Back to the roots

With my aunt here visiting from Germany (she's staying with Mama), Mama is trying to cater a bit to her (food) tastes and also make it a little easy on her. While I was toodling about with Auntie, taking her here and there Mama called on the mobile - what about Sauerkraut, Kartoffeln und Wurst for lunch...all of us together?

Hey! I love Mama's Sauerkraut - it is the best - and sausages I hadn't had in ages. Potatoes of course can't go missing with this dinner either. So there it was waiting for us at the back terrace, a nice old fashioned dinner, one I hadn't had in ages. Auntie and Mama had the obligatory beer with this dinner and my husband and I our wine (I can't stand beer).

One of these days I am going to have to get Mama to tell me her recipe rather than me being on the recieving end of a small pot of it and I will post it for the site or here for all posterity.

I felt so good after this meal. Was it just being all together, Mama's great sauerkraut, the treat of real German sausages, the wind in the pines, the lively chatter? Or was it that flashback connection to childhood?

Whatever it was today, it was a little bit of nostalgia. Edible memories.

Garlic Soup - Keeping the Vampires Away

My tastebuds have been pestering me for days to "pleasepleaseplease can we have garlic soup again". Now that I know will put a big smile on Reggie's face.

Sopa de Ajo, as it is called here in Spain is made all over the Iberian Peninsula with very little regional variations. Except in fancy restaurants. Or at Villa Contessa - my place under the Spanish sun. All you need is a broth, preferably chicken, paprika, (at least) day old bread, olive oil and lots of garlic and any peasant was happy. The magic of this simple soup is in the hands of the cook. It can be as boring as dishwater like we have experienced in a few restaurants or simply exciting. Reggie thinks my garlic soup is exciting and ah...well, not to feign modesty, my Toasted Garlic Soup Provençal is really REALLY tasty.

My little bit of magic is that I'm not particularly loyal to neither the Spanish nor French Provencel classics. A little inspiration from both, yes. And a good splash of red wine and let's not forget the thyme. The secret to that super quick, super nourishing soup, believe it or not is the ONE spice clove and the red wine. Sherry will do it fine too. Yes, besides the 8 (big) garlic cloves, ONE spice clove. Eyebrows down, now. :>D If you have 'problems' with garlic, most likely you won't with this soup. The secret is toasting them first with the almonds.

Oh and it was just what we needed today...that, a loaf of bread, red wine, sigh. Smiles all around, even my dog, Tosca asks for more!

Almost forgot, second course was a quick vegetable dish of a few leaves of savoy cabbage, French green beans, leek dish, a few potatoes (with a few other little secrets) followed by very thin lamb medallions tossed in olive oil, thyme and grated pepper. The potatoes I lifted out of the vegetables and kept them warm for serving with the lamb. Took less than 3 minutes to sear them in a hot pan to which I added a few spoons of my homemade tomato sauce.

I, like the Spanish, Italians and a few other cultures like eating in courses - one focuses and appreciates the flavour of each dish. An epicurean thing, I suppose. Besides, then I am sure Reggie will eat more than a forkfull of vegetables.

My tastebuds always remind me when I've neglected something special. Or maybe my tastebuds listen to my body's needs?

No matter. I always listen to them both. Besides, the soup works. No vampires around here!

(Try my soup soon - and comment back here and let me know!)

Stuffed Aubergine (Eggplant - Memories of Turkey

Eggplant, onions, tomatoes - all that and more is the Mediterranean - but it's what a culture does with those basic ingredients that make all the difference in this part of the world.

I DO enjoy Turkish food. And I miss Turkey, so at the moment the closest I can get is to make my own. One of my favourite dishes is the classic Imam Bayildi (or roughly translated - the 'imam fainted' because it was so delicious). It is simple enough to make but I cheated and put in just a little ground lamb in this otherwise vegetarian dish.

Do they look like aubergine halves? No, they are whole aubergines but after frying a little, one of the strips (one peels away a few) is slit halfway through, spread open a little and filled. These in the photo are ready to be popped into the oven, after the lemon water gets added.

It's all explained here in the recipe. If you've never been to that part of the site (Turkish or Spanish) don't be shocked. It's never been 'conformed' into the look of the main site. Bright, isn't it? I'll get to that too at one point.

Though these are often served as an appetizer (purist style - without the meat) they are enough for me as a main. So I normally serve a bulgar pilaf or rice with these. But today it was parboiled new russet potatoes that finished baking with the aubergines.

I also had lovely, slender greenbeans. Tastebuds said lemon zest and mint would be perfect and harmonize with the rest of the flavours. They were right, it was and did.

My tastebuds always win. ;>D

Bulgur Question - How to Make It

Today I received a good question: how to make bulgur (bulghur) yourself? Not, what's the recipe for _____(fill in blank) using bulgur, but how to make it at home.

Hmmm...I have an article on my site about cracked wheat and bulgur with lots of information, but it doesn't address making it yourself. So after drawing on the bits of info under cobwebs at the back of my brain and consulting various books I have - I wrote another article. This one addresses the question and more. Like what are wheat berries? Once you know that, you know...you'll sleep much better tonight. ;>)

My husband says what makes HIM sleep better at night, is something simple and old fashioned - the poached egg on toast I make for him in the late evening.

