butter. Then you make a cream sauce roux with 1/T. of flour and 2 T. of butter. Then you make the cream sauce by adding ½ cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup cold butter, 2 egg yolks, and ½ tsp. of salt, the sautéed mushrooms and butter plus the liquid from the baked fish fillets.  I added about 1/3 cup of  Half and half also to fully emulsify the sauce.

Then Suzette made duchess potatoes which are regular mashed potatoes with the addition of ¼ cup heavy cream, 2 egg yolks, 1 T. of butter, and ½ tsp. of salt. After Suzette saw the picture of the dish in the cook book she wanted to pipe the potatoes onto the top of the dish and decorate the top with chive flowers from our garden before it went into the oven.

 

The dish fully assembled before it was baked

I then snapped the green beans I bought at Sprouts today and we blanched them in old Sauvignon Blanc in the microwave.

When the fish au Gratin and green beans were ready.  I opened s bottle of King’s Estate Oregon Pinot Gris.  This is my second favorite American Pinot Gris after Elk Cove.

 The baked Fish au Gratin and the steamed green beans

 

Dinner is served 

The Swedish are masterful at creating dishes utilizing fish and potatoes, two of their main dietary
staples. This my favorite Swedish dish utilizing those two ingredients.

The meal was great and complemented by a great wine.  We ate 5/8 of the dish.  We could not stop eating it it was so delicious.

After dinner we soaked in the hot tub and then ate some clafoutis with whipped cream and a cognac for Suzette and I had tea and a Calvados.

Bon Appetit