Gwyneth

I feel weird admitting this but I have ambivalent feelings about Gwyneth Paltrow. I saw her in Sliding Doors first, then Shakespeare in Love (with a small detour at Moonlight and Valentino - LOVED the scene where she's playing air drums!)...and decided that if I were to look like anyone else but me, I'd want to look like her. And there's a little of the WWGD feeling in me: What Would Gwyneth Do? She's impeccably groomed, well-spoken, engaging, glamorous, fashionable...so how would I react to a situation if I were as seemingly pulled-together and self-possessed as Gwyn?

Then I saw Spain...On the Road Again with Gwyneth, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Claudia Bassols and only adored her more. I mean, BFFs with Michael Stipe?! Those big sunglasses and pashminas?! Yes, please.

Then GOOP happened. And I got pissed off. Why? Because I have real issues with celebrities who try to claim "I'm just an ordinary person." That attempt to make us believe that they're just like us little people. Um, no, you're not. I could go on a rampage here, but I'm certain I don't need to - you know what I'm getting at. Long rant short: no, you're not like me. And until you're in my shoes, stop proclaiming to be. I totally felt like Gwyneth went there.

So I cook recipes from Spain...A Culinary Road Trip with ambivalence these days. Like tonight. I was desperate for something to cook tonight and ultimately turned to Spain. And I found it: Pan Con Tomate and Catalan-Style Spinach. With a side of jamon Serrano? Yes, please. This is what happened:

It was heaven. Exactly what I asked for. Simple and easy to make, but the flavors were gorgeous and refreshing. Unbeknownst to me when I planned the meal, it also straddled the changing seasons perfectly: it was comforting and warm, but still seasonal and fresh.

You'll notice that I changed up the Pan Con Tomate recipe a bit. I had plum tomatoes on hand. I split one in half and rubbed it all over the bread, like the recipe said. All kinds of pulpy juiciness all over that charred bread. But I still had two tomatoes left over. So I chopped them up and tossed them with salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Spread them over the bread. Finished with flaky salt and lots of pepper.

Also, I didn't have the dried currants that were called for in the spinach recipe so I used dried cranberries to great effect. Definitely feel free to substitute.

So, dammit, GP still wins. The score? Gwyneth: 4, Laura: 0 (reference the migas, as well as the empanadas and tortilla espanola). She and Mario make a killer cookbook and travel memoir - perhaps I should forgive her GOOP and just channel her fabulousness.

Eat, drink, and be okay with who you are...even if it's not Gwyneth.

Forgotten photos

Recently I've mentioned two meals I have made but I was unable to provide photos at the time: Migas and Burg's French Toast.

I made Migas from Spain: A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali with Gwyneth Paltrow (click on link above for recipe) while my parents were visiting and, again recently, for a simple family dinner.  It's a great option for cooking with kids because few kids will say no to toasted bread crumbs as dinner!  If they eat the accompanying roasted peppers, chorizo, and pancetta as well, well then that's even better!  I also serve it with a bunch of grapes.  Here is how it turned out:

I also made Burg's French Toast from Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life a few weeks ago...and we just made them for the third time this morning.  It's officially our go-to recipe (again, you can click the link above for the recipe).  The great thing about it is that you can really change it according to your tastes; for instance, Molly doesn't add freshly grated nutmeg to her recipe...and I can't imagine french toast without it.  So I add it to taste.  Ultimately, it's about the bread and egg combo.  We use a porous (but not tooooo much) bread and cut off the crusts (the crusts just get too hard and crunchy, in our experience).  And we soak the bread for ages -  about 3 -5 minutes.  That way you get the really crunchy exterior and custard-like interior.  This morning we even made it using entirely local ingredients: the bread, syrup, eggs, and cream (we made whipped cream to go on top) were all bought locally at Union Square market.  Outstanding.

Eat, drink, and cheers to a 3-day weekend well-spent!

Spain...On the Road Again (The Book)

Like all good librarians, I check books out from my local library.  Like a bad librarian, I love to write in my books...which is why I am a book buyer.  I dog-ear to mark my place and I love using a highlighter to mark special passages.  And my cookbooks are the worst: they've been dog-eared and highlighted...but I also spill things on them and make all kinds of notes for each recipe I try.  I'd feel bad except that I feel that I'm personalizing my books and, years from now, perhaps my grandchildren will read all my notes and be able to see the passages I loved and it'll make it all more personal.  But what I do with cookbooks is check them out from the library first and try some recipes to see if the book is worth buying.  If I like the test group, then I'll go ahead and buy it so I can start making my notes.  

I recently checked out Spain: A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali "with Gwyneth Paltrow."  And the first three recipes were a smashing success.

