August 17, 2017 Albuquerque to Dallas Lunch – Eatzi’s Dinner – Grilled Marinated Striped Bass, Hatch Chile Squash Casserole, and blanched string beans tossed with caramelized shallots

August 17, 2017 Albuquerque to Dallas Lunch – Eatzi’s  Dinner – Grilled Marinated Striped Bass, Hatch Chile Squash Casserole, and blanched string beans tossed with caramelized shallots

I ate a bowl full of blueberries (to finish the container) with granola, yogurt and milk.

Then we took a cab to the airport and boarded a 10:45 flight to Dallas.

When we arrived at Dallas Love Field, Billy picked us up and drove us directly to Eatzi’s on Lovers Lane near Inwood where we purchased ½ of a rotisserie chicken and a hand tossed Cesar Salad.

He then drove us to his house, where we ate roasted chicken and salad for our lunch at around 2:00.  We then put the bottle of Gruet Blanc de Blanc 2012 vintage champagne we had brought into the fridge to chill.

We then drove to the Meadows Museum on the SMU campus.  Y Meadows’ collection centers on Spanish art.  It is encyclopedic, with great emphasis on portraiture.  There are many great works of art in the collection including portraits of Charles II and his wife by Velasquez, a room full of Goyas,
an El Greco of Saint Francis praying n the Wilderness, and some great and charming Murillos.  There a few out liers such as a fabulous Giacometti sculpture.

We finished our tour at around 4:30 and dropped Suzette off at the Antique Mall near Billy’s hose and Billy and I returned to his house and each took naps until 6:00.

When I awoke at 6:00 Elaine and Suzette had arrived and Billy had begun marinating three striped
bass filets in lemon juice and olive oil.

Dinner

Elaine snapped a bag of string beans and caramelized shallots in a skillet.  Then she blanched the string beans in a pot of boiling water, drained the water from the beans,  and tossed the blanched string beans in the caramelized shallots.

Billy removed the bass filets from the marinade and dried them with paper towels.  He then grilled the thick filets for 12 to 15 minutes on their propane grill until the filets were a bit charred on their thinner edges.

The last piece of the dinner was a Hatch chili squash casserole that Billy and a Elaine had made last night with mild Fresh roasted Hatch green chili.  Eatzi’s advertised several Hatch green chili dishes as if the arrival of the New Mexico green chili crop was the second coming.   It is a featured ingredient in the foodie world in Dallas in season, which is now.


Here is the recipe.

Billy got out four Baccarat white wine glasses he had gotten from Mother and we washed and dried them.  Then we chilled the Gruet in the freezer for the last five minutes of cooking time of the bassand the PPI casserole was heated in the microwave and I poured glasses of champagne and we served ourselves buffet style from the counter top between the kitchen and the dining area.

Everything was delicious.  I particularly liked the Hatch squash casserole because Billy’s use of mild chili receded as simply another ingredient in the creamy casserole.  In other words he did not push the chili flavor as is often done in New Mexico.

The striped bass was beautiful; flaky with a hint of lemon from the marinade’s about 1 hour contact.

I loved the green beans also.  They were perfectly blanched; tender but crisp and complemented by the buttery bits of caramelized shallot.

The thing that amazed me was the never ending stream of tiny bubbles floating to the surface of the champagne.  I did a video of a few seconds, but it went on as long as there was champagne in the glass.  The 2012 vintage Gruet Blanc de Blanc seems to conform that lots of tiny bubbles are a part of what makes fine champagne fine.  The other part is that evanescent flavor that tastes almost like an absence of flavor; the most delicate white wine flavor you can imagine.

Therefore, the name Blanc de Blanc;  the whitest of the white.  Laurent is carrying on the Gilbert family skill of making Blanc de Blanc champagne masterfully.

After dinner Elaine cut cubes of the sweetest watermelon I have tasted in years.  It seems we are at the peak of maturity of many food crops.  What a treat it will be to travel through America at this time of the year to sample the different foods at the peak of their flavors.  I can hardly wait until we go to Pennsylvania tomorrow.

As Rachel Maddox says, “Stay tuned to this Station.”

Later I drank a couple of shots of Bauer's Obstler, an Austrian apple and pear Brandy and talked to Billy.

Bon Appetit