January 1, 2015 Brunch of Scrambled Eggs with Truffle oil

The big meal today was brunch because Melissa spent the night.  We made scrambled eggs and flavored them with the truffle flavored oil and truffle flavored salt she gave us for Christmas.  This is our first experience cooking with truffle oil and we are not sure how much to use.  Suzette poured a few drops of oil on the eggs and they began to smell of truffles.  We note that the truffle oil is really aromatic with cooked eggs and the eggs taste of truffles, perhaps because the heat in the eggs volatilizes the truffle oil’s aroma, so the meal was deemed a success by all.  We drank a glass of Argyle champagne with the eggs and watched the Rose Parade with its fabulous flowered floats. 

I am seeing Olivier's truffle Olive Oil all over the internet these days, so it must be easy to find. 

After Melissa left we rested and I watched football.  For the rest of the day we eat PPIs, such as Willy’s Irish stew and the Oaxacan food from Christmas Eve and the cookies and cakes, but do not cook anything else.  

Bon Appétit 

January 8, 2015 Lunch –Chirashi at Azuma Dinner - Sautéed Rib Steak and Red Onions with PPI Mashed Potatoes and Ratatouille and steamed string beans

January 8, 2015 Lunch –Chirashi at Azuma  Dinner - Sautéed Rib Steak and Red Onions with PPI Mashed Potatoes and Ratatouille and steamed string beans

What a great day of food.  At 12:30 I went to Azuma and ate my favorite, Chirashi Donburi ($14.95) with hot green tea.

Then I drove the short distance to Sprouts Farm Market and bought string beans ($1.88/lb.), broccoli crown ($.99/lb.), milk and granola.

I had thawed out a USDA Choice rib steak (Albertson’s $6.97/lb.) before I left the house.

I rode to Rio Bravo when I returned home.  When Suzette came home a little after 6:00 I had de-stemmed and snapped the string beans.

 

Suzette has come to the decision that it is too cold to grill on our propane grill outside in the winter, so we have begun sautéing our steaks in a large iron skillet with 1 large clove of garlic sliced thinly into rounds and butter. 

Today I added one ¼ red onion sliced thinly to the skillet with the steak.  The onions and garlic rounds cooked to a pleasant crispness to make a sauce/garnish for the steak.

I also warmed to room temperature some PPI Béarnaise Sauce and put a dab onto the steak and string beans and we heated PPI Mashed Potatoes from New Year’s Eve and Ratatouille from Tuesday night’s meal in the microwave.

I opened a bottle of 2012 Little Black Dress California Pinot Noir I bought at Total Wine for $7.99, before the 10% six bottle discount.  We had a wonderful meal.

The Little Black Dress Pinot Noir did not have much character but it was clean tasting with that good mild pinot noir elegance.  I will buy Little Black Dress Pinot Noir again.

After dinner I ate a few slices of brie cheese with the last of the wine and then we finished the chocolate pudding from Christmas Eve with the Crème Anglais pouring custard.

After dinner we soaked in the hot tub for about ten minutes and then I drifted off to sleep by 9:30 as I tried but failed to view “Doc Martin” on PBS.

Voila!

Bon Appétit        

January 7, 2015 PPI Dinner of sautéd lamb, gemelli pasta, and eggplant Provencal with a kale and lettuce with Greek marinated beans

January 7, 2015 PPI Dinner of sautéd lamb, gemelli pasta, and eggplant Provencal with a kale and lettuce Salad with Greek marinated beans

I worked until 6:00 and had not thawed anything, so when Suzette arrived home shortly after 6:00 she and I went to the fridge and selected the PPI pasta with the PPI lamb cubes, two baked eggplant Provencal slices, and Suzette said she wanted to add four sliced mushrooms.  

