Wife Birthday Celegration

We celebrated Wife's birthday on Saturday and naturally food and drink were in order.  But before we go into the details of exquisite food preparation, a couple of side notes.

You may ask, what's going on here?  This would be the careful separation of imported (by Daughter #3) Dutch, dark chocolate, peanut M&Ms.  Wife insisted that we had to have exactly the same color demographic for each of our stashes.  Actually I'm the only one who stashes.  That's because if I don't hide my chocolate, Wife will scarf it up!

And then there is the state of the garden

It's hard to believe that we planted this just four weeks ago!  Now we're using the various greens at least 2 to 4 times a week!

On the the birthday - Wife asked if I would make a low calorie meal topped off with a high calorie dessert.

I still wanted to do multiple courses because, well that's what I do.  Agent W and Gaius Derf came over to help celebrate.  The two pre-dessert courses were modifications of recipes that I make regularly as part of our low calorie regime.  I just gussied them up a little.

I had some lovely dried sausage the #3 had also brought over for me (I saw her in Chicago this week where she was over from Amsterdam on business).

First Course - Squash Soup

I've put in this basic recipe before.  This time instead of everything from scratch, I was making use of some leftover baked acorn squash.

 Using green pepper and onions as aromatics

I slow roasted them for about 40 minutes at 325 degrees

Slow cook covered the roasted veggies with the leftover squash in butter and flavorings in this case lavender from the garden and nutmeg

Add some broth and cook for 10 minutes

Puree with immersion blender and strain

Add some cream (not low cal!) and garnish with herbs

Swiss Chard and Mustard Green Fritatta (or Tortilla)

The Spanish and Italians both make this egg dish (Fritatta for Italian and Tortilla for Spanish) just about exactly the same way.

First I saute a little salami type sausage to get some flavor without a whole lot of meat calories

I take out and set aside the meat

Then add onion and garlic and saute lightly

Then add my main veggies - in this case the chard, mustard leaves, and mushrooms and season - in this case salt, pepper, and pimenton (smoked paprika)

 

 In the meantime, beat your eggs.  When really watching the calories, I don't use many eggs.  We had six for the four of us.  Mix the vegetable mixture in the eggs and return to the pan.

Then when they are starting to set, put a plate on top, hold it down, and flip the pan over so the whole thing is on the plate.  

Here Agent W got a good action shot of the fritatta being returned to the pan to cook on the other side.

When it is done, put it on a swerving plate and slice into individual portions.

A little grated cheese for extra flavor and presentation

Serve in lovely al fresco dining environment :)

 THE GRAND FINALE - PROFITEROLES!

What the whole evening is all about.

First make a pate a choux.   This will have to be a separate post some day.  Basically it is making the puff shells that you see in cream puffs and eclairs.  

When the dough is ready you pipe them onto parchment paper

They are cooked at a higher temperature for 15 minutes (400) and then a lower one (350) for around 30 to 40 minutes until well browned.

To make the profiteroles, you cut them open, put ice cream inside (super dark chocolate for Wifey), then cover.

Make a simple chocolate ganache - just some cream with butter boiled and put over chocolate (this is all about the quality of the chocolate), let sit for 5 minutes and the whisk until glossy and smooth.

Finish the profiteroles by garnishing and decorating with whipped cream (homemade), the ganache, and chocolate shavings.

Watch your birthday girl eat with delight :)