Sunday, February 20, 2011

Meals on wheels

Eastside Road, February 20, 2011—
boudin.jpgA COUPLE OF FRIENDS, dear friends, drove up from Berkeley today for a visit, bringing boudin blanc and lasagne with them, doubly welcome because they are excellent cooks. They, I write: but it was Curt who did the cooking this time. I made a vinaigrette with garlic, salt, mustard, sour-cherry vinegar and tarragon white vinegar, and he fried a couple of the boudin blanc, sliced them, and tossed them with the lettuces for our salad.
lasagna.jpg

The lasagna was unusual, more country French than italian, rich, detailed, and beautifully textured. And it was made from what he'd found at hand (at his home, not ours). Broccoli, ricotta, some kind of hot pepper, and mirepoix went into one mixture; another was a ragout of ground-up chicken and bacon. Black chanterelles were involved, too, and, oddly but to great effect, cow's-and-goat's-milk Gouda.
sundae.jpg

Such a meal deserves a dessert, no? Lindsey whipped up an ice-cream sundae with, you guessed it, leftovers: vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, bananas Foster sauce, chocolate sauce. Toasted slivered almonds and a maraschino cherry complete the picture. What a nice way to while away a cold Sunday afternoon!
Rosé, Guilhem, Moulin de Gassac, 2009; "Madam Preston" white wine, Preston of Dry Creek, 2008; Pinot noir, Hook and Ladder, 2007

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