September 27, 2013 Dinner Party at Cynthia and Ricardo’s House Grilled Salmon, Salad and Spaghetti Squash

September 27, 2013 Dinner Party at Cynthia and Ricardo’s House Grilled Salmon, Salad and Spaghetti Squash

On Saturday morning Cynthia called to tell us that there was going to be a music event at the Art Museum in celebration of the Afro-American Art exhibit from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. and that they were going.  I told her we would love to join them at the Museum but Suzette was working and we would be late.  I then asked them if they had plans for dinner and they said, “No.”  So we decided to have dinner together.   Cynthia and I decided that Suzette and I would go to Costco at 5:00 p.m. and purchase some fish to grill and bring a bottle of wine and come over at 6:30 p.m.  Cynthia said she would fix the rest of the meal.

Luke had arrived at 2:00 a.m. this morning from his trip to Hawaii and we talked until 3:00 a.m. so he slept late.  We all went to the Growers’ Market at around 9:30 a.m. with Luke.  I bought a couple of delicata squashes from his classmate from Sarah Lawrence, Marjorie Sterling of Sterling Farms.  Suzette bought three dozen ears of corn from the Schwieb Farms in Moriarty for her Camino Real menu for the weekends of October 9th – October 26^th and then left us to go work in Los Lunas. 

Luke and I returned home and made brunch.  Luke cut up a Mexican Squash and I picked a yellow onion, small yellow cherry tomatoes and lettuces from the garden, including several leaves of Red Giant Mustard.  Luke sautéed the diced squash with some onion and turmeric, while I made a salad with the sliced fresh onion, tomatoes, lettuces and cucumber from our garden, plus some chopped avocado and I dressed it with tarragon vinaigrette.  We ate our lovely brunch in the gazebo.

Luke made arrangements to go to Santa Fe to meet a friend, so I drove him to Flying Star at around 3:30.  Suzette came home at 4:30, so I called Ricardo and told him that we would not make it to the Museum but would see them at 6:30 p.m.  At 4:30 I chilled a bottle of Wellington 2011 Sauvignon Blanc.  Around 5:30 p.m. Suzette and I drove to Costco and we decided upon a wild caught Coho Salmon filet ($9.99/lb.).  We also bought portabella mushrooms, lemons and asparagus and one bottle each of a Brunello from Montalcino ($27.99) and a French Haut-Medoc ($12.99).

At 6:30 we arrived at Cynthia and Ricardo’s house.  Cynthia had laid a table of appetizers, including chopped artichoke hearts, a black and green olive medley, and wedges of a triple cream brie and Danish Rosenborg blue cheese and slices of toasted bread.  She was baking a large spaghetti squash on a baking pan in the oven that Ricardo and she had bought at the Grower’s Market and there was a lovely salad made with greens and green bell pepper and small red tomatoes from their garden and wonderfully fresh sunflower sprouts from the Grower's Market.  We put the salmon in their fridge and we went out to the patio where they had set a table for four on their raised patio overlooking their horno fire place, garden and back yard and ate appetizers.  

The best part of the meal was probably a wonderful tuna fritter appetizer Cynthia made with PPI tuna, onion, basil and garlic risotto.  She rolled the risotto into balls and coated the balls with panko and fried the pankoed balls in about 1/2 inch of oil to crisp the outsides and heat them throughout.  She served the tuna fritters with a creamy tartar sauce with pieces of spinach in it.  They were great and very Spanish.

While we sat, nibbled and sipped red wine, Ricardo went to Lowe’s to get an axe handle and when he returned, he chopped wood for a fire. After he got back, we looked at the garden and Cynthia found a three inch long caterpillar and tossed it in the fire place.  Cynthia suggested that we grill the salmon with butter and lemon.  We asked if they had a 1 X 6 board and Ricardo produced one from their wood pile that was about 13 inches long, so I placed the salmon skin side down on the board and cut the salmon to the length of the board and put sprigs of fresh tarragon, butter and slices of lemon on the fish and Ricardo, Cynthia and Suzette took it to the grill and Cynthia removed the baked squash from the oven.


After about fifteen minutes, Ricardo peeled the spaghetti squash out of its shell into a large serving bowl and the salad was dressed.  Cynthia brought a lovely light tartar sauce she made with fresh basil to the table.  When the fish was deemed ready, the board was removed to a steel baking pan and brought to the table and I cut sections from the board and served each person a slice of fish topped with a lemon slice.  The fish was pink throughout, but retained its moistness and was not charred at any point because I had pushed its edges onto the board and Suzette had turned the heat in the grill down so it stopped the board from burning, a very successful effort.

We drank the 2011 Wellington Sauvignon Blanc with the wood plank grilled salmon, spaghetti squash and salad and Suzette and I discussed how this meal expressed all the characteristics of California Cuisine; no sauces or complex preparation, each ingredient prepared simply and good California wine.     

 

We had brought a bag of banana chocolate chip cookies we had made Friday night, so Ricardo filled small ramekins with Hagen Daz tres leches and vanilla ice cream and made a pot of manzanilla/chamomile hot tea and brought out a bottle of Benedictine liquor.  Cynthia and Ricardo lit the fire and we drank cups of tea and ate ice cream and sipped Benedictine and watched the fire from the patio.  When we finished our dessert, we moved near the fireplace and continued sipping Benedictine and talking until around 10:30 p.m. when we all got sleepy.

Bon Appétit