Suzette marinated the marinated beans we bought at Cheese Mongers in Santa Fe last Saturday in olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dispel some of their vinegary flavor and then chopped kale and made a kale and lettuce salad garnished with the large white beans, balsamic and olive oil.

the salad

I wanted a light clean tasting Italian wine so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of Barbera d' Asti ($5.99 Trader Joe’s).  I turned out to be a great bottle of wine for the price, very smooth and clean tasting.  We loved it with the pasta flavored with garlic, mushrooms and lamb.   The salad was also delicious.  We find a mixture of lettuce and curly kale to be more interesting that either alone.

After dinner I fetched the PPI Stilton, Delice and Iberico cheeses (all from Costco) and butter and toasted slices of baguette and we enjoyed the cheeses with the last of the Barbera di Asti wine.  Italian wine labels are easy to read they always include the dominant grape variety (Barbera in this case) and the city where the wine was produced (Asti in this case).

I can not describe adequately how pleasing  a delicious dinner of a combination of PPIs can be.  It is really my favorite, especially when Suzette creates the dinner menu without my input and creates something special as she did tonight.

Tomorrow night will probably be one of my favorite combinations; steak and Ratatouille with a southern Rhone red. 

Bon Appétit    

  

January 6, 2015 Lunch at Taj Mahal Dinner – Ratatouille and pasta with sautéed lamb and sautéed kale

January 6, 2015 Lunch at Taj Mahal   Dinner – Ratatouille and pasta with sautéed lamb and sautéed kale

I went to lunch at Taj Mahal with Aaron today.  The most interesting new item was Vegetable Pakora, which turned out to be onion rings battered in chick pea flour and deep fried to crisp.  It was delicious an Aaron and I returned for a second helping of it and spinach Saag and a fresh batch of tandoori chicken.   At lunch I met Mike Verhagen, who is back in town, and invited him to dinner.   

Mike said he had a barber appointment at 7:00 but would come after that.  

After lunch I drove to Sprouts to buy several items for dinner.  I called Suzette and she reminded me that we had an eggplant.  I was not sure if Amy and Nate were full vegans, so I decided to buy stuff for ratatouille.  I bought another eggplant ($.48), four zucchini squashes ($1.49/lb.), Roma tomatoes ($.48/lb.), yellow onions ($.48/lb.), a bunch of organic Kale ($.99) and about 2/3 lb. Brussels sprouts ($1.99).

I rode to Montano and back and when I returned I started the Ratatouille by chopping 2 onions, five or six gloves of garlic, and began sautéing them in 2 Tbsp. each of olive oil and butter, I then cubed the 2 eggplants and added them to the pot, then about 1 Tbsp. of dried Mexican oregano, salt, pepper, the 4 zucchinis, a red bell pepper, and finally four or five tomatoes and a cup of water to emulsify the mixture.  I gathered some fresh oregano in the garden but it was stunted by the cold, so I picked 5 or 6 sprigs of fresh oregano from the pot we keep in the window of our dining room and de-stemmed the leaves and chopped them and added them to the mixture.

Suzette heated water in a large enameled casserole to a boil and added 3/4 lb. of gemelli pasta.  Luke stripped and chopped about ¾ of a bunch of organic kale.

I then cubed the PPI lamb roast and when Luke had drained the pasta and put it back into the casserole and the ratatouille had cooked for about 30 minutes, Suzette sautéed the lamb in a large skillet in olive oil for a minute or two to heat it but not toughen it.  We served ourselves from the pots on the stove.

I fetched a bottle of 2010 Chianti Reserva (Trader Joe's $5.99) and a bottle of 2010 Marchesi Chianti Superiore ($4.99 on close out last Christmas at Quarter's) and poured the wine.  After we served ourselves and sat down I told everyone that we were going to do an experiment.  We were going to side by side taste the two chianti produced in the same year to see which we liked; the Chianti Reserva or the Chianti Superiore.  We all agreed that we liked the clean light flavor of the Marchesi Chianti Superiore.

The kale

the Rattatouille

the Gemelli

Luke, Nate and Amy

My plate (note sauteed lamb cubes on the Rattatouille)

 Mike arrived shortly after we served dinner at around 7:45 and joined us for dinner.

