June 1 Dinner at Debbie and Jeff’s house

June 1 Dinner at Debbie and Jeff’s house

At around 4:30 p.m. we went to the garden and picked a basket of snow and sugar snap peas. Then we gathered up the PPI Polenta, a bag of salad and a bag of the peas, we had picked from the garden, the baked chicken and lamb chops from last night and I fetched a bottle of 2009 Londer Vineyards Kent Richie Chardonnay and we drove to Jeff and Debbie’s house.  Their house sits at the highest point of construction of homes at the top of Glenwood Hills on the east side of the valley in which Albuquerque sits commanding what must be the best view of the City.

We were glad to see each other and had drinks and talked for a while and then casually transitioned into cooking. Suzette and Debbie went to the kitchen to cook and Jeff and I watched Boston and Pittsburgh play their first game of the Eastern NHL Finals.

The girls made a balsamic and olive oil salad dressing and I de-stemmed the peas and they steamed them and then they creamed some of the polenta and heated the chicken.  The only real cooking we did was converting the baked garlic scapes into a sauce.  Suzette tried adding olive oil and some mayonnaise and some water and grinding them in a food processor, but that did not emulsify them before the food processor overheated.  So when the girls went out to have a chat and let the food processor cool down, Jeff and I stepped into the kitchen and I added an egg and more mayonnaise and Jeff removed most of the volume of semi-ground scapes from the food processor and he emulsified the small portion of scapes and then we began adding and emulsifying the scapes, one spoonful at a time until we had emulsified all of the scapes into a thick rich sauce.  I opened the bottle of Chardonnay and poured four glasses and they plated up the plates put  a dollop of scape sauce on each mound of polenta and Jeff pulled the curtains that protected the west side of the outdoor dining area from the glare of sunlight and we sat down at the outdoor table and ate a lovely dinner and watched the sunset on the Sandias.

 

 

After dinner Debbie made delicious smores with honey graham crackers and pieces of Hershey’s milk chocolate and marshmallows that she cut in half and roasted on the gas stove and we watched the alignment of Jupiter and Venus as the sky darkened.

Here is the video that Suzette made of Debbie making smores.

 

 

After a lovely evening of looking at the sunset and stars we went home at around 10:00.

The 2009 Londer Kent Richie Chardonnay was a really lovely wine.  It was not overly oaky and had that fruity flavor of Anderson Valley whites.  It complemented the tarragon and lemon flavored chicken nicely.  It is a pity that the Londers are no longer making it.  

Bon Appétit