Tightrope Walker, Summer Dessert, Family News.

I said I had nothing to write the other day, but I forgot my tightrope walking friend. He was back the other day and now, Saturday, he is back again. The wind is a bit gusty for him today I would think. The rope is bouncing around anyway. I would certainly give him an A for effort. He keeps trying. He is still not using anything to help his balance though.

Friday afternoon, around 3 p.m. we left to go to Barrie's Asparagus Farm. Big mistake, we really got caught in traffic, more so on the way home. I had a few bags of asparagus to get for friends apart from myself. I also bought some rhubarb for me having decided to leave the frozen stuff where it is for later in the year. Then I spotted something for a Saturday dinner treat.

In case you can't read it, that's English Clotted Cream. For us these will be the first strawberries of the season. As I am planning to do Steak Diane, one of our favourites, it was a rich meal and turned out deliciously. As did the berries and cream.

We had some wonderful news this weekend. Granddaughter, Bethany, is about to finish drama

college and has been hired for her first professional job. She will be flying to Miami (from England) in August and doing several weeks rehearsal and then will be joining the Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas for a 10 month tour in the Caribbean playing the lead in the musical We Will Rock You. I also understand that Royal Caribbean conducted auditions in New York, Sydney and London, so that is an even bigger feather in her cap. As I keep telling everyone, these cruise ships, nowadays, look top heavy to me, so I am hoping there is plenty of ballast to keep them stable.

I know this is not an asparagus recipe, but it occurred to me that you could use asparagus in it either as well as the lettuce or instead.

Parmesan Chicken With Caesar Roasted Romaine
If you can't get 'em to love salad, try roasting your lettuce (and don't be surprised if you win over unlikely fans at the dinner table)


4 7-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, Pecorino, or Asiago cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
3 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 Tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves, chopped, divided
2 large hearts of romaine, halved lengthwise
4 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained, chopped
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place on prepared sheet. Combine cheese, panko, 2 Tbsp. oil, parsley, and 1 garlic clove in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Pat panko mixture onto breasts. Roast chicken until crumbs begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes.

2. Drizzle romaine with 1 Tbsp. oil and sprinkle with remaining 1 chopped garlic clove. Season with salt and pepper. Remove sheet from oven; place romaine around chicken. Roast until chicken is cooked through and lettuce is browned at edges, about 5 minutes. Divide among plates. Top lettuce with anchovies; garnish with lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Servings: 4

Source: Bon Apétit

Have a great day
 

Snow, Batteries, Food and Wine, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Saturday morning we awoke to thick snow. I think its still winter after all although we certainly haven’t had much of the white stuff lately. However, it didn’t last very long, the roads had melted by lunchtime and the rest is disappearing fast. Very odd winter indeed.

OK, I’m naïve, I had no idea a laptop battery only lasted 2-3 years. I thought, because one recharges them, they lasted forever. Duuuh. So now I have to buy a new one. I guess we have been spending money like its gone out of style with new furniture, tech help, super’s help, and now a new battery. Oy vay. They are incredibly expensive things, I looked into getting one with a 4 hour life once, no way, much too expensive for me, even a 2 hr. battery costs in the region of $100. OK, I’m in luck, my tech guy is getting me one for $80.

Saturday supper I did a Steak Dianne again, I am now officially bored with that and probably won’t cook it again for quite a few years. We opened a bottle of our Clos du Val Zinfandel to go with it. Excellent meal followed by a nice piece of brie which goes well with a good red wine. I will now be looking for nice recipes for fillets. I could probably take pepper steak one more time, not sure, but I need more recipes for steaks. Plain steaks are definitely in the boring range these days. Matt thinks I’m nuts but….

I was very sorry to read that Judi Dench is battling blindness as she has macular degeneration and is having problems reading her scripts and even seeing people she is with. I have seen what that’s like, we have a bowling friend who has similar problems. He still bowls well – bugs me, he can’t see and gets strike, I can see and don’t. However, I digress. I have loved Judi Dench for years and think she is wonderful. She got an Academy Award for Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love, she was a principal character in a TV series we loved called As Time Goes By, this was a British comedy series which is still being shown on PBS. Lately she has been playing M in the James Bond movies, and that’s to name a few things she has been on stage and screen for many years now. Apparently she is not thinking of retiring at the moment, she is 77. At the moment she has friends, family and her agent reading her parts to her.

Sadly my favourite programme has finished for another year, Downton Abbey, the last episode was on Sunday night. I have heard that Shirley McLaine is going to be in the next series. That should make it interesting so long as they can keep the story up to its previous standard. So far, it has been excellent. I understand it has won all kinds of awards and I am not surprised. It is certainly one of the best series I have seen in many a year. Funnily enough there is a new movie coming up this year called The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Maggie Smith, who is in Downton Abbey, is in it as is Judi Dench.

