
Bienvenido a nuestra casa
Last night we could not decide whether we should have a salad of freshly picked Arugula or some type of pizza. We then decided why not have both.
The end result was an arugula salad on top of a white cheese pizza. Awesome and very tasteful.
The Arugula and rest of the salad
The Prosciutto Ready for the Cheese Pizza
Cheese Pizza with the Prosciutto
Arugula Salad on a White Cheese Pizza
Parroquia del Santuario de Guadalupe, Pátzcuaro
One of the beautiful churches and colonial buildings in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.
To ring in the new year last night Jo Ann and I wanted to recreate one of our old favorites that we have not had for ages, Veal Chops with Roasted Shallots, Arugula, and Polenta. This excellent meal is from Bon Appétit and it has been years since we have made it.
Part of the problem is that we can not find veal here in Morelia or Pátzcuaro so this was going to require us to improvise for the meal.
First we decided that the best meat alternative we could choose over a veal chop was a very marbled rib eye steak. We grilled this on the BBQ and achieved a mouth watering tasty main course.
For the shallots and arugula Jo Ann was able to go out to her garden and hand pick fresh shallots and arugula. Then we made the potenta from scratch and roasted the walnuts which added a great flavor to the meal.
Bottom line, you can’t always get the culinary items that you can in the US or in Europe, but if you are creative and willing to do a lot from scratch, you can enjoy just about any meal that you want.
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
The final plated meal
Rib Eye Steak, Roasted Shallots, Arugula, and Polenta
One of our favorite wines from the Valle de Guadalupe
Roasted Shallots and other vegetables.
Jo Ann and I have always tried to break the mold when we plan our weekly meals. Whose to say that an evenings meal must be completely French or Northern Italian? I am guessing this is how the whole fusion concept evolved. To just give you a few examples, two nights ao we had a fairly light dinner of BBQ salmon, a wonderful Mediterranean rice pilaf paired with a full bodied yet inexpensive Malbec. Now I would classify our BBQ salmon as a standard American recipe as it is only seasoned with olive oil and pepper. However the rice pilaf is really a standard Mediterranean fare. Then pairing this meal with a full bodied Malbec, I don’t think this would fit anyone’s definition of a “traditional” meal.
Last night we continued to break convention as we had an excellent Sopa Tarasca with some excellent asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto which was then grilled on the BBQ. These two recipes were then paired with an inexpensive Grenache from Spain, which is typically paired with gamier birds or country stews.
Sopa Tarasca together with BBQ asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto
Sopa Taraca on the stove
Ready for the BBQ
Chilies grilled and ready for the soup
Toasted tortillas
Toasting the tortillas
Grilling the chilies
Some colorful vegetables that I just thought looked cool together.
Basmati Pilaf with Dried Fruits and Almonds together with BBQ Salmon
Basmati Pilaf with Dried Fruits and Almonds cooking on the stove
Christmas morning and it was too cold and foggy to do our normal Christmas Day bike ride. So we decided to hike up to the top of Estribo, one of our close by hikes.
As we were climbing we were enclosed in the fog, but then when we started to reach the summit, we could see that we were over the fog level.
A very beautiful hike and not long after we started to descend we could see that the fog was breaking up. By the time we got back home, it was another clear and beautiful day in Pátzcuaro.
Probably the most photographed building in Pátzcuaro, the Templo de El Sagradio is just a beautiful piece of architecture. I have probably shot it over 30 separate times, in the morning, in the evening, mid-day, HDR, etc. etc. No matter whose image I see there is something magical about this building.
It is spring time and the mercado is fully of fresh new spring vegetables. We found this great recipe in Fine Cooking authored by Ronne Day. It is a great light dinner especially with Jo Ann’s home made pappardelle.
If you would like a copy of the recipe, you can get it here.
Some friends of mine were looking at a trip we all did a couple of years ago to Zitácuaro to visit the hallow grounds of where the monarchs spend their winter holidays. It was truly an amazing visit as we hiked up into the mountains and as the sun rose above the trees, the skies where filled with orange and black.
It is so sad that in the intervening years the population of the monarchs has declined so greatly. I want to make a return trip maybe next year to revisit this special place.
When we are in Troncones we eat a lot of pineapples. We always try to “recycle” all of the pineapple tops and twice we have been able to get them to grow.
This one is the second pineapple we have started and it is probably four to six months of growing remaining, but hopefully it will be another juicy and tasty home grown pineapple.
Sorry for borrowing the lyrics to “Money for nothing…” and my apologies to Dire Straits, but I just drove back to Pátzcuaro from Troncones and I am a little goofy this evening.
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