Wednesday: course corrections midstream

The plan for last night was sauteed salt cod with braised lettuce and bratkartoffeln. Unfortunately, after poaching the salt cod I realized that what little flavor it had wasn't particularly pleasant; so I tossed it out.

We still had some mild gruyere in the fridge, so I decided to make a cheese sauce to top the boiled sliced potatoes [biokiste].

I started the sauce by toasting some walnuts in butter. I had the heat a bit to high, so by the time the nuts were nicely toasted, the butter was well on its way to beurre noisette. Nothing wrong with that... I fished the walnuts out and reserved them, whisked some flour into the butter and cooked for about 5 minutes. I added some coarsely chopped tarragon, a pinch of cayenne, and some black pepper and then whisked in the stock. Once the sauce was thickened and heated through, I whisked in the grated cheese.

I served the potatoes by topping them with chopped chives and the cheese sauce. The walnuts were on the side.

We ate the potatoes with the braised lettuce [biokiste] and a salad (lettuce and lettuce!). 'twas good food, even if it was all a bit random. :-)