A perfect weekend is when I do not have much news to report! Friday night was steak and french fries night, and if I must say so myself, the fries were freakin’ perfect. Of course, I spent a good part of Saturday trying to eliminate the McDonald’s aroma from my kitchen and house. (Practice tip: change all the filters in every air purifier you have as well as your a.c. return; open the doors for some fresh air, and open one of those “odor magnets” you can get at Lowe’s.)
I opted for a porterhouse steak from Dorignac’s and I made a casserole of peas au gratin on the side. About the fries: my newly discovered technique of blanching, then double frying produces some of the best fries I have ever eaten anywhere! This time I added a little duck fat to the final fry and, although I’m not sure the end result was any more ethereal, all I can say is … well, this method is just genius. See the recipe for the “best” fries on this site. Just remember: Simmer the potato batons in hot water (with a few TBS. of white vinegar) for 10 minutes. Let them “rest and air-dry.” First fry is at 275 degrees, then freeze. Second fry is at 390 degrees. I used peanut oil, by the way. These fries are fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. I’m not sure I could do these in large quantities because I have such a small kitchen and you really have to be careful with all this hot oil. You cannot get distracted while you have a big pot of hot oil on your stove. It would be difficult to produce a big batch of these fries with guests sitting at the dinner table. One thing that helped is the bluetooth connected hot oil thermometer I found on the Williams Sonoma web site. After downloading the app on my phone, I could monitor the temperature of the oil while I watched t.v. in the other room. That was a tremendous help as I am prone to getting involved in a movie and forgetting that I am heating a cauldron of hot oil over a gas flame!
Saturday night: Well, I spent the afternoon with my mom and ate too much Mexican food at lunch with her. Then I wore myself out cleaning house. So, by the time Svengoolie came on I didn’t feel like cooking. No worries! I sliced the left over cold steak into very thin little slices. And I had some Ceaser salad dressing that was thick and salty. Served with Ritz crackers this was an elegant and delicious appetizer. A baked potato with caviar was easy but also a big treat, perfect for a Saturday night, along with a screening of Sean Connery as James Bond in Thunderball (1965), which as an aside is stunning if only for the way he treated women in that era! For dessert, I baked a Pepperidge Farm cherry turnover, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, with a little ice cream on the side. What a wonderful meal! Just goes to show you don’t have to cook all day to eat like a princess.
And note the poodle salt and pepper shaker my friend Leslie gave me. I love these!!!
