November 25, 2015 Breakfast – Loyola’s Super Burrito, Dinner – Casarecce Pasta, Clams, and Asparagus with Mornay Sauce
I drove the car to the shop for a battery exchange at 7:30. I asked Mike where there was a café and he suggested Loyola’s at 4500 Central, so I walked there. Everything was about $10.00, so when the waiter said the Breakfast Super Burrito was $9.19 instead of $9.99, I chose that with red chili sauce and a cup of tea.
The burrito was super, filling the length if the platter, smothered in red chili sauce with a side of refried beans. It was filled with three layers, the first was extra crisp bacon that had been pressed to flatten it when it was grilled, the second was scrambled eggs and the third quarter was hash brown potatoes.
The red chili was the best I have had in some time. It was smooth, like the red chili made with ground dried red chili at the Shed.
I enjoyed my breakfast in this mid-century Route 66 diner. Here are some photos of the burrito and Loyola's:
Suzette called around 3:00 to check in. I had gotten a call from Mike to say the battery replacement was taking a little longer than expected around 11:30. So when I knew Suzette was on the way home I called and left a message. Soon I received a call from Mike that the car was ready. When Suzette arrived we rested for a few minutes while I toasted four slices of Fano French baguette and made open faced sandwiches by smearing Herbed Boursin on the warm toast and then laying a slice of warm ham on each.
Around 4:00 we drove to Jim’s Automotive to pick up the Prius and decided to split our chores. Suzette would go to the Coop for bay leaves and cardamom to make more preserved lemon and Big Lots for more jars, while I went shopping for green peas and pearl onions for the vegetable dish for Thanksgiving dinner.
When I arrived at Sprouts at 4:30, the parking lot was full, so I parked on the street. Actually, other than the slightly more frenzied flurry of folks, madly shopping for Thanksgiving, Sprouts was surprisingly full of merchandise and easy to navigate. I found the frozen peas and had the choice of four different types of pearl onions, red, white, yellow, and cipolini in bags, produced by Melissa’s. I chose the yellow pearl onions because they looked the freshest (10 oz. for $2.99).
I then went to Sprouts' meat counter to see what was fresh and was surprised to find fresh clams for $3.99/lb., so I bought about 3 lb. of them. When I arrived home I received a call from Suzette who was at the Coop, asking if I had picked up the Belgium Endives and I had to admit I had forgotten. Suzette said, “That is fine, I found a head of frisée that looks fine.” I said, “Great” and thought, “saved by the frisée.”
When Suzette arrived home she relaxed with a drink and then at around 6:30 began cooking. I had chilled a bottle of 2013 Donna Anita, made from a grape variety I had not drunk before, Roero Arneis, and produced in the Piedmont region of Italy in Canale.
Suzette’s standard method of preparing clams is to make a steaming medium with water, butter and white wine and a little chopped onion, to heat it to a simmer, and to immerse the clams in the simmering liquid until they open. Tonight we decided to add Asparagus to the cooking medium for a vegetable and extra flavor, so I snapped the tough ends off eight stalks of asparagus and sliced the good ends into one inch long pieces. There were about twenty clams so it took two cycles of steaming in the large enameled Le Creuset casserole to steam all the clams open. I shucked them while Suzette made a roux with 2 Tbsp. of butter and 2 Tbsp. of flour. I then ladled the cooking medium broth with the asparagus pieces into the roux as Suzette stirred it in to keep it from lumping. Suzette also added about ¼ cup of heavy cream to give the sauce a creamy consistency. The sauce was a little thin and runny, so we cooked it a bit longer to thicken it and I grated nutmeg into it and we added about a Tbsp. of fresh chives I had finely chopped and 1 cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese I had micro grated that converted the sauce from a Béchamel sauce to a Mornay Sauce. She then put the shucked clams into the sauce to heat them.
Suzette heated the freezer bag filled with PPI Casarecce pasta in the microwave and then put some pasta in each pasta bowl and then ladled the clam sauce over the pasta while I toasted two dinner rolls cut into halves in the toaster and poured glasses of wine and we were ready to eat.
The freshness of the clams and the fruity, yet dry flavor of the wine made this a memorable meal.
We loved this wine, $13.99 with a 15% discount to $12.59 at Total Wine. I will buy more of it. It is a little fruitier than Albariño and a little more acidic, which are both pluses for us. The wine’s back label describes the wine as: “delicate, fresh and fruity; bitterish, herby flavor.”
We had never experienced this grape or wine before and we loved it.
I ate some pecan pie after dinner and Suzette ate some of her delicious rhubarb/blackberry compote over yogurt.
Bon Appetit
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