OK, returning to work today was a rest cure compared to my weekend (long and probably boring).

L

lana-in-fl

Well-known member
I now have to stop eating for about three months. Elder DD turned 21 on Sunday, and in South Africa this is the biggest celebration; we don't do the graduation thing at all - this takes its place - and though we are quite assimilated we still retain this custom.

Soooo, quite a while ago, when DH had a great bonus, he was soaring happily through the aisles at Total Wine. He has a Total Wine Entry Ritual - we go and gaze longingly at the expensive wines in the locked cabinet. So this bonus went to his head, and he bought a half bottle of Chateau d'Yquem for DD's 21st birthday. We have some very good friends who we felt had to taste it, so we invited them (I think about 18 months ahead) to the birthday dinner. All well and good.

Then he recently told his brother about the wine and its purpose, and DD started making ominous noises about sharing HER wine with ALL those people. And I started making ominous noises about no way was I making a sit-down dinner for 15 people the day before I went back to work especially after having in-laws in the house for 6 weeks. So we invited brother and family for a special Portuguese espetada ( yes, it's beef on a stick but you have to taste it before you turn your nose up at it) on the Saturday evening.

And of course, we had to do a lot of shopping for the birthday, and I made DH go back to Total Wine and buy a reasonable bottle of Sauternes so we wouldn't be doing brother and family out of too much, so I didn't get any prep done beforehand.

But we had a great time. We had a simple espetada with just a couple of dips and some good cheese as appetizers. We put squares of sirloin on large steel rods, roll them on coarse salt and chopped fresh bay leaves, roast them over coals, then eat them with fresh Portuguese bread. (We had salads for the degenerate, healthy, non-Portuguese people.) Then dessert was ice-cream cake, strawberry orange compote and what was left of Meryl's blackberry coffee cake, and a very disappointing Sauternes.

Rolled into bed, got up early the next day to buy a little more food, then presented DD and our friends with

Sherry's Shrimp toasts

Feta with olive oil and pink peppercorns

Roast veal

Rice (because of the grrravy)

Roasted Asparagus with crisp shallots

Cucumber and goat cheese salad

Yellow summer squash

Pavlova with strawberries

Tarte au Citron

You will see that this menu owes a great deal to FK, and this is the reason I have bored you with this loong story. It was amazing, but I am never going to do this back-to-back thing ever again.

I thought that the Chateau d'Yquem was wonderful. There was an off whiff when it was first opened but once it had breathed it was lovely, with complex flavours and a gorgeous honeyed ending. My husband says he's had better, but I don't have a good taste memory, and that was so long ago, in another lifetime really. And it went so well with that simple but excellent Tarte au Citron.

Now we need another bonus (yeah, right) so we can buy another bottle for 2nd DD ( no, I guess we're not really fooling you, are we?).

Thanks for the recipes smileys/smile.gif

 
Roast of Veal

Roast of veal from The Joys of Jewish Cooking by Stephen and Ethel Longstreet

1 5 lb veal rump roast with bone
1 T dry Dijon mustard
1 t poultry seasoning
2 T flour
1 T brown sugar
1 T salt
Pepper to taste
3 T beef fat (I use oil)
½ cup burgundy (I use more)
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed

Dress meat with mixture of mustard, poultry seasoning, flour, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. In pan with beef fat, brown on all sides. Add wine, onion, garlic. Cover tightly, simmer 2 ½ hours until meat is tender. 4 servings.

I have to confess, I don't make it with the veal rump roast, especially after buying a goose for Christmas - can't afford it. I use plebeian veal breast, but I actually think it probably tastes better with the fat and the unctuous texture that the cartilage and bones give to the gravy, which I thicken with a little cornstarch. It's not elegant to eat, but people beg for this recipe.

 
These things always sound "do-able" until you get into the middle of them! So what is espetada??

Can you post a recipe for it? You really should change "Lana in FL" to "Lana in SA" smileys/smile.gif

 
You silly girl! Again, what are you doing up so late?? - ha-ha-ha!

As Lana said, "So we invited brother and family for a special Portuguese espetada (yes, it's beef on a stick but you have to taste it before you turn your nose up at it) on the Saturday evening."

