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.

Spanish-Style Braised Squid

Every once in a while, someone will ask me how we get Bug to eat the food I feature on the blog. Well, in this case, I will openly admit that she didn't eat this - she had her own "kid dinner" and then we ate this meal post-bedtime. Now, she loves calamari (code: fried food) but she wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole. And as much as I would love to "expose" her to a new food, to be quite frank, that would have ruined my meal if I had to spend it cajoling and convincing her to take a single bite.

Right before I left on my summer vacation, I found a galley of Emeril Lagasse's new cookbook Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh in the office and took it. One of the first meals I made was this Spanish-Style Braised Squid:

It was the type of dish that transports you to another place because it just doesn't seem possible that you're sitting in your apartment in Queens, tasting something so fresh and straight-from-the-ocean. In fact, it was sort of a cruel joke. I should have been enjoying it from some cozy vacation home nestled on some beach in Spain, right? Well, I was very much grounded in New York, on the 17th floor of my apartment building, and this was the next best thing to actually being abroad.

Spanish-Style Braised Squid

by Emeril Lagasse

1/4 c. olive oil

3/4 c. sliced onions

3 tbsp. sliced garlic

1/2 c. dry white wine, such as Albarino

1 lb. squid, tentacles removed and reserved, bodies cut into thin rings

3 tsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano leaves

1 1/2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. nonpareil capers, drained (I omitted these - I don't like capers)

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

Generous 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. hot pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika)

Warm crusty bread, for serving

1. Combine the olive oil and onions in a large saute pan (I used nonstick) over medium heat, and cook until the onions are beginning to caramelize, 3-4 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes longer (watch it closely so it doesn't burn!). Add the white wine and reduce for 2 minutes. Add the squid (tentacles and rings), parsley, oregano, lemon juice, capers (if you want), salt, pepper, and paprika. Cook until the squid is tender, 5-6 minutes.

2. Serve with the crusty bread

4-6 tapas-size servings (I just made this 2 entree-size servings)

The only thing I would change about this is add another 1/4 tsp. or so of paprika next time. The recipe could have done with more smokiness, I think. Otherwise, this recipe was incredibly simple and easy...but you would never guess from the richness of flavor and texture.

Eat, drink, and travel vicariously through food.

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...

Chorizo is my new boyfriend.

So I'm going through a stage where I crave chorizo kinda like I craved mozzarella sticks back when I was pregnant.  I think it's all the Spain...On the Road Again that I'm watching.  

I made the menu up for last week and put Patricia Wells' Pork Sausage with Potatoes and Red Wine Vinaigrette on the list.  Which calls for "plump, coarse-textured smoked pork sausage, such as kielbasa".  Two pounds of it.  I don't know what happened, though, because I went to Whole Foods and stood at the meat counter, staring at the soft chorizo.  The man asked what I wanted and out of my mouth flew: "Two pounds of chorizo, please!"

And it turned out just fantastic:

Patricia Wells recommends a Beaujolais with her Frenchy version of this dish, but I went with a Sangiovese and Adam drank it with...some beer...probably a Dogfish Head.

CHORIZO WITH POTATOES AND RED WINE VINAIGRETTE

Adapted from Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells

2 lbs. soft pork chorizo

8 small-medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed

Several fresh or dried bay leaves

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1 cup red wine

1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 c. red-wine vinegar

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves for garnish

1. In a large saucepan, combine potatoes and bay leaves.  Cover with cold water.  Bring to a gentle simmer and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are cooked through, about 20 minutes.

2. Heat a skillet on med-high heat (I used stainless - nonstick doesn't give it the same crust...and you really shouldn't cook meat in your nonstick anyway).  Cook the chorizo until browned on all sides, about 4 minutes on each side.  Set on cutting board to rest.

3. In the same pan that you cooked the sausage in, pour the red wine and reduce to 1/4 c. over high heat.  Add the oil and vinegar and whisk to blend.  Taste for seasoning.

4. Drain and cut the potatoes and the sausage into 1-inch chunks.  Put on platter and drizzle with the warm vinaigrette.  Garnish with parsley leaves and serve hot.

I also cut some thick slices of crusty baguette, brushed each slice with olive oil, and grilled it.  It was excellent for sopping up the vinaigrette.

Eat, drink, and always have bread available to soak up meat juices!

Airline Food, Red-Wine Soaked Fried Bread, and Homegrown Stimulus

Once again, I find myself having to apologize for the dearth of blog posting lately. You see, I have a glittering, sparkling day-to-day life that often prevents me from writing as much as I like - I'm terribly busy and important doing any number of fabulous things.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And as is customary when I've been absent awhile, everyone else has still been blogging. I have found all kinds of fantastic treasures in my Bloglines and email inbox:

• The List Universe has put together the Top 10 Most Overrated Novels. I'm down with Emma being on that list, especially when compared with Austen's other work. The listmakers got the right one; if they had stuck Sense and Sensibility on there I would have had some choice words for them. However...the Lord of the Rings trilogy?! They're out of their minds...or they're just as bad as those trolls that come along and say useless things with the sole purpose of pissing people off.


