Schizophrenia in the Kitchen

Lobster for Dinner, Tater Tots for Breakfast

Yesterday was a long day. I taught the signature demonstration class at the store for a steadily growing class. The night before I had 12 people signed up, I walked in at 12:30 to a total of 18 and somehow by the time class started at 2:00, I had a grand total of 22, two of whom had signed up literally 5 minutes before it started. The mood was slightly chaotic to say the least. Luckily, the class went smoothly but of course, I now had 22 people to clean up behind. So done with most of the cleaning at 5, I moved out onto to retail floor as manager and store closer. Meanwhile, I had to keep ducking into the kitchen to finish up all the cleaning. And as always, people crowd into the store from 8-9, making closing at 9 tricky. Where do these people materialize from? I suspect they are leaving dinner and we are the only store open at 9. Luckily closing also went well and I was able to walk out the door at 9:45.

I always leave work fairly hungry and eat when I get home around 10:30. Last night I was particularly eager to return because I knew that the Boyfriend had lobsters at home! Why??? His employee went to Maine and brought us back two live lobsters. He steamed the big guys with celery, dill and shallots and we ate them with a really nice, salted melted butter which sells for about 10 bucks for a 1/2 pound. We only use it for special food and I do believe lobster counts. Normally, I like lobster but love crab. Lobster is a nice treat but I honestly find it slightly boring compared to crab. Apparently, I have just never had a good lobster because these two last night blew crab out of the water. The meat was SO flavorful and buttery on it's own. Dipping it into butter didn't make it seem buttery, just more intensely lobster flavored. With a nice arugula salad with heirloom tomatoes and some salt and vinegar chips, all washed down with a cold Peroni, this was a perfect meal. I had that giddy, falling in love with life feeling that always envelops me when I am surprised by the deliciousness and perfection of a particular meal. Life is good.

Then you try to go to bed and the damn cat won't stop attacking your hair. You can't catch it and by the time you do, you can't get back to sleep. So in the morning you wake up exhausted and starving and cook Tater Tots for breakfast. Yin and Yang. Thus is life.

Bernaise is good for you..

Seriously! It's half eggs and eggs are good for you. It also has fresh herbs and shallots plus wine which is good for your heart. Okay, so maybe the stick of butter is not exactly health food but at least it's not lard!

Maybe I should just leave it at Bearnaise is good. Seriously delicious stuff using the glorious natural sauce that is an egg yolk. Bearnaise has hollandaise as its base, which people have been scared out of making due to the possibility of the sauce either breaking or worse, curdling. I first made hollandaise 3 years ago and got it perfect on the first try. Not because I am so amazing in the kitchen but due to the fact that it is actually not that hard. For those of you who may not know, hollandaise is that wonderful yellow sauce they pour over your Eggs Benedict at brunch, you know, the one you pay obscene amounts of money for despite the fact that you are eating approximately 1 dollars worth of food (and your eggs are probably cooked wrong anyways.)

Basically, you heat egg yolks over a double boiler, whisking until thick. Then you whisk in butter, half in cold cubes, the other half melted. Then you season. For Bearnaise, your seasoning is a mixture of shallots and tarragon cooked in wine and vinegar until syrupy and then cooled.

I served my Bernaise over a fantastic grilled Flat Iron Steak. These are similar to flank steak but a little more fatty and tender. I marinated the steak in a mixture of soy sauce, Worcestershire and rosemary and then it was grilled with a little hickory to give it flavor. On the side, I served Brussel Sprouts sauteed in a little bacon grease and a nice baguette. This was a simple yet rich weekday meal that will also impress any dinner guests.