June 16, 2018 Brunch – The Range. Dinner – New Recipe - Scallops Basque with Asparagus and Black Beans

June 16, 2018 Brunch – The Range. Dinner – New Recipe - Scallops Basque with Asparagus and Black Beans

I made a bagel with cream cheese, Lax, and vadalia onion slices and then wE were met by the Water Extraction crew at 7:30 this morning and went through the water damaged items in the garage until 10:30.  Willy arrived at 10:00 to decide to toss his notebooks from UBC.

When the Water extraction crew left with two truck loads of damaged goods I suggested we go to the Range for brunch.  Since Suzette and Willy had not eaten, they readily agreed.  We were able to get a table in the bar just in front of a large screen TV that offered a perfect view of the World Cup match between Croatia and Nigeria.  Willy ordered Huevos Rancheros, Suzette ordered Chiporizo and Egg tacos, and I ordered a Country Fried Steak with two eggs over easy and Calabacitas with the green Chile sauce on the side.

This was the first time to order this dish and I liked very much for two reasons, substitution of Calabacitas for the fried potatoes and the two eggs.  The only problem I have with the Range’s food is the excessive use of black pepper.  After I ate my dish I took a bite of Willy’s Huevos Rancheros and choked on the combination of pepper and chili.

Also I could not eat the green chili sauce served with my dish, perhaps because it is the same pepper and chili that is used on the Huevos Rancheros.

After brunch we went home and I napped until 1:30.  I dressed and we drove to Santa Fe.  We first went to Stephen’s Consignment, where I saw and instantly fell in love with a 1933 oil painting of an obviously Mexican Indian girl by Emil Bisttram.  The 1932-1933 period during which Bisttram studied with and was influenced by Diego Rivera is my favorite and I have been wanting a Bisttram of that period for some time.  I was lucky that Stephen was in his office and I was able to negotiate a satisfactory price for the painting.

We then drove to Zaplin-Lambert where I had agreed to buy a Gustave Baumann print called Eagle Dance, which was published in a art Magazine in the 30’s and which I saw in a recent print Exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum and liked.  We met Jeff and I bought the print.  It was 4:45 when we put the Baumann print into the mini.

We were still full from brunch, so we decided to drive back to Albuquerque and go to Costco to buy a fresh Halibut steak for Father’s Day dinner.  We also bought half and half, heavy cream, lemons, and crumbled feta.  We discussed whether to buy a meat for dinner and decided to cook some of the scallops I had bought a week or two ago at Sprouts.

We arrived home around 6:30 by which time we were getting hungry.  I picked eight scallops from
the 5 lb. bag and Suzette thawed them while I diced 4 oz. of onion, 1/3 Padilla chili, a Roma tomato, and six small cloves of garlic.  I snapped 15 stalks of asparagus and Suzette diced them.

She them sautéed the scallops, tomato, onion, garlic, and asparagus in one skillet and a cup of PPI Black Beans with pork we had cooked two weeks ago in another skillet.

The reason I refer to the dish as Basque is because the most common sauce for sautéed fish we found in St. Jean de Pin several years ago was a similar combination of onion, garlic, tomato, and a mild chili grown in the area.  The French call the sauce Piperade sauce and use a mildly tangy Espelette pepper in combination with sweet bell peppers

Here is an American adaptation utilizing Anaheim peppers.

Wikipedia definition for Piperade. Piperade (Gascon and French) or Piperrada (Basque and Spanish), from piper (pepper in Gascon and in Basque) is a typical Basque dish prepared with onion, green peppers, and tomatoes sautéd and flavoured with red Espelette pepper.

The Spruce Eats provides a recipe.
Piperade, a spicy tomato-pepper sauce from the Basque region of France can be used as a stewing ingredient or a garnish to a finished dish. This recipe uses a very small amount of granulated sugar mellow out the sharp tang of the tomatoes and peppers.

What You'll Need
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 15-ounce can petite diced tomatoes

How to Make It
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Sauté the onion, peppers, garlic, salt, paprika, black pepper, and sugar, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through.
Add the tomatoes to the cooked vegetables and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.

Suzette poured herself the last of an open bottle of Hungarian Gruner Vetliner (Trader Joe’s $6.99).  I poured a glass of 2015 Benton Lane rose, which turned out to be quite good, perhaps getting better.

I ate some of the Clafoutis I made last night with a cup of tea while cheering for Denmark in  World Cup soccer (Denmark v. Peru) and then last night’s Bill Maher show and then we went to bed a bit before 11:00.

Bon Appetit