February 4, 2014 Lunch – Pyramid Café Dinner – Pork chops cooked in apples and onions and spaghetti squash

February 4, 2014 Lunch – Pyramid Café    Dinner – Pork chops cooked in apples and onions and spaghetti squash

I rode with Bill Turner and Sally Williams to Santa Fe for a hearing in the morning.  The hearing ended at 12:20 and Sally wanted to go to Pyramid Café for lunch.  We got a ride there with Blair Dunn, who was returning to Albuquerque.  Although it was snowing heavily the place was full of people.  We took a corner booth and looked at the menu and we each knew what we wanted almost immediately.  Sally wanted the Mediterranean Combo Plate ($9.25) and I wanted the Roasted Leg of Lamb ($15.95).

The Pyramid Café claims to serve authentic North African Mediterranean and Greek Cuisine.  The owner is Algerian.  Our waitress was Polynesian Tahitian by way of Paris where she apparently grew up with lots of French North Africans.

The Combo Plate included hummus, tabouleh, baba ganouj, and dolmas served with pita bread.  Let me say immediately that the pita bread was the best part of the meal.  It was brushed with olive oil, sliced into wedges and grilled.  I loved it.  The baba ganouj was really creamy and fluffy and the hummus had an aromatic taste of fresh tahini.  I ate tabouleh with my lamb dish.  The lamb was sliced of roasted lamb served in a tomato and chicken stock sauce with roasted potatoes, green chilies, and tomatoes.  It was good but not great.  I probably should have tried the Chicken Tagine; slow cooked chicken with preserved lemons, olives and a blend of special herbs and spices.  There were several items worth returning to try. 

I drank hot mint tea with my lunch and Sally had coffee.  We each also had a cup of soup.  I had Avogolimono (chicken and lemon and potatoes) and Sally had vegetarian lentil soup.  Her lentil soup was spicy, as were many of the items I ate, so be prepared to be inundated with picante flavors.

 Disregard the lamb grizzle on the side of the vegetarian combo plate.

 See how toasted the pitas are.

I enjoyed the Pyramid Café and would go back to try some of the more interesting items.

I got home at around 3:00 and thawed out two pork chops.  Yesterday Suzette had brought home several spaghetti squashes and at lunch I had asked Sally how she prepared he spaghetti squash.  She said she baked it and made a sauce with wasabi, soy and ginger.  I decided to cut a squash in half around the middle to make two deep cavities and put olive oil into the cavities and brush the exposed surface with oil also and roast them in a 350˚oven.  I put them in around 4:30 and baked them for about 1 1/2 hours until Suzette arrived home.

At around 5:30 I cored, peeled and sliced up 1 ½ apples and one medium onion and chopped about three cloves of garlic and sautéed them in a skillet with a bit of butter and olive oil until they were tender.  I then added about ¼ cup of spiced apple juice to give the vegetables some flavor and liquid.   Then I turned off the heat and waited until Suzette arrived. 

When Suzette arrived home we put she put the pork chops into the skillet with the apples and onion.  She added some white wine to add more liquid and sautéed the chops until they turned white.  I then added about 1 Tbsp. of cognac to finish the dish the way we do the Spanish tapa version of this dish.

We served the pork, apple and onion mixture over the spaghetti squash that I had pulled out of its shell and Suzette had tossed with butter. 

Sauteed pork, onions and apples on baked spaghetti squash

I drank PPI Pedigris 2011 Pinot Gris and Sicilian Grillo and Suzette drank some PPI Chianti Superiore.

Bon Appétit