Wine and Cheese Night

This week has been intense week in the kitchen… this week I dealt with filleting fish, killing a lobster the hard way, learning how to quarter a duck. I think the lobster story is the best one so I’ll share that one. The live lobster that was placed on my cutting board was crawling around and I had to lift the thing back to the center of my board so I could hack it before it crawled away again. I killed the lobster wrong I know because after I chopped the tail off, the lobster tail curled into a ball and the claws kept flailing. I felt like I did a terrible magic trick because the lobster tail and torso were a good 4 inches apart and everything was still flailing wildly. Ah poor lobster. Then as I had watched the chef do during his demo, I started to quarter the lobster… but the lobster would not stay still for me. Then the sous chef walked to my table and goes “Hmm… you should cut the head off first so it dies straightaway.” Ohh oops then I proceeded to chop off the head after I tortured the poor lobster. Then I cooked it and ate it. The End.

After classes this week, I brought home leftover such as chicken, duck, and whatever we had cooked up that day. So, needless to say, I have had a lot of tacos this week with my leftover meat… but tonight my leftover supply ran out so I threw a little something together. I made a Honey, Gorgonzola and Walnut Open Faced Sandwich. This dish is mainly just about using good ingredients. I bought the Gorgonzola from a cheese shop. The nice thing about these cheese shops is that you can get a relatively small amount and I could get a ¼ pound of cheese so I didn’t have to have a big hunk of cheese hanging out in the fridge. I bought a nice mini walnut loaf of bread from a bread bakery in the city. It’s so nice to live in a big city, because anything you possibly can want is out there. This was the perfect light supper with a glass (or two) of wine. I loved the combined flavor of the strong cheese, crunchy walnuts, hearty bread, all topped with a bit of sweet honey.

Honey, Gorgonzola, and Walnut Open Faced Sandwiches

Ingredients:
-Loaf of hearty bread
-Gorgonzola Dolce cheese
-Honey
-Cayenne Spiced Candied Walnuts (recipe below)

Toast the bread on a grill or in an oven until golden. Spread some gorgonzola on the toasted bread. Drizzle a small amount of honey on top of the gorgonzola. Top with the candied walnuts.

Cayenne Spiced Candied Walnuts

Set aside a well greased piece of foil or parchment paper. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine ½ cup sugar with ¼ cup water. Add a couple sprinkles of cayenne. Let the sugar get slightly golden (may take 4-5 min), add about a cup of walnuts. Toss the walnuts in the sugar and make sure the nuts are well covered. Pour out onto the greased foil. When cool cut into pieces.

Oh and I can’t forgot about the most important recipe of them all. Granddad thought my previous hamburger recipe looked a bit too complicated so he decided to help me out and send me his own recipe (and I included his message too cause I thought it was delightful)

I am really enjoying your blog. I notice that most of your recipes are pretty fancy. My theory is that perhaps you should get recipes for simple, everyday things. Here is my recipe for hamburgers:

Good quality ground beef
Add about 20% fairly loose mashed potatoes
Add ranch dressing style mix ( just a small amount)
Make patties fairly thin-1/2 to 2/3 inch thick
Cook medium well done. Delicious!

Always put patties in toasted buns with mayonnaise, onions,
yellow mustard, tomatoes and lettuce.

Thanks Granddad! And HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO YOU! Thanks for being the BEST Granddad EVER! (And I’m sorry if I posted yet another fancy recipe, I will work on going simpler).