March 10, 2024 Brunch - Fabes con almejas (Clam Fabada), Recital and dinner at Jeff’s and Jeanette’s house

March 10, 2024 Brunch - Fabes con almejas (Clam Fabada), Recital and dinner at Jeff’s and Jeanette’s house 

A awakened at 7:15 on the first day of daylight saving time for this year.

I made a cup of tea and heated and ate a chocolate Crepe and started watching Tottenham play Aston Villa but at the half when the score was 0 to 0, I turned to Fareed Zacharia for a few minutes and when I returned to the match Tottenham was up 2 scores to zero and McGinnis for Aston Villa had been ejected leaving Aston Villa with only ten players to Tottenham’s 11, and it fate sealed.

So I watched Fareed and the news until 10:30 when the biggest match of the week or month between No. 3 Man City and No. 2 Liverpool began.

I called willy and invited him over for Fabada and the match and he arrived about 1/2 hour later.

Suzette and I ate a bowl of fabes and clams with a glass of Pazo de Romanesque, one of the best Albarinos we drank at a large 300 year old vineyard in Spain-and then began making the enchiladas for the dinner party.

When Willy arrived we watched the second half of the Man City v. Liverpool match that ended in a 1 to 1 draw.  Then Willy scrambled two eggs and ate them as a topping to a bowl of Fabada topped with some of the red chili we made for his brunch.

Tortilla Casserole

I sliced two yellow squash, a chayote, 1 1/2 onions, a Pasilla chili, and 1/2 lb. of  mushrooms, and five or six cloves of garlic and fetched the requeson (Mexican cottage cheese) and shredded mozzarella from the garage.

Suzette I made 1 1/2 recipes of Josie’s chili sauce,

2 T. of canola oil cooked with 2 T. of flour and 2 cloves of garlic. Then we added 1/2 cup of Chimayo mild red chili and when all the lumps had dissolved we started adding 2 cups each of tomato juice and water to make a red .

Suzette sautéed the Pasilla chili, onion, and about 1 1/2 lb. of ground beef.

She also sautéed the chayote strips. Then we started constructing the casserole in a 10 x 18 inch Pyrex baking dish.

We sautéed blue corn tortillas in a small skillet 1/3 filled with the Josie red chili sauce and chicken stock we made several days ago until they softened and then lay the first layer of six in the baking dish.  Suzette then lay alternating rows of sautéed chayote and yellow squash slices and covered them with red chili. Then we  added another layer of sautéed blue corn tortillas and covered it with sautéed ground beef and diced Pasilla chili and covered that layer with red chili and shredded mozzarella.

Again we lay down another layer of sautéed blue corn tortillas and on this layer spread the sautéed mushrooms and covered them with requeson and drizzled this layer with red chili. 

We put on a final layer of sautéed tortillas and covered the top with the rest of the lb. of shredded mozzarella and red chili until the Pyrex dish was filled to the top edge with red chili.

Then Suzette baked the casserole in a 275 degree oven for an hour until the internal temperature of the casserole reached 165 degrees.

It was 2:00. I showered and shaved and dressed and then lay down to rest and fell  until 2:50,:when Suzette awakened me. I dressed and printed the map 

 When Peter came at 3:00 we fetched the enchiladas from the garage fridge and put Peter’s loaf of Panadaria Green Chili bread into the Highlander and drove to Jeff and Jeanette’s house in Placitas.  Their house is a lovely Adobe almost at the end of the roads that start from Tunnel Springs Rd. with fabulous views of the north end the Sandias.

We arrived early at 2:45 and reviewed cooking instructions with Jeff as he was filling  the queso chafing dish burner with alcohol.

Soon all the other five members in town arrived with their wives and we started drinking wine.  I tried a Scott Sauvignon Blanc that I did not like and then a Gruet Cabernet Franc that I liked very much. Also Frito corn chips and queso were served as an appetizer.

Before the recital by Jeannette, Jeff’s wife and our hostess, Jeff poured a bottle of 8.4% stout his brother in law made and we all went out on the porch for a photo to send to the brother in law.

Then we returned to the living room where chairs and a Schimmel baby grand piano were and enjoyed Jeannette’s playing and discussion of the historical context and construction of each piece of music. After the concert I asked her to describe her educational history and she mentioned that she took a master’s in music theory at Yale. Then a law degree and had recently retired as a lawyer and chosen to devote full time to her first love, piano.

After the recital, the potluck began. I was amazed how well coordinated the dishes were.  The Leo’s brought homemade flour tortillas,  there was a pot of Posole, a platter of Caprese salad, a tray of wonderful pork tamales, grapes, guacamole, Peter’s green Chile bread, our blue corn enchiladas, a platter of Joanna ‘s wonderful truffles, and lots of wine.

I enjoyed a bowl of Posole with a tamale, a square of enchilada, and a Caprese tomato, basil leaves, and slice of mozzarella with Gruet Cabernet Franc, then some Gruet Pinot Noir, and finally, Oaktree Red Blend.

We left around 6:30 about the last to leave.

When we returned home we watched a little TV and went to bed at 9:00.

Bon Appetit