Sunday, May 17, 2009

More Fun Playing With Food From Mister Brisket

I was most sad to learn late yesterday that Margret Vine (the mother of Sanford Herskovitz a/k/a Mister Brisket), passed away on Friday at the age of 95. Per Jewish tradition, the funeral must be held as soon as possible, but NOT on Shabbat (Friday or Saturday). I had spoken briefly with Hank Kornblutt on Friday about getting some of the Wild Alaskan Salmon, from Alaska 's Taku River, that he had gotten in via Fedex, and he said nothing about it.

I can only conjecture that she had been ill and her passing expected, because no one said a word about it when Bob and I visited the store on Saturday to pick up our fish. Although, Sanford was on the phone the entire time, which is unusual. So, my apologies for not offering condolences while we were there. I learned last night that the funeral is today.

Bob had never tasted a freshly made Mister Brisket Pastrami Sandwich - and we had decided to remedy that this day. We packed our pound of fish, casing hotdogs, and sliced turkey breast into a cooler, and took the sandwiches in another bag. We needed to shop at the Heinen's down the street anyway, so we made that our next stop. Before starting our shopping, however, we picked up a pop in the food court, then went upstairs to the dining room to enjoy our sandwiches. They were heavenly!


Pastrami, Rye, Ba-Tampte Deli Mustard





Every time I eat one of these (which isn't very often - I think my last one was on my birthday last July) I marvel at the punch of the fresh spices - that is what sets this pastrami apart from all others. Bravo, Hank and Sanford! And Bob was most impressed with the pickles - he pronounced them delightfully garlicky (I do not consume cucumbers in any form - so Bob got to enjoy both pickle slices).

Later in the evening, I made dinner. I did NOT split the fish filet - I asked Bob to do that because he can usually cut things much more precisely than I can. Not this time.



This was an exquisite piece of fish. No smell - not even normal salmon smell - it was absolutely pristine. You can see where the butcher got all of the pinbones out, so I didn't have to.

I caramelized red onions and prepared a side dish of Sichuan Green Beans, which I neglected to photograph. Then, I thought I was prepping mai fun, or thin rice noodles, which I was going to make into a simple fried-rice style accompaniment. It wasn't until the soaked noodles hit the wok and it became apparent that I had goofed - and grabbed bean thread noodles and not rice noodles. Oh well - no photo of that mistake, either.

The salmon got the same simple treatment we always give to King fillet - salt and fresh cracked pepper, saute in Extra Virgin Olive Oil to medium-rare, plate with caramelized onion and today, parsley. Simple and delicious.



Neither Bob nor I could finish our fish. Or our sides, for that matter. I had the solution for that!

After dinner, Bob decided to make a loaf of potato bread. This bread would be an amazing accompaniment to our leftovers omelet. The bread had amazing texture - soft on the inside, with a perfect crust. And specks of potato skin throughout!

We began our day this morning with the following breakfast:


Potato Bread


Breakfast Omelet





I started with a red Hungarian hot pepper from the freezer and a little ghee. Once that got hot, I added the leftover vegetables and noodles, and got them nice and hot. I then added the leftover salmon, and let it get hot. Over the top went two Hensbury Farm eggs. Stir gently.



Hartzler Farms butter on Bob's potato bread completed the plate. Yum!



Once again, Mister Brisket has satisfied our hunger, and given us primo food to play with - first for an amazing lunch, then dinner, then breakfast the next day. And Bob has a pot of beans in mind to accompany those hotdogs we bought . . . and I've got potato bread to make my turkey sandwiches on!

2 comments:

  1. Love the post-feast breakfast. No better tribute to the leftover salmon.

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  2. And the potato bread that Bob whipped up looks wonderful, too! Adding potatoes to bread dough is such a wonderful way to tenderize the resulting loaf; perfect for those turkey sandwiches you are planning.

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