June 20, 2021 Father’s Day Brunch - Salmon, Mushroom, Greens, and Goat Cheese Omelet Dinner - Grilled Lamb Chops with Ratatouille
I did not sleep well and woke up at 6:00 and trimmed several rode bushes in the front yard.
Then I ate a bowl of granola with milk, yogurt, and blueberries and watched the morning talk shows.
Willy called and wanted to come by to celebrate Father’s Day. I suggested we would prepare a salmon omelet in conformity with his new dietary regimen and said that the two EUFA soccer matches would begin at 10:00.
Willy arrived around 10:15 and went with Suzette and me to the garden and where we picked two kinds of kale, chard, chives, basil and a large garlic bulb.
When we returned to the kitchen Suzette processed the greens by removing their stems and chopping them into bite-sized pieces and whisked four eggs while I minced 1/2 shallot, broke a chunk of lion’s mane mushroom into bite-sized pieces, opened a fresh container of goat cheese and cut off two two ounce chunks. I poured Willy a glass of Gerard Bertrand Cotes des Roses and cleaned and opened the bulb and sliced two cloves of the fresh garlic into thin slices and minced them.
Suzette then heated butter in a skillet and sautéed the shallot and mushrooms, and garlic, and then added the greens and chunks of the PPI sautéed salmon.
I cut three slices of Tuscan melon into three pieces each and toasted two slices of Baguette, and then wrapped the melon with pieces of prosciutto and put them on a plate on the table, see photo of them in front of Willy above.
We were close to being ready. Willy fetched the chilled bottle of Italian Secco Frizzante white wine from the garage fridge and opened it and poured three glasses of it.
Suzette flipped the omelet in half and after another minute or two of cooking, cut it into thirds and plated three plates and I spread the two pieces of baguette with butter and pineapple marmalade and we each took a plate to the table in the TV room where we could watch the soccer matches.
Today’s omelet was heavy and dense with lots of dark flavors in juxtaposition to the lighter more airy lighter flavors of the Spanish tapa frittata yesterday even though they were both packed with lots of ingredients. Part of the the difference for me was definitely today’s use of goat cheese instead of the lighter creamier burrata and the amount of greens, which yesterday’s tortilla/frittata lacked, plus it seems that baking the frittata in the oven gave the body lift rather than turning it onto itself with today’s omelet that seemed to compress the omelet’s density.
We enjoyed our brunch and liked the light Secco with its mild effervescence. It appears from the internet that Trader Joe’s sells Secco for $4.99, far less than a French champagne or even an Italian Prosecco. It helped lessen and loosen the density of the omelet. I did not care for what I though might be the Secco’s carbonation, but it was a tasty wine otherwise, especially for $4.99.
Willy loved today’s omelet, which we tailored to his taste and latest dietary desires. I think Willy loves salmon above all other foods and his new gluten free, low iron diet attracted him to the sautéed vegetables and enzymes in the mushroom. I was happy that we could produce a dish with mostly plants growing in our garden.
We will harvest garlic next weekend.
We watched Switzerland win against Turkey and Italy win against Wales and then a Willy said goodbye a bit after noon.
We rested a bit and then filled a water bottle with cold water and grabbed a blanket and walked to Forest Park around 1:45 for the Father’s Day concert by our neighborhood brass band. It was sunny and warm but pleasantly surprising the neighborhood park trust had installed two new benches, so we were able to sit on a bench instead of the ground. After about 45 minutes we returned home because we had scheduled a zoom meeting with the family at 3:00.
The zoom meeting was very pleasant and included Elaine, Rebecca, BIlly after 3:30, Luke, Suzette and me. Luke is the new star in the family with the recent publication of his memoir of the year he spent in L.A. Luke detailed the ways the book is listed on reading lists. He recently received a high rating by GL reviews, which made us all happy even though Luke had no idea how GL had found a copy during the prerelease period.
We rested some more after the zoom meeting until 5:30 when Suzette became hungry. We had thawed four small lamb chops and wanted the grill them with an Ichiban eggplant I had bought at Talin the other day.
Finally, after some discussion, Suzette said, “Let’s make it into Ratatouille.”
We immediately started gathering an onion, the fresh garlic, two tomatoes, and the fresh red bell pepper I bought yesterday at Sprouts and Suzette went to the garden and snipped seven or eight stalks of fresh oregano.
I chopped the medium sized Ichiban eggplant, three cloves of garlic, 1/2 of the onion, 1/2 of the red bell pepper, and the two tomatoes. Suzette and I sautéed the ingredients in the large Le Crueset casserole and then Suzette grilled the lamb chops.
The finished dish
I was amazed how delicious the simple combination of ingredients in the ratatouille made its own stew with a sauce that complemented the lamb chops perfectly grilled to medium rare.
I was totally satisfied by their combined flavors when eaten in small bites together.
I poured out the last sip of the Calstar Cellars 2013 Sonoma Ridge Pinot Noir and fetched and opened a 2012 Pontificis Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre bland from Pays d’ Oc that I bought at Trader Joe’s for $6.99 in 2014. We liked it a lot.
Here are wine notes on Pontificis.
PONTIFICIS - A GSM BLEND FOR THE MASSES
BY: JON THORSEN PUBLISHED: JUNE 20, 2016 LAST UPDATED: MAY 24, 2021
Another consistently good Trader Joe's Top Pick, the Pontificis GSM.
