The big reveal and a confession

So what was the culinary destination on my road trip?

We went on a tour of the Cowgirl Creamery! The Cowgirl Creamery is a small artisanal cheese maker located in Point Reyes, CA.

The tour really wasn't a tour - it was more of a sit and listen to lots of interesting facts about cheese making. 

About 20 people that signed up for the tour gathered around this long table.

I sat facing the cheese making room - which was very fun.

All the beautiful cheeses.

I picked up this while I was there:

 
Creamy, rich and nice and tangy creme fraiche.

Tonight I used it in two dishes. 


Chicken in a lemony white wine reduction with creme fraiche:

 

And pan seared asparagus with a lemon pepper creme fraiche sauce.

I pan seared a chicken breast in olive oil until cooked through.

I pulled the chicken from the pan and added 1/2 cup of white wine to de-glaze the pan.

Then 3 Tbsp. of chicken stock went into the pan along with 1 tsp. of lemon juice and ground black pepper to taste. 

When the alcohol had cooked off (about 5 min) I turned the heat to low and whisked in 1 1/2 Tbsp. of creme fraiche. 

At this point I sliced the chicken breast and added it back into the pan. I let it all simmer together for another 5 minutes and it was done.

A side of red grapes.

This was full of rich taste - I would definitely reccomend it.


You might notice that the chicken is shown without side dishes.


My confession? Sometimes I eat a meal in stages - First I make and eat the meat portion. A while later I will make the vegetables. Later on, I will make some rice or potatoes. 

Yeah, I am weird like that.


Later on I made a very simple asparagus dish.


I pan seared some asparagus over medium heat in a bit of olive oil. The asparagus pieces were pretty big so I peeled the stems.

When they were bright green and just slightly brown, I took them out of the pan and set them aside.


Then 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 1 tsp. of lemon and ground black pepper went into the pan to simmer. I stirred in 1/2 a Tbsp of creme fraiche and whisked until the sauce was smooth and glossy.

The asparagus was still a bit crunchy and the lemon sauce really complemented the flavor of the asparagus.


Creme fraiche - It's a good thing:-)