Yesterday, a Wednesday, was beautiful in the morning, sunny, warm and no sign of the usual. We decided over the morning espresso to take the day "off" just because. What this really meant was a wild run with a short list thru Bourge's hardware stores for odds and ends, nuts and bolts (really!) and a quick run into Geant to get our (cats!) favorite kind of cat litter, one that works (clumps...imagine.) in the Litter Robot. The level was down and there was none left in the last box. 5 boxes bought. Off to another store to exchange some pillows from the shower room's builtin to one's that more correctly match the setting...black and bigger, beautiful. Then wander off across the countryside northwest of Bourges and returned home at 1pm. So much for the day "off".
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I painted the top of the bathroom and TV room windows for Kelly whose arms couldn't reach far enough. Ugh. Started dinner proceedings about 5:30. Then Bringggg, Bringggg! The phone, our new friends Ann and Raj, Kelly yells from upstairs, "Ann and Raj have asked us to go cherry picking, wanna go?" I found myself saying "sure...I guess", this amidst great chopping of shallots and mincing of garlic for my favorite Ragu "Cantanese (Catania, Sicily) Whore Sauce". It is a delicious and unusual combination that eats very well. Here's the recipe as I do it, other's mileage may vary: Takes about an hour and a half to prepare and cook. Feeds 3 teenage males, serves 4 hungry cherry pickers. 6 normal people will be well fed. Burp!
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fry 6 strips of smoked bacon that have been cut into 1/2" pieces. chop, chop. Until nearly cooked crisp but not quite. LIMP does it.
1 teaspoons salt (MAX)...remember it's going to reduce now by about 1/4 so too much salt is a meal killer. You can always add more at the end of cooking.
In the same pan saute 4 medium shallots cut into thin slices lengthwise.
do this until limp, 5 min or so. DO NOT ALLOW TO BURN!
Add 4 large chopped fine cloves of garlic.
Add 4 carrots 1/4" dice.
Add 2 stalks celery 1/4" slices.
Cook until carrots just soften, about 10 minutes over medium heat.
Add 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes or 1 dried hot pepper. Be careful.
Add 4 large tomatoes, core then diced, skin, seeds and all.
Add 1 11oz can/box of tomato puree.
Add 8 oz green olives (pitted or unpitted)
Add 2 cups nice red wine, take a sip first, must be good enough to serve guests. Not the Champion 79 cent a plastic bottle stuff, a stout 2.50 bottle of Red Vin Du Pays or a cheap Cote Du Rhone will do nicely.
Now reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the diced tomatoes are reduced to soft pieces and the sauce is nicely thickened, about 1 hour.
At this point one could turn it off, allow to cool then freeze the sauce in smaller batches for future meals for two. Goes wonderfully over chicken, veal and large flakes white fish like cod. Delicious.
To serve, Boil 1.5 lbs Fetucini, bucatini, or liguini til al dente (look at package instructions please), place hearty amount of sauce over top, grate on some parmisiano regiano or Pecorino cheese and get another bottle of red ready, dinner is SERVED!
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So we drove away from my now uncooked sauce towards Ides St. Roche, a small village a bit south of Lignieres to get a tour of their own pile-of-rocks an old mansion in the heart of the quite lovely village. Wonderful rooms with the same no-square-corner approach to building as our pile-of-rocks. Floors to be replaced but SOME...ohhhh, very nice encaustic floors with no damage or cracks apparent in at least three rooms! Beautiful. The kichen has a large fireplace with a beamed ceiling overhead, it will be a fine place to cook. The hall behind is HUGE with a lofty ceiling that is in excess of 15 feet high, what a setting for a dinner party for 40 good friends! The barn was down the street as is a certain practice here in countryside France. A huge ancient thing leaning this way and that, mostly that at least 3 and maybe 4 feet out of kilter. Must have been built with wet wood with the grain accidentally faced the same way...towards the street. Anyway, it stands, and has for a long, long time, several hundreds of years I suppose. Behind it was The Orchard. Led by Raj we waded into the orchard, waist high and higher in noxious weeds and underbrush. We picked cherries and more cherries, amazingly sweet and delicious in this nearly abandoned orchard behind their barn. Several trees were just coverred with ripening cherries ready to burst at the next raindrop. So Ann plucked, Kelly picked, Raj climbed the ladder to locate and sever sevral heavily laden branches and I emptied the branches of the fruit, one for me, gulp, one for the bucket until we had nearly denuded the two trees. We had many pounds of cherries to share between us. Great fun with our new found friends and soulmates. Home to finish dinner and drink a bit of wine. We sat in the Library while I watched over the cooking ragu. We and our fellow cherry pickers ate at 11pm sharp, the latest dinner I have ever prepared. We drank 3 and a half bottles of Red (mostly Cote Du Rhones, a favorite of mine) and had wonderful, laughing conversation until Raj felt the droop of his eyelids and we said goodnight about 1230. We immediately went to bed to awake to guess what? Rain and about 10 lbs of fresh cherries in a bin by the radiator. Now what do I do with these that makes sense?
Hmmmmm
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