January 18th

Jerry is starting to wonder if I am losing interest in the blogging. NO...I am not losing interest in the blog, but I am so full and sleepy after eating all the food! I can't see straight let alone sit down and write a blog entry. Hope everyone understands. I am one content gal!!!

January 15th was our last cooking episode. That was a Friday night. Saturday was spent in class, at BWW, and then at Capitol Ale House with a friend from Salem. (Hi, Kevin.) Sunday was a football day and so we just munched. Monday was a holiday and so we decided to do something BIG.

The menu was Shoestring Potato-Crusted Lyonnaise Fish, Roasted Vegetable Lasagna, Sesame Pepper-Crusted Tuna salad with an anchovy-garlic dressing. Maybe I haven't posted until now because this meal absolutely wore me out.

Jerry took care of the tuna salads. He was grilling outside, making the dressing inside, slicing the vegetables in preparation for the lasagna. He was everywhere and had a ton of dishes out.

I was completely stationary. I stood in place and grated raw potatoes for an eternity. The grated potatoes had to go into bowls (I had to use two bowls because none of mine were large enough to hold the potatoes and the water.) I washed and drained, washed and drained, until the water was clear. Then it was time to start getting the water OUT of the potatoes. Could have used some cheesecloth. Maybe next time. After the potatoes were happily awaiting their fate, I started making the lemon sauce for the fish. I was able to use fresh lemons from the tree in our foyer. Tell me that isn't a strange story. Garlic and lemons, white wine and peppercorns all in a saucepan being boiled into who knows what. Actually, the sauce was delightful. After boiling and stirring, everything except for the peppercorns disappear into the liquid. The fun part was whisking two sticks of butter into the mixture 4 TBSPs at a time. Strained and then kept warm for the little fishes. Yeah, you would have thought that I was finished...not exactly. I seasoned the flour for dredging and made an egg bath. Dipped the fish into each and then - get this - placed the potatoes on a work surface and put the fish on top. You then have to put more potatoes on top and then somehow get it all into a skillet. I found that Jerry's enormous grill spatula did the trick. It was sort of funny to be cooking what was essentially hashbrown covered fish.

While I was struggling with the fish, Jerry had moved on to the vegetable lasagna. The issue with this dish was the oven roasting that had to be done. He had three cookie sheets going and I had to slide out of the way every time he put something into the oven, checked the oven, or took something out of the oven. I didn't mind, but it did make for a very strange dance.

The outcome was well worth it. I can't tell you how fresh the lemon sauce was! We need to use smaller fillets next time. The roasted vegetable lasagna was amazing. The tuna was wonderful too, but we will try to keep it more rare next time.

Linda wanted to know how long these meals take to prepare. I couldn't even begin to let her know about this one. I will tell you that these dishes were wonderful and we will make them again and again, but never on the same night!

Eat something yummy!!