Now cheezz... I first took this to mean Espada, a very delicious but so ugly-looking fish that I've had several times in Portugal and Madeira...

See link - cute, huh?

I think Lana has been around but just loves her home here in Florida and wants to share her travels. I've been to Portugal twice and Madeira once - lovely, lovely places with great food. Check out the oh-so-monster-like fish that is soooo very tasty!! Don't judge a monster until it's been cooked to your liking!

Gee, I'm just about moved down here myself and just love the "lounge lizards" and know that the alligators around here are just waiting for me to pat them on the head! Get with it cheezz, we're Floridians for Pete's sake!! - LOL!!!

http://www.madeiraisland.com/eng/madeira/articles/espada_fish/09_espada_photos.php

 
Well done Lana. What a great meal and lovely way to celebrate. Keeping fingers crossed for another

bonus.

 
Lana, I have two requests: Your espetada recipe, and that you put the second menu in "Menus."

 
Hahaha! I could just see Sandy running around with a saute pan, shaking a big wooden spoon at them

 
Happy Birthday to DD - it's a big one! You mentioned good gravy - I'm always looking

for something to go over rice (basmati is my most recent favorite!) but didn't see anything that wouuld make a gravy in your menu. Beef was over the coals, right, so how did you make the gravy? TIA

P.S. Oh, I just reread your post and see that you had 2 different menus (so that's what Joe meant!) maybe the roast veal... how did you roast it? The first menu looks great too. Now kick your shoes off and put up your feet - that's a lot of work!

 
Wow, I'm very honored to be asked to post in Menus. As for the recipes

I posted the veal recipe above.

My husband would say that the espetada recipe would have to start with "buy a length of steel rod, sharpen one end and add a wooden handle", because that's what he did. Unless you are lucky enough to have a large bay tree - then cut good-sized sticks and thread the meat onto those instead - that's the traditional way in Madeira. (DH is from Madeira.) There is no real recipe. We buy the thick sirloin steaks from Costco, and cut them in 1 1/2 inch chunks. DH heats the steel rods over the fire, then greases them by piercing a piece of the beef fat and running it up and down the rod. He slides the meat chunks onto the rods, sometimes with a fresh bay leaf here and there, then rolls them in a mixture of coarse salt and chopped fresh bay leaves. He balances this over the coals fairly close to the coals. My FIL used to make this in the large bread oven he had built in the back yard. When cooked to taste, bang the end of the rod on the ground to shake off some of the salt, hang from a stick in the eaves, cut a slice of Portuguese/artisan bread and use it to slide a piece of meat off the rod, and enjoy. That's what we used to do - now that we have more "civilized" people eating this we unfortunately slide the meat off onto plates and eat inside, such a pity. Pair with a dark red wine, preferably a Portuguese tinto, or home-made sangria.

 
Sandy, espada is my husband's absolutely favorite food!

We drive all the way down to Ft Lauderdale to buy it, though we are negotiating with a fishmonger here to get us a box of it. I cook it, but I make him clean it - very smelly.

And last time we were in Madeira, DH asked the desk attendant at our hotel for a good place to get espada, but she thought he said espetada, and sent us to an espetada restaurant!

 
Please define "length of steel rod." Could I get away with metal skewers, or branches of rosemary?

It sounds wonderful, but I try to avoid Home Depot at all costs. A friend of mine is supposed to be giving me some laurel cuttings but I don't know how long it will be until I have branches to spare.

You don't need to be asked to post in "Menus," the honor is ours.

 
You're very lucky to have access to the espada. I've never

seen it in Philly and I'm sure it's hard to come by. It's amazing how far we'll travel for good food!

 
Well, ours are about 3 feet long and about 1.5 cm in diameter...

I asked him why we couldn't use our ordinary skewers, and he said huffily that it wouldn't be the same. I think an regular skewer should work just fine, if you aren't trying to recreate an ambience from the past.

The rosemary skewers would probably be delicious, although they wouldn't taste like traditional espetada. Now you have me thinking about chunks of lamb skewered on rosemary and roasted over the coals - I think I have to try that some time!

 
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