Grilled asparagus

From Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali's book on Spain, a Culinary Trip, I took this recipe of asparagus, which I grilled with 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron pan at high temperature for about 4 minutes. Then to a plate and I squeezed on them some drops from a lemon and sprinkled sea salt: to the plate it went and then I ate it with great pleasure. Simplicity, few quality ingredients, the great flavors of Spanish cuisine.

Brownies

For Christmas time I cooked this indulgent recipe of brownies which I got from the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/womans-hour/cooktheperfect/perfect/brownies/). I preheated the oven to 350 F. I lined a glass baking tray with parchment paper. In a double boiler I heated 225 grams (2 bars) of chopped dark chocolate with 150 grams (10.5 tbs) of unsalted butter. In a large bowl I beat with an electric hand mixer 3 eggs, 125 grams of sugar (0.4 cup) and 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract from Madagascar, then I added a pinch of sea salt, 50 grams of all-purpose flour and 100 grams (1.25 cup) of chopped pecan, mixing it all very well. Finally I poured in the chocolate-butter mixture, kept mixing everything together and adorned with whole pecans once I put it inside the glass baking tray. I put it in the preheated oven and left it there for about 23 minutes, checking it to make sure it was barely done, puffy and crusty in the outside but moist in the inside. I took it out, let it cool and cut it into pieces with a knife. Served with vanilla ice cream, it provided a sweet and delicious treat for the Christmas days. 

Merry Christmas!

Caramelized pecans

What about some caramelized pecans to accompany your vanilla ice cream for dessert? In a pan I heated about 1/4 cup of brown sugar and a little glass of water, then added 1/2 cup of pecans and they started bubbling after some minutes, and then as a magic touch I poured a little bit of honey and a drop of Sherry vinegar. Then I took them off with the skimmer and let them cool off on a sheet of parchment baking paper. So indulgent and yummy!

Pisto manchego (grilled ratatouille)

Last Saturday was Saint Francis Xavier, my Saint's day, so I got a cook book as a present. It's Spain, a culinary road trip, by Mario Batali with Gwyneth Paltrow. So, to celebrate I made the first recipe of the book: the pisto manchego, which is a sort of grilled ratatouille. I put half the ingredients and then I realized I could have even reduced them even more since I had leftovers for some days after, it was so yummy anyway. I put 2 ripe plum tomatoes, half a medium to large eggplant, 2 red bell peppers and a red onion and rubbed them with 2 tablespoons of olive oil inside a baking tray. I roasted them in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes. I cooled them off outside, removed the skin as much as I could from the tomatoes and peeled the onions, scooped out the flesh of the eggplant and roughly chopped the vegetables, and finally chopped them a little bit more in a blender with 1/4 cup of Spanish olive oil (Goya brand from Seville). I seasoned the dish on the plates with salt and pepper and served it on toasted bread. It's a little different from the pisto gallego or andaluz that I usually make, but gorgeous and flavourful anyway.
Maybe next time I'll have a glass of red wine from La Mancha to go with it to make it perfect.

¡Buen provecho!

Chimichurri pork steaks

Listening to the tango rhythms of Argentina one evening I decided to make this dish of chimichurri sauce pork steaks. So I bought 4 little pork steaks at Buschs supermarket and grilled them in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil, about 3 tablespoons. For the chimichurri sauce I bought this spice bag at World Market:
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11500210
for just two bucks. In a small glass I poured a little bit of olive oil, about a third of it of Sherry vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the chimichurri sauce flakes. The ingredients of the spice bag, by the way, were: garlic, parsley, oregano and sweet pepper flakes (