Farewell January 2022

 

 

There aren't enough words

Or too many words

So just farewell, January 2022

 

 

Beefeater Salad Miyako Hotel San Francisco

 This is a really old Bon Appétit recipe from a hotel that is now the Hotel Kabuki. Even in winter I make this salad when I cook a roast beef and have leftover beef the next day, but in cold weather I serve it alongside vegetable beef soup, also made from scraps of the meat. 

I serve the roast beef with its vegetable sides and drippings gravy the first night, use the gravy to make excellent soup the second night, but I also make up the salad the second day too only I save it for the third night as it needs to meld 24 hours in the fridge.

 

Mix up the vinaigrette first: whisk 1 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon each of lemon juice, salt, dry mustard, and minced fresh chives, parsley, and tarragon [I do my best with what's still alive in the herb pots moved to the barn in the winter]. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon each of black pepper and thyme. 

Cook a few potatoes until tender. 

Cut into julienne strips 1 pound of leftover cooked roast beef [or whatever amount you have]. Chop an onion [or scallions], a bell pepper [whatever color you have], a stalk [or two] of celery, and one dill pickle [I leave it out sometimes but it is good with this. Slice the cooked potatoes in their jackets and I chopped a bunch of parsley from the grocery, saving some for final garnish.]

 

Sauté sliced mushrooms until golden in [unsalted] butter and combine with the roast beef and vegetables. Pour over the vinaigrette, toss and chill for 24 hours. 

Arrange on lettuce leafs and garnish with beet slices [I use pickled beets] and quartered hard-boiled eggs, and  chopped parsley. 

[If I have good anchovies on hand I follow the recipes directions to garnish with that but not the white asparagus spears they suggest.]

My apologies to three of my vegetarian friends who faithfully visit here even when months have gone by since I last posted. 

You gotta start somewhere and this was it. And it really is delicious, even in winter when it snows.

Speaking of snow, we've had two beautiful snowfalls and several mornings when the grass has at least turned white. Snow still makes me feel 16 again, or like the mom of small children home on snow days that I once was. Although I no longer make rice krispy squares on snow days.

I wonder what beastie made these tracks in the snow on my kitchen porch?

 Surely not my tiny BreeBree with her dainty paws!

 Begosh and begorrah, it is Herself!