November 16, 2013 Brunch – PPI Egg Foo Young

November 16, 2013 Brunch – PPI Egg Foo Young

Last night we made Salmon Stir Fried Rice with the PPI Fried Tofu and vegetables and Grilled Teriyaki Salmon.  We had a container of it left, so this morning I made one of my favorite dishes; Egg Foo Young.  I simply stir fried the salmon and fried rice mixture in a wok to heat it and then added two stirred egg whites to which I had added 1 Tbsp. of sweet soy sauce and 1 ½ tsp. of Chinese Rice Cooking Wine and poured that over the heated rice mixture

I let it cook a bit more than usual due to several things I was doing, so the edges actually darkened a bit more than I usually like, but that allowed the center of the mixture to stiffen a bit more than usual.  The difference between French Toast that is hard in the middle versus soft and a bit gooey in the middle.   I usually take it off the heat when the crust is a golden brown, so the middle is a bit softer.  Still this slightly over cooked one was very delicious, especially with the sliced green onion garnish.

 

 

We bought a bag with 8 steamed buns stuffed with BBQ pork at Ta Lin the other day for $5.99. I became hungry a bit around and 2:00 and since we were planning to go to the 3:15 showing of  “Blue is the Warmest Color” and I knew it was a three hour movie, I decided to try two of the Buns.  I cooked them by using the microwave alternative method of placing them on a plate and covering them with saran wrap and heating them at high heat for 2 minutes.

The method worked well but their skins were a bit tough.  I shall try the original method of steaming them over water in a steaming basket next time. 

I made a dipping sauce by stirring tamari soy sauce and a miniscule dab of Bea’s Chili Willie Chile sauce, which is a potent chili in oil.  

The Steamed Buns were delicious.  I stripped off their skins with my teeth, but ate them by dipping them in the hot sauce.  Then I really enjoyed the soft inner core of steamed bread and BBQ dipped in the hot sauce.

I enjoyed the actin in the movie, but we both had several issues with its plot. 

After the movie we discussed going out but finally decided to go home and eat some PPI lasagna.  It was better than before.  PPI’s can be great as they sit and the flavors integrate.  We drank PPI 4 Grape Blend Rosé.

We watched some football and went to bed early after a full day of activity.

Bon Appétit  

 

  

November 18, 2013 Cream of Carrot and Ginger Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

November 18, 2013 Cream of Carrot and Ginger Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I thawed out two Brats thinking we cook them with some PPI penne pasta but when Suzette came home she said she wanted to eat the Carrot and Ginger Soup we made on Sunday with a grilled cheese sandwich filled with the Green Tomato Chutney we made on Saturday.

We had picked the last of the tomatoes on Saturday, November 8, 2013 and went to Ta Lin and bought fresh ginger.  On Sunday November 9^th, we picked all of the rest of the carrots on the garden which ended up filling two plastic grocery sacks.  On Sunday, November 10^th we cut up green tomatoes and onions and Suzette made Green Tomato Chutney. 

 

 

Yesterday, November 17^th we spent the morning making carrot and ginger soup.  We removed the stalks and ends from the carrots and cleaned them. Then we sliced them into 1/4 inch thick slices and simmered them in chicken stock with chopped up celery, onions, lovage and chopped ginger for an hour or 1 ½ hours.  Suzette then added cream and blended the mixture into a rough puree. 

We ended up with several gallons each of carrot soup and green tomato chutney that we put in our fridge in the garage. 

I had forgotten about the soup and chutney until Monday night when Suzette arrived home around 6:30 and I finished with a client conference. 

So we brought in the two large stock pots full of soup and chutney and we heated the carrot soup.

Then I toasted four pieces of whole wheat bread (Pastian’s $.80/loaf day old) and sliced slices of Manchego cheese (Costco).  When Suzette said she liked to use two kinds of cheese, I fetched a small block of French Emmenthaler and handed it to her.  She then buttered the outside of each slice of bread and laid sliced cheese between the two insides and made a sandwich that she grilled in a large skillet until the two outsides were browned and toasted and the cheese inside had melted. 

We then filled bowls with carrot soup and Suzette spooned a small mound of chutney onto each plate and cut each sandwich into two halves and laid those on the plate.

