July 8, 2019 Lunch – Steak Salad and cheese sandwiches. Dinner – Sautéed Rainbow trout with tomato Couscous and sautéed Green beans, red bell pepper, and Zucchini

July 8, 2019 Lunch – Steak Salad and cheese sandwiches. Dinner – Sautéed Rainbow trout with tomato Couscous and sautéed Green beans, red bell pepper, and Zucchini

I ate a bowl of granola, yogurt, milk, and red grapes at 7:30 and rode the short circle at 7:50

I then showered and went to my doctor’s appointment at 11:00.  After the doctor’s I drove toDonut Mart and picked up four bagels and then to Albertson’s where I bought two rainbow trout, two ½ gallons of Bluebell ice cream on sale, a package of cream cheese, and a head of Romaine lettuce. Albertsons is headquartered in Idaho and I have found that it can be counted upon to stock frozen but lovely rainbow trout.

I then went home and made a salad with a tomato, 1/3 cucumber, some PPI steak, green onion, and two kinds of lettuce and dressed it with my never ending Cesar salad dressing.

I toasted two slices of bagel and melted slices of Manchego cheese on them.  I enjoyed the salad nut it did not agree with me.  It must have been the old steak.

I rested during the afternoon and read the Richard Feynman Autobiography, “Surely you are Joking Mr. Feynman

At 3:00 I invited Willy and Mike for dinner at 7:00.  At 6:00 Suzette came home and we discussed dinner.  She found a recipe for sautéed green beans, bell pepper, and garlic in our new Arabian Delights Cookbook that we bought at a Dallas estate sale last Friday for $4.50 and we decided to make tomato Couscous with it.

Green beans and red peppers
We prepped the dish. Suzette snapped about ½ lb. of green beans while I diced ½ cup of red bell pepper, ½ cup of Vidalia onion, I small head of garlic, and 1 small zucchini.

Tomato Couscous

I then diced a cluster tomato.  I asked Mike if he was okay with some Basilian the Couscous and when he said we went to the garden and topped the basil plants and got about two handfuls of basil.  I
also picked five or six stalks of chives.  When we returned I sliced the basil leaves and chives, so the couscous dish was prepped.

Sautéed Trout

Suzette washed the trout.  Then I removed the heads from the trout so they would fit in the skillet, as well as the front bones and fin behind the gill are and dropped them into the freezer bag that Suzette had placed a cup of flour and ground salt and pepper into. She shook the bag to coat the trout with the flour mixture and we were ready to start cooking.

Suzette sautéed the green beans, onion, and zucchini in olive oil and butter at moderate heat covered and after they were cooked lowered the temp to the lowest temp.

 I put two T. of butter into a sauce pan with the diced tomato and added 1 cup of Couscous, the chives and sliced basil and Suzette sautéed that while I heated 1 ½ cups of water in the tea kettle.  When the water was near boiling I added the 1½ cups of hot water to the couscous and we covered the sauce pan and reduced the heat to the lowest temp and let the Couscous absorb the water and cook while Suzette sautéed the trout in ¼ inch of. canola oil in a large skillet at high temperature about five minutes on each side until done.

I went to the garage and fetched a bottle of Italian Aquino Pinot Grigio (probably $6.99 at a Trader Joe’s) and Suzette opened it and poured four glasses and put them on the table while Mike filled four glasses with ice and water and put them on the table.

Willy arrived at 7:30.  Soon the trout was cooked.  Suzette removed it to a cookie sheet laid with paper towels to drain any excess grease. After a few minutes I boned the trout into four filets and Suzette plated plates with a pile of Couscous, a spoonful of green beans, and lay a trout filet on top of the piles which filled the plate.

We had a lovely dinner.

Dessert

After dinner I mentioned three options for dessert, clementine cake, cherry Clafoutis, and or vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

Mike suggested vanilla ice cream and clafoutis, so Suzette heated the PPI chocolate glaze she had left from the clementine cake, put several scoops of Blue Bell ice cream into a small bowl with a scoop of clafoutis and spooned chocolate glaze over the ice cream which instantly solidified into a chocolate shell.

I poured sniffers of cognac and we enjoyed a delightful dessert.

At 9:00 Willy left and we said goodnight to Mike at 9:30 after a lovely impromptu dinner.