January 15, 2015 Lunch – Beef pho soup Dinner Sautéed Shrimp Scampi Baked Acorn Squash and steamed broccoli

January 15, 2015 Lunch – Beef pho soup   Dinner Sautéed Shrimp Scampi Baked Acorn Squash and steamed broccoli

We had PPI steak from last night’s dinner with the rest of the vegetables that had been sautéed in olive oil and butter so that became the base for my noodle soup for today.  I filled a medium sauce pan to 2/3 full and then started adding ingredients.  I minced one shallot, chopped one stalk of Kale and threw in a bit of wakame seaweed, 1 large tsp. of Pho seasoning and a large tablespoon of red miso.   Then I added the chopped up the PPI steak and put it in with the vegetable medley which had a clove of garlic, two Vietnamese beef meat balls, three sliced brown mushrooms, about 4 oz. of tofu diced pretty finely and thin rice and bean noodles and finally two large shrimp, we were thawing out for dinner.  All the noodles and odd ingredients are bought at Ta Lin.  In about twenty minutes of simmering this all turned into a lovely soup.  Usually I end up with a rather full pot of soup and eat one and ½ bowls of soup, so one pot of soup will provide me two lunches.  Today’s creation will be no exception.

As I mentioned we have been trying to clear out some space in our freezer and we decided this morning before Suzette left to eat a lb. of large shrimp I had bought at Sprouts Farm Market for $7.99/lb.  I rode at 4:30 to Montano and back and snacked on Boursin garlic and fine herbs processed cheese and crackers left from our Christmas party and hot tea.

So when Suzette called around 6:20 and said she was going to a meeting after her long drive to Santa Rosa and back and would be home around 7:30, we discussed baking the acorn squash I had bought at Sprouts Farm Market last week, so when I hung up the phone I cut a medium Acorn Squash in half across its middle, de-seeded the cavities on both sides and added about ½ oz. of butter and a Tbsp. of light brown sugar to each cavity and put the two halves on a cookie sheet and put them into a 350˚ oven and set the timer for 50 minutes.

When Suzette arrived the around 7:30 the timer on the oven had just rung and I had turned off the heat in the oven and left the acorn squash in the oven to stay warm. 

The large 20–25 count to the lb. shrimp had thawed (these shrimp had been cleaned by removing the intestines at the top of the shell, so they were easy for Suzette to peel and would flair open when sautéed.  Then we started looking for things to add to the Scampi dish and we also found a bag of broccoli in the vegetable crisper that we decided to steam for a green vegetable.  

We agreed on garlic, onions and a bell pepper and parsley for the scampi, so I sliced and diced ½ yellow onion and we found about 7 or 8 cloves of garlic wrapped in aluminum and I diced up on yellow bell pepper.  Suzette took over and heated olive oil and butter in a large skillet and sautéed the onion, garlic and bell pepper for about ten to fifteen minutes to soften them and then added about ¼ cup of Italian Dry white vermouth and cooked the ingredients for another minute or two and then added the shrimp and sautéed the mixture until the shrimp turned from translucent to pink and opaque.  I had finely minced about 1/3 cup of parsley and gone to the basement and fetched a new bottle of wine I bought at Costco on sale for $7.99 (regularly $9.99) on January 4, 2015.  It was a 2013 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand named Matua (which means head of the family in Maori) that had won two awards, a New Zealand Wine producer IWSC Trophy in 2012 and a gold medal at the New Zealand International Wine Show.  I read labels when I am looking for new wines and am usually attracted to a gold medal wine and this bottle had two awards and was priced at under $10.00 which is the normal price for good Sauvignon Blanc, so I bought two bottles and put back the Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc I had previously selected that was priced at $10.99.

I chilled the bottle in the freezer for a few minutes while Suzette added the 1/3 cup of parsley and the juice of 1/2 lemon to the shrimp and mixed it in and finished sautéing the shrimp and assembling the dish by first placing a half of an acorn squash in each pasta bowl and then pouring the shrimp over the acorn squash and adding the steamed broccoli around the pile of squash and shrimp to make an attractive bowl of food.

