August 1, 2022 Lunch - Lamb and Couscous with Tzatziki Dinner - Stewed Beef Short Ribs with three cheese Polenta and fresh Garden Greens

August 1, 2022 Lunch - Lamb and Couscous with Tzatziki Dinner - Stewed Beef Short Ribs with three cheese Polenta and fresh Garden Greens

The big news today was I finished my brief on schedule.

Ai 10:00 I ate three small sandwiches of charcuterie and slices of Manchego cheese with a cup of tea.

I then worked until 3:30 when Suzette arrived.  She had not eaten any lunch, so she heated some PPI tomato, greens, and asparagus couscous and dced lamb in the microwave and I ate with her except she did not add tzatziki and I added lots of it to my dish because the clove of fresh garlic I squeezed into it gave the tzatziki a rather spicy flavor. I made a limeade with lime juice, mint syrup water, water, and ice.

Then it started to rain hard.  Suzette assured me that Carlos had sealed the roof where he was making repairs.

We then started dinner prep because the short ribs needed to cook in the tomato and vegetable stock for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  The recipe Suzette used was very close to the recipes for Osso Bucco or Boeuf Bourguignon p; veal stock, diced tomatoes, a cup of red wine and a mirepoix.  I finely diced a small onion, two stalks of celery, and two carrots while Suzette was braiding the short ribs and constructing the rest of the sauce in a large enameled casserole.

After Suzette put the covered casserole into the oven we started looking for the polenta.  Suzette found it and started boiling 1 1/4 cups of water and then added 1/2 cup of polenta (corn roughly ground Red Mill).

Suzette stirred and grated 1/4 cup each of Manchego, Jarlsberg, and Pecorino-Romano cheese. Then I stirred the polenta when she went to the garden to pick greens. I added the cheeses when the polenta thickened because I did not know it had to cook for 1/2 hour which caused the polenta to be gritty.  I should have added more water and kept cooking the polenta for the designated 1/2 hour. 

I have a theory that when cooking pasta and grains at high altitude you need to add additional water because it takes longer to get the water to boil.  I do that with couscous. 

When Suzette brought in the basket of greens, I de-stemmed the leaves and cut them into bite-sized pieces.  Suzette spun the greens and then filled two pasta bowls with the greens. Then when the short ribs were ready at 7:30, she spooned polenta on top of the greens and then spooned the short ribs and sauce over the polenta.

We poured out the rest of the highly rated 2018 Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Famille Luc Schweitzer from Blaye (this was a special featured at Total Wine for around $23.99). The ratings vary somewhat from 93 to 97 and a. 4.1 Vinvino rating, so an excellent bottle of wine.  I thought it had a rich, deep fruit flavor that lasted on the back of my palate a long time.  I drank a glass of it after dinner with a few cubes of ice and did not have any craving for dessert or cognac.

We watched the Antiques Roadshow at 7:00 but I was sweating in the TV room so I retired to the bedroom to watch the second hour at 8:00 and stopped sweating and then fell asleep until 10:45, when I watched some TV and returned to bed at 11:45 to blog and read.

Suzette has reduced her vacancies from 11 to 3 in the last month, which is a major achievement.

We sent out invitations for her birthday party and have received lots of positive responses.

It feels like things are turning positive. The market has risen about 10% in the last month.

Bon Appetit