September 10, 2022 Lunch - Moroccan feast at Greenhouse Bistro Dinner - Pizza Disaster
The day started out great. At 9:00 we drove to the Farmers’ Market and drove directly to the Corn Vendor at the corner of Copper and 8th. Suzette bought 120 ears of corn to put up for the winter at the Bistro.
We then drove around to Central and parked next to the Riviera Bakery where we bought tw almond Croissants. My legs felt okay so we walked around the inner loop and bought a beautiful Brandywine Tomato, a lovely head of butter lettuce, and a Spanish eggplant Rossa that should be pure white inside.
We then drove home at 10:00. I made a cup of hot chocolate and Suzette made a fresh pot of coffee. We heated the croissants and carried them out to the gazebo table in the garden and enjoyed our Continental breakfast in the cool sunny morning air.
We then rested for a few minutes and then drove to the Center to deliver the corn. I waited for Suzette and in the Bistro with a glass of lemonade while she and a helper unloaded the corn into the restaurant’s industrial fridge.
When Suzette arrived we ordered the Special Moroccan three course meal.
The first course was a lettuce and roasted beet and goat cheese salad garnished with a small pile of pickled red onion.. It was better than the one we ate at M’Tucci’s on Wednesday, even though the beets were not caramelized and the Balsamic and olive oil dressing was overwhelmingly acidic.
We later discussed the dressing and roasting process with Chef Josh. We told him we like a. 70/30 olive oil to balsamic blend because the acidity of the balsamic is minimized which releases the sweetness of the balsamic flavor. Also Suzette said, “If you roast the beets a bit more the edges will crisp and caramelize.”
The main course was a tour de Force. Three grilled lamb riblets rubbed in Moroccan spices served on a soft potato pancake made from mashed potatoes and sautéed onions and topped with a large dollop of tzatziki with a pile of sautéed mushrooms on the side. We could not finish the entree.
We took home dessert, a lovely slice of moist olive bread flavored with pomegranate juice.
Suzette drank a wonderful pomegranate sangria, special cocktail made especially for this meal.
Chef Josh intends to create specialty meals each month that express a Cuisine related to the available ingredients or season.
He is thinking about a special German Cuisine meal for Oktoberfest in October.
The food is really getting more interesting at the Bistro.
We drove home and rested and watched the Women’s final of the U.S. Open.
At 6:00 Suzette wanted to make pizza with the dough we bought at M’Tucci’s 25. Suzette indeed it and rolled it out and I sliced slices of fresh mozzarella, serrano ham, and grated a pile of Pecorino Romano cheese. Suzette went to garden and picked a handful of fresh basil leaves and tried to replicate the pizza we saw made on the Finding Italy episode on Naples.
Suzette put pizza on a wooden paddle to slide onto a heated 12 x 12 inch ceramic tile in the outdoor propane grill, but did not coat the paddle with cornmeal and the pizza did nit slide.
Suzette decided to cook the pizza on the paddle, which burned one side of the paddle but baked most of the pizza and then transferred the pizza to the tile. She served the pizza in chunks that were quite delicious even they lacked and visual semblance to a pizza.
I opened and poured glasses of Barbera di Asti red wine (Trader Joe’s $5.99).
We were full from lunch and did not eat all of the mostly undercooked pizza, but decided to cool it into eggs for breakfast like chiliquillas.
Suzette’s comment was, “we need to take a pizza making lesson.”
Bon Appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment