June 11, 2014 Lunch – Roasted chicken and posole at Pro’s Ranch Market, Dinner Chicken fried rice with grilled scapes and chard

June 11, 2014 Lunch – Roasted chicken and posole at Pro’s Ranch Market, Dinner Chicken fried rice with grilled scapes and chard

After Aaron and I finished working on a project around 11:00 I suggested that we go to Pro’s Ranch Market for lunch because today is the Roasted Chicken Day when whole roasted Chickens are on special for $4.99 each.  Aaron said, “That sounds great, I love that place.”.   

When we arrived we discovered that actually today carnitas were on sale for $4.99/lb. and whole roasted chicken were their usual price of $6.99 each, but when I asked he lady if we could buy a whole chicken for $4.99, the server checked with her supervisor and he said, “Yes.  

  

Aaron suggested that we also order a medium bowl of posole as a side dish ($4.99).  You can order rice and beans or anything else, of course.

My favorite server, who has red hair, helped us and when I asked for grilled onions, she obliged and she even heated the six corn tortillas that come with the chicken on the griddle to soften them and warm them.  I told her she was my favorite server and she smiled.

 

The chicken was wonderful, just like they prepare in Mexico where they roast the chicken over mesquite coals on large spits and the grease drips onto the onions as the chickens grill.  We each ordered a 1 liter bottle of Mexican Coke made with real sugar and little or no preservatives.  It is amazing how softer and smoother the flavor of Mexican Coke is when compared to the harsh Cokes made with corn syrup and other preservatives in the U.S.

We each ate the leg and thigh quarters but Aaron could not take the chicken home because he had errands to run, so I took the chicken home.  I also did some power shopping, buying two mangos, (the new crop of manila mangos is in at 2 for $1.00), some Crema Latina ($2.29/lb.), brown onions ($.99 for 3lbs) and rock crab claws ($5.99/lb.).

When Suzette arrived around 6:00 she made a drink and we walked around the corner to Megan’s house and picked apricots from Megan's tree that is just loaded with apricots.  Besides having a great tree loaded with apricots, Megan is a wonderful gardener and has a lovely garden that was on the garden tour a couple of years ago.

When we returned home around 6:30 we discussed dinner and I said I did not care what we ate because I had had a great lunch.  I guess that prompted Suzette to eat some of the Pro’s roasted chicken and she liked it, so when she suggested chicken fried rice and I agreed, since I had loved the Pro’s roasted chicken and was more than willing to eat it twice in one day.

Suzette whipped and then fried several eggs to make a golden brown egg pancake.  Then we went to the garden and picked a basket full of chard and three stalks of garlic.   While Suzette chopped up and cooked 1 1/2 cups of PPI rice and the 1/2 chicken and stir fried the scapes and added them, I de-stemmed the chard and chopped up one head of garlic for the dish.  Suzette made a great chicken fried rice dish that had an interesting texture with the curly grilled scapes sticking out of the dish in all directions and healthy because of all the fresh chard from the garden.  We drank beers with the dinner and enjoyed watching the British series “Doc Martin” on T.V.

Later I watched the torrid third period of the N.Y. Rangers v. L.A. Kings game four of the Stanley Cup Finals and ate some vanilla ice cream with fresh blueberries, chocolate syrup and a dash of Trimbach Mirabelle plum brandy.

Suzette promises me she will make apricot and blueberry cobbler tomorrow evening and I am really looking forward to the first fresh fruit cobbler of the summer.

Bon Appétit