October 13, 2021 Lunch - Salmon Salad. Dinner - Grilled Lamb Rack of Lamb with Stir Fried Fried Tofu and Mixed Vegetables

 October 13, 2021 Lunch - Salmon Salad. Dinner - Grilled Lamb Rack of Lamb with Stir Fried Fried Tofu and Mixed Vegetables

I awakened at 7:15 and made a cup of hot chocolate and watched the market until 8:00 as it started to gain momentum upward.

I then spent most of the morning until 11:30 working at my desk and helping Suzette move air conditioning units into the garage. 

At 11:30 I removed and cleaned the two slabs our salmon from their curing medium. 

I then made salads for Suzette and me by tearing green leaf lettuce into bite sized pieces into a pasta bowl and adding 1/2 of a diced tomato and 1/2 of an avocado to each. I then peeled and sectioned an orange and a biscuit pear and added slices of each to each salad bowl. Finally I sliced, diced, and added two slices of freshly cured Gravad lax to each salad and finished by sprinkling each salad with a tsp. of capers.  I dressed the salads with the eternal salad dressing freshly augmented with recycled balsamic and olive oil dressing.

I poured out glasses of Buttonwood Finger Lakes Riesling and we took our salad bowls and glasses of wine out to the gazebo table that was chilly in the shade but comfortably warm in the sun.

After lunch I worked on the Response to the Court of Appeals from 1:30:until 6:45 and feel it is close to finished.

The Grilled Lamb.

In the afternoon Suzette ran errands including going to Costco, where she bought a lovely rack of lamb.  I am assuming it was Spring lamb because it was big and well marbled.

Suzette used her new method of grilling the lamb of turning off turning down the heat after a few minutes of grilling so the meat did not become scorched.

Fried Tofu and Mixed Vegetables

While Suzette was grilling the lamb I was preparing the Fried Tofu and rice with Mixed Vegetables.

I don’t usually have a PPI for this dish but today I did; the leftover portion of my lunch yesterday at East Ocean, fried tofu and Mixed Vegetables.  We decided to make three changes to enhance the final dish.  We added sugar snap peas and diced asparagus, we converted the dish into Fried rice with Fried tofu and Mixed vegetables and we emulsified the dish with crab broth that helped integrate the flavors and loosened the heavy cornstarch thickened sauce as served at East Ocean.

I de-stemmed a handful of sugar snap peas and sliced six or seven stalks of asparagus into 1 inch pieces.  I then sautéed those two ingredients in peanut oil flavored with a piece of smashed garlic.  After a minute I added the sugar snap peas and asparagus and cooked them for a couple of minutes.  Then we added 2/3 cup of cooked rice and 1/2 cup of PPI quinoa with tomato and kale. Then we added some beach mushrooms and the mixed vegetables and fried tofu and then a cup of crab broth and 2 T. of Chinese rice cooking wine.  After a few minutes the mixture blended together into a thick congee.  

When the lamb was grilled I sliced the rack into individual riblets and served each of us two riblets and we each took a ladle full if rice and vegetables.  

I opened a bottle of 2018 Signargues Cotes Du Rhone Village red wine.

We loved the fresh lamb.  I reminded Suzette that this is Spring in Australia, when Spring lamb is available and she reminded me to say that using freshly made broth is better than using a broth made form dehydrated stock and water. I could not taste any hint of crab in the dish, so I tend to agree with her.

After dinner we finished with a cheese course of fresh brie cheese on slices of toasted and buttered French baguette and then several Godiva chocolates to complete a three course meal and finish the bottle.

Bon Appetit