Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Manchester Bombing, Boring Day, Books

As soon as I  hit the living room Tuesday morning, Matt told me about the horrific bombing in Manchester. I was born nearby so have a soft spot for the area. Must admit I was having difficulty with the accents of the locals being interviewed. Later, seeing women crying desperately because they don't know if their children survived or not was really upsetting. How could anyone attack children? This evening there are still people unaccounted for. My heart goes out to the Mancunians involved.

For us it was a pretty ho hum day. We had bloodwork in the morning and shopping in the afternoon. So exciting. Hurrah, Wednesday we get to bowl. Found a new series of books I am enjoying, the Cassidy Jones series by Elise Stokes. I decided that I have dozens (at least) of books on my Kindle which I obtained for nothing, it is about time I started reading them. I have read 4 of them so far and enjoyed them all. Don't really know why I haven't read them before. I still get an email with free or cheap Kindle books regularly but stopped choosing books because I figured I would never read the books I already had. To end my day, I was microwaving leftovers for supper and dropped them on the floor. Still enough in the container for us, but lots of mess and left us with a somewhat skimpy plate each. Tomorrow is another day.


This is another recipe which I haven't tried, basically because lobster is too expensive. Maybe one day I will spring for some during asparagus season. One thing I think is wrong, it says to cook the asparagus for 10 minutes. I dread to think what it would be like by then. I boil my asparagus for 3 minutes. and they are perfect.

Asparagus and Lobster Crêpes with Fines Herbes Hollandaise Sauce

1 lb asparagus, ends trimmed
Cooked meat of 1 large lobster, or 2 lobster tails (about 1 1/2 lbs loster before cooking)
sprinkling of salt plus 1/2 tsp.
Fines Herbes
Hollandaise
2 Tbs white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and cubed
2 Tbs lemon juice
white pepper to taste
1 Tbs fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1 Tbs fresh chives, finely chopped
1 Tbs fresh chervil, finely chopped.

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.

2. In a large pot, steam or boil asparagus until just tender, about 10 mins, cool under cold water, drain and set aside.

3. Coarsely chop cooked lobster, set aside

4. Prepare crêpes.

5. Divide the asparagus into 8 separate bundles. Place a bundle in each of 8 crêpes, sprinkle with salt and roll to enclose. Place asparagus in a glass baking dish, top with lobster and cover with foil. Just before serving, and no sooner, place in heated oven for 15 mins to warm through.

6. In a small saucepan over medium high heat reduce (boil) vinegar, water and 1/2 tsp salt until approximately 3 tbs remains, remove from heat.

7. Lower heat to medium-low, add yolks to pan and return to heat, whisking constantly until foamy and lightly thickened. Make sure not to scramble eggs; if the eggs begin to cook too quickly pull off the heat and whisk vigorously to cool slightly before continuing.

8. Begin to whisk butter into pan 1 cube at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, whisk in lemon juice, white pepper and fresh herbs. Use immediately.

9. Place two asparagus crêpes on each plate and top each with some of the warmed lobster. Spoon hollandaise overtop, serve immediately

Servings: 4

Source: Food and Drink Spring 2010

Author Notes
If preparing this for a dinner party, the asparagus, lobster, crêpes and vinegar reduction can all be prepared beforehand so that the only thing left to prepare is the hollandaise. Make sure to use a good quality butter so that the hollandaise has great flavour.


Have a great day
 

14 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - so desperately sad and exceedingly cruel ... lost loved ones, grieving families, the injured needing to heal, or first just to survive.

    You could use large prawns instead of the lobster ... sounds good though ... it's been cold here - so Waitrose might have asparagus -in fact has had, but it's not on a route I take any more ... but I will be eating asparagus soon! Cheers Hilary

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    1. It is terrible isn't it Hilary?

      Would be large shrimp here, we don't get prawns. Not a bad idea though.

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  2. Ten minutes for asparagus? Those must be some really old stalks, lol. I have used fake lobster for dishes where it is an accent on not the main course, like in lobster mac and cheese. No one knows the difference. But my wallet doesn't feel as light.

    The bombings are horrific. What kind of sick mind kills young children? What kind of god do they think would condone this?

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    1. I know Denise!!! Never thought of fake lobster.

      Having read the Koran, in my opinion, there is nothing so dissimilar to the Bible that would justify what they do in the name of religion.

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  3. The bomber knew he'd be hurting children and that's just abhorrent.

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    1. Abhorrent is a very good word for it Alex.

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  4. What happened in Manchester is horrific and heartbreaking. It's impossible to understand how someone could do such a thing, isn't it.

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    1. It most certainly is impossible Helen. There is enough sorrow in life to make it unnecessary to cause more.

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  5. So horrible what happened at that concert. Sadly ISIS doesn't give a crap who they kill.

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  6. It is very sad what happened in Manchester but I hope this teaches the people who organize these events to have a lot more security. My heart goes out to the parents

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    1. Trouble is most people think it won't happen to them Birgit. "It only happens to other people" - they forget that to "other people" they are "other people". Sounds convoluted, but true.

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  7. I know I'm being an ostrich but I'm seriously thinking about giving up watching the news. The last story here was an horrific story of child abuse on a two year old girl. It is all too upsetting. The Manchester bombing was awful. I can't bear reading and hearing it.

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    1. I can't say I blame you Pinky. I don't actually watch the news but Matt does so I hear/see some of it anyway. There are some dreadful people in the world. ISIS doesn't have the monopoly.

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