To the left is the pepper mill I was blessed to receive for Christmas. We were desperate for a new pepper mill. I'd been cooking without one for, oh, let's say 4 months. It was trying. You may not be able to relate to this, but work with me, if you can. It was like trying to cook beef bourguignon without...a dutch oven...or, for the rest of you, like trying to flip a grilled cheese without a spatula...very difficult. Trust me.So, I put "pepper mill" at the top of my Christmas list. And Chef Santa was good to me. This particular model is a Peugeot - yes, the same Peugeot people who manufacture cars. They actually have been making pepper mills longer than they've been making cars, since 1810. It all started when the Peugeot brothers transformed their family mill into a steel manufacturing outfit. Good job, brothers Peugeot!
This is pretty near the top of the line when it comes to pepper mills. I can adjust the size of the grind - 6 options: finest, finer, fine, course, courser, coursest. I might use finest in making a sauce, coursest for coating a ribeye steak before grilling.
Or a tuna steak. Tonight we had pan-seared yellow fin tuna au poivre. Pretty simple to whip up, really. Take a couple of nice, thick, fresh hunks of tuna; coat both top and bottom with a significant amount of coursely ground black pepper and sprinkle with salt. Sear in a little bit of olive oil on medium high for about 3.5 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and keep warm.
In the same pan I made a simple sauce of butter, onion, chicken stock and brandy, reduced, thickened, and flavorful, with just a little salt and pepper (finely ground) added at the end. We had our sauce over the tuna and over a blend of brown rice and quinoa, which adds a delicate nutty flavor (and some fiber) to the rice. Plain ol' steamed broccoli on the side. Delicioso!
It was so good that it all most makes up for the Bruins' loss last night and the increasingly tenuous lead that the Duke Blue Devils still maintain over the women from UNC. Go Duke!
6 comments:
Mmmm... that tuna sounds GOOD!
You've lost me on the pepper thing. Spatula, what? Is it like making Pop Tarts without a toaster?
Too bad about that Bruins game. Tough loss. But... we're still doing well lately.
Duke? Why, praytell, do you like Duke?
That sounds delicious. Although I am not a Tuna fan. But it seems a nice recipe for a variety of fishes. I sooo would love to have a pepper mill like that. I totally understand your desire for it. I mean it is like not having a mixer if you what to stiiffen egg white :)
Reverend:
Very important to have a good grinder. When I married E we pooled our kitchen tools except for the pepper mills. I brought my old trusty plastic model and she supplied a beautiful 14 " tall turned wooden mill. In time she confessed to having filtched it from a restaurant as a lark when she was young and morally deprived. (She's better now). I was appalled of course, worried about the bad air associated with the stolen pepper mill/billy club. Conviced that if we retained the thing we would both suffer terrible consequences, we took the only sensible action left to us and we tossed it.
Suddenly, we both lost weight, our kids behaved, we received fat pay raises and the bank made a mistake in our favor. My point here is you can't be too careful with the decisions you make regarding pepper grinders.
ap3 - yes. sort of like making pop tarts without a toaster. And i like Duke because they have a good divinity school. See? Blue Devil Div.
monika - yes, yes, you could use another fish. I think the oily ones would be best, though. and yes, having recently challenged all the muscles in my shoulder trying to fluff eggs with a whisk, I would have to agree with you!
And Champ - golly, I sure hope my pepper mill wasn't stolen! I had assumed that the giver purchased it straight out. She seems like such a legit source. But now, well, I worry.
Rabbit, rabbit!
Hey, that kefir looks like a real science project this morning. I'm scared!
champ - i'm still worried about the origins of my pepper mill...I started wondering if it WAS stolen and maybe that's why I hurt my knee...No, that couldn't be...I hurt my knee first...or could it be? maybe she TOOK it in october even though she didn't GIVE it to me until december...sheesh! why'd you go and put that idea in my head?
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