After dinner, Luke sliced an orange into wedges and served it with slices of chocolate cake and I gathered up several bottles of liquors, the bottle of Grappa Reserva Mike and Kathryn brought us from Italy, a bottle of Francoli grappa aged in wood three years from Ghemme, Italy, a bottle of VS cognac, a bottle of XO Calvados and the bottle of Trimbach Grande Reserve Poire Brandy.  Everyone seemed to like the brandies, except Luke who drank little wine and no liquor.  Mike liked the pear brandy.    

The next day when Nate and Amy left, they thanked us for the hospitality at our lovely home and I recommended that they visit northern California to see the coastal redwoods near Orick and visit Anderson Valley, Mendocino and Ukiah.

Bon Appétit       

January 3, 2014 Breakfast Baked Grapefruit Lunch Casa Sena PPI Dinner at Amy’s house

January 3, 2014 Breakfast   Baked Grapefruit   Lunch  Casa Sena   PPI Dinner at Amy’s house

We decided to go to Santa Fe today.  Suzette made breakfast with toasted French bread with Rose’s Lime and Lemon Marmalade and baked grapefruit halves dusted with brown sugar.  I sliced Gravad Lax and put goat’s cheese on the table to spread on the toast.  Willy decided to stay in Albuquerque, so Suzette, Billy and I bagged the PPI lamb roast, a bottle of Le Ferme Julien Rosé and a loaf of Fano baguette and drove to Santa Fe. 

We first went to Stephen’s Consignment and then dropped Billy off at the New Mexico History Museum.  Suzette saw several new water colors by Duane Van Veckten at Stephens that we liked very much.  We then drove to the Rail Yard area and saw Luke and Lisa and Laura and another friend at the Farmer’s Market.  We then visited the indoor flea market in El Museo.

We had agreed to meet Billy and Amy for lunch at the Shed at 1:00, but the Shed had a one hour waiting list when we arrived, so we decided to eat lunch at Casa Sena, which had open tables.  We loved the cozy atmosphere of Casa Sena with its luxurious comfortable leather chairs and a fire in the fire place.  The menu was varied but Suzette and I chose the same entrée, a Texas Venison Sausage Sandwich with a side of pickled string beans and carrots in a ramekin, a small ramekin with seeded mustard, another small ramekin of house made catsup, caramelized jalapeno flavored onions, and a pile of fried sweet potato fries ($13.00).   I split the Venison Sausage with Billy and Billy and I each also ordered a bowl of pork stew, which was the soup of the day ($10.00).  The soup was a clear caldo of pork with the pork cooked until its structure collapsed into ropa viejo strands, quite delicious.

The kitchen was kind enough to split the sandwich (one piece of sausage spilt and sautéed on a piece of toasted bread) h with all the other elements of the dish for an additional charge of $6.00.

Amy ordered a salmon filet on a bed of sweetened spaghetti squash and Billy ordered a bowl of pork stew.

After lunch we went to Owings Gallery and Aaron Payne’s Gallery.  On the way from Owings to Aaron Payne’s Gallery, we stopped at Cheese Monger, a new cheese shop on Marcy Street.

We were amazed by the selection of cheeses.  We chose ¼ lb. blocks of a cooking and eating Parmesan cheese ($18.95/lb.) and a tommet made by an artisanal cheese maker in Vermont with unpasteurized goat milk ($42.95/lb.) and I filled a small plastic container with large marinated white Greek beans.  

At 4:30 we drove to Amy’s house in Eldorado for dinner.  Amy had a wide selection of mostly PPI dishes for dinner, including two small pots of black eyed peas, which she cooked every year for New Year’s Day.  One was the traditional one cooked with a ham hock and the other was vegetarian cooked with vegetable stock.  In addition there was a lovely blue corn posolé and a salad.  I sliced the lamb roast thinly and we ate it at room temperature.  Amy also served an olive and mélange with red peppers and pickles and boursin soft cheese spread with crackers as appetizers.

