July 13, 2024 Brunch - Steak and Brie Omelet. Snack Dinner - Shell Club Meeting

 July 13, 2024 Brunch - Steak and Brie Omelet. Snack Dinner - Shell Club Meeting

Today is a day I look forward to all year. It is our annual meeting of the High Desert Shell Club.

I woke up at 4:30 to try to catch the begging of the Tour de France and coverage did not begin until 5:30.  Today’s stage was a mountain stage with a climb of Tourmelet and several other high passes. 

Pogacar gained 39 seconds on Vinnegaard today and Vinnegaard gained enough time on Evenrold to go into second place. A very interesting mountain top finish in the Pyrenees.

Suzette had picked and rinsed and spun a basket of chard and kale for a kale salad. There were lots of large and long leaves so I decided to slice 

thinly and decided to cut using the chiffonade slicing technique.

Chiffonade (French: [ʃi. fɔ. nad]) is a slicing technique in which leafy green vegetables such as spinach, sorrel, or Swiss chard, or a flat-leaved herb like basil, are cut into long, thin strips. This is accomplished by stacking leaves, rolling them tightly, then slicing the leaves perpendicular to the roll.

The result is a long thin strip that can be eaten by twirling the strips around a fork like spaghetti. Suzette candied walnuts using the Martha Stewart recipe and I cored and cubed a Granny Smith and a Fuji apple and we added some blueberries. Suzette made a yogurt/honey dressing with small amounts of sour cream and Mayonnaise added.

In the morning during Stage 14 of the Tour I de-pitted over a lb. of bing cherries and cut them in half and doused them with Grand Marnier.

Then I made the clafoutis batter by scalding 2 cups of milk mixed with 1 1/3 cups of heavy cream. In a bowl I mixed 7 T. of flour with 10 T. of powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp. of salt and stirred in 3 eggs and then the milk with a wooden spoon.  While I was making the batter Suzette buttered and coated the butter with granulated sugar the inside of a ceramic baking dish.  I mixed the cherries into the batter and poured the mixture into the sugared baking dish and baked the clafoutis for about an hour at 350 degrees.  

At 3:00 I toasted a slice of baguette and spread basil Mayo on it and added slices of salami, Manchego cheese, yellow onion, and  romaine lettuce for a snack.

At 4:30 we took the kale salad, the clafoutis, and a bottle of Trader Joe’s 2022 St. Emillon to the shell club meeting at in Rio Rancho at Tom and Donnie’s house. We are only four members but an amazing resource group of people.  For example, at the dinner table when I tried to explain the French cutting technique I used on the kale, Bruce, who is the Science Librarian at Texas A & M, said “Chiffonade”, which was correct. I realized that I was among folks who had an encyclopedic knowledge of a lot more things than just shells and biology.

Later, I asked Tom if the Eburnea Eburnea cowrie shell I bought in Florida was extinct and he went into a lengthy explanation that the shell’s habitat is within an area designated as off Lori it’s to fishing by the Australian government to protect the fishery from destruction by over fishing but that Taiwanese fishermen sneak into the area at night and trawl.

Later I looked at the identification tag I received with my shell that provides not only name identification, but also date, depth, and manner of collection. The label read, “Trawled by Taiwanese fishermen.”

I was startled to know both that my shell was probably illegally gathered and that Tom’s knowledge of how it was collected and the area it was collected was so accurate.

I always learn a lot at our meetings and the food is usually excellent, and tonight was no exception.

Tom always grills filet mignonette and Donnie made a rice and pea salad.

Mike’s wife made a grilled gold and fed beet salad with diced avocado and kale dressed with a vinaigrette that was terrific and we brought our kale salad. I ate some of each and everything was delicious.

Tom served a red blend named “something Cloud” that was better than our St. Emillion. The St. Emillion had a tannic acid after-taste that Suzette and I agreed made the wine too young to drink.

But after dinner the desserts were the best part of the meal. Mike’s wife made a plum tart that I have never eaten but want to eat the rest of my life, a light frangipane made with almond flour, sugar, a tiny amount of flour, and whisked egg whites decorated with thin slices of plums from their tree.

Everyone liked our clafoutis garnished with whipped cream Donnie whipped up fresh in the kitchen.

It was a wonderful meeting and we left around 8:00 happy and full.

When we returned home Suzette went to sleep and I tried to watch TV but fell asleep and went to bed when I awakened at 11:00.

Bon Appetit