October 22, 2023 Brunch - Gravad Lax, bagels, cream cheese, onion slices, and capers. Snack - Salami and cheese Sandwiches. Dinner - Duck Stewed in onions, apples, plums, and quince

October 22, 2023 Brunch -  Gravad Lax, bagels, cream cheese, onion slices, and capers. Snack - Salami and cheese Sandwiches. Dinner - Duck Stewed in onions, apples, plums, and quince

Today was another fabulous food day.

I awakened and watched the news and then Aston Villa beat Westhampton while prepping dinner by butchering a duck carcass and slicing two onions, 3 1/2 Gala apples, three plums, and two quince. Suzette then sautéed the two duck leg quarters we bought at Talin yesterday and then the sliced onions in the duck fat until they were caramelized and then placed the duck, two additional duck breasts, the fruit, onions, and a bottle of Rioja wine into the clay Romertopf  cooking roaster and cooked the dish for 5 hours.

              The romertopf filled with all the ingredients before cooking

                 The quinces cooking before being added to the romertopt

                          The Rioja added to the stew

Around 11:00 I toasted two slices of bagel for each of us and spread cream cheese on them and then sliced about ten or twelve slices of Gravad Lax and about six or seven slices of onion and fetched the jar of capers and sliced several tomatoes Suzette found in the garden and put those ingredients on a plate.  Suzette made a Bloody Mary and I made a cup of tea and we garnished our bagels with the lax and onion and tomato slices.

Then I rested and Suzette worked in her office until 3:00 when I made three small salami and Gouda cheese sandwiches and ate them with 1/2 of a Negra Modelo and two dill pickles.

I worked a bit and then at 5:00 rested until 6:00.

We had invited Willy and Mike for dinner.

Suzette steamed a bunch of asparagus and made mashed potatoes to serve with the duck stew.

I had asked Mike to bring some ice cream and milk.  When he arrived at 6:10 he not only brought Alden’s organic vanilla ice cream, but also two 6 oz. plastic containers of raspberries.

I opened a bottle of 2021 Jean XII reserve Chateauneuf du Pape and poured a taste for each of us.  We all liked the wine.

Soon Suzette plated dinner, a pasta bowl filled with a pile of mashed potatoes covered with the duck stew with a pile of steamed asparagus on the side.  This was elegant peasant food with a great wine. The wine had a complexity that rivaled the stew’s assortment of ingredients and they each complemented the other.

Willy arrived a few minutes later and Suzette plated him a dinner and I poured him a glass of wine.

We started watching Sunday Night football between Miami and Philadelphia and both teams were at the top of their game, so we could not stop watching.

At halftime after we had finished dinner we made vanilla ice cream parfaits with fresh raspberries and Hershey’s chocolate syrup.

At Suzette’s request I fetched the bottle of cherry liquor we bought at El Monasterio Winery in Gangas de Casea.  I also served Maison Serrene cognac and Bernenroy Calvados.

We enjoyed the drinks and after Willy left, Mike and I took seconds on ice cream and raspberries and chocolate syrup and drank another shot of cognac with a splash of cherry liquor.

Suzette said goodnight at 9:30 and I invited Mike to stay to watch Astrid with me. He particularly liked tonight’s episode because it involved Bach’s Toccato organ piece. We drank cups of ginger drink during the episode 

Mike left at 11:00 after the episode and I blogged this blog.

Bon Appetit