Autumn is a nice season to gather friends, specially those who love nice food.
Maria and Catherine came by (09-20-10) to enjoy the delicious "pulpo a feira" which turned delicious and really tender.
We had nice and varied "pinchos" which were prepared with left overs and other elaborated home patès (I have to write down the patè recipes, some day!).
They brought delicious wine from the Priorat region; not the right one for the "pulpo" but we enjoyed it anyway!
The following day my favourite ladies, former students from the EOI, came. What a lovely evening! The only problem I have when they visit is that the menu expectations are so great that I have to try new things. Not easy! for they have already tried the famous "suquet or sarsuela", the flank steak, the fish cake (recipe pending!)... so this time I chose the "Boeuf Bourguignon" to honor my visits to my French friend Josette. I have checked the Internet and have found different versions including the Julia Child one... IMPRESSIVE! by the way, but I followed Josette's instructions and added a pinch of unfaithfulness to the dish to make it my own.
Here are my guests:
And here is the appetizer, the pinchos with delicious "Vermut Rojo de Reus" where I had been the very day and found the flavour really different from the traditional Cinzano or Martini.
The meal started with a salad accompanied with a cube of fish cake and a slice of a "legumes terrine" (recipe pending) made with carrots, spinach, zucchini, onions, eggs, creme fresh and a variety of mushrooms) They loved it!
And here is the Boeuf Bourguignon:
Ingredients I used:
1Kg of stewing beef, cut into 4.cm cubes.
4 big carrots
2 big onions
4 bay leaves
little thyme branch
3 cloves
3/4 l Penedés red wine, Don Pablo de Naverán.
Salt
Pepper
As I compare the ingredients with Julia Child's cookbook, I realize I do not use bacon and the procedure is slightly different.
Here it goes:
I macerated the beef, the carrots, the onions, the spices with the red wine overnight.
The following day I stated cooking the beef at a very, very low temperature for about 5 hours.
I accompanied the dish with long-grain rice and it turned out delicious!
This is how the dish looked like!
We drank cava, a delicious non labelled cava Judith brought and a labelled one I had at home.
We had Menjablanc de Reus... another surprise, but I did not make it totally, I brought the ingredients from Reus that day. (Rice flour, almonds, cinamon, lemon, and startch. I added milk to the mixture and brought it to a boil for a few minutes.)
The girls brought a chocolate and orange cake from "Els pastissos de l'àvia" and most of us could not eat a little bite. We were ready to burst!
We had a special entertainment for it was the "Festa major Petita" and we enjoyed the fireworks from the top roof... Incredible!!!
After all that we were ready for secrets, pictures and bits of life that interfere with other bits of life ;) and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, as we usually do! I love these ladies!!
Maria and Catherine came by (09-20-10) to enjoy the delicious "pulpo a feira" which turned delicious and really tender.
We had nice and varied "pinchos" which were prepared with left overs and other elaborated home patès (I have to write down the patè recipes, some day!).
They brought delicious wine from the Priorat region; not the right one for the "pulpo" but we enjoyed it anyway!
The following day my favourite ladies, former students from the EOI, came. What a lovely evening! The only problem I have when they visit is that the menu expectations are so great that I have to try new things. Not easy! for they have already tried the famous "suquet or sarsuela", the flank steak, the fish cake (recipe pending!)... so this time I chose the "Boeuf Bourguignon" to honor my visits to my French friend Josette. I have checked the Internet and have found different versions including the Julia Child one... IMPRESSIVE! by the way, but I followed Josette's instructions and added a pinch of unfaithfulness to the dish to make it my own.
Here are my guests:
And here is the appetizer, the pinchos with delicious "Vermut Rojo de Reus" where I had been the very day and found the flavour really different from the traditional Cinzano or Martini.
The meal started with a salad accompanied with a cube of fish cake and a slice of a "legumes terrine" (recipe pending) made with carrots, spinach, zucchini, onions, eggs, creme fresh and a variety of mushrooms) They loved it!
And here is the Boeuf Bourguignon:
Ingredients I used:
1Kg of stewing beef, cut into 4.cm cubes.
4 big carrots
2 big onions
4 bay leaves
little thyme branch
3 cloves
3/4 l Penedés red wine, Don Pablo de Naverán.
Salt
Pepper
As I compare the ingredients with Julia Child's cookbook, I realize I do not use bacon and the procedure is slightly different.
Here it goes:
I macerated the beef, the carrots, the onions, the spices with the red wine overnight.
The following day I stated cooking the beef at a very, very low temperature for about 5 hours.
I accompanied the dish with long-grain rice and it turned out delicious!
This is how the dish looked like!
We drank cava, a delicious non labelled cava Judith brought and a labelled one I had at home.
We had Menjablanc de Reus... another surprise, but I did not make it totally, I brought the ingredients from Reus that day. (Rice flour, almonds, cinamon, lemon, and startch. I added milk to the mixture and brought it to a boil for a few minutes.)
The girls brought a chocolate and orange cake from "Els pastissos de l'àvia" and most of us could not eat a little bite. We were ready to burst!
We had a special entertainment for it was the "Festa major Petita" and we enjoyed the fireworks from the top roof... Incredible!!!
After all that we were ready for secrets, pictures and bits of life that interfere with other bits of life ;) and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, as we usually do! I love these ladies!!