What helps ME sleep better at night? Knowing I've done something useful...for someone else or for me (like the long wandering about I did today in the fields enjoying the spring bounty and hanging out with the poppies).

Hmmm...or maybe its the hot oatmilk with the occasional...err...splash of rum? ;>D

Vanilla - the Secret Ingredient

The vanilla bean (a pod, really) is definitely one of those flavourings that speak to all the senses. It intrigues the nose and tastebuds, is included in many perfumes, it is exciting, tantalizing, sultry. Simply sensual. And orchids are my favourite flower anyway.

And it is often the secret ingredient in fine foods. Vanilla lifts when used in savoury dishes, deepens and intensifies chocolate, gives coffee another dimension and is the base flavour used in almost all bakery goods.

The first time I had a memorable moment was unexpectedly in a delicate sauce for a fish and seafood dish in Belgium. Since then, I've been pleasantly surprised with its subtle presence in a sauce with pork filet or even a beef stew with the most exquisite sauce that also had cognac in it or Lobster with a vanilla beurre blanc sauce. Food for the god(esses).

My own versatile Vanomon Sauce is one I use sometimes in one variation or another and it always intrigues my newer guests. Little do they know I really am incorporating it for me, I love it!

I've also written an article at the Epicurean Digest here on vanilla.

But the bean is difficult to find here where I live in Spain. And quality is always a problem. I am happy to share with you an excellent source for the finest quality, truly gourmet vanilla products from Madagascar. They have an amazing array - this is a must visit site: The Vanilla Shop. Enjoy!

Keeping Warm Yoghurt from Parting Wheys

You'll have to pardon the pun in the title, but if you ever tried to warm yoghurt, stir it into something hot or make a warm yoghurt sauce, you will appreciate what I mean. Yoghurt notoriously separates when warmed just that one degree more than what it feels comfortable about.

Yoghurt, the lesser of the two caloric evils when wheying...er...weighing it's value against creme fraiche curdles when stirred into a hot soup, separates when trying to warm it enough to use with hot foods. Even topped over meat, such as lamb or chicken and baked, well, less than satisfying.

But, I have my wheys...sorry, veys...er ways. I borrow a trick from Indian cooking and stir in a teaspoon or so of flour into about a 250 ml. cup of yoghurt. That gets stirred into the hot whatever and you can keep it just under the simmer or even forget a moment and it will NOT separate.

So, you can make a nice, quick, warm yoghurt sauce for vegetables such as asparagus or any other vegetable you may want to dip it into - broccoli, carrot, cauliflower and on baked potato? Ummm, yes! Just season as you like...a little lemon juice, chives, a little melted butter or olive oil. Stir fresh chopped dill into it or other favourite combination. Or garlic. Make it spicy with a little favourite 'heat' such as harissa, sambal olek. Use it with salmon.

And me? All of the above - not because I am concerned about calories but because I really like yoghurt, especially the yoghurt I make from the goat's milk I can get here.

What did I have for lunch today? Just something simple. I cooked a simple pilaf with basmati rice and lambbroth I had unthawed. Warmed the yoghurt with the flour, added a few drops of lemon, lots of dill, mint and parsley. Mounded the rice in a small volcano, poured over the sauce and drizzled with a little melted butter - something borrowed from turkish cuisine. Oh yes, I garnished with pan toasted almonds and pinenuts (staples I always have on hand). Salad of cucumber, tomato and red onion. A glass of red wine, soothing music...

My tastebuds and I were in heaven over this simple fare. My husband frowned as he worked his way through his steak and potatoes, thankful for that and not what I was having - the thought of yoghurt makes HIM curdle!

Hey! The cook has to cook for 'her' sometimes, no?

Something Fishy - To Scale or Not To Scale

Along the huge coastal areas of Spain, fish and seafood are the mainstay of any restaurant or home meal. This translates to one or the other or both for many a few times a week...and perhaps tapas of mussels, grilled squid or octopus in between. If you live along the northern coasts such as Galicia or the Basque region...it may be almost daily.

The Spanish are generally very casual about their fish. But whether the scales stay on or are scraped off always depends on how it will be prepared.

The question of the day, asked by an acquaintance was "Don't they always remove the scales? Back home in England they ALWAYS do". (And I always cringe a little when I hear the old 'back home...' part peppered in obligatorily, even by those who live here 15 years.)

To scale or not to scale...depends on whether it will be panfried, grilled, baked in a salt covering or if it will be your next stew.

Scales protect the tender fish from quick, but high direct heat such as grilling, even those iron grills for on top of the cooker (stove). Panfrying a fish with small scales, such as sole doesn't require scaling as they will literally disappear. Not so with a fish with larger scales such as a gilthead bream (dorada). They are also left on when baking the fish in salt - a particularly delicious way to prepare fish that does not leave the fish 'salty' at all but exceptionally moist.

Cooking fish in sauces or more liquid such as a stew, then yes - they are always removed.

But even with the scales mistakenly left on, if you understand HOW to eat a fish - deboning it as you go or filleting it first before serving on a warmed plate - the scales will come off with the skin, if you have been neat about it...

...but perhaps that is a subject for another tutorial (one day) on my site!