Luke joined us for dinner.  I did not eat any dessert of the carrot cake bought by Lisa at Whole Foods.

At 7:40 we left Billy and Luke and drove home to soak in our new hot tub after a lovely day.

Bon Appétit

December 31, 2014 New Year’s Eve Irish Guinness Stew with Mashed Potatoes

December 31, 2014 New Year’s Eve  Irish Guinness Stew with Mashed Potatoes

We had tickets for the Party at the Natural History Museum.  Willy wanted to make his famous Irish Stew made with Guinness stout.  We bought a 3 lb.  bag of golden potatoes at Lowe’s for $1.99 and an avocado.

Irish Stew made with Guinness

Willy had bought 2 lbs. of beef stew meat which he braised in butter and olive oil and I chopped 4 cloves of garlic, which he added to the meat with 1 chopped onion.  He then chopped several carrots and two parsnips and a couple of turnips and 4 stalks of celery and put them in with the meat with a can of Guinness and cooked the whole affair in a large pot for several hours. He added ½ lb. of quartered mushrooms at some point.  So this is very much an Irish rendering of Boeuf Bourgogne with the substitution of a 16 oz can of Guinness beer for the French red wine.

Suzette helped Willy make fluffy mashed potatoes with the golden potatoes whipped with melted butter and milk in a Hobart Kitchen Aid mixer.  I heated a ½ loaf of Fano baguette to eat and dip into the stew.

Cynthia and Ricardo arrived around 7:30. Melissa came a bit earlier with a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio that we drank as our cocktail. Cynthia and Ricardo arrived a bit later with a cocktail named Vespers, made with vodka and gin and a liquor mixer and a bottle of Ruffino prosecco. I think we drank Acrobat rose of pinot noir with dinner.  

Cynthia and Ricardo, Willy and Melissa

Willy's Irish Stew on a bed of whipped potatoes

 We made plates with spoonfuls of mashed potatoes and one or two ladles full of stew.  I had chilled 2 bottles of Argyle Champagne.  

Since it was a masquerade party, we fetched the bag of masks we bought in New Orleans several years ago and each selected a mask to wear to the party. 

At around 9:00 we all went to the Natural History Museum and Explora for their large New Year’s Eve party.  When we arrived we found the street between and around their perimeters barricaded to contain the paying guests with open braziers and food trucks set in the street separating the two museums.  Soul Kitchen was playing in the rotunda of the Natural History Museum and the Peak radio station was guest DJ’ing dance music at the Explora.  We enjoyed dancing and wandered the Museums’ exhibits until midnight.  A bit after midnight Suzette and Melissa and I left and about fifteen minutes after we returned home, Cynthia and Ricardo arrived.  We drank Prosecco and the bottle of Argyle champagne and welcomed in the New Year on the West Coast.    

Melissa and Suzette in front of  a masked and hatted fossilized T Rex

the dance floor/atrium at the Natural History Museum just before midnight

I finished the gravad lax I had been curing for 36 hours by washing the remaining dry ingredients (sugar, salt, dill weed and black pepper) off the fillets and served a few pieces to the group and then wrapped the two fillets in saran wrap and put them into a gallon freezer bag and put them into the fridge’s meat crisper.

Happy New Year 2015        

January 2, 2015 Billy arrives Breakfast Tamales, and chili Shopping for wine and food, Dinner Roast Leg of Lamb, Eggplant Provencal and warm salad

January 2, 2015 Billy arrives   Breakfast  Tamales, and chili Shopping for wine and food,  Dinner Roast Leg of Lamb, Eggplant Provencal and warm salad

I picked up my brother, Billy, at 8:30 and drove him to the house.  On the way he said, “I have stuff for breakfast and lunch with me.”  When I asked him, “What,” he said, “Tamales and chili con carne.”  When we arrived home, Willy and Suzette were up and hungry, so we decided to fix breakfast.  Suzette suggested steaming the tamales that Billy had bought at the Whole Foods store in Dallas, So, she did that.

