This week some new and fun things. I learned all about how to boil an egg and Emily was given some garlic from Wyoming by a coworker. Before I get into the fun stuff, I’m going to rant about a trip to the grocery store. When I came out to get into my car, I was parked next to an SUV with a vanity plate that said “BOTOX.” Seriously? First of all, if Congress wanted to really do something worthwhile, they should pass a law that states if you don’t have something interesting or clever to put on your license plate, don’t freaking get a vanity plate. Of course, that would probably evolve into some type of national crisis with one party threatening to close down all the highways to avoid doing anything. Second, “BOTOX,” if you’re that big of a fan, you probably shouldn’t be telling everyone about it.
This week’s meal was a little bit easier to come up with than the turkey burgers. I was planning on having some of our friends out for dinner this weekend, and one of them is allergic to gluten. And, I needed something Italian to go with the lemoncello, hence a gluten-free Italian meal – enter Tuscany (I’ve heard they don’t use a lot of actual pasta there, at least, that’s my theory for this week). The other thing that worked out well is that Emily and I decided to have a picnic in our parking lot, so we got some meats and cheeses that I could double up with the meal on Sunday.
Starter: Truffle marinated mushrooms
Salad: Classic Caesar
Entrée: Chicken Saltimbocca w/ figs and stuffed portabellos
Emily: The sage n’ fig sauce was the 2nd best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
Beverages: Lemoncello and Vipra Rossa Super Tuscan
Lemoncello is best served ice cold and in tiny glasses. I’ve always had it served to me ice cold, but not necessarily in small glasses. THE most memorable “medium” sized glass of lemoncello I had was at our weekly poker game. I took my first sip of lemoncello at 7:10. I was out of the poker game at 7:32. Small glasses.
I’ve been trying to get into Italian wines more, but I find it more overwhelming than French wines. I saw a map of Italy’s wine regions, and there’s like 30 of them. But I did learn a few things this week. First, chianti almost always has white wine mixed in with it. News to me. I was trying to find a Sangiovese, because it tends to be a lighter red wine, which would go well with the chicken. I don’t have anything against chianti, but I think it should only be had with pasta and a tomato based sauce. I also learned that “Super Tuscans” are wines made with the original Italian grapes but have been blended with merlot or cab or another new world wine. I lucked out to find one that was Sangiovese and Merlot and affordable.
I didn’t really plan on making marinated mushrooms, at least, not how they turned out. When I decided to make Caesar salad, I wanted to spice it up a little bit, so I thought about adding marinated mushrooms. I got really excited, because I’ve been eyeing this truffle oil at the store, but haven’t had a good excuse to take the plunge. But then after some further thought, I realized mushrooms don’t really belong in Caesar salad and would look bad. I always like to add egg and roasted garlic to my Caesars and I figured that would be original enough. But I really wanted the truffle oil, so I got the best of both worlds. So some truffle oil, balsamic, spices and overnight in the fridge with some feta (on sale!) sprinkled on for an appetizer.
I’ve always wanted to make my own Caesar dressing. I’ve never had the nerve to order a Caesar salad with anchovies at a restaurant, even though the dressing always has anchovies in it. I made it a little too lemony and it was hard to make it “light.” Salad dressing from scratch always needs way too much oil. So I subbed with my old standby, yogurt to give a little body and cut the lemon a little bit. And now this brings us to mine and Emily’s egg-off (done strictly for research purposes). I’ve always boiled eggs by throwing them into boiling water and then neglecting them for 20 minutes or so and then they’re done. However, there is a reason it’s called an “egg timer.” I’ll spare you all the details, but I am going to give a general table for future reference regarding boiled eggs.
1 minute egg: Don’t bother
2 minute egg: Still really gross
4 minute egg: Edible after not eating for 3 days
6 minute egg: Perfect for breakfast, like an over easy egg
8 minute egg: Great texture and solid enough to slice for salads
So all that for Caesar salad.
And now on to the main course. I’m taking a page out of Mark Zuckerberg’s book. I may not have killed my chicken before I ate it, but I certainly made sure it was dead. I pounded those chicken breasts like the wheelbarrow with a broken wheel.
I put in some prosciutto and mixed spinach, garlic, and goat cheese and put that on top of the ham and rolled it up to cook. I had to use a toothpick to hold everything together. I really hate using toothpicks for that. I feel like it’s cheating. I wish someone would develop edible superglue that tasted like bacon to use in such instances.
The stuffed mushrooms are filled with bruschetta. Emily and I got smoked mozzarella for our picnic so I used that with the tomatoes to add some flavor. She loved the cheese. I thought it tasted like creamy charcoal gum, so I mixed in a little regular mozzarella as well.
What topped the whole meal off was the fig sage butter sauce I made for the chicken. I thought that Arizona was enough like Tuscany to find fresh figs. Fortunately, this is America and not only do we have the freedom to act like jackasses when it comes to our license plates, but we can buy dried figs. They added a really nice texture to the sauce. It also had some shallots, wine, and of course, butter (not much though). Sage is such a great fresh spice and not commonly used, so it still has a unique flavor.
That's it for this week. Next week I have a twist on a nostalgic drink and I'm thinking something spicy...very spicy.
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