June 25, 2021 Lunch - Buffet King Dinner- Cedar Plank Grilled Trout with Country Fries and Sautéed green beans with sliced almonds.

June 25, 2021 Lunch - Buffet King   Dinner- Cedar  Plank Grilled Trout with Country Fries and Sautéed green beans with sliced almonds.

I rode 8 miles this morning and then made a stir Fry of sausage, rice, eggs onion, and some Mapo Dofu at 9:00.

I worked for a while and then showered and dressed.

At 12:20 Peter and Etienne arrived and we drove to Buffet King, our favorite Chinese Buffet located a5 the corner of Academy and Seagull.

The buffet has not returned to full activity, but we are glad they're open and there were enough items to satisfy our hunger. I started with a bowl of egg drop soup and a bit of tofu from the hot and sour soup and two fried fish fillets.  Peter found the tartare sauce and brought us some. Then I took a plate with stir fried white chicken with zucchini and mushrooms, beef and broccoli, and two BBQ pork ribs.  That was all for today, except for several almond cookies.

Peter and Etienne ate a bit more.

After lunch Etienne stayed at my house for a while and then visited Peter’s house to buy a painting.

I went to the basement and finally settled on a bottle of Pinot Blanc from Konstantin Frank Winery on Lake Keuka and laid it in the freezer to chill 

I worked until 4:30 when Suzette arrived. 

Etienne drove to Bosque Bakery and bought two baguettes.

We had decided on a simple menu, Cedar plank smoked trout, country fries, and green beans sautéed in butter with slivered almonds.

We had invited Willy to join us.  We opened the rose’  Etienne brought but we did not find it very interesting, so we opened the Pinot Blanc.  Everyone liked the Pinot Blanc, but we decided to drink it with the meal.

Finally when Willy arrived at 6:30 we opened the Cabernet Sauvignon Etienne had brought.  Everyone liked it as well and we poured Willy a glass.

Smoked Trout

I had bought three trout st Albertsons. I like Albertsons’  trout. It seems like they always have it, so I guess they have their own trout farm.

Suzette rinsed them off and I cut off the heads and tails.

Suzette picked a handful of thyme and chives and I minced them with three green onions that she mixed into 4 oz. of butter with her hand and stuffed not the stomach cavities of the trout after I had cleaned the cavities.

We also toasted and buttered five or six slices of fresh baguette and wrapped them in aluminum foil and Etienne placed the bread on the top shelf of grill to heat.

Suzette then lay the trout on the board and grilled them.  The butter started burning so she splashed the fire out with water so it would create steam and smoke to smoke the fish.

When she brought the trout back to the kitchen the skins were seared and blackened in places but when I cut down to  the spine from the top to free the fillets, I found the meat was incredibly tender and fell off the bone.  

Country Fries

This was an easy dish.  All we did was to sauté the PPI roasted potato and sweet potato wedges tossed in mint in a skillet with butter to crisp the edges.

Green Beans with Slivered Almonds

Suzette snapped the green beans and then blanched them in water in a skillet.  I took over the stove while she grilled the trout. When the water evaporated I added two T. of butter and a generous handful of slivered almonds and sautéed the green beans and almonds until e trout was cooked, which luckily was when the almonds turned a toasted golden brown.

While Suzette filled four plates with Country Fries and Green Beans, I filleted the three trout and lay a filet or pile of trout on each plate.

We filled the glasses with the wine of our choice and carried the plates and glasses and bread to the table under the gazebo and ate a delicious dinner.  Etienne accurately noted that the green beans and almonds and Country Fries were crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.  

The trout was incredibly tender and even juicy with a wonderful lightly smoked flavor.

Everyone drank Pinot Blanc except Willy and he broke down and had a glass after he drank his glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Even the bread was amazing, toasted crisp and lightly flavored throughout with butter.

Willy told us that his friend Robin had announced his engagement to his long time girlfriend and requested we select a bottle of wine that Willy could take to the engagement party.

So we all went to the basement and after a lot of discussion agreed that a bottle of port would be the best choice.  I have tried to buy a bottle of every vintage port starting in 1979, so we have lots of them.  We went through the ports and found that I had two bottles of 2012 late bottled vintage port, so we sent one with Willy to the party.

After Willy left Etienne suggested we watch the French TV series titled Lupin. We watched two episodes and liked them very much.

During Lupin Suzette whipped some cream and served us a Rhubarb tart her new baker had made with whipped cream.  The tart was not a delicious as Suzette’s Rhubarb/strawberry tarts.

Etienne took a sniffer of Armagnac and I took a sniffer of Calvados with the tart.

Etienne and Suzette went to bed at 10:00 and I stayed up until 11:30 to watch Rachel Maddow and some of Lawrence O’Donnell and drink a cup of tea.

Bon Appetit