June 6, 2023 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - New Recipe, Pappardelle pasta in a Truffle, Asparagus, and Tellegio Cream Sauce with a baked chicken thigh

June 6, 2023 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - New Recipe, Pappardelle pasta in a Truffle, Asparagus, and Tellegio Cream Sauce with a baked chicken thigh

I ate the usual granola, with milk and strawberries, and yogurt for breakfast.

I then worked at my desk until 1:30 when I made my usual salami salad with romaine lettuce, a sliced radish, several slices of avocado, red onion, salami, and cucumber.  I dressed the salad with the ubiquitous Cesar dressing and more interestingly toasted three small slices of baguette and buttered them and melted slices of Manchego cheese on them for warm melted cheese sandwiches.

At 2:20 I checked the Market close and was pleased that I achieved a small gain, especially since Nvidia was hammered down $5.00 today and Apple was negative.

I then drove to Smith’s Suzette had requested smoked pork, arugula, and asparagus, and then bought milk, shallots, strawberries, cookies and coffee ice cream, green beans, an avocado, and powdered sugar. The big surprise was that in the discounted cheese section there were two of my favorite cheeses, Taleggio and Maytag blue.  I bought both of the wedges of tallegio  for $2.97 each and the wedge of Maytag blue for $3.03.  I major score.

I returned home at 4:20 and had to sit down and rest even though Suzette arrived and went to the garden to weed a bed.

Suzette suggested I find a recipe for the tallegio.

We decided to bake the four chicken thighs I had thawed yesterday in the oven.  I went to the garden and picked two stalks of tarragon and sliced a lemon and two cloves of garlic and stuffed the thighs with sprigs of tarragon, garlic slices, and a slice of lemon. Suzette then baked the chicken thighs in the oven at 350/degrees for 45 minutes.

I had found a recipe that utilized ingredients we had, including slices of black truffle and the tallegio.  Here is the recipe.

We did not have taglioni but did have the wider noodle, Pappardelle.

While the chicken was baking, Suzette boiled the pasta until soft while I minced a shallot and a clove of fresh garlic and snapped the ends off 14 asparagus stalks and sliced them into 1 inch long slices and sliced the truffle and sliced each slice into 1/4 inch wide slices.  

I grated a cup of Parmesan, and cubed the 1/2 lb. of tallegio. Suzette sautéed the vegetable ingredients and truffles in the large enameled casserole and then added the cream, tallegio, and Parmesan. 

When the sautéed vegetables were cooked and the pappardelle soft, Suzette tossed it in the cream sauce and vegetables in the casserole.

I opened the bottle of 2022 De Ponte Melon de Bourgogne, which was intensely acidic and fruity and poured glasses and fetched silverware and napkins, while Suzette tossed and cooked the pasta in cream sauce a bit to thicken it.

Suzette the put a pile of pasta in a pasta bowl and I put a baked thigh on each pile.

We carried our plate and glass of wine to the table under the portal and we enjoyed this incredibly wonderful meal. The only thing that was less than fabulous, was the lack or smell or taste from the truffle. But, perhaps I didn’t taste the truffle was because I am not used to tasting truffles. I suspect the truffles lost their pungency because they were bottled in water and were not fresh.

To say the least this new recipe with the tallegio cream sauce was fabulous. We each de-boned our thigh and cut it into pieces so bites of chicken could be eaten with pasta, asparagus and sauce.

The wine slightly sweet and highly acidic wine went well with the rich creamy sauce.

This was a great meal that one could not have eaten at any restaurant in New Mexico and perhaps not anywhere in the U.S..

I was thrilled to find the tallegio, which has a rich flavor and melts well.  And we have another wedge of it.

After dinner Suzette fetched the last bottle of her first batch of home made limoncello and we had two cordial glasses of it over crushed ice.

Later I drank a cup of chai with three cookies and blogged this entry.

We eat well much of the time but only rarely reach the heights of culinary excellence that we reached tonight.

I have never eaten a truffle, tallegio, cream sauce, until tonight.

Bon Appetit