On track to fulfill my weekend menu plans. Onions are on the stove now, sweating, softening, slowly. Onion soup in progress.
***
I totally slacked off on updating early in the week. Still trying to get a rhythym down with this blog.
Here's the update: I succeeded in making everything I wanted to last weekend.
To review, I made raspberry pancakes Saturday morning. (There were a coulple left over that I snacked on yesterday, cold and with nothing on them. Still quite good.)
For lunch, a sandwich on lightly grilled pan rustico with dilled cream chese, lox, capers, cucumbers, red onion, black pepper, a squeeze of lemon, and a drizzle of olive oil. It tasted like I was back in NY!
Dinner was classic: Spaghetti a la limoné (a la Frank Prisanzano of Supper Restaurant fame) with grilled Romaine Caesar Salad. The dressing was made with lemon juice, a few anchoivies, an egg yolk, a coulple of garlic cloves, Worcestershire Sauce, pepper, parmigiano cheese and olive oil.
Sunday breakfast: More grilled pan rustico (can you tell I had some that I was trying to get through?) one slice topped with quesito and the other with gooseberry & camomile jam, half a smoked then grilled pork chop (left over for earlier in the week), kale sald with green apples and avocado with a simple lemon vinaigrette, and two olive oil fried eggs. So good and so fresh! Great fortifying way to start the day.
All going well and all leading to the lunch time climax for the weekend.
I was really excited to try a recipe by Dorie Greenspan in the New York Times for slow roasted tomatoes. I had two perfect tomatoes that I has been ripening for a week or so. Here's the gist:
Blanch and peel
Add the zest of one lime to 2 TBSP sugar; rub together to incorporate and spinkle inside the core cavity of the tomaotes.
Drizzle with good olive oil (exta virgen, of course)
Roast at a low temperature (200F/100C) for 3 hours, basting periodically with olive oil. (I'd go a bit longer next time or use riper tomatoes.)
Top with parsley and drizzle with the liquid (an intoxicating mix of olive oil, sweetened tomato juices, and lime).
Serve room temp.
With that, I grilled a nice piece of salmon, simply seasoned with s + p. Add a salad of beluga/black lentils, goat cheese, red peppers, red onions, cucumber, parsley, and a red wine vinaigrette. Finish it off with a toast point to sop up all of the deliciousness.
For dinner, something comforting:
Onions sliced and ready to begin their evolution at 5:43pm. I use standard yellow or white onions. Vidalia, red, or other sweet onions get too sweet as they carmelize.
Carmelizing large quanities of onions always takes longer than I expect, but it's not something that can be rushed. From left to right, you can see the progress: 5:46pm - 5:59pm - 6:13pm. (It felt like longer.)
Beef stock added to the onions (I find chicken stock doesn't hold up to the other flavors) and set to simmer for a while. Time 6:25.
La Chamba pottery bowls (good over an open fire, on the stove top, or in the oven), ready.
8:04pm and dinner is ready. Onion Soup Grantinee with stale baguette croutons and a mixture of locally produced artisanal ementhal cheese. Plus a sandwich of cured meats & veggies on fresh ciabatta. Warm and comforting end to a lovely weekend.
