Ate well this weekend
We have some house guests this week. In other words, I have more people to cook for ... Waaahooo!
Friday
I made my creole clam soup as a first course.
I like to cook this on my Webber in a cast iron pot.
I browned Andouille sausage in a bit of olive oil.
Added celery, onion, red bell pepper, and sauteed until soft.
Added 1 bottle of white wine, 2 cups of chicken stock, salt, pepper, and some fresh herbs snipped from my deck garden.
boiled for 20 minutes
added 50 little neck clams
served once the clams opened (about 5 minutes covered) with a nice loaf of Italian bread. Paired with a nicely chilled riesling.
After the soup, I made grilled pork tenderloin, mushroom rice pilaf (the only thing I made in the house, and grilled asparagus. a 2012 cabernet to wash in down.
Sunday
We started with my bruschetta: Green onions, a fist full of fresh basil from the deck, diced fresh tomatoes, a touch of olive oil, and a generous amount of balsamic vinegar. Chilled for 2 hours. We ate this as an app on small slices of Italian bread. I paired it with my 2014 Chilean cab.
For a second course, I made strawberry/avocado salad in a lite balsamic vinaigrette.
I made my "Sky High" lasagna. Started cooking the sauce around 10am and simmered it for 3 hours. The sauce contained onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes (obviously), and 3 pounds of meatloaf mix (equal parts grounded veal, beef, and prok) that was browned and drained. I let the sauce reduced by 30% on the stove until nice and thick.
For the cheese mix I used eggs, ricotta, mutz, and parmesan cheese. Yes, it does taste every bit as good as it looks (if I do say so myself).
See pictures