Cooking in Spain - lunch fishes

Salmonetes (red mullet) with a parsley, garlic,  lemon sauce

Sardines simmered in a sauce of onion, garlic, red peppers, tomatoes, cumin, olive oil, lemon

Cooking in Spain - breakfasting

Cooking in Spain - skate with parsley sauce

This little wooden mortar and pestle I sniffed at first of all - but it's actually great!

The Skate we just popped on the grill and it was delicious with a quick parsley sauce [ parsley, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper ]

Cooking in Spain - the tapas terracotta

These clay dishes you get in Spain are great for cooking in. Throw a load of tasty things in there with some olive oil and garlic and let it bubble away til you're ready to eat. We just popped the dish on top of the BBQ and it worked great.

White asparagus, mushrooms, chorizo, garlic

Green beans (judias) and chorizo

The classic gambas pil pil. Prawns with chili and garlic.

Setas. Mushrooms with garlic and parsley.

Cooking in Spain - rabbit in almond suace

So delicious. Rabbit simmered in a Spanish sauce of almonds, onion, parsley, saffron, clove, cinnamon, garlic, paprika, white wine.

Cooking in Spain - dorada

Dorada in Spain is I believe sea bream - just grilled simply.

 Sliced lemon, dill, fresh bay leaves.

Cooking in Spain - polverones

Lisa baked up these delicious cookies with flour butter sugar and cinnamon

Cooking in Spain - skewers on the grill

Chorizo and setas

Lisa's shrimp, setas, and serrano ham skewers.

Cooking in Spain

It's summer and I'm spending a week in Andalucia. No camera cable means all the feasting snaps will have to wait til I get back to the house. So a mini pausa on the blog til then.

A 40th Wedding Anniversary

My parents celebrated 40 years of marriage this August and we threw them a big party for about 80 of their friends. I didn't get to take a stack of photos as we were run off our feet - so here's a few snaps, and the menu for the day.

Spanish pickled garlic

Guacamole

[ avocado, lime juice, chili, white onion, cumin, oregano, marjoram, cilantro ]

Smoked salmon with Irish brown bread, cream cheese and capers

Asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto

Grilled marinated steaks

[ Marinated 24 hours in olive oil, garlic, sage, rosemary, bay, thyme, red wine vinegar ]

Chicken marinated in lemons and thyme

Salmon parcels with white wine, olive oil, thyme, lemon, butter

Muhammara 

[ pureed roasted red pepper sauce with ground walnuts and pomegranate molasses ]

Tahini lemon sauce

[ tahini, garlic, salt, lemon juice, water ]

Fresh Pesto

[ basil, pine nuts, parmesan, olive oil, salt, lemon zest ]

Mushroom sauce

[ onion, garlic, mushrooms, reduced with thyme, red wine, tomatoes ]

Citrus chimmichurri

[ oregano, parsley, garlic, smoked paprika, olive oil, orange juice, orange zest ]

Caprese salad

Potato salad

Arugula salad

Pasta salad

Fennel and orange salad

A trio of ruby desserts

Red velvet cup cakes

Pink Cava and wild strawberry gelée

Citrus tofu cheesecake with summer berry coulis

Afternoon tea at Lisa's

Lisa made all these amazing treats without the use of an oven. She had to use her neighbour's as hers was kaput, so much ferrying around of baked goods in the Irish summer rains. 

 

Super sticky ginger cake, shortbread and scones with strawberries and cream. 

And lemon ginger tea.

Colour coded plane food

Aer Lingus, the national airline. Every flight of theirs I've been on ever has had the same two options - chicken or beef. This is sweet and sour chicken and rice. The rice was done with cardamon and curry, which offered a jarring contrast with the sub-Uncle Ben's sauce that had more orange than taste. Fusion! The bread rolls they serve cannot be usually eaten with teeth, so Quoc had the novel idea of heating them into semi-softness under his tray of beef.

8 years later

Tod and I had 60 minutes to spare on our way to SFO from Bakersfield
so we did a quick 20 minute tour of the old haunts and the stopped by
the legendary Taqueria Cancun on Mission street for a perfect San
Francisco burrito. Pollo asado super burrito with horchata. Just as
delicious as I remembered.

Meaty huevos rancheros at Pappy's Bakersfield

With stewed pork on top and chili underneath the eggs. This place
takes the biscuit too for most taxidermy in a diner ever - bison
badger coyote raccoon buffalo bobcat and zebra.

Pea soup Andersen's - Highway 5

An odd place with a bit of a Butlin's feel. They're famous for their pea soup. You get refills on the soup if you don't puncture the soft bread bowl.

Pasta with Caponata

Onion, Eggplant, raisins, chili, pine nuts, tomato, cocoa, thyme, balsamic vinegar

Caramel chicken and greens

Vietnamese caramel black pepper chicken [ fish sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, water, chili, rice vinegar, black pepper] sauteed shallots + add chicken and sauce mix

Sauteed greens [ mustard, collard, kale, onions, smoked turkey ]

Two dips

Baba Ghanoush
بابا غنوج
Grilled whole eggplant peeled and pureed with garlic, tahini, cumin, lemon juice, salt

Salsa Verde
Tomatillos, jalapeño, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, nigella, cilantro

Peppers, Aubergines, Tomatoes

Snacks and dinner.

An instant bite from the fridge: a crispy corn tortilla with baba ghanoush, tomato and basil.

Smoked paprika chicken with peppers, capers, anchovy, onion, garlic, tomatoes, oregano, marjoram, thyme, chili.

Chili Harvest

The first fully ripened chilies from our plants. Cayenne and Jalapeño.

Farm share bonanza

This week is top notch at the Farm Share.
Kale, beets, peppers, aubergines, onions, garlic, tomatoes, baby lettuces, and fresh herbs.

Grilled Eggplant

Grilled eggplant with zataar, lemon juice, salt, and labneh

Saturday Brunch

From the CSA farm share this week. Melon and heirloom tomatoes.

Scrambled eggs with kale [ onion, garlic, crushed fennel seeds, tuscan kale, eggs, parmesan ]

Heirloom tomato salad [ tomato, basil, salt ]

Summer vegetables

Rainbow chard, pine nuts, raisins, chili, sherry vinegar, olive oil

Blanched carrots, Moroccan preserved lemons, cumin, pepper, coriander, lemon juice, olive oil, salt