Gerhard's Gravy

Last week, I had some friends over and the guest of honor was someone who's wife is away and I wanted to make sure he would have at least one decent meal (not gourmet which he is accustomed to) while she was gone.

For hors d' oeuvres, I warmed some fresh salsa with cheese in the microwave and served it with chips. I had a tub of some fresh Mozzarella already in a marinade so I served that with some fresh tomatoes from Sandi and Amy's garden and poured some Balsamic Glaze.

For entrée, I cooked pork tenderloin; seasoned with herbs and cooked them in butter. After searing, I then baked them. The secret of this dish was the sauce; Gerhard's Gravy. Unfortunately, one can no longer get this fabulous sauce that he used to make from veal and turkey bones with herbs and then simmered for 24 hours! Gerhard was the owner of Café Cego's in Rolling Hills Estates which sadly closed a few weeks ago.

I started out with a simple salad with jalapeno olive oil and peach white balsamic vinaigrette.

I served the pork with mashed potatoes cooked with lots of butter, garlic powder, feta cheese a some whipping cream.  The vegetables were eggplant and asparagus from Amy and Nako's garden.  I roasted them in a 400 degree oven drizzled with olive oil, lots of sea salt and balsamic vinaigrette.

The meal turned out to be almost "gourmet".  Dessert was easy. The guest of honor loves ice cream.  It was a  no brainer to get some dark chocolate raspberry swirl truffle  from Handel's.  I also bought the waffle bowl. It was very rich and oh so creamy yummy ice cream.  Everyone loved it.

Clean up was a breeze.  Cindy and Sandi were the perfect guests aka maids. They helped put left overs away and cleared everything. These are the type of people you want to invite over and over.