Pfoderie: February 2012

This was our first attempt to get together and learn how to prepare some unusual dishes you would normally order in a restaurant but not cook at home. I believe Daniel, Gina, Karla and Eric came up with the concept, and I guess it is up to me how to handle this.

Since I did not get any suggestions before hand I had to come up with the Menu. The decision to serve mussels as appetizer and Chinese food for an entrée was well received.

First I had to write the recipes and I like to share them right here:

Moules Mariniere

· 2 lbs fresh mussels, scrubbed

· 4 tbsp butter

· ¼ cup shallots, minced

· 1 cups white wine

· 1 cup Chicken stock

· 1 cup clam juice

· 1 sprig fresh Parsley

· 2 bay leaves

· ½ cup heavy cream

· ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Scrub mussels with a stiff-bristle brush in cold water. If any mussels are open, tap them. If they don't close right away, discard them. Also discard any mussels that have broken shells

2. Melt 4 tbsp of butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add shallots and sweat (cook until translucent but not browned) about 3 minutes

3. Add white wine, chicken stock, clam juice, thyme and bay leaves. Boil for 2 minutes and add mussels. Bring to a boil, cover and steam mussels for 2-3 minutes or until mussels are just open, giving the pan a good shake once or twice during steaming. remove mussels and keep warm.

4. Discard half the liquid and reduce the rest. Add heavy cream and parsley to pan, thicken with cornstarch. Add the mussels and serve in soup bowl. Serve with crusty French bread, or over rice or pasta.

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Stir Fry Pork Chow Mein

· bamboo shoots

· bok choy

· fresh mushrooms,

· water chestnuts

· green and red pepper

· celery

· broccoli

· onion

· snow peas (optional)

· carrots

· chines noodles

· pork tenderloin

· oil for stir-frying

Chinese Master Sauce.

1cup chicken stock

1 oz soy sauce

1 tbl balsamic vinegar

1 tbl white wine

1 chopped scallion

1 tbl cornstarch

First cut and prep all vegetables. Blanch harder vegetables like broccoli, carrots, snow peas etc.) Keep them separated.

Mix all ingredients for Master sauce and set aside.

Slice Pork tenderloin in to quarter size pieces. Season, flour and sautés pork in very hot olive oil until golden brawn. Remove from pan and keep warm.

In separate pot soak noodles in boiling water 5 to 10 minutes until soft, drain and keep hot.

At the same time sautés onions, celery, peppers and mushrooms for 2 to 3 minutes. Add rest of the vegetable and sautés an additional 2 to 3 minutes. ( do not overcook)

Add Master sauce and finally the pork just before serving.

To serve, place noodles on plate and cover with stir fry.

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Friday I went shopping and had all the ingredients ready for us to prepare and cook. It looked like a perfect scenario to do some cooking classes. But of course not with us!

Everybody arrived on time around 5pm and we had a lot of fun and way to many Cocktails before we even started cooking.

I need to keep that in mind for the next time. We all have to slow down and concentrate on the cooking. Handling a sharp big French knife and alcohol don't mix. I am happy nobody got hurt.

Overall it was a great night and I think everybody loved the food.

Donna, waiting to observe the cooking class

Partying before cooking, not a good idea!

Eric is reading the recipes

Preparing the appetizer

Serving the Mussels

Gina, helping with service

Intense discussion about stir fry

Great students

Trying hard

I am trying to explain things

This got somebody in trouble

This looks much better

Good knife handling

Eric double checks the recipe before serving

Bon appetit

Check the kitchen counter in the back ground. Nice and clean.

Good job Eric

Everybody is happy after dinner

The lady's won in the card game

3 special lady's acting secretive.

Winner portrait

Unless my students come up with some special request, our next project will be

sauteed Sea Scallops Princess with polenta, fire roasted peppers and mousseline sauce and diced veal Zürich style.( “ Geschnetzeltes Kalbfleisch with roesti" ) a real famous Swiss dish.

Today, February 8th, is the second time it snowed this winter. Well, it dusted the grass area and melted on the street on contact. In the last 6 weeks we had noting but sunshine with little interruptions. This never happened in the last 24 years since we moved to St Charles, MO. It is fair to say, this winter is way above average temperature here in Missouri. That has helped in persuading me to change my mind about global warning being nothing but a money maker for some people. I personally love four seasons, love the snow and right now I kind of miss it.

Friday, January 13th, first snow of 2012

First snow lasted only 24 hours

Wednesday, February 8th, second snow

Second snow lasted only 12 hours.

Not much happened since we celebrated Donna's birthday, we are just glad that everybody got over the flu and is healthy again. (Donna, Daniel and Gina) The flu was the reason Donna's birthday dinner was 3 weeks late, but still a great night out. Daniel and Gina took us to Oceania, a fancy,smancy restaurant in Clayton and we had a good time.

Also we had Nitro staying with us over a long weekend and also had the privilege of having the grand children for a couple of sleep overs.

Nitro is always happy around Donna

Checking out the cookies

There look tired from sledding on Grass

Still fun, even with that little snow

Nitro likes the snow

Luke is happy

Watching a movie

Wrestling with grandpa

Playing poker and being silly

My other great challenge in the past few weeks was to keep the squirrels away from the bird feeder. My bird feeder was hanging on a 3 foot iron pole and was easy access for the squirrels, so I changed it to a 8 foot pole but, as you see in the picture, to no avail. The only thing to keep them away is shooting them with a BB gun, but that would probably annoy the neighbors. Let me know if anybody has another solution.