January 15, 2019 Lunch – Menudo and a Tamale. Dinner at Sandy and Tim’s House Ceasar Salad and Bouillabaisse

January 15, 2019 Lunch – Menudo and a Tamale. Dinner at Sandy and Tim’s House   Ceasar Salad and Bouillabaisse

I ate two sandwiches, whitefish and cream cheese on rye bread and herring and sour cream on rye with a cup of green tea.

I worked until 12:30 when I re-heated the menudo from Sunday brunch at El Super with the last tamale from Christmas 2019.  I drank a light beer.

I had a meeting out of the office in the after noon until 3:40.  I walked 1/3 mile at 4:00.

When I returned home I made croutons with whole wheat and ciabatta baguettes with a dash of salt and olive oil at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes in a convection oven with heat above and below.  Actually Suzette walked in and smelled the croutons baking and pulled them from the oven .

Our contribution to the meal was a Caesar Salad, so I made the dressing

Caesar Dressing

I chopped a dozen Spanish anchovies and a small clove of garlic and then added two whisked egg yolks and then added 2 T. of fresh lemon juice and finally 2 T. plus 1/3 cup of Spanish olive oil, and a dash of salt.

Suzette has been to Costco and bought baguettes, lemons, and baby Romaine lettuce hearts.  She tore three heads of Romaine into a salad bowl.  After we dressed the salad we added about ½ cup of grated Pecorino-Romano and half the croutons and tossed it again.

At 6:00 we carried our salad across the street to Sandy and Tim’s house.  After inspecting all the ingredients for bouillabaisse in the kitchen, including the kettle of broth, we re-grouped in the living room around a cheese board with crackers and slices of French baguette from Los Poblanos. There were two lovely French goat cheeses and several others.  The wine for the meal was a 2018 Sancerre.  It was lovely, smooth as silk with just a hint of citrus.

After talking for a few minutes and nibbling cheese, we moved to the dining room table.  Tim was in charge of the bouillabaisse so he went to the kitchen and added chunks of fresh monkfish and halibut and shrimp and scallops marinated in olive oil and saffron and clams and mussels to the broth.

We served ourselves salad and poured more wine and enjoyed the salad.  Soon Sandy brought out soup bowls filled with broth and the catch of the day at Whole Foods, being the monkfish and halibut and shrimp and scallops and clams and mussels.

                                                        The marinating seafood

Sandy had made a traditional rouille, a red pepper paste to smear on bread to eat with the soup, although Tim and Suzette seemed to prefer butter.

The rouille

Here is Julia Child’s Recipe for Bouillabaisse and Rouille.

YIELD: 6-8 SERVINGS
JULIA CHILD'S CLASSIC FRENCH BOUILLABAISSE

Julia Child's Classic French Bouillabaisse
4.7 Stars (15 Reviews)
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A simple recipe for Julia Child's bouillabaisse, the classic French seafood soup. The delicious soup with a simple rouille is full of shellfish, seafood and fragrant tomatoes and can be made in less than an hour.

PREP TIME
20 minutes
COOK TIME
40 minutes
TOTAL TIME
1 hour

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INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup each chopped onion and leek
4 cloves smashed garlic
2 or 3 large, ripe tomatoes, chopped or 2 cups canned
2 1/2 quarts water
Fresh herb sprigs: thyme, parsley, fennel fronds and basil (in any combination)
1/2 teaspoon crumbled saffron
1 tablespoon sea salt
3 - 4 pounds fish heads, bones, trimmings, shrimp shells
1 pound each: peeled shrimp (use the shells for the stock); wild cod, halibut or other flaky white fish, cut into large chunks; debearded, scrubbed mussels or clams
Crusty bread, sliced
Rouille:
1 roasted and peeled red bell pepper
1 roasted hot red chile pepper or ground cayenne pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 small peeled garlic clove
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs or finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
Fine sea salt, about 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

For the soup:

Heat the oil in a tall pot (I use an 8 quart stockpot) over medium heat; add the onion and leek and cook gently until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute until fragrant, then add the tomatoes, water, herbs, saffron, salt and fish bones and shrimp shells. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat so that the broth bubbles slowly without boiling.
Cook 30 minutes, then strain the broth into a large bowl or another pot and discard the solids.
Pour the broth back into the stockpot and bring to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook until they turn pink, a minute or two. Add the rest of the fish and shellfish, cover and simmer until the mussels or clams open (this will just take a few minutes).
Taste the soup and add more salt and freshly ground pepper if needed.

Make the rouille:

Puree everything except for the olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil while processing to form a paste.
Toast the bread and brush with olive oil.
Serve the soup with bread and rouille.

It was a wonderful and satisfying dinner.  The broth was a rather clear soup with just a hint of the red tomatoes and saffron.  I enjoyed it immensely and impressed that one would tackle such an elaborate undertaking in our high and dry area so far from an ocean.

After dinner Sandy brought out bowls and served two types of Van Rixel Bros. gelato produced locally, dark chocolate and sea salt caramel.

We left at 8:30 after a lovely evening of food and conversation.

Bon Appetit