I drank water and Suzette finished her Scotch with the Soup and Sandwich dinner.

We each opened our sandwiches and spooned some of the chutney into the middle of the melted cheese.  I must say it made a first rate Grilled Cheese Sandwich and I learned a new recipe. 

I apologize for a technical problem.  I am unable to transport pictures taken on Suzette's I-phone to this blog and since she took most of the pictures during the last few days the blog lacks pictures.

Bon Appétit       

November 14, 2013 New Recipe - Tomato Stroganoff and steamed asparagus

November 14, 2013 New Recipe - Tomato Stroganoff and steamed asparagus

Today I had to go to the Court House to process some paperwork and then to Uptown to deliver a document, so I decided to make a loop out of those two activities and go shopping along the way.

After the Court house I drove up 2^nd Street and stopped at Pastian’s Bakery where I bought day old whole wheat bread and a bag of biscochitos.

Then I drove to Costco and bought olive oil and a few items for the Book Club meeting on Thursday, the 21^st , and ate a Polish Dog for lunch.

After lunch I drove to Sprouts at Academy and San Mateo, where I bought an eggplant ($.88), asparagus ($1.88/lb.) and Bratwurst ($2.99/lb.).

After I delivered my document in Uptown I drove to Trader Joe’s where I bought two bottles of a close out wine named Four Grape Blend Rare Rosé ($4.99), an interesting new bottle of Les Portes de Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc ($6.99), artichokes, and yogurt.

I arrived home from my bike ride to Paseo del Norte, at a little after 5:00 at the exact moment that Suzette arrived.

She had had only a small lunch so we decided to cook a quick dinner rather than drink and watch TV news, although I had a few sips of a hot buttered rum to warm up a bit.  Suzette suggested we sauté the PPI penne pasta in the fresh tomato sauce with some pork I had thawed out yesterday.  Suzette took out the largest skillet and sautéed the about 1 lb. of pork de-boned from a steak first and then added the two cups of penne in tomato sauce and then added about three Tbsps. of additional PPI tomato Sauce to make the dish soupier and saucier.  I steamed a handful of asparagus and we added a couple of heaping tablespoons of sour cream to the pasta skillet and Suzette said “It is a tomato stroganoff”.    And it was except it used tomatoes instead of mushrooms.  

So when the sauce had thickened a bit, we were ready to serve.  She got out pasta dishes and I opened the Rare Rosé 4 Blend wine.  The RR rosé tasted like a four grape blend; that is, it lacked clarity but had lots of complex fruitiness all mixed up in a mass of flavors.  It was made by Eagle Rock Vineyards in Lodi, CA but the label did not disclose the identity of the grapes, but I found a location on the internet that said that Eagle Rock’s red four grape blend contains:

Tempranillo - Petite Sirah - Petit Verdot - Cabernet Sauvignon    Maturity: Drink Rating: n/a Est. Price: $9.99 Alcohol %: 13.5

I guess its rosé is made with the same blend of grapes.

I thought the slightly complex fruity rose went well with the creamy tomato dish, but Suzette did not like the wine.  She described it as musty and I guess that means she did not like the smash up of four grapes.

The Tomato Stroganoff dish was lovely. The sour cream and marinara sauce combination created a sauce that was not too creamy and not too acidic, like a good stroganoff, rich and creamy with that tiny edge of acidic bite.  I liked it. Suzette had added some fresh chocolate grape tomatoes from our garden that gave the dish a bit more freshness.

Bon Appétit

Today I had to go to the Court House to process some paperwork and then to Uptown to deliver a document, so I decided to make a loop out of those two activities and go shopping along the way.

After the Court house I drove up 2^nd Street and stopped at Pastian’s Bakery where I bought day old whole wheat bread and a bag of biscochitos.

Then I drove to Costco and bought olive oil and a few items for the Book Club meeting on Thursday, the 21^st , and ate a Polish Dog for lunch.

After lunch I drove to Sprouts at Academy and San Mateo, where I bought an eggplant ($.88), asparagus ($1.88/lb.) and Bratwurst ($2.99/lb.).

Then I delivered my document in Uptown and drove to Trader Joe’s where I bought two bottles of a close out wine named Four Grape Blend Rare Rosé ($4.99), artichokes, and yogurt.

I arrived home from my bike ride to Paseo del Norte, at a little after 5:00 at the exact moment that Suzette arrived.

She had had only a small lunch so we decided to cook a quick dinner rather than drink and watch TV news, although I had a few sips of a hot buttered rum to warm up a bit.  Suzette suggested we sauté the PPI penne pasta in the fresh tomato sauce with some pork I had thawed out yesterday.  Suzette took out the largest skillet and sautéed the pork first and then added the penne in tomato sauce and then added some additional PPI tomato Sauce to make the dish soupier and saucier.  I steamed a handful of asparagus and we added a couple of heaping tablespoons of sour cream to the pasta skillet and Suzette said “It is a tomato stroganoff”.    And it was except it used tomatoes instead of mushrooms.  

So when the sauce had thickened a bit, we were ready to serve.  She got out pasta dishes and I opened the Rare Rosé 4 Blend wine.  The RR rosé tasted like a four grape blend; that is, it lacked clarity but had lots of complex fruitiness all mixed up in a mass of flavors.  It was made by Eagle Rock Vineyards in Lodi, CA but the label did not disclose the identity of the grapes, but I found a location on the internet that said that Eagle Rock’s red four grape blend contains:

Tempranillo - Petite Sirah - Petit Verdot - Cabernet Sauvignon Maturity: Drink Rating: n/a Est. Price: $9.99 Alcohol %: 13.5

I guess its rosé is made with the same blend of grapes.

I thought the slightly complex fruity rose went well with the creamy tomato dish, but Suzette did not like the wine.  She described it as musty and I guess that means she did not like the smash up of four grapes.

The Tomato Stroganoff dish was lovely. The sour cream and marinara sauce combination created a sauce that was not too creamy and not too acidic, like a good stroganoff, rich and creamy with that tiny edge of acidic bite.  I liked it. Suzette had added some fresh chocolate grape tomatoes from our garden that gave the dish a bit more freshness.

Bon Appétit

November 12, 2013 Lunch - Noodle Soup; Dinner – Grilled Teriyaki Marinated Salmon and Stir Fried Vegetables and Fried Tofu over rice.

November 12, 2013 Lunch -  Noodle Soup; Dinner – Grilled Teriyaki Marinated Salmon and Stir Fried Vegetables and Fried Tofu over rice.

I got into an elaborate food day today.  I made a pot of three kinds of noodles for lunch, wheat, rice and bean flour noodles in a broth flavored with Pho flavoring and white miso with three oz. of PPI steak, two beef meatballs, ½ of a large shallot, two cloves of garlic, 1 Tbsp. of ginger root, 1 cup of chopped kale, ½ lobster mushroom, 1/3 of the green section of a leek, one portabella mushroom and 2 stalks of garlic greens, and a dash of Chinese cooking wine, sweet soy sauce and sesame oil. As I ate my noodle soup I read the new New Yorker and came upon an obit by Patti Smith for Lou Reed in the Talk of the Town section and discovered to my delight that she had seen Lou Reed for the first time about the same time I saw him in August 1970 at Max’s Kansas City, which was one of the last shows by the Velvet Underground.
I felt very special.

So I decided to make something special for dinner.  I decided to marinate the approximately 2 lb. piece of fresh Atlantic salmon I bought at Costco yesterday ($7.99/lb.) in teriyaki marinade and try to replicate the stir fried fried tofu dish we had had at Asian Street food with the fried tofu we bought at Ta Lin on Sunday.   The recipe for the teriyaki marinade/sauce is 7 Tbsps.  each of Dark (Double Fermented) soy sauce, aji mirin and saki and 1 tsp. of sugar  brought to a boil and then allowed to cool.  I put the salmon in a gallon freezer bag and added the teriyaki sauce when it had cooled and put the bag in the fridge to marinate.

When Suzette arrived at 5:00 p.m. I started cutting up vegetables. I sliced up the remaining ½ of the lobster mushroom and one stalk of garlic greens.  I opened 1 small can of sliced water chestnuts, and chopped up three stalks of Shanghai Bok Choy and separated the white thicker bottom portions from the leafy green top portions.  Suzette suggested using the 4 oz. bag of PPI steamed sugar snap peas, so I fetched them from the fridge along with the two cakes of fried tofu and their accompanying spicy soy and fish sauce dipping sauce.  I then minced 1 Tbsp. of fresh ginger and two small cloves of garlic from our garden and put that all aside.

We discussed what starch we wanted to eat and Suzette suggested rice, so I put a pot on the stove with two cups of water and shook about 1 tsp. of Knorr dehydrated chicken stock into it for flavor and brought it to a boil and added 8 oz. of rice and lowered the heat and put the timer on for 30 minutes.  

When it was ten minutes of cooking time left for the rice, I made a thickening sauce with 1 Tbsp. of Chinese rice cooking wine, 1 Tbsp. of mushroom soy, 1 Tbsp. of Tamari soy 1 Tbsp. of corn starch and 1 tsp. of sesame oil in three or four Tbsps. of water and added the spicy dipping sauce for the tofu.  I began stir frying in my medium wok by adding two to three Tbsp. of peanut oil and a dash of sesame oil to the garlic and ginger and heating that to a medium high heat.  I then added the white portions of the bok choy and stir fried that.  After a few minutes I added the water chestnuts.  Then in a few more minutes I added the fried tofu and green portions of bok choy and the garlic greens.  Then after another minute or two I decided to give the dish a saucier texture, so I made and added about 1 cup of chicken stock with another couple of tsps. of corn starch and added it to the mixture and turned up the heat a bit to get it to a simmer.  The mixture thickened too much, so I had to add more water.  I knew I had more corn starch in the thickening sauce so I added another cup of water and then about ½ of the thickening sauce and more water and more thickening sauce until I had what appeared to me to be a consistently smooth and shiny (the surface of the sauce glistened in the light) brown sauce that liberally covered the vegetables and tofu with sauce.  Over the forty years that I have actively stir fried in my medium wok I have discovered that one of the main concepts in Chinese food is to make the food mixture with a loose sauce so it will mix and emulsify and settle into the rice, because dry rice gets old fast, as those who have eaten a lot of nigiri sushi in one sitting know.  

Suzette complained that the gas grill was not cooking as hot as usual and it would take a few more minutes to cook the salmon, so I added some more water as the brown sauce thickened more and began tasting the vegetable dish.  It was delicious.  Finally in another five minutes Suzette brought the salmon in.  The salmon looked perfectly cooked, dark pink with darkened edges at the perimeter of the cedar board that Suzette had soaked in water in the sink for about twenty minutes before planking the marinated salmon and putting it on the heated grill.  

One way to tell how hot the fire in the grill is, is by how much of the edge of the cedar plank is burned.  If the edge catches on fire and starts burning the grill is very hot.  If the cedar plank is charred but not burned as it was tonight the fire is less hot.  I prefer a less hot fire as tonight because the salmon is tenderer, although it can be a bit red in the center.  Actually Suzette places the board on a cookie sheet to transport from the grill to the kitchen and we leave the salmon on the board, so, ideally, it continues to cook as we plate up the rest of the meal and is perfectly cooked through by the time it arrives at the table, which it was tonight.

Suzette made two vertical cuts across the filet, yielding two approximately 6 oz. pieces salmon and leaving more than ½ of the filet uneaten.  We each took a plate and spooned hot rice and the stir fried vegetables and fried tofu mixture onto the rice and there was just enough room left on the plate to lay a piece of salmon on the plate.  We ate with chop sticks.  I made a cup of Lychee tea with lychee tea I bought in the Muslim market in Xian, China (China’s old capital city, where the army of 7000 ceramic soldiers are located at the original end of the Silk Route) a few years ago.  The black tea had a pleasant, slightly fruity flavor and aroma. 

The food was so delicious and filling that I did not crave any chocolate or dessert and went to bed at 7:30 p.m.

Bon Appétit

November 7, 2013 Chard tossed spaghetti with lobster and a sweet potato

November 7, 2013 Chard tossed spaghetti with lobster and a sweet potato

This was a quick dinner.  During the day I thawed two 4 oz. lobster tails (Albertsons $4.99 each) and chilled a bottle of 1900 Hommage À Jeanne 2000 F.E. Trimbach Pinot Gris ($37.50)

For dinner we chopped up some onion and garlic and sautéed it in a skillet and then added the lobster tails and cooked them until the lobster was fully cooked.  I then removed the lobster and added a handful of spaghetti the handful of chopped chard and cooked that until it softened and heated through.  Then I added back the lobster to re-heat and we were ready to serve.

 I had baked three potatoes and two sweet potatoes during the day, so we plated up the pasta and lobster mixture and poured glasses of the Trimbach Pinot Gris.

The lobster, spaghetti and sweet potato combination was really delicious but the wine was not as delicate as I had remembered it when I first drank it a year ago.  In fact it had darkened and seemed to turn to sherry, so it was too sweet and a bit harsh.  What a shame, but a good lesson to not save the good ones too long.  Unfortunately, we have four more bottles in the basement that need to be drunk soon.

Bon Appétit    

 

 

 

November 11, 2013 New Recipe - Vegetable Lasagna

November 11, 2013 New Recipe - Vegetable Lasagna

Yesterday we made tomatillo sauce with sautéed onions, garlic, 1 green chili pepper, a dash of salt and pepper and when softened, she added the tomatillos and ½ cup of chicken stock to give it flavor and cooked it for about 1 to 1½ hour and then blended it in a blender to puree.  We had picked the tomatillos from our garden on Saturday.

Yesterday we also went to Ta Lin and bought Lobster mushrooms, bok choy, onions, green bell peppers, fried tofu, and a few other items.

Today we were ready to make lasagna.  Suzette usually makes fresh handmade pasta for our lasagna and today was no exception.  When I arrived home at around 4:15 she was picking a large handful of chard leaves in the garden.  Starting at 4:30 p.m. she began making fresh pasta in the Cuisinart using 1 ½ cup of flour, 1 tsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. of dried mushroom powder and pulsed those ingredients to mix.  She then added two lightly beaten eggs and pulsed until it reached a corn meal texture and added about ¼ cup of cold water and a bit of olive oil until mixture consolidated into a ball of dough.  Suzette then rolled the pasta into sheets using an Italian Atlas pasta rolling machine.  The only difference today is that Suzette added 2 Tbsp. of porcini mushroom powder she had bought from one of the mushroom pickers in Taos last month.

While Suzette was making pasta I cut up 2 shallots and the white portion of 2 leeks. I sliced three lobster mushrooms we bought at Ta Lin yesterday. Suzette shredded about 1 lb. of Brussels sprouts in the Cuisinart while I de-stemmed the large handful of chard.

Suzette sautéed the shredded Brussels sprouts, shallots and leeks in one large skillet and the sliced lobster mushrooms in another skillet in butter and olive oil.  She also steamed the chard and added a little olive oil to the steamed leaves.

We gathered bags of PPI fresh mozzarella grated Parmesan and grated mozzarella cheeses from the fridge and I sliced the fresh mozzarella into thin slices.

When the shallots, leeks and Brussels sprouts had softened and the lobster mushrooms had sautéed until slightly brown on the edges and the chard steamed and lightly drizzled with olive oil, we were ready to assemble the lasagna.

We made a smaller amount than usual by using one of our ceramic baking dishes. 

Layer one - Suzette first laid a layer of sheets of fresh pasta on the bottom of the dish.  Then she laid a layer of the sautéed leeks, shallots and shredded Brussels sprouts and covered that layer with grated Parmesan cheese and then covered that with a light layer of tomatillo sauce. 

Layer two - Then she added another layer of pasta and covered that with a layer of the sautéed lobster mushrooms, the fresh mozzarella and some more tomatillo sauce.

Layer Three - She laid a third layer of pasta and then the lightly steamed chard leaves and garnished that with the grated mozzarella and more tomatillo sauce.

Layer Four – she added one more layer of pasta and covered it with tomatillo sauce, and the last of the grated mozzarella and a layer of slices of Pecorino cheese.

She then baked the lasagna in a heated 350˚ oven for one hour and we were ready to eat.  Suzette wanted a light red wine and we agreed that a bottle of Spanish La Granja Rioja would be perfect because it contained 50% Grenache and 50% tempranillo grapes.

