March 31, 2014 A PPI Dinner Party – Chilled Cream of
Cauliflower soup, Grilled Rack of Lamb, Eggplant, and Mexican Squash, Salad,
and Fried Spaghetti with homemade Pesto
We invited Cynthia and Ricardo for dinner. We had bought a rack of lamb at Costco yesterday
and had about a 2/3 lb. bag of PPI spaghetti, the PPI grilled slices of
eggplant and Mexican Squash in the fridge, so we did not have to do much to get
ready for dinner, which was good because we both worked all day.
At 5:30 I started getting dinner ready by picking chives, sprigs
of rosemary and kale in the garden. I
also snipped four lovely tulips and 2 stalks of flowering almond and made a
flower arrangement for the table.
Suzette came home shortly after 5:30 after a hard day of
refurbishing the Spa a little dazed, but, after a minute, swung into
action. I handed Suzette the rosemary
sprigs to soak in water so they could be used to lay under the rack of lamb
riblets on the grill.
While I was dicing chives, Cynthia and Ricardo arrived a few
minutes later with a wooden bowl filled with a mixture of lovely salad greens,
halved grape tomatoes, sliced green olives, and sliced celery and a bottle of
chilled Spanish Segura Viudas Brut Cava left over from their wedding reception
in Albuquerque and a bottle of Barefoot Merlot.
Cynthia commenced to make a salad dressing with the flavored ABQ olive
oil that Janis and Tom Lafountain had given us and the Italian white wine
vinegar.
The wisteria is in full bloom so Ricardo helped me move the
table and chairs under the awning on the patio into the center of the patio so
we could be near the aromatic wisteria and have better views of the garden
areas, which are in full bloom (the wintering over lettuce, lovage,
strawberries, garlic and radicchio are all blooming nicely). Last Saturday we planted carrots, beets,
Japanese radishes, and mbuna in one of the raised beds that have recently been
filled with a layer of manure and tilled.
Ricardo said he had never seen such a profusion of flowers
on a residential wisteria. It is
impressive and at the height of its spring bloom and very fragrant, so fun to
sit near. The roses that I trimmed are
all blooming and rose buds are beginning to show, but I doubt we will have a
rose before we leave.
We served the soup course with the Cava Brut, which was
light and yet had a good flavor. Then
refilled our champagne glasses and served the salad. No one wanted bread. Ricardo is losing weight and we are all
trying to be good.
Suzette then went to the kitchen and heated olive oil and
the last 3 Tbsp. of her home made pesto from last year in a large skillet and
sautéed the PPI spaghetti in it for a few minutes to heat it and toss it with
the pesto. I heated the eggplant and
Mexican squash slices and we were ready to eat. We took piles of pasta and added more salad
to our plates and Ricardo poured the Barefoot Merlot, and enjoyed a lovely
meal. We all agreed that the Barefoot
Merlot was not our favorite wine.
Cynthia said she sometimes mixes other wine with it to improve its
flavor. The combination of the fresh salad and the fried
spaghetti mixed with the PPI grilled eggplant and squash was terrific. I think this was the first time Cynthia and
Ricardo tasted fried pasta and they liked this Pennsylvania German favorite a
lot.
After dinner at around 8:00 it was beginning to get dark and
cooling outside, so we retired to the TV room to watch the Antiques Roadshow
and have some dessert. I scooped Blue
Bell Vanilla and Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream (Albertson’s $3.88 per half
gallon, on sale) into small bowls and Suzette washed fresh blueberries and
black berries and we garnished the ice cream with some berries and I added a
drizzle of Trimbach Plum Brandy to each bowl.
The ice cream and fresh fruit softened the harshness of the brandy and made
a wonderful combination of flavors, each enhancing the other; the most
interesting and successful dish of the meal.
Since Ricardo had to get to the Railrunner at 6:15 a.m. for
his job in Santa Fe, we said goodnight at around 8:30 p.m. after a lovely
dinner.
Bon Appetit
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