It's the 23rd: Christmas Eve's Eve, and the boss is giving us Christmas Eve off, so we had another little food festival to kick off what will be, for me, a vacation that will last through New Year's. You'll recall that we recently enjoyed the beef on Weck that my coworker's wife had made; she had apparently intended to pack some stuffed baked potatoes to go with the sandwiches, but she wasn't able to prep the taters in time for the Monday meal, so my coworker told us we'd eat the potatoes on Wednesday. I said I'd bring a main course for which the potatoes could act as a side, so I prepped my coquilles St. Jacques aux pleurotes plus an incredible set of green beans with bacon and almonds, made from a recipe I'd found online.
Here are some shots for your delectation:
A closeup of a scallop:
The green beans were a revelation. I would never have thought that you could combine Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to create something harmonious, but with the addition of butter and brown sugar (shades of Bananas Foster), plus the crispy bacon and the toasted almonds, the whole thing makes sense once you heat the mixture up and get it bubbling. I'll be making this side again soon: it's very easy to make, and a great yield—taste-wise—for relatively little effort.
The overall luncheon was quite delicious; the scallops cooked slowly in the velouté, reaching a perfect state of doneness; they weren't rubbery at all. I served the scallops in little ramekins, coating their tops with toasted, buttered bread crumbs since I couldn't finish the dish in a broiler. Everyone gave the seafood a thumbs-up, and for my part, I saluted the potatoes done by the Missus. In fact, I'm taking some of her taters home with me tonight.
So that was today's pre-Christmas luncheon. I'm off until the new year, using up the rest of my comp hours, although I think my coworkers will be coming in next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment
READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING!
All comments are subject to approval before they are published, so they will not appear immediately. Comments should be civil, relevant, and substantive. Anonymous comments are not allowed and will be unceremoniously deleted. For more on my comments policy, please see this entry on my other blog.
AND A NEW RULE (per this post): comments critical of Trump's lying must include criticism of Biden's or Kamala's or some prominent leftie's lying on a one-for-one basis! Failure to be balanced means your comment will not be published.