April 5, 2020 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Udon Noodle and Pork Soup Dinner – Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Tarragon with Roasted Potatoes with Mint and Steamed Broccoli

April 5, 2020 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Udon Noodle and Pork Soup
Dinner – Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Tarragon with Roasted Potatoes with Mint and Steamed Broccoli

I worked until 10:30.  Then I added two fresh mangos diced and slice# of four oranges to the tropical fruit salad and added the juice of 1 lime.  I ate a bowl of granola with tropical fruit salad, yogurt, and a splash of milk.

Then I worked until 12:30 while Suzette worked outside cleaning the patio and other things.

When she came in at 12:30 she was hungry and ate the rest of the BBQ ribs and country Fried Potatoes.  I joined her and ate the last bowl of PPI Vietnamese Miso Udon Noodle and Pork Soup.  Finally the thick Udon that resemble sections of rope were fully cooked after three times being cooked.

After lunch Willy arrived and we worked in the garden.  Willy and Suzette Root tilled three raised beds and tilled the beds and poisoned the grubs in one of them.  I transplanted the volunteer lettuces that had to be removed into the fourth bed and dug up trees that were sprouting in the beds in the formal garden.  After watering the lettuce I went inside and began prepping dinner.

I picked a handful each of mint and tarragon from the garden and fetched the chicken and broccoli from the garage.

We had decided to roast potatoes and serve them garnished with fresh mint, to roast chicken thighs with a slice of lemon, a pad of butter, and a sprig of tarragon slipped under its skin, and steam broccoli.

I had chilled a bottle of La Granja white wine from Castilla y León grown near Zaragoza, Spain ($5.99 at Trader Joe’s).  The 2018 is a blend of 85% Verdejo and 15% Viura.  The Verdejo grape produces a very light wine without much acidity and the Viura has lots of depth and structure, so the blend produces something akin to a light Chablis.  It is my favorite wine for chicken under $6.00.

I peeled and cubed the potatoes and tossed them with salt and olive oil and a few cloves of garlic and roasted them covered with aluminum foil.

I then cut the flowerets off a stalk of broccoli and put them into the steamer with water ready to steam.

When Suzette came in we discussed how to prepare the chicken thighs.  She said, “Since you are roasting potatoes you could roast them in the oven. So I butchered the excess skin from the six thighs

and Suzette cut pads of butter and I sliced slices of lemon and slid a slice of lemon, a sprig of tarragon, a few slices of garlic greens, and a pad of butter under the skin of each thigh and added a bit of white wine to the baking dish and then we slid the Pyrex baking dish of thighs covered with aluminum into the oven with the potatoes. After 50 minutes we removed the aluminum from the potatoes and roasted them an additional 15 minutes to brown.  After we slid the chicken into the oven I de – leaves the mint and finely chopped the ½ cup of leaves. When Suzette removed the potatoes from the oven she tossed them with the mint and recovered the baking dish and let it sit until the chicken was ready.  Suzette made gin and tonics and Willy stayed for dinner, so we chatted on the newly cleaned back porch and talked while we sipped of drinks.

We decided to eat under the gazebo.  We placed three chairs 6 feet apart around the table.  Suzette put ice in our ice bucket and I placed the white wine in the bucket and carried the bucket to the garden table.

Soon Suzette called for help carrying a plate and Willy responded and fetched two plates of food.  Suzette followed with her plate and and a pitcher filled with the au jus from the chicken.  I poured glasses of wine and we had a lovely dinner in the bright late afternoon sun.

After dinner we delivered the food items Willy had ordered and said goodbye.

We watched the new Masterpiece Theatre World at war and then a special about how the English re-settled 300 Jewish orphans from the death camps at the end of World War II.

Suzette went to bed after the shows and I stayed up to blog.

Bon Appetit