I always enjoy Bruschetta and this is a variation on the usual.

Bruschetta Duet

Source: Quick From Scratch - Italian

Serves 4

We like the variety here--the same toast spread with two different toppings. The green-olive tapenade, which uses pre-pitted olives, can be made in minutes with a blender or food processor. The sautéed mushroom topping is equally savory hot or at room temperature.
INGREDIENTS

8 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons butter

3/4 pound mushrooms, chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, 2 minced, 1 smashed

1/4 teaspoon salt

Fresh-ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried sage

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/3 cup lightly packed leaves

1/2 cup pitted green olives

1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Bruschetta

DIRECTIONS

In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil with the butter over moderately high heat. Add the mushrooms, the minced garlic, the salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and the sage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the chopped parsley. Remove from the heat.

In a blender or food processor, put the olives, parsley leaves, smashed garlic, anchovy paste, the remaining 6 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Blend or process to a coarse puree.

Spread the mushroom mixture on eight of the bruschetta, and the tapenade on the rest.

VARIATIONS:

Bruschetta can be topped with endless combinations of ingredients. Some of our favorites to try:
*Chopped tomato and basil
*Diced roasted bell peppers with crumbled goat cheese
*Drained canned tuna and capers
*Strips of Parmigiano-Reggiano
*A split garlic clove rubbed over the toast, followed by a generous drizzle of olive oil

LOLCats, The Weekend, Books.

This is especially for sinlaw Mike.

Well, the weekend has rolled round once again. Unfortunately, once you are retired, weekends don’t mean much any more. It does mean things like no mail, people don’t email as much and so on, but otherwise its very much the same as any other day of the week. The one thing Saturday means to us – we tend to have a special dinner with wine, having decided to cut down week day drinking, Saturday is the day we enjoy on of the special wines we keep in stock. As yet, I don’t know what we will be having for supper, and therefore I don’t know which wine either. We have a couple of fillet steaks in the freezer and I am toying with making a Steak Diane with them, haven’t had that in years, one of those dishes that kind of went out of fashion, don’t know why, used to be one of my favourites. Ve shall see.

I told you that I was doing a re-read of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series and that unfortunately my library didn’t have book 8, The Path of Daggers, someone hadn’t returned it and it was a month overdue. Nor would they consider replacing for 6 months so I finally went to Amazon, both .com and .ca and found a copy for 7¢. All of this I wrote before, what I didn’t write was that when it arrived, it was in pristine condition and guess what, it was shipped from England. I had no idea. Having ordered it from Amazon.ca I naturally assumed it would be sent from somewhere in Canada. I can neither believe the price I got it for, with shipping, but that wasn’t very much, nor the fact that it came from the UK.

Steak Diane

From Chef John J. Vyhnanek

This classic restaurant show-stopping dish is usually prepared and flamed at the table but you can easily make it at home. Tender filet mignon steaks with a rich cream sauce are perfect for a romantic dinner with your loved one.

Ingredients:

• 4 (3 ounces each) center cut beef tenderloin medallions, trimmed of all fat and pounded to 1/2 inch thick, chilled
• 1-1/2 ounces clarified butter
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons shallots, chopped fine
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup mushroom caps, sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves, fresh if possible
• 2 ounces heavy cream
• 1 ounce brandy
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
• Salt, about 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
• Ground black pepper, fresh ground, 1/8 teaspoon or to taste

Preparation:

In a small 8- to 10-inch sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the tenderloin steaks, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, increase heat to medium-high and sauté exactly 2 minutes on each side. Remove them to a plate and chill in a refrigerator for 5 minutes. Preheat a large (12-inch) sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Add clarified butter, then add the Worcestershire sauce to the butter. Place the shallots, garlic, and mushrooms in the center of the pan with the tenderloin steaks around the edges. With a spoon, stir and toss the mushroom mixture. After 2 minutes add the lemon juice and season the ingredients with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Turn the filet mignon steaks and add the thyme, chopped parsley and dried mustard powder. Cook the steaks to the doneness you like. Leave them in the pan and add the heavy cream and chives. Tilt the pan slightly, and pour the brandy into the front edge of the pan, turn the heat to high and let the flame (or if electric, light with a match) catch the brandy's vapors and ignite it. Swirl slightly, turn off the heat and let the flame go out. Place filet mignon medallions on plates and top with the sauce from the pan. Note: You may want to slightly undercook the filet mignon steaks prior to adding the cream and brandy so that the reduction process of making the sauce doesn't overcook them. Yield: 2 servings

Have a great weekend