Suzette also fetched the last of the wonderful Oaxacan black beans cooked with Herba (hoja) Santa and avocado leaves from the fridge and heated it in the microwave.  We decided to eat the tamales with fried eggs and Billy made those in a large skillet while Willy and I squeezed the last of the navel oranges into juice.  Suzette plated up lovely plates of tamales, chili con carne with posole, black beans and fried eggs.

I realized immediately that Billy had struck upon a great food combination, putting posole into chili con carne, but everything about this breakfast was delicious and interesting.   I felt like the culinary creativity of the Simon family unit was alive and functioning at a pretty high level.

Next Billy and I did some banking and business.  We printed and took the lease for the new tenant to the bank, where we signed and notarized it.  I talked to Isaac, the contractor, who was working on getting the fire marshal inspection and CO for the Candy Store, which he got this morning.  I met him at the bank and paid him his final installment and by 12:00 noon we were ready to shop. 

We first drove to Trader Joe’s and bought 2 bottles of Perrin Cotes du Rhône Reserve at $9.99 each, a bottle of Le Ferme Julien rosé for $5.99 and a bottle of Monople Austrian potato Vodka for $14.99 for Billy’s Chanukah gift.  

We then drove to Total Wine and I bought a Oregon Wildhaven Pinot Gris ($10.99), several new rosés (Monte Clavijo Rioja Rosé of Grenache and Tempranillo [$7.99] and D’ Autrefois de Pinot Noir, $11.99), a bottle of Monte Clavijo White Viura at $7.99, a bottle of Bougrier Anjou Blanc (Chenin Blanc at $9.99), a bottle of Perrin Reserve Rouge at $8.99 and a bottle of Gruet Blanc de Noir for $11.47.  Billy and I then went to the liquor department and I bought a bottle of Berneroy XO Calvados ($29.95) and a bottle of Knight Gabriello Grappa di Brunello for Billy’s Chanukah gift.  I was amazed that with the mix six bottle 10% discount that the Perrin Reserve cost only $8.09 a bottle, almost two dollars less than at Trader Joe’s.  Perrin’s Reserve could become our house red wine at this price.

We then drove to Fano and bought a fresh baguette and then to Sprouts Farm Market, where we bought two eggplants, a 5.6 ounce plastic container of blackberries, Roma tomatoes ($.48/lb.), a head of fresh garlic, limes and a grapefruit for Billy.

Finally we drove to Costco and bought the leg of lamb, some shampoo, corn chips, and a rack of lamb.  After filling the tank of the Prius with gasoline at $1.78/gallon we drove home, arriving at 4:45.

When we arrived Billy immediately started working on the lamb roast.  He squeezed garlic and added Italian Seasoning and lemon juice to make a rub/marinade and spread it over the lamb roast and let the lamb sit in the marinade for fifteen minutes.

Eggplant Provencal

I started making Eggplant Provencal by slicing an eggplant into ½ inch thick slices, then brushing both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil, then placing the slices on a greased baking tray and slicing vine ripened tomatoes into ¼ inch thick slices and placing them on top of the eggplant slices. 

Suzette then mixed panko with grated Pecornio Romano cheese and we put that mixture on top of the tomato slices.

Billy pre-heated the oven to 450˚ and roasted the meat for 20 minutes at that temperature, then he turned down the oven to 350˚ and then we baked the lamb for about another hour until its internal heat reached 130˚ and the eggplant Provencal baked for about 45 minutes.  Our temperature gauge on the oven is loose so it is hard to set an exact temperature, so after about 45 minutes when not much cooking was evident, I placed an oven temperature gauge in the oven and saw that the temperature was really only 325˚, so I turned up the temperature and in another 20 minutes we smelled lamb cooking.  Billy tested the temperature again with a new ThermoWorks spear Thermapen, he brought me for Chanukah.  We put the timer on for another fifteen minutes and I started making the salad.  

