November 21, 2020 Brunch – Egg BLT Sandwiches Dinner – Two new Recipes Yellowtail in lettuce Wraps. And a Tomato, Leek, and Goat Cheese tart

 November 21, 2020 Brunch – Egg BLT Sandwiches  Dinner – Two new Recipes  Yellowtail in lettuce Wraps. And a Tomato, Leek, and Goat Cheese tart

Today was a busy day of activities and new and favorite foods.

I slept until after 8:00 and then showered.  When I was finishing my shower Suzette shouted , “breakfast is almost ready.”

I hurried into my clothes as I smelled bacon frying and when I arrived in the kitchen Suzette was finishing the assembly of BLT Sandwiches on toasted French baguette smeared with mayo with a wedge of scrambled egg, fried bacon, fresh sliced tomatoes from our garden, Romaine lettuce, and slices of avocado.  We picked all the tomatoes the day before the first big snow and Suzette has been ripening them in the window in the utility room for weeks.  Most of them have finally ripened so Suzette picked one of her favorite breakfasts that emphasizes tomatoes.

Last night I should have suspected a tomato dish for brunch, when Suzette mentioned making a Tomato, Leek, and Goat Cheese tart for dinner today.  I found an old Electrolux recipe.   Here it is.

H I worked from after brunch at 9:45 until 1:00  and then rested for a bit until 2:30 when Suzette called me to help hang Christmas decorations.

Suzette was vey active, making and decorating a board on which to hang the galvanized snowflakes we bought in Marfa, Texas last New Year’s and painting the basement floor.

After we hung the board and stars we took a 1 mile walk in the neighborhood.

Tomato, leek, and Goat Cheese Tart

When we returned I made gin and tonics for us and put a bottle of Tavel into the freezer to chill and we started dinner.  Suzette brought the box filled with ripened tomatoes to the kitchen and I sliced ten or twelve while Suzette made a pastry dough in the

I then sliced the white and light green portions of 2 ½ leeks that Suzette then sautéed until they changed 

color in olive oil.  She then rolled the dough out until it covered a large tart pan and pressed it into the pan and crimped the edges to cut off the excess dough.  Then she filled the pan with leeks, then tomato slices, and then crumbled goat cheese. Finally, she brushed the top with heavy cream. Here some pictures.

 

 

Sautéing the leek slices 

 

The finished tart ready for the oven 

 

 She placed the tart in the oven and baked it for 40 minutes.

 The finished tart  

  Yellowtail Lettuce Wraps

While the tart was cooking we made another new dish. I filleted a yellowtail steak we had bought at Talin a week ago that we thawed yesterday.  Suzette then sautéed it in the large skillet with olive oil and 

rosemary sprigs.  I fetched the Romaine lettuce from the garage and we

Laid several leaves of lettuce on dinner plates.  When the fish fillets were cooked Suzette lay them on the lettuce leaves.  

 

The sautéed yellowtail fillets

  

The finished dish 

 Suzette asked me to make a dipping sauce for the wraps. I mixed Aji Mirin, a dash of Rice vinegar, a tsp. of sugar, a dash of salt, a T. of fish sauce, some sweet chili sauce and water to try to replicate the Vietnamese fish sauce served by 2000 Vietnam and I think I got rather close.  I poured the sauce into small bowls for dipping and placed them on the table. I also opened a can of pickled leeks and sliced them into flat slices and garnished the fish fillets with them. 

I then opened and poured glasses of Tavel and Suzette placed the tart on a cake tray and brought it to the table where she cut slices of tart and placed them on our plates along side the lettuce leaves filled with fish and leeks.

 

We enjoyed the rich fish wrapped in a lettuce leaf and dipped into the fish sauce and the fresh tomato, leek, and goat cheese tart.  The wine was better with the tart than the fish so we ate several lettuce wraps and then dipped the wine with the tart.

This was a great meal of two distinctly different dishes that shared two characteristics; they were both unique dishes and they were both were made with incredibly fresh ingredients.  It is a joy to eat fresh ingredients.  I feel the wonderful feeling of the energy from the ingredients flowing into my body.  The tart was a perfect use of the ripened tomatoes, with fresh leeks, and goat cheese.

I felt comfortable but not full after a couple of fish wraps and two slices of tart.

After dinner we watched the first episode of season eight of the British Baking Show. They made a dessert wrapped in marzipan and I could not resist the urge to heat a Swedish marzipan wrapped dessert and eat it with a cup of tea.  After the baking show we watched our usual Saturday night shows on PBS and went to bed a bit after 9:00.

I awakened at 2:00 to blog this.

The wine was Tavel in name only. It did not have any vibrancy that is typical of low cost offerings of great appellations.  Tavel is the town on the west side of the Rhone River across the River from Chateauneuf du Pape in Cotes Du Rhone.  You can see from the label that Tavel blends the same grapes as Chateauneuf except it aims for a dark reddish rose like the Italian dark rosados.

All three of the dishes we prepared today were fabulous and will be repeated whenever there is availability of the proper ingredients. For example, I had bought premium smoked thick cut bacon at Sprouts that prompted Suzette to make the BLT.  It will be more difficult to find fresh ingredients during the winter, but we will try.

Bon Appetit