Anniversary Celebrating

 

Its been a heady weekend of celebrations. Firstly, Brenda's niece was married in Campbell NE and when spent part of the weekend in Loomis NE. We headed home about noon on Sunday to a retirement party in Blair for one my dearest co-workers from my past.
On Monday, all the kids came for a cookout with the usual fare, ribs and sausages.

Tuesday was a whirlwind of shopping and anticipating the evening which included dinner at M's Pub followed by a night at the theater with 'Wicked'.  The evening affirmed my distaste for modern parenting and was further annoying to have the only men's room closed for the ladies.
Today was gathering what I needed to make our traditional anniversary dinner...Veal Saltimbucca and Fettuccine Alfredo. Before we left for the morning, I made the pasta dough and a batch of bread dough for the coming weekend. In our travels we stopped by the butcher for a pound of veal cutlets. Dinner was all set.

We have had this combo on our anniversary for at least the past 30 years. If veal is out of  reach then chicken acts as a sub.

Veal Saltimbucca
1 pound veal cutlets, pounded to 1/4 inch thick.
Bunch of fresh sage
1 lemon
1/4 c white white
Prosciutto
Salt and pepper
Olive oil and butter
Cornstarch

Salt and pepper your flattened cutlets. lay a few large sage leaves on the surface and then a slice of prosciutto. fasten with a wooden toothpick. Heat the 2 tbl butter and 2 tbl olive oil in a skillet.  Dredge the plain side of the cutlets in the cornstarch and cook that side down for a few minutes till they start to turn golden. Flip and heat the prosciutto side for a minute of so. Remove to a hot platter and deglaze the pan with the juice if a lemon and white wine. Add 2 tbls butter and whisk until a velvety sauce forms. Pour over the top of the cutlets. I like to add a slice of provolone cheese optionally.

For the noodles I use 3/4 cup flour, one egg, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of water or more. It all goes into the small food processor until it forms a dough. I remove it and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours.  I roll it out to #5 in my trusty Atlas Pasta macine, let it dry a bit before slicing the dough into noodles. I dust flour if it gets sticky.

The sauce is simply cream, heated with few cloves of smashed garlic to steep then a pinch of salt, white pepper and nutmeg. A 1/2 cup of shredded parm then I place cooked pasta right in.

When Life Gives You Chickens....

Make a nice salad for work? We had fried chicken for lunch Friday for Nurse's Week and I took the leftovers home to use in a chicken salad for snacks or lunch on Monday for the staff. The chicken was a bit dry to be honest so I need something with a little fat and taste to it to rescue the dry meat. I found that after a debone the leftovers, I chopped the remaining meat and it made it easier to swallow plus I added a few white meat breasts to supplement the mix.

Tarragon Chicken Salad with grapes and toasted walnuts

 

4 chicken breasts, shredded ( I used grilled, lightly smoked chicken)

½ med red onion chopped fine

2-3 stalks celery chopped fine

2 tbl parsley

¾ cup toasted walnuts

1 cup sweet seedless grapes halved

1 teas dried tarragon or 1 tbl minced fresh tarragon

1 med lemon juiced

¾-1 cup Hellman's Light Mayo

Salt and pepper to taste

 

 

Eating Omaha...Maximos Cantina

Ok so its not really Omaha but an annexed little town called Elkhorn. A subject of considerable controversy a few years back. This little restaurant tucked into the corner of Main Street provided some delicious Mexican cuisine and margaritas even though we only sampled the Happy Hour menu.

 

We sampled a few items which made us full including 5 of the mini tacos in each flavor offered. The fish and Tinga were favorites. The nachos were Ok but the jalapeno
Crab rangoons were a big hit. The margaritas were good too and the price was unbeatable.

Wild Hair

So the other day I had a waking dream about a salad which I do not do often, I admit. I was really intrigued with the ide of goat cheese as a crouton. How bad can that be? I need a nice protein to go with and Baker's accommodated me with a couple lobster tails on sale so dinner formed in my hear. Now to execute....

Looks tasty doesn't it?  I had to go to the store to fetch the lettuces, beets and lobster and picked up a fig and olive goat cheese.

The cheese was sliced into rounds, frozen for 20 minutes then dipped in flour, eggs and panko. Fried till golden in hot oil then lovingly layered in the salad amongst the chopped lobster that had been sautéed in butter, sliced fresh beets (super thin) and then dressed in a Poppy Seed dressing from Panera. It was really good.