June 19, 2021 Lunch - Super tortilla Espanol. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak and garlic scapes with Sautéed Mushrooms and Snow Peas
I slept until 8:30 today. I then ate granola, milk, yogurt, and sliced banana and then rode my bike to I-40 and back, about five miles. I then rested and watched soccer including Germany’s surprise win over Spain.
Tortilla Espanol. Lunch
At 11:30 I started making lunch. Suzette had not eaten and was hungry.
We initially chose to make a salmon and goat cheese omelet but changed our menu when Suzette decided to add Iberico chorizo. I sliced thin slices of potato, Iberico chorizo, sweet onion, and diced four small cloves of fresh garlic from our garden and 1/4 red bell pepper, while Suzette mixed the eggs and fetched a fresh burrata flavored with truffles I bought at Sprouts from the fridge.
She sautéed the potato slices and sweet onion, chorizo, red bell pepper, and garlic in a Le Creuset shallow casserole and then sliced the burrata into 1 inch thick slices and covered the sautéed ingredients with the burrata slices and then added the whisked eggs. She cooked the mixture on top of the stove to set the bottom for a couple of minutes and then placed the casserole in the heated oven and baked it for about fifteen minutes into a frittata. When the edges had puffed up and started turning golden brown and the center set almost, we served it. It was really, really delicious; a combination of the ingredients in Spanish tortillas plus chorizo and bell peppers and the addition of truffled burrata increased the creaminess and flavor. Traditionally, truffles and eggs have been a good combination and in this dish we were able to taste the truffle flavor.
The Bertrand Cotes des Roses rose
This was the best dish of the day and perhaps month. It was made possible in large measure by the purchase of a ring of real Spanish chorizo at La Montanito Food Coop.
We drank glasses of Gerard Bertrand Cotes des Roses rose with the the meal. It is one of the 20 or so highly rated lower cost bottles of Rose and a good value at around $12.00 at total wine.
Here are Wine Enthusiast’s notes on it.
After brunch Suzette went through the fridge and freezer to throw out outdated PPI’s, mostly from before our May 23rd trip. She wanted steak for dinner. She found two hand cut rib steaks we had cut with her new power saw when we last bought a rack of bone in ribeyes. We thaw one and placed the other one in the freezer. She also thawed a section of Jimmie Dean sausage for future burritos and four lamb chops for tomorrow night’s dinner.
It was hot today but after brunch, Suzette drove to Osuna Nursery to inquire about an issue with our elm tree that she found out is called slime and is untreatable and that the die off in our privet fence is natural because privets usually live only 10 years. We and our flora are aging.
At 2:00 I made an iced Vietnamese coffee with cold coffee from Suzette’s morning coffee and watched a lecture by the State Historian, Rob Martinez, on the Inquisitions. It was fascinating. I learned there were four or five inquisitions and that any Sephardic Jewish genes from before the Edict of Expulsion of 1492 have been so reduced that they amount to 4% or less in most Hispanics in New Mexico, sort of like the gene remnants of our Neanderthal ancestors. Almost every Ibero-American carries them in smaller or larger %’s. I think a gene % of over 4% is sufficient to prove Sephardic Origen.
For the nationality by residence, one of the commonly employed methods for acquiring this status, there can be certain cases in which the ten-year period can be reduced:
- Five years: when it is granted to those individuals who have obtained the status of refugees.
- Two years: for those of Sephardic origin, those from Ibero-American countries, the Equatorial Guinea, or the Philippines.
- One year: for individuals who were born on Spanish territory or those who have not exercised their right to Spanish nationality.
- One year for marriage: applies to individuals who, when making the application, have been married for one year to a Spanish national.
- One year for widowers: the widow of a Spanish national can acquire this status if at the time of death they were not separated.
After the soccer match ended at 4:30 I ventured out to Sprouts to do a bit of grocery shopping. I bought a 1.3 lb. fillet of Mahi Mahi, five green avocados, a bunch of organic cilantro, a container of my favorite yogurt, a red bell pepper, a bag of green beans, and six vine ripened tomatoes. Sprouts has raised its prices, so now I rarely buy anything that is not on sale there.
When I returned home I rested until 6:30 when we began dinner.
I chilled a bottle of Calstar Cellars Sangiocomo Vineyards, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County 2013 Pinot Noir, which is my new favorite Pinot. It is smooth with an elegant finish from the first sip to the last and it only gains fruitiness and sweetness as it aerates.
Dinner - Grilled steak and garlic scapes with Sautéed Portobello Mushrooms, shallot, garlic, and fresh snow peas.
Suzette is Miss Grilleta, so she grilled the ribeye steak and garlic scapes.
Suzette also went to the garden to harvest all of our snow peas since we think the heat will kill them anyway. She found about 24 and we stripped the outer tendons from their edges.
I am the Sous Chef, so I made the Mushroom dish. I sliced five or six portobellos mushrooms and minced 1/2 of a large shallot and two cloves of garlic, and fetched five or six sprigs of thyme from the garden.
I then melted 2 T. of butter in a medium skillet and added. 1 1/2 T. of olive oil. When the oil was hot I added the mushroom slices , minced shallot and garlic and sautéed them at medium heat until they softened. Then I added the snow peas and thyme leaves I had stripped off their stems and added about two T. of Amontillado sherry to make a light sauce and covered the skillet with our wok cover t steam and braise the snow peas and ingredients.
When Suzette brought in the steak we were ready to eat. I sliced the steak into 3/4 inch medium rare strips and divided the snow pea and mushrooms between the plates.
This was a really good meal, if not very creative meal. We really enjoyed it.
After the meal I poured another glass of Pinot and went to the garage to fetch the wedge of St. Andre cheese that has been aging there for the last month. I also age our brie for a month. I toasted a slice of Fano sourdough bread, buttered it, and lay a slice of St. Andre on it for my cheese course. I like to eat a piece of cheese after a steak dinner. Sort of a French thing I guess.
At 9:00 we watched a new episode of Death in Paradise during which I finished my meal with squares of milk chocolate and a bit of the lovely Armagnac Cousin Marty and Yoyo gave us to complete dinner in the French manner.
We went to bed at 10:00 but I awakened at 1:20 and read and then blogged this blog until 5:00 with the assistance of two cups of chai.
Bon Appetit
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