The wine was a twist off cap, so I set the table and poured us glasses of Matua.  We immediately noticed that Matua had the same greenish yellow color of most New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but also had a slightly different citrus flavor than the typical grassy/light grapefruit citrus flavor.  This wine had a more pungent pithy flavor like the white pith just under the surface of the skin of a grapefruit.  It was not strong enough to be bitter but it definitely was noticeable.  Suzette liked it and I thought it gave the wine a rather strong character that left a wonderful citrus flavor in my mouth after drinking it.  I suggest you try this wine and let me know what you think.  We liked Matua a lot and I will buy some more, because it will go well with more assertive seafood dishes, like shrimp scampi. 

The only issue I noticed with Matua is that because it has a screw off top, it you want to store an opened bottle, you must tightly seal the metal cap or its pithy flavor will turn stale and bitter and it will lose its herbaceous flavor notes.

We could not finish our dinners and so will have PPIs for a snack.

Bon Appétit  

January 14, 2015 Grilled Steak with Baby Squashes and Roasted Vegetable Medley

January 14, 2015 Grilled Steak with Baby Squashes and Roasted Vegetable Medley

I am distracted by work and trying to get everything done by Friday, because we leave for Las Vegas on Saturday for the Home Show for four days.

I had purchased a new item at Costco last week, a 2 lb. bag of baby paddy pan and zucchini squashes that we wanted to try.

Today I thawed out a rib steak and around 7:00 we grilled the steak, steamed a basket of the baby squashes and heated the PPI Vegetable medley. 

Due to a phone call the squashes steamed a bit longer than they should and they were a little soft and water logged, but the vegetable medley was great with the flavors of the potato, carrot, onion, garlic and Brussels sprouts having blended with the olive oil and rosemary into a rich flavorful whole.

The steak, initially was cooked to rare, so we tossed it in a skillet with butter and olive oil with the vegetable medley to cook it to medium rare.  The steak was still a little tough although I bought it at the same time as the last one at Albertsons that was also USDA Choice and melted in our mouth.  

Perhaps it came from a different animal.

We opened a bottle of 2010 Side B Cabernet Sauvignon that had been given to us by Ed and Michel and we had a pleasant, if not wonderful meal.  The Side B was a rather jammy cab with heavy fruit flavors.  More a claret than the elegant cabs I like such as Clos de Val Napa or Wellington Winery’s Mohrhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignons.

After dinner I tried the wine with Delice (70% brie style French cheese) on toasted pieces of Fano’s baguette and the wine went well with the slightly acidic creamy Delice cheese.

Bon Appetit

January 13, 2015 Lunch The Shed Dinner Grilled Pork Sirloin Steak with PPI Ratatouille

January 13, 2015  Lunch The Shed   Dinner  Grilled Pork Sirloin Steak with PPI Ratatouille

I drove to Santa Fe for a hearing at 9:00 through blowing snow in near white out conditions on frozen roads.  After the hearing I walked from the Supreme Court Building to the Shed for lunch (Olivier only serves dinner, I found out first).  The Shed is my comfort food enchilada sanctuary.  I order the Enchilada plate with beef and all posole as I have for the last 47 years.  I guess you could say I am devoted or addicted to their style of enchiladas with that unique red chili sauce, which I now have the recipe for.  Here it is:

The Shed's Red Chili Enchilada Sauce (1972)

1/4 c Canola oil

2 cloves minced garlic

2 T flour

1/3 - 1/2 cup hot, or extra hot, red chili powder ( I usually use a combination and closer to 1/2 cup)

1 cup tomato juice

2 cups water

1.  Saute garlic in oil

2.  Add flour, cook a few minutes till flour smell is faded.  Remove from heat

3.  Add chili powder and stir w/whisk till smooth - it's very thick at this point

4.  Add tomato juice and water.

5.  Set back on heat and cook till thick - this doesn't take very long.

Bob, I make four times this recipe and freeze whatever I don't use.  

Enjoy.  Janis LaFountain

I usually drink a Negra Modelo and eat a piece of chocolate mocha cake after lunch and today was no exception.  I loved lunch and then walked to the American Indian Women’s Museum and saw several sketches by Helen Hardin and a large number of paintings by her mother Pablita Velarde from Santa Clara Pueblo.

Here is the recipe for the Shed Mocha Cake:

The Shed Mocha Cake

Erin Doherty

This is the classic Mocha Cake from The Shed in Santa Fe, my favorite dessert since pre-school! It does, however, contain raw eggs...so caveat emptor.

· 

servings:
Makes 6

Time:

prep time:

15

total time:

30

other time:

freezer time 15 min+

---

servings:
Makes 6

Time:

prep time:

15

total time:

30

other time:

freezer time 15 min+

---

Ingredients

·         12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips

·         2T. instant coffee

·         2T. sugar

·         2T. water

·         7 eggs, separated

·         1t. vanilla extract

·         8 1/2 oz. chocolate wafers, crushed (or use Oreo pie crust, if you cannot find plain wafers)

·         Whipped cream, for serving

directions

In a double boiler, melt together the chocolate chips, coffee, sugar and water; allow to cool. Add egg yolks to the chocolate mixture along with vanilla. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into chocolate mixture. Spread crushed chocolate wafers in the bottom of a 8 or 9 inch square pan. Cover with half of the chocolate mixture and another later of crumbs. Freeze for 15 minutes. Add remainder of chocolate mixture and top with another thin layer of crumbs. Cool. Serve with whipped cream.

Source:Erin Doherty

So now you can replicate my favorite Shed meal anywhere anytime you choose.  God bless the internet.

I then drove home and went with Suzette to a meeting.  After the meeting we drove to Costco and after Suzette gassed up her mustang, we went shopping for dinner.  We decided on a package of pork sirloin steaks ($3.49/lb.) on special for $3.50 off per package.  I chose a package priced originally at a $15.77, so the final price was around $2.75 per pound, which was a great price for fresh pork steaks.

We took the pork home and Suzette sprinkled sea salt and pepper on them and grilled them while she was heating some of the PPI Ratatouille.  We looked in the fridge and saw that we had half of a PPI bottle of Gruet Brut champagne left from New Year Day and decided to drink it with dinner.  This dinner’s prep took no more than 15 minutes.

We had a wonderful dinner of sliced pork steaks grilled to medium rare (slightly pink in the center) served on a pile of warm ratatouille; very simple and yet very elegant and delicious; another lesson in how great tasting food does not need to be elaborate or contain expensive ingredients.

After dinner we opened a bottle of 2007 Fonseca Late Bottled Vintage Port from Costco for $18.99 and tasted it along side of the $12.99 bottle of Harris Late Bottle Vintage Port from Trader Joe’s.  We both liked the Harris better, but agreed that the Fonseca needed time to open up before we could tell for sure.  We had a piece of strawberry jelly candy that some Christmas guest brought us with the port for a perfect finish to a lovely meal. 

Bon Appétit

    

January 12, 2015 Grilled Rack of Lamb and Roasted Vegetable Medley with Châteauneuf du Pape

January 12, 2015 Grilled Rack of Lamb and Roasted Vegetable Medley with Châteauneuf du Pape

We felt really low today and wanted a really good dinner with a really good wine so we chose to grill a Costco rack of lamb ($10.99/lb. minus $2.00 per package) and I filled a ceramic baking dish with cubes of one large potato, three carrots, one onion, six or seven cloves of garlic, 2 Tbsp. of fresh rosemary and ½ lb. of Brussels sprouts tossed with olive oil and sea salt and roasted covered with aluminum foil for an hour until the vegetables cubes were very tender but still intact.

