It’s a 3 day weekend and it totally snuck up on me. So instead of an exciting weekend out of town or a lazy weekend in my big comfy chair, I’ve decided it should be a practice weekend. I’ve chosen four different things to make this weekend. Potato ice cream, Chicken Velouté with Sweetbreads, Brioche (to sop up all the delish velouté), and a very spring like dessert that looks intimidating.
First as always, the schedule. We must know what it is we are working on and in what order that should be done. So here’s the schedule for the long weekend. If you try a few components each day a giant meal doesn’t seem so overwhelming. And although these schedules can seem extremely type A and OCD (which they are), spending the 30 minutes or so planning up front ensures less thinking while cooking. And less thinking while cooking ensures less stress and more time for drinking!
And first on the list is Jungle Jims. Now, Jungle Jims, which is one of my two favorite shopping spots in Cincinnati (the other being Findlay Market), is about 20 minutes away. So to go there on a Friday evening (after a 40 min run) and expect to cook afterwards was and is a pretty dumb idea. After a 40 min round trip car ride, a 30 min trek around the store, and 20 minutes at the checkout aisle waiting for the person in front of me to get the 20 bags of instant potatoes for $0.69 as opposed to the$0.70 they were wringing up as.
Irritable, thirsty, and ravenous; I stumbled into the kitchen, and after putting the groceries away prepared to tackle my sweetbreads. Sweetbreads most typically come from the thymus gland (throat sweetbread) or the pancreas (heart sweetbreads) of a young animal (typically calf or lamb). They are slightly difficult to prepare as the membrane and grissly parts need to be removed (which can be extensive) and they typically need to be soaked for a period of thyme in order to remove as much of the blood as possible (similar to bone marrow). So for tonight i do a rough tear, cut, chop to get some small morsels and toss them in ice water. I’ll change the water every 8 -12 hours to prevent the drawn out blood from contaminating the sweetbreads.
Next is the chicken stock, which is really easy, but very time consuming. I while away the cooking hours drinking a Corton Grand Cru Charlemagne (why not? it’s a three day weekend) and a Delfosse Meritage from Virginia (both shared with the husband of course).
Day 1 done. Tomorrow will be the real test, but the hubby has work to do in the yard and on his business so I’ll have the whole day to myself. I feel a day of Euro trash, Madiera, and cooking coming on.
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