40% Grenache, 33% Syrah and 27% Mourvedre from Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
The Pontificis GSM is available exclusively at Trader Joe's for $6.99. Imported by Latitude Wines.
From the bottle:
Produced in the Languedoc-Roussillon, between sea and mountain, from the three local grape varieties Grenache (50%), Syrah (30%) and Mourvedre (20%), Pontificis is deep purple in colour, with aromas of spice, black fruits and herbs and a palate of supple, yet rich spicy fruit. It is a beautiful representation of the best of the South of France.
Enjoy at 64F with meats in sauce, mediterranean dishes, marinated game and cheeses.
13% Alcohol
We're big fans of both wines from the Languedoc and GSM blends so we were quite happy a few years ago to find this wine at such a low price at Trader Joe's. We first recommended the 2011 vintage and it's held up ever since, in fact, it may have even gotten better. Read on to find out more.
The 2014 Badet Clement Pontificis GSM Blend begins with very pleasant aromas of dark red fruit, a few oaky notes, menthol and some light herbal notes. Tasting the wine reveals juicy, sweet, berry fruit wrapped up in a smooth texture. It turns a bit oaky and leathery mid-palate and then some nice underlying earthy notes lead into the finish. It ends dry with cola, earth and sweet berry fruit lasting for quite awhile. A very nice GSM blend at an even nicer price. At only $6.99 you might as well keep a few bottles on hand!
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2014 PONTIFICIS GSM
TASTE: 8 COST: 9
OVERALL RATING: 8.3
I guess I need to go back and buy some more bottles.
Languedoc is the large area in Southwest France lying between the Rhone River, the Pyrenees Mountains, inland from the Atlantic Ocean.
If you desire more detail on the designation of Pays d’ Oc here it is.
WHAT DOES VIN DE PAYS D'OC ACTUALLY MEAN?
Vin de pays is a French term meaning "country wine." Vins de pays is a step in the French wine classification that is above the table wine (Vin de table) classification, but below Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and formerly below VDQS classifications. Legislation on the Vin de pays terminology was created in 1973 and passed in 1979, allowing producers to distinguish wines that were made using grape varieties or procedures other than those required by the AOC rules, without having to use the simple and commercially non-viable table wine classification. Unlike table wines, which are only indicated as being from France, Vin de pays carries a geographic designation of origin, the producers have to submit the wine for analysis and tasting, and the wines have to be made from certain varieties or blends. Regulations regarding varieties and labelling practices are typically more lenient than the regulations for AOC wines. In 2009, the Vin de pays classification was replaced by the new IGP - Indication Géographique Protégée, or Protected Geographical Region - designation.
There are three tiers of Vin de Pays: regional, departmental and local.
There are six regional Vins de Pays, which cover large areas of France. The most voluminous contributor to this category of wines is Vin de Pays d'Oc, from the Languedoc-Roussillon area in Mediterranean France. The second largest volume of Vin de Pays wines is produced as Vin de Pays de la Loire, a designation that applies to wines from the whole Loire Valley. The others are: Vin de Pays du Comté Tolosan (south-west), Vin de Pays de Méditerranée (south-east, Provence and Corsica) and Vin de Pays des Comtés Rhodaniens (Rhone valley). Two further regional Vin de Pays designations, Vin de Pays de l'Atlantique (Bordeaux and Charentes (Cognac)) and Vin de Pays Vignobles de France (all of wine-making France) were approved by French authorities in 2007, but (together with Vin de Pays de Gaules for the Beaujolais region) remain disputed and as of July 2009, they remained unpublished in the Official Journal of the European Union due to actions taken by other French wine producers. The Vin de Pays Vignobles de France has now been replaced by a table wine designation Vin de France, launched in August 2009.
Each regional Vin de Pays is divided into several departmental Vins de Pays, of which there are about 50. The names are derived from the French departments in question and the limits exactly the same as the department's borders. For example, Vin de Pays du Gard is one of the Vins de Pays produced within Vins de Pays d'Oc using grapes from the Gard department and the Vin de Pays de Charente-maritime is produced in the Cognac area. Approximately one third of the French departments don't produce Vin de Pays, for example Côte d'Or in Burgundy and Gironde in Bordeaux, or because the climate is not suited to produce wine at all, like the Bretagne, Normandy and Nord-Pas de Calais regions.
The local, or zone-defined Vins de pays are numerous, and may take their name from some historical or geographical phenomenon, such as Vin de Pays des Marches de Bretagne or Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l'Ardeche, or even a more locally specific variant. The boundaries of a zone may reflect a consistent terroir, rather than an administrative convenience, and could potentially in the long run achieve the status of an AOC.
Later, Suzette whipped some cream and heated the last of the apricot and blueberry cobbler we made from our first crop of five apricots last week and we ate a slightly tough but delicious dessert, made even better by a sniffer of Zacapa Rum. Thanks again to Cousin Marty.
We watched game four of the Stanley Cup playoff between Montreal and Las Vegas, but missed the end in overtime when Las Vegas scored to tie the series 2 to 2, because we tried to watch the new Masterpiece Theater presentation titled “Us”, but got sleepy and went to bed at 9:30.
A sleepy Father’s Day with lots of pleasant family interaction and a bit more depth of understanding of the Pays d’ Oc.
Bon Appetit
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