Suzette soaked two sprigs of rosemary in water for a few minutes and then sprinkled sea salt and pepper on the rack of lamb and grilled it on the sprigs of rosemary for about fifteen minutes. 

I opened a bottle of 2010 Le Fiacre du Pape Châteauneuf du Pape, blend of 60% Grenache, 15% Mourvédre, 15% Cinsault and 10% Syrah (Trader Joe’s 18.99) that had been sitting in the cellar for a year.  The wine was silky smooth with no bitter after tastes.  There are 13 grapes designated for use in Châteauneuf du Pape.  Château Beaucastel is the only Châteaunuef winery that I know of that uses all 13 varieties of grape and it usually costs over $100 per bottle.  The four grapes in this wine are the main four grapes grown in Châteauneuf.  I will buy this wine again or try other Châteauneufs.  Again this is a Southern Rhône.

This simple meal was so delicious I could hardly believe it.  Proof that a delicious wine combined with a delicious meal makes for a great dining experience, no matter how simple.  

I have found that aging in a cellar will benefit a good wine but not overcome the weaknesses of a bad wine.  

Bon Appétit

January 11, 2015 Indian Feast at Cynthia and Ricardo’s house

We stayed at home today and rested and I worked on my water case until mid-afternoon when we received a call from Cynthia and Ricardo inviting us to join them for a PPI Indian dinner.  

When we arrived at 6:00 Cynthia had begun to fry samosas in about ½ inch of oil in a large iron skillet.  There were two kinds, a potato with ground coriander seed and mashed potato filling and the other with a lamb stuffing.  We started drinking Cupcake red wine but soon Suzette and I changed to a new bargain Torrontés from Mendoza Valley in Argentina ($4.99 less 10% at Total Wine) that was very drinkable but had a slight roughness at the back of the mouth that went away pretty quickly and not as sweet as I thought it would be.   A very drinkable wine for the money.

When Cynthia finished cooking the samosas, we moved to the dining room table and she served the hot samosas with a bowl of riata and a bowl of a lovely green coriander and jalapeno chutney and two types of Major Grey’s Chutney, one from Trader Joe’s and the other British one Crosse and Blackwell?.   After we had eaten samosas for a while Cynthia said we should have a bowl of dhal and served us bowls of dahl made with the red Indian lentil and flavored with a traditional mixture of five spice seeds; fennel, regular cumin, fenugreek and black mustard seed and black cumin.   The dahl was delicious.

Cynthia frying Samosas

Riata

the magical fresh coriander chutney

Ricardo's samosas garnished with riata, chutney and Major Grey's chutney

the Torrontes

Sauteed string beans with five spice mixture

Shrimp in coconut rice

Chandra Masala

Mango ice cream and rosewater and saffron flavored yogurt with a dash of crushed pistachios

Rico's apricot, cherry and nut balls rolled in coconut

the Samosas

When we finished the dahl, Cynthia served us the entrées; Indian string beans sautéed with black mustard seed, Chandra Masala (Chick peas cooked in a sauce of tomatoes and the five spice mixture) and shrimp served on coconut rice.

We ran out of Torrontés and Ricardo opened a bottle of Barefoot Sparkling Rosé made with moscato grapes that was quite nice with the food and better still with the three desserts that were served after the entrées; a yogurt stiffened by hanging in cheese cloth overnight and then flavored with saffron, rosewater and sugar; a lovely rice pudding and Haagen Daz mango sherbet.  In addition all the desserts were served with a bowl of crushed pistachios a bowl of crushed cashews and a bowl of coconut mixed with chopped raisins that we liberally garnished our bowls of dessert with.

The endless feast finally ended with a dessert made by Ricardo of small balls made of chopped apricots, cherries and chopped nuts rolled in coconut threads.