Billy removed the lamb from the oven in fifteen minutes and covered it with aluminum foil to let it rest and cook a bit more.

Warm String Bean salad

Suzette wanted a simple Balsamic Vinegar and olive oil dressing, so I put about 1 Tbsp. of freshly opened Kirtland Balsamic Vinegar in a bowl and slowly added about three Tbsps. of Kirtland extra virgin olive oil and a dash of Herbs Provence, salt, and white pepper to the dressing and whisked it into a creamy emulsion.  I let it sit for a few minutes until I remembered that I had minced a shallot for breakfast that was in the fridge and put that into the dressing for about 8 minutes to let it marinate and soften.  Suzette fetched and spun a basket of organic greens (Costco $3.99/lb.).  Then I sliced and chopped a tomato and 1/3 avocado and added those to the salad. 

I then wrapped half of the baguette in aluminum foil and put it into the 350˚ oven for the last fifteen minutes of cooking time.

When the timer showed 1:30 minutes, I heated the approximately 2/3 lb. of PPI steamed green beans in the microwave and then sliced the warm green beans and added them to the salad and tossed it again and I sliced the lamb into ¼“ thin slices.  Suzette took the eggplants Provencal from the oven and sliced we were ready to eat.  

We poured glasses of Perrin Reserve and called Willy to join us at the table. I lit a candle and we had an intimate and very delicious dinner.  Suzette fetched the new bottle of mint jelly, which Willy and I like with our lamb.  I suspect Willy enjoyed dinner most with the fresh baked heated French baguette and lamb and mint sauce.  The roasted lamb was delicious, not a tough bit in it that did not fall away from the meat with a flick of the knife and roasted to somewhere between medium and medium rare.  

I loved the warm string bean salad the best because it was a new dish and the string beans tasted wonderful with the light slightly sweet Balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

After dinner I suggested that we try several grappas to see how Billy’s new bottle of Knight Gabriello Grappa di Brunello stacked up.  I fetched shot glasses and the Grappa di Brunello Reserva that Mike and Kathryn brought me from Italy and we did a side by side tasting of the two Brunello grappas.  The Knight Gabriello Grappa di Brunello was fresher tasting of fruit, “More winey,” was Billy’s assessment.  The Grappa reserve had a heavier body and more complexity, probably from the aging. 

Both were delicious.  I then suggested that we fetch an oak aged grappa from the basement, so Billy and I went to basement and I showed him the Trimbach liquours and brandies I had bought several years ago.  We decided to try the Trimbach Grande Reserve Poire William brandy.  We set up two more glasses and poured the oaked grappa and Trimbach brandy into one each. We both agreed that the oak aged grappa tasted good, but the Trimbach Poire William tasted great.

 

Billy and I had a short discussion about how funny it is about quality; it seems to be worth the extra cost when you taste it, perhaps because we were raised in a family that spent a lot of time and money on good quality food stuffs and developed our palates to taste the difference between good and great. 

A lot can be said about how one develops one’s palate and taste for good quality and whether that makes one a more refined person.  Tonight it was easy to agree that that was so, when the two persons engaged in that discussion were raised together on the same great food and wine and were sitting together tasting some of the great liquors of the world in a time honored tradition they had developed over years of tasting fine liquors after a fine dinner.  

The show stopper after dinner activity was Billy’s giving me my trip journal from our 1960 family trip to Europe (when I was 14 and Billy was 12).  Suzette read passages of how Mother left the family in Belgium to go buy lace tablecloths in Bruges and then showed up at the boat in Rotterdam, which Billy rightly commented on as the beginning of the end of Mother and Father’s marriage.   I suggested that that was also the beginning of my passion for journaling that led to this blog.  

Finally around 8:00 we decided to watch Episode 7 of Marco Polo on Netflix.  I could not stay up until the end and went to bed at 8:45 p.m. and slept a solid 7 hours.

Bon Appétit