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Welcome to the
Cat Bay Gourmet
www.catbaygourmet.8k.com

 

This site is dedicated to good food, good drink and a good view of Flathead Lake from the deck

Departments | Legends With Lunch | Eating Through France | Sites to Visit | Recipe Archives

This site has been visited 818 times since 8 September, 2000


Legends With Lunch

Welcome to Cat Bay Gourmet web site. While researching recipes for a cookbook last year I was surprised by how many of them had a history. Like many of you, most of my favorites have been collected from family, friends, restaurants, and travels. I soon realized that almost every recipe had a history. One of the things that makes preparing and serving meals so satisfying is not just the food, but the emotions each dish recalls.

With that in mind, I will share with you some of my best, and I hope you find them amusing, interesting, and especially delicious. The web site will be updated frequently. 

Judy Knestis

* * *

My mother and grandmother loved to serve "Bagna Caulda parties" in my Grandmother's back yard in Wyoming back in the 1940's.  Her yard at that time was walled and had a rather Italianesque patio and a lily pond in the middle.  Although "just no one" in Wyoming or Montana drank wine in those days.  (It was considered slightly risqué and racy among the respectable women in town).   It was always possible to get some from friends who lived in the small mining town of Red Lodge, Montana.  Red Lodge had a large Italian community and some of the residents there had grapes shipped in on the railroad each fall to make wine.  My Grandmother would sneak into Red Lodge,  buy the wine in bulk and decant it into small bottles, which were set along the center of the tables.  In the early evening the guests would wander about the yard,  dipping the various vegetables, (mostly out of my grandmothers large garden) into the warm sauce, catching the drips on hunks of tough Italian bread,  washing it all down with that rough, red wine, savoring this "foreign food" and as I recall, batting away the hordes of mosquitoes that invariably showed up.  This is my Mother's recipe.

PEARL'S BAGNA CAULDA

1/2 lb. butter
1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic, pressed
6 cans (2 oz each) anchovy fillets

Place chopped anchovies, garlic, oil and butter in heavy pan. Cook over very low heat 30 minutes.  Turn into chafing dish over candle warmer. Serve the following vegetables to dip into the sauce and crusty Italian bread to catch the drips.  When the bread gets soaked, eat it and get a new piece. This is best served outside. Serve a good light, dry, Italian red wine.

Vegetables:  carrots, radishes, green red and yellow peppers, celery, Savoy cabbage, artichoke hearts, (not marinated) cherry tomatoes, (as many colors as possible) green onions, raw mushrooms, Belgian endive, broccoli flowerets, cauliflower, and some good Italian salami.

 


Eating Through France

We will be leaving for France in just a few days, and in anticipation of this, I'm already thinking about the marvelous food.  Each region of France has its own specialties, dictated  in part by the terrain, the climate and the historical background of the early inhabitants.  The one food that remains constant throughout the country, as a favorite for hors d'oeuvres, entrees and deserts is the egg.  From haute cuisine restaurants of Paris to the most humble farmhouse in Gascogne this staple of the French kitchen is used as part or all of many a satisfying meal.    The first egg dish that springs to mind when one thinks of France,  is of course the omelet.  An omelet is a splendid lunch or supper.  Served  with a simple salad of garden greens dressed with a vinaigrette, and a hunk of bread, (which in France would be picked up at the boulagerie on the way home.)  A  Muscadet from the Loire Valley or a Sancerre is a lovely accompaniment to this  meal.  Here is...

MY FAVORITE OMELET

Beat together 3 eggs and 1 TBL finely grated parmesan cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.  Melt 1 oz. unsalted butter in a well seasoned omelet pan until it just sizzles.  Pour in the eggs and top with 1 TBL Gruyere, diced fine and 1 TBL thick cream or creme fraiche.  Cook omelet shifting and tilting pan back and forth till cheese starts to melt, and eggs are creamy on top.  Roll in 1/3rds while tipping onto a warmed plate.  Serves one.

For a more elaborate meal the following egg dish is magnificent, even though it requires a bit more advance planning.  It is perfect served as a Sunday supper with a salad or as part of a more elaborate meal.  The first time we tasted this it was in a small hotel in Nuit St. Georges as part of a delightful three hour Sunday lunch.  One poached egg in red wine was served as a starter course, after the hor d' ouevre, which was a small slice of tomato tart.  The egg preceded the main course of roast veal, with roasted potatoes and haricots vert, followed by a green salad, a cheese course, and finally small profiteroles with chocolate sauce.  With this we drank a bottle of the Nuit-Saint-Georges Burgundy.  What a grand way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  This dish has become my very favorite for a very special, lazy Sunday.  However, for brunch, I serve it as the main-dish,  mimosas or orange juice, and perhaps a slice of melon for desert.

OEUFS EN MEURETTE
Poached eggs in red wine sauce (for 4)

4 TBL unsalted butter
1/4 lb. pancetta,  or  unsmoked bacon, chopped
1/2 lb small white mushrooms, sliced
1 large shallot, peeled and minced
1 med. carrot,  peeled and chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
5 1/4 cups French red burgundy or other dry red wine
1 cup demi-glace
1 3/4 cups beef stock
2 TBL flour
8 eggs (right out of the refrigerator)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-8 thick slices French bread, toasted
4 sprigs fresh chervil

Melt 1 TBL butter in a medium skillet over med. heat.  Add pancetta and cook until crisp.  Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.  Add mushrooms to skillet and cook until golden.  Transfer to a bowl.  In the same skillet melt another TBL butter and cook the shallots until fragrant.  Stir in the carrots, thyme and bay leaf, and cook until carrots begin to brown.  Increase heat to med. high. Add wine and cook until wine is reduced by three quarters. (about 25 min.).  Add demi-glace and stock and cook, for about 10 min. more, skimming frequently.  Remove skillet from heat, strain sauce through a fine sieve into a small saucepan.  Combine flour and remaining butter.  Whisk this paste into the sauce a little at a time then simmer over med. low heat for 2 min.  Add the pancetta and mushrooms to the sauce, check seasonings, and keep warm.  Reduce to low and keep sauce warm.  This can all be done up to three days before, and I have actually kept it in the freezer with good luck.  Place remaining wine in a large shallow saucepan (a nonstick works best) and bring to a simmer.  Poach the eggs in this until whites are firm and yolks just set, (about 5-7 min.)  Place two slices of toast in each shallow soup plate, top each with a poached egg, and nap with the sauce.  Garnish with the chervil and serve to four very fortunate people.  

More from France next time.

Bon Appetite, Judy

 


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© Copyright MM by Judy Knestis

Last updated 8 September 2000

Questions or feedback? Contact Kirk Knestis, Site Manager