July 14, 2021 Lunch - Padilla’s Mexican Family Restaurant. Dinner - Roast Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, and Corn Pudding

July 14, 2021 Lunch - Padilla’s Mexican Family Restaurant. Dinner - Roast Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, and Corn Pudding

It was a fun day.  I slept until 7:40. I ate granola, milk, yogurt and strawberries for breakfast.  Then Suzette and I walked 1/3 mile.

We then watched the Tour de France but our cable failed when the three favorites were 75 meters from the finish.  We had no internet or phone service in addition to no TV service.

We worked at our desks until 11:45 when Lon and Carol arrived.  We discussed lunch options and decided on Padilla’s based upon their excellent Sopapillas.  Suzette ordered one chili Relleno and I ordered a chili Relleno plate.  Lon and Carol ordered enchilada plates.  Everyone ate as much as they could but no one finished their dish because they wanted to save room for a Sopapilla.

The waiter brought a basket of hot sopapillas.  We devoured one or two each with honey.

It is a small world.  Carol worked at the Amon Carter Museum for ten years as assistant registrar with Anne Adams and Amy and is trained as a curator and in art history.

After lunch we drove Suzette back home so she could go on her many errands this afternoon and Carol drove us to the Albuquerque Museum.

We saw the Transcendental Painting Group exhibit and then the permanent collection and finally the Self-portrait show on tour from the National Portrait Gallery which took about two hours.  

Then we drove home and I showed them most of my collection.

Lon and Carol left at 4:15 and shortly thereafter Suzette arrived.

I was tired and lay down and napped until 5:20 when Dee Simpson called and we talked for about 30 minutes.  Dee would like to visit but he has been working to pass legislation in the Texas Legislature and it unclear whether Gov. Abbott is going to call another special session or not.

I had taken out a chicken to thaw this morning and Suzette and I decided to stuff tarragon, butter and garlic under its skin and roast it on a spandex roasting frame in a 350 degree oven.  Suzette wanted to utilize the two ears of corn in our fridge to make a corn pudding or soufflé.

There are lot of recipes, but here is one that looks like what Suzette used or we previously used.

Chef John's Creamy Corn Pudding

• Prep
  10 m
• Ready In
  1 h 15 m

Recipe By:Chef John

"Corn pudding doesn't get the same attention as some other holiday side dishes, but it's a real crowd-pleaser that pairs perfectly with all your favorite special-occasion meats."

Ingredients

• 2 pounds frozen yellow corn, thawed and drained
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt (cut in half if using fine salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup melted butter, divided

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone pad. Place an 8x11-inch baking dish on the pad.
• Place corn in a blender or food processor. Add maple syrup, eggs, milk, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, flour, and baking powder. Mix briefly with a spatula to push down the dry ingredients.
• Pulse mixture until it begins to come together. Then increase setting to high and blend until completely smooth, 2 or 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl. Add heavy cream and 2/3 of the melted butter. Whisk to thoroughly blend.
• Grease baking dish with the rest of the butter. Pour batter into baking dish. Bake in preheated oven on the baking sheet until pudding is browned and set, between 60 and 75 minutes depending on the size and shape of your baking dish.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2021 Allrecipes.com 

Printed From Allrecipes.com 7/15/2021

I went to the garden and picked a handful of tarragon and broke them into small portions and slipped them under the skin of the chicken.

Then Suzette minced three small cloves of garlic and mixed it with three oz. of butter and massaged it under the skin of the chicken and rubbed the skin with the butter also.

Suzette put the chicken on the Spandex rack and put the rack in a 13 X 9 inch Pyrex baking dish filled to 1/3 inch with water and put it into the pre-heated oven.

I took my 45 minutes nap and conversation with Dee at this point.

When I returned to the kitchen Suzette was whipping the corn pudding ingredients in a Waring Blender and putting the mixture into a buttered Soufflé pan and into the steamer oven to bake at the designated settings of time and temperature per the instruction manual.

I went to the garage and fetched the broccoli and deflowered a head of it and cut the large flowerets in half and put them into the steamer with enough water to steam them on the stove and turned on the heat to a medium high setting to create steam.

In about ten more minutes everything was ready. The broccoli was cooked but crisp, the chicken was roasted and the corn pudding was lightly brown on top and had risen.

I carved the wings away from the chicken and then removed a leg quarter for each of us that I lay on a plate that Suzette then placed a spoonful of corn pudding on and a few flowerets of broccoli.

I poured two glasses of wine from the open 1/2 bottle of Kirkland Pinot Grigio ($4.99 at Costco) and we ate a lovely dinner.

We have stopped eating dessert most nights. I seem to have lost my craving for dessert most nights, which I find interesting and gratifying.  Tonight after dinner and watching the finish to the Stage 17 of the Tour Suzette transferred the remaining corn soufflé to a plastic dish and covered it with Saran and put it into the fridge and went to bed.  

After watching some news at 10:30 I bagged the remaining broccoli flowerets and removed and bagged the breast meat from the chicken and put the bags into the fridge.

I ate the two remaining strawberries in a plastic box to make room for the PPIs from dinner.

This was a wonderful dinner. Suzette wanted to use the corn and I wanted to use the broccoli I bought last week and I wanted to have enough food if Lon and Carol wanted to stay for dinner. 

Suzette bought a container of Mayo at Costco, so we will probably make chicken salad in the next day or so and I will make clafoutis.

Bon Appetit