So we ate and enjoyed our simple but elegant peasant dinner of hot baked lasagna with a glass of red wine. 

This is our favorite type of lasagna because it uses fresh tomatillos and chard from the garden.

About one hour after dinner Suzette scooped the last of the vanilla ice cream into two bowls and topped that with the last of the brandied strawberries and blackberries and we had a lovely dessert.

Bon Appétit  

November 10, 2013 Grilled Steak and Fresh tomato Sauce on Pasta with steamed sugar snap peas

November 10, 2013 Grilled Steak and Fresh tomato Sauce on Pasta with steamed sugar snap peas

We picked the last of the green tomatoes yesterday morning and today Suzette decided to make them into Green tomato chutney, so in the morning we went to see the African American and Miniatures Exhibits at the Albuquerque Art Museum and then drove to Ta Lin and purchased Shiracha, bamboo shoots, lobster mushrooms, shallots, onions, ginger root and green bell peppers.  Then as we were leaving we decided to buy a baguette of Vietnamese bread.  We stopped in the small bakery on the south side of the parking lot that is owned by one of the daughters and we bought a pork chaud foid puff pastry that was still warm and delicious so we ate that immediately, and two cakes of fried tofu, one with onions and one plain and small plastic container of Vietnamese fish sauce.

 

We then drove home and after a nap Suzette started making the Green Tomato Chutney.  Here is the recipe:

 I cleaned and chopped the green tomatoes and then rode my bike to Rio Bravo.  When I came home I chopped ginger root and the apples.

As the chutney was cooking I chopped up five kinds of tomatoes for the tomato sauce for dinner: red, yellow pear, yellow cherry, red cherry and chocolate grape shaped tomatoes.  Suzette chopped garlic and onion and picked oregano, and cooked the sauce for about one hour while we watched 60 minutes, while Suzette and I de-stemmed the last two cups of sugar snap peas.

I went to the cellar to fetch the bottle of 2011 Réserve D’Autrefois Pinot Noir from Pay D Oc, from grapes grown in the Landgedouc-Rousselin area of southwest France and bottled as a monopole by and for Total Wine.  Apparently there is regular one and a reserve.  I bought this one at the Cottonwood store of Total Wine several months ago for $14.99.  So I opened it and poured Suzette a glass of it.  I drank the last of the Trimbach Hommage white wine as an aperitif.

Suzette then grilled the steak and steamed the vegetables and boiled penne pasta while I watched the Cowboys lose to New Orleans.  Suzette asked if I wanted to heat some of the Vietnamese baguette on the grill and when I said yes, we mixed a large Tablespoon of her homemade pesto with about ¼ cup of olive oil and brushed it on pieces of halved baguette and wrapped those in aluminum foil and she placed them in the grill to heat.

Finally at around 8:00 we plated up the steak, sugar snap peas, penne pasta and tomato sauce and poured more pinot noir and put the bread on the table for a lovely dinner.  The wine was very smooth, perfect with the meal, but without a lot of character.  The best part of the meal was the fresh tomato sauce, very runny, coating the tubes of pasta.

 

 

After dinner Suzette stirred the blackberries I bought at Sprouts ($.88/pint) into the brandied strawberries and added some confectioners’ powdered sugar and served them over some European yogurt from Trader Joe’s.

During the night I woke up and read the obituaries to Lou Reed in the new Rolling Stone.  The one by his wife, Laurie Anderson, was particularly intimate and touching (I never knew that these two cultural icons had married).  I was amazed to find out that I was one of the last persons to see the Velvet Underground play in August 1970 at Max’s Kansas City.  According to the main article their last performance was August 23, 1970 and I recall that that was when I saw them while I was attending a Main Lefrantz auditor training session in New York in anticipation of my employment as an auditor at Karlgrens Revisionsbyra in Gothenburg, Sweden.

That made me recall that I was also one of the last persons to see John F. Kennedy alive on November 22, 1963, at his last public speech in the parking lot of the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, Texas.

A lot of memorable and wonderful lasts that seemed very fresh and alive at the time.

Bon Appétit