A full day of activity. We started at around by going to the Downtown Farmer’s Market, which continues to grow in size and variety. Since it is early in the season, there were not many growers, but lots of new food and merchandise purveyors. We handed out cards advertising the Center for Ageless Living’s Field to Food dinner on June 23, 2012 and spoke to the growers and food purveyors whose names were listed on the card. We had not had breakfast, so we split a delicious pork tamale ($5.00) and bought a ½ baguette from the Le Quiche bakery.
Suzette wanted to make gazpacho, so she bought cucumbers from Skarsgaard Farms, who used to be at Los Poblanos Farms. Then when we saw that one grower who grows mainly garlic was selling scapes, we talked for a long time to him (Eli) about growing and harvesting garlic and scapes and buying garlic from him for the June 23rd event. An added benefit of stopping at the garlic grower’s booth was reacquainting with Marjorie Sweet, our son Luke’s friend from Sarah Lawrence, who was working for the grower. It was lovely to say hello to her and hear her praises of Luke.
At Amayo’s booth, we bought a large bunch of Amarath. Amayo is one of the strongest supporters of Suzette’s Field to Food event, because its growing facility is actually located in Bosque Farms, near Suzette’s facility. Since the landscaping crew was scheduled to come on Saturday to start finishing our new gardens in the back yard, we bought small plants of cucumber, butternut squash, and tomatoes to plant.
Then we returned home and, inspired by our new knowledge of growing and harvesting garlic, we immediately went to our garden and spent about an hour cutting the scapes off all of our garlic and leek plants. Then while Suzette went to the store to buy celery for her gazpacho, I made some guacamole with lime juice, avocados, red onion, two pressed cloves of garlic, a few finely chopped garlic scapes and a dash of Cholula
When Suzette returned home I finished pitting the 2 lbs. of red cherries I had bought at Pro’s Market on Thursday ($1.49/lb.) for clafoutis and we were hungry so Suzette made a quesadilla with Mexican Bafar ham, some of the fresh guacamole and Irish cheddar cheese, while I cut the cherries into halves and put them in a plastic bowl with about 2 Tbsp. of cognac and 1 Tbsp of orange liquor to soak.
After our lunch Suzette made her gazpacho using the Cuisinart. She boiled Roma tomatoes in water to loosen the skins and cook them slightly and then processed the tomatoes with celery, cucumbers, bell pepper, onion and radishes and sautéed some of the fresh garlic scapes and garlic in the delicious Chilean olive oil and added that to the soup. Since the soup was a little thick, we added Clamato juice to it to thin it a bit. Suzette then made croutons by dicing old French bread and shaking them in a plastic bag with garlic and olive oil and then baking them in the oven at 400° until brown.
After Suzette put the gazpacho in a container and into the fridge, I started the clafoutis, following the recipe for “Clafoutis aux Cerises du Limousin
I then stirred three eggs in a small cup with a whisp and added that to hole in the middle of the bowl and then stirred the egg into solution with the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. After the mixture became smooth and thickened, I removed the crust of milk solids from the top of the scalded milk and added the milk to the bowl of ingredients and stirred that with the wooden spoon until smooth and well mixed. I then coated a 1 ½ inch deep ceramic baking dish with butter and then dusted it with powdered sugar. I added the cherries to the mixing bowl of ingredients and then stirred them in with the wooden spoon and then poured all of the ingredients into the ceramic baking dish. The volume of ingredients filled the baking dish about 3/4 full. It is important to leave some room, because the clafoutis will rise some. I then put the clafoutis into the pre-heated 350° oven and set the timer for 50 minutes. When the alarm rang, I checked the Clafoutis by shaking the rack and it was still loose in the middle, so I turned off the heat and left the clafoutis in the oven to continue to cook as the heat reduced. In about another ten minutes, I removed the clafoutis from the oven. The Clafoutis had risen to fill the entire volume of the ceramic baking dish and had even overflowed a little bit. As it cooled, it sank a bit below the top of the ceramic dish.
Max Aragon and his assistant, Luis and Luis’ three children came around to make final measurements for the patio addition. At Max and I went to Home Depot to buy wood for the patio addition, which took over two hours. When we got back home after , I took a shower while Max drank and beer and discussed the patio addition with Suzette. Finally at around I grabbed a Gruet Chardonnay and we loaded up the car and headed up the hill to Sandia Heights
Thankfully, when we arrived, Jeff, Debbie’s husband was watching the Stanley Cup finals between the L.A. Kings and the N.J. Devils. I have not been following the Stanley Cup playoffs as closely this year as in years past, so it was great to see game two. Debbie put the guacamole and chips into bowls and during intermission, we ate and talked about our trips and took a tour of the renovations they are making to their house. Then during the next intermission, Suzette and Debbie served gazpacho, garnished with cubes of avocado and the croutons, on the house’s east side patio with its incredible view of Sandia Peak and the tram. Debbie then put together her main dish of shrimp with angel hair pasta with a white wine/cream sauce, which was delicious with the French baguette (Le Quiche Bakery). The hockey game went to overtime, so we heated the clafoutis and ate clafoutis while watching L.A.
I must say that I got a slight upset stomach, which I attribute to the clash of the citrus in the guacamole and gazpacho with the cream in the sauce on the pasta dish and the milk in the clafoutis. They did not mix well in my stomach. So the menu may not have been so perfect.
Bon Appétit
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