Kelly's Birthday Dinner

Today is my husband's birthday.

My poor, POOR husband, the subject of all my practice runs and experiments and cupboard-is-bare--so-what-do-I-make meals... (I'm sure those of you who don't live with chefs are all very sorry for him, right?)

Over this past week I have offered to make him the meal of his choice. His tastes are pretty simple. Which annoys me to no end. He's into eating big, hearty, bulky foods like chili, enchiladas, pot roast, pastas (not that you could tell, since he's a very slim guy, but he does eat a lot of food!) and he's not into delicate soufflés or fancy vegetables or fussy things. Here's someone who can have whatever he wants, expertly prepared, and he will choose to make himself a PBJ. GRRRRR!

So I badgered him into choosing something that would be delicious for him to eat and somewhat challenging for me to make, and here's what he(we) came up with:

Lunch:

Omelette of Tomatoes, Fresh Basil and Feta Cheese
Home-Style Potatoes cooked in duck fat
Multi-grain baguette, toasted and buttered
Espresso, and orange juice.


Dinner:

Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Beurre Blanc
Brussles Sprouts with Smoked Pork Lardons
Ginger-Glazed Carrots
Tri-Color Fingerling Potatoes

... and for dessert, Devil's Food Cake with Kirsch-Macerated Dark Cherries and Crème Chantilly. Sort of a take-off on Black Forest Cake.

The veggies all came from the farmers market, so they were especially fresh and delicious. The curly-haired aussie potato guy is always friendly and polite, but he never remembers me. I don't know why it bothers me so much; I'm sure he sees several hundred faces a day... but I see him both at both Wednesday's, in Santa Monica, and Thursday's, in Westwood Village, and I always try to strike up a conversation, and he never seems to remember me.

Anyway, he has the best fingerlings, just a dash of salt and they're perfect. And the skins of the potatoes actually popped when we bit through them. The carrots came out just right, and the brussles sprouts did very nicely with the smoked pork.

And the sea bass! Just wonderful. Pan-seared in a cast iron skillet with some diced onion, sprinked with fresh herbs and a healthy splash of white wine, then put in a 400 degree oven until the thermometer registered 155. remove to a warmed plate and finish up the sauce: Add a bit of lemon juice, white wine vinegar and whole black peppercorns to the cooking liquid, reduce, add freshly torn basil, remove from the heat and start mounting the sauce. Moist, delicious, divine. Kelly cleared his plate!

I'm positively stuffed, so the cake will have to wait for a little while. In the meantime, we're going to watch a movie, and maybe have a bit of tea.

Last thing I ate or drank: above dinner! Yum!

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