• I heard from Ellen at Avec Sucre...who heard from Clotilde...about this complaint letter sent to Sir Richard Branson regarding the food on a Virgin flight from Mumbai to London. Funny, funny stuff, my friends. Read it and weep.
  


• ALA has posted the phone calls made to the authors and illustrators for the Youth Media Awards at ALA Midwinter. Fun stuff! My favorites were Laurie Halse Anderson saying over and over, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" and when hearing that she would be invited to be on the Today show Beth Krommes said, "I watch that show every morning!" For the record, I found Neil Gaiman's swearing hilarious!
  


• In yet another intersection of food and children's literature, Readers' Books in Sonoma has a fantastic display idea: "homegrown stimulus package." In addition to having child-friendly books like Tillie Lays an Egg and Extraordinary Chickens on display, they also have locally grown eggs and will soon have local produce and preserves. Talk about exemplifying the idea of community! Thanks to my daily Shelf Awareness email for that tidbit.
  


• I can't believe I'm admitting this but...I found a version of milk chocolate that I actually like. Café-Tasse has been my chocolate of choice for awhile (with Dagoba, Vosges, and Scharffenberger making cameo appearances). My favorite Café-Tasse bar has been the Noir-Café (dark chocolate with coffee); however, I unintentionally grabbed the Lait-Café last time I was at the store. Well, you heard it from me first: it's Really Good. Incredibly creamy, equally rich. And it doesn't taste all jacked up on sugar. Granted, I'm not converted - I'll still go for the Noir. But I will thoroughly enjoy the Lait while it lasts. (And this all reminds me of an article in the NY Times a year ago today about milk chocolate making a comeback. I scoffed a year ago but now...)
  


• I'm a geek and here's why: I get the email updates about Spain...On the Road Again. I've been watching the show casually and enjoying it. It would be so wonderful to make some of the food that they eat but I feel that part of the reason it looks and sounds so good is because it is local to Spain. I'm just not going to get the same freshness of produce and seafood here...because, you know, I'm in NYC in February. Nevertheless, I might have to try this recipe. To quote Mario: "Fried bread soaked in wine...dangerous." Indeed. Here's it is:

TORRIJAS

Serves 6

* 3 cups olive oil
* 2 cups dry Spanish wine
* 3 large eggs
* Eighteen half–inch–thick slices crusty Spanish bread (or substitute a baguette)
* 1/4 cup sugar, mixed with 1/4 cup ground cinnamon

* Mosto (recipe for Mosto follows below)

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat until it reaches 365 degrees Farenheit. Meanwhile, pour the wine into a large shallow bowl, add the bread, and let soak for 8 minutes. In another shallow bowl, beat the eggs until well mixed. Working in batches, remove the bread from the wine, draining well, add to the eggs, and let soak for 2 minutes; drain well, add to the hot oil, and cook for until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, drizzle with mosto, and serve to friends.

Mosto: Boil 3 cups of dry red wine with 1 cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a splash of fresh apple cider until it is reduced by three-quarters (it will be thick and syrupy). Allow it to cool, then store it in a clean wine bottle. Use whenever you need a sweet, grapey punch, in everything from a salad dressing to an ice cream topping.

• I have only very recently discovered the blog of my two new friends, Cindy and Lynn. They reviewed Dear Julia and I loved what they had to say. I hadn't made the parallel between Zemser and Joan Bauer but I think Cindy is right on.

Eat, drink, and beware of that food on Virgin...or any airline really.

Tomato controversy!

Read one of my favorite sections of the NYT this morning: the Travel section (the Real Estate section makes my heart race too). The front page article, "Spain's Quiet Corner" by Sarah Wildman, has a fabulous quote by the movie-director-winemaker Jose Luis Cuerda:

"Wine is bottled time," he mused at one point. "It is a whole year encapsulated in a bottle. And that has something similar to cinema, which is also a simulation of bottled time."

God, if only we could all be so eloquent! Read the article. It'll make you want to hop a flight immediately to Galicia. Anyone care to join me?

The other thing is...well...I'm having a bit of a dilemma. In my last post I mentioned that I got some plum tomatoes from the little market down the street. Remember? Well, last night I was cutting them up and looking at the clamshell case they came in...And I discovered they were from HOLLAND! Holland!!!! Well, doesn't that just go against all the Farm Bill/local food/sustainable agriculture I've been spewing about since I started this blog! I was shocked! Holland?!?!

So here's the dilemma...

They were about the sweetest, juiciest, most decadent things I've ever eaten. They were like little pieces of candy. Some of the Best I Have Ever Had. On the one hand, I can't possibly boycott the things simply because they're not local and sustainable, can I? I mean, eating them was an experience. But on the other hand, shouldn't I boycott them? It's not responsible, it's not sustainable...why would I eat something that had to be flown in a plane to me? But they're soooooo gooooood. Anyone have thoughts on this? I'm conflicted.