June 17, 2017 Brunch – Dungeness Crab with Asparagus and Snow Peas. Dinner Party – Cheese Ball and red Pepper Hummus and olives, White Gazpacho, Tzatziki, Tabouli, and grilled lamb chops

June 17, 2017 Brunch – Dungeness Crab with Asparagus and Snow Peas.  Dinner Party – Cheese Ball and red Pepper Hummus and olives, White Gazpacho, Tzatziki, Tabouli, and grilled lamb chops

I ate some yogurt and fruit salad and ½ bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.  Then at 10:00 we walked to the Farmers’ Market.  Suzette bought tomatoes and oyster mushrooms.

 We returned home a little after 11:00 and decided to eat the Dungeness crab I bought at Costco yesterday.  I made a pleasant sauce that was both a cocktail sauce and also a mayonnaise sauce, by adding mayo and minced shallot to horseradish, catsup, and lemon juice.  The addition of mayo gave the sauce a creaminess that eliminated the grittiness of the flecks of horseradish.

I had had a wonderful fish monger at Costco.   I asked for the largest  crab and we visually picked the three we thought were the biggest.  Then he weighed each of the three crabs to determine which weighed the most.  I cleaned the crab and broke it in half, while Suzette went to the garden and picked fresh snow peas and steamed them with asparagus.  Then she steamed the vegetables and crab and I peeled an avocado and cut a tomato and we placed them on plates.

Suzette poured sauce into two small ramekins and placed one each on a plate while I poured glasses of Crayon Rose (Trader Joe’s $5.99).  We carried a plate and glass to the table under the gazebo in the garden.  We loved the crab and fresh steamed vegetables.  For once it seemed like we ate our fill of crab.  By the time we gagged down the last bite of the delicious tender white lump meat I could say, I had more than enough crab.”  We were also happy that we had eaten a low carb delicious meal.
 

                  

  We then drove to Corrales so Suzette could buy.   wine for the Field to Food event to be held on June 24 at 7:00.  I believe this year’s event will be the best ever. It will feature a roasted heirloom pig and pears, plus all the other usual locally grown ingredients, like beef pate and vegetarian lasagna.  This year the dessert will be Italian cloud cake, which if you have not eaten, you will love.

We first stopped at Corrales Winery, where Suzette bought six bottles of a lovely light Riesling.  We next drove to Milagros and tasted Richard’s new Rose made with Pinot Noir grapes from the vineyard on the east side of I-25 just north of the Placitas exit.  Richard said he had helped advise Santa Ana Pueblo regarding the construction of the vineyard that is raising grapes for Gruet Winery.  Richard said he wanted to make a true Rose’ and there were leftover Pinot Noir grapes that he was able to obtain.  The difference between a true rose’ and the usual rose’s is the usual rose’s are made from up to 20% of the juice that is bled off the leas when the grapes are crushed, whereas a true rose’ uses all of the grape production to make rose’ from start to finish.  Richard’s rose actually had an amber color, instead of pink.  It also had and intensely fruity flavor.  We liked it and I bought the bottle he opened for us to try. Suzette also bought 6 rose’s and 6 gruner veltliners.

We then drove to Pasando Tiempo and tried their wines.  Suzette liked their Cabernet Sauvignon and bought 6 bottles of it.

We then drove to Sprouts at Alameda and Coors, where we bought parsley, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, horseradish, and olive oil.

We drove home,  showered and then began cooking at about 4:00.

Tabouli

I drained the bulgur wheat that had been soaking and swelling up most of the day. I chopped 1 ½ cucumbers, seven or eight green onions, while Suzette ran two bunches of parsley through the food processor.  I diced two of the tomatoes Suzette had bought at the farmer’s market and we added those ingredients to the drained bulgur plus juice of 1 ½ lemons, a bit of salt, and three T. of olive oil to made the tabouli.

Tzatziki

I then chop ped 1 ½ cucumbers, three cloves of fresh garlic pressed, 2 T. of fresh dill, to which Suzette added 17 oz. of Kirtland’s Greek style yogurt plus lemon juice and a bit of salt to make tzatziki.

Cynthia and Ricardo came at 5:45 and Debbie and Jeff soon after.

I served rose’s, starting with the opened Milagro Rose’ and then the open Crayon rose’ from Languedoc.  Then I opened the two 2016 Cotes Du Provence Rose’s I had bought at Total Wine.  I did not like either of the 2016s as well as either the 2015 Crayon or the Milagro.  Debbie and Jeff brought a bottle of Carnivore Cabernet Sauvignon plus a lovely green onion cheese ball with a soft blue cheese, a red pepper hummus, olives, and crackers.  Cynthia and Ricardo brought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and a white gazpacho with sliced almonds and halved white grapes.  Here is the recipe.

After appetizers we went outside and sat under the gazebo and ate gazpacho.  Then we went back inside to serve ourselves grilled lamb chops, tzatziki, and tabouli and took the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon out to the gazebo.

We ate and talked until 9:30 without the mention of the word dessert.

After a pleasant evening of food and conversation we said goodnight around 10:00.

Bon Appetit

 


Tzatziki

I then chopped 1 ½ cucumbers, three cloves of fresh garlic pressed, 2 T. of fresh dill, to which Suzette added 17 oz. of Kirtland’s Greek style yogurt plus lemon juice and a bit of salt to make tzatziki.

Cynthia and Ricardo came at 5:45 and Debbie and Jeff soon after.

I served rose’s, starting with the opened Milagro Rose’ and then the open Crayon rose’ from Languedoc.  Then I opened the two 2016 Cotes Du Provence Rose’s I had bought at Total Wine.  I did not like either of the 2016s as well as either the 2015 Crayon or the Milagro.  Debbie and Jeff brought a bottle of Carnivore Cabernet Sauvignon plus a lovely green onion cheese ball with a soft blue cheese, a red pepper hummus, olives, and crackers.  Cynthia and Ricardo brought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and a white gazpacho with sliced almonds and halved white grapes.  Here is the recipe.

 

 

After appetizers we went outside and sat under the gazebo and ate gazpacho.  Then we went back inside to serve ourselves grilled lamb chops, tzatziki, and tabouli and took the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon out to the gazebo.

We ate and talked until 9:30 without the mention of the word dessert.

After a pleasant evening of food and conversation we said goodnight around 10:00.

Bon Appetit