I made the Tortilla Espanola* first, and it was simple beyond belief.  I didn't change a thing from the recipe and, as it suggested, I served it with jamon and a salad for dinner:

The second dish I made was the empanada.  This one surprised me a bit because I'm used to eating empanadas in restaurants where they come more individually packaged.  This dish confused me as to the difference between calzone and empanada (is it just the difference between Italian and Spanish?).  Either way, the flavor was rich and outstanding.  I halved the recipe for Adam, Bug, and me and it was more than enough for the three of us: I had enough leftovers for two lunches.  And be careful on the cooking time - I cooked it about 27 minutes and it was about 7-9 minutes too long - perhaps because I had halved the recipe.  Anyway, watch the cooking time:

The last dish was the migas, and it was both unique and simple.  The flavor was insane.  I did modify the heck out of this one.  Unfortunately, I don't have photos (my parents were here and I didn't want to be all weird and bloggy about our dinner)...but here is my version of the recipe:

4 c. bread crumbs (I used a baguette)

2 c. panko bread crumbs (I ran out of baguette)

1/3 c. olive oil

6 garlic cloves, not peeled

1/2 lb. Spanish chorizo, casings removed and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 lb. pancetta in one piece, cut into 1/2-inch dice

A large bunch of grapes

4 roasted red peppers, peeled, seeded, and cut into wide strips

Tear up approximately 1/2 a baguette into a food processor.  Process until roughly ground.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat.  Add the garlic and stir until lightly browned and fragrant, 1-2 minutes.  Add the chorizo and pancetta and cook, stirring, until the meat is lightly browned and starting to render its fat, about 8 minutes.  Add the bread crumbs (baguette and panko), mix thoroughly, and cook, stirring, until the crumbs are lightly browned (the crumbs are going to soak up all the oil and pork fat - I told you it was insane).  Serve with the grapes and roasted peppers (peel the cloves if you like, or let your guests do it...I peeled mine).

The only thing I would change about this one is I would double the garlic.  Seriously.  The garlic ends up getting roasted in its skin so it's incredibly soft and sweet.  It takes each bite to the next level and we all ended up fighting over the measly 6 cloves in the recipe.

So this makes it official: this cookbook is a buyer!  I'm looking forward to writing notes in the margins for posterity!

Eat, drink, and be okay with owning a book by Gwyneth Paltrow.

* Apologies for my lack of proper accents on the Spanish words.  Does anyone know how to do this on Blogger?  Normally I just import from Google Docs, but...

Tender morsels

I work on a 24-hour-a-day clock (unfortunately) but the world around me seems to be going double-time today. Thus, I only have time for some happy linkage:

• Check out Diablo Cody's "In Praise of Judy Blume" article in EW. As if we didn't already know how awesome she is (Diablo and Judy...)! Thanks to my Child_lit listserv for the link.
• Deborah Wiles has a lovely account of Coleen Salley's funeral in New Orleans. What a fitting celebration for such a good-hearted, spunky woman! The world needs more people like Coleen. Thanks to Educating Alice for the info.
• Dear god, Gwyneth Paltrow apparently is starting her own lifestyle website? To "nourish the inner aspect"? And she claims that her life is good because she is "not passive about it"? This comes second-hand from Thursday Night Smackdown - the website isn't up yet - but I'm already feeling all cringey about it. And I love Gwyneth. But this could be going too far. Especially with everything going on economically, socially, and politically. So not the time for self-promotion and flaunted privilege. If she starts a magazine, I'm losing ALL respect. (Here's more info from US Magazine. I felt betrayed reading this because I do love her. But ugh.)
• Alison at Shelf Talker has a spectacular rant about Urban Outfitters and their blatant sexism (my words, not Alison's) in the literary t-shirt department. Come on, UO! Get a friggin CLUE!
• Last but not least, the real-life And Tango Makes Three penguins have broken up. Apparently Silo has left Roy for a female penguin...and Roy sits in a corner alone, staring at the wall. The best part is the end quote by one of the authors of the book: "We wrote the book to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families. It's no more an argument in favor of human gay relationships than it is a call for children to swallow their fish whole or sleep on rocks." Hee-hee! If only it were that easy, no?

Eat, drink, and celebrate banned books week!

UPDATE: Oh, you're all going to wish I had got my information right when you see this, but I did not. Gwyneth Paltrow's site is actually up and running. I present you with GOOP. Indeed...

Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali: an unlikely pair

Thanks to Food Maven, I found out about this upcoming PBS documentary series: "Spain...On the Road Again". Gwyneth Paltrow*, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and "Spanish star" Claudia Bassols road-trip around Spain, eating and day-spaing their way around the country. I'm already in love with this series and it doesn't even start until this fall (it vaguely reminds me of my beloved "Long Way Round"**). Damn. Oh, how I love to live vicariously through others' adventures abroad. In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure:



* I can't explain it, but I completely love Gwyneth.

** I love Gwyneth, but I love Ewan more.