Cynthia told us that she was introduced to Indian cooking by an Indian lady when she lived in Maine and has cooked it ever since.  Little did I know Cynthia knew how to cook Indian food, but her cooking skills never cease to amaze.

Our huge Indian feast was a result of Cynthia’s cooking for two days to create a special meal to celebrate the 30^th birthday of Ricardo’s younger son, Leif, last night, for which we were the PPI recipients tonight.

We loved the meal and stuffed ourselves beyond belief on all of the great dishes.

Cynthia went into detail about the ingredients and cooking techniques about each of the dishes 
Here is her recipe for the wonderful coriander chutney and Indian Spinach Salad.  Cynthia, thanks for so graciously sharing them with us:

Fresh Coriander Chutney

1/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C water
1/4 lb coriander stems and leaves washed and coarsely chopped.  About 2 cups 
tightly packed (one whole bunch)
1/4 C finely chopped onion
2 T peeled and grated fresh ginger 
1 T sugar
2 tsp. fresh hot red or green chile (I used jalapeño)
1 tsp.salt 1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Combine the lemon juice, water and 1/2 the coriander in the jar of an electric 
blender and blend until mixture is reduced to a puree.  Slowly add all the 
coriander and then the onions, ginger, chile, sugar, salt and pepper and blend 
again.  When the mixture is perfectly smooth, taste and add more sugar or salt 
if desired.  This chutney can be refrigerated for a week.

    

Bon Appétit    

January 10, 2015 Dinner at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s Pueblo Harvest Café and Bakery

January 10, 2015 Dinner at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s Pueblo Harvest Café and Bakery

We wanted to go to see the 1491s, an Indian comedy group, appearing at a benefit concert at the Indian Pueblo Center.  To get good seats we went a little before 5:00 and when the doors opened at 5:00 we staked out seats with coats and magazines and then ran to the café for dinner.

I ordered Bison Short Ribs and Suzette ordered the Chipotle Wild Boar Tenderloin.

Each entrée came with the choice of a mash potato and a vegetable.  There were either green chili mashed potatoes or regular mashed potatoes, which each of us chose and either asparagus or some other vegetable and we each chose asparagus.

When the dish came I was amazed by the portions.  There must have been over a pound of bison short ribs smothered in a rich green pepper corn demi-glace sauce laid next to a pile of mashed potatoes garnished with a bundle of charcoal grilled asparagus. Suzette’s received an equally impressive dish with two boar tenderloins marinated in apple cider brine smothered in a spicy and sweet chipotle fruity demi-glace sauce.  Unfortunately, Suzette’s mesquite grilled boar was a bit over-cooked and grey while my bison was moist, red in color and tender enough to fall off the bone and fall apart upon the touch of my fork.  The long strands of meat were delicious when mixed with a bit of mashed potatoes and the demi-glace sauce.  We commented that we make the same mistake with pork and how hard it is to grill pork compared to stewing a piece of beef or bison in this case in a large pot of liquid for eight to ten hours and tendency is to overcook pork, because people demand that it be fully cooked to grey.

We liked both dishes but we both agreed that the bison was the best and completely delicious and worth another trip.  We even agreed that we could have easily split the order of bison; a bargain at $25.00.  The two grilled boar tenderloins were $28.00, still a very good value.  

The wine selection is a little weak, with mostly those special moderately priced wines that wineries make for restaurants, Suzette chose a Kenwood Merlot because that seemed to be the best winery selection ($6.00 per glass).  The merlot was fine but not great.  I chose a Stella Artois Cidré ($4.50) served in the traditional tulip shaped Stella Artois glass) that was delicious with both dishes and because apple cider seems to be the same wherever you get it.     

We loved our meal and when we finished around 6:00 we ran back to the comedy show and enjoyed an clever comedy show presented by an American Indian comedy group to a mostly American Indian audience with what seemed to contain lots of inside Indian jokes and skits directed toward Indians and dealing with American Indian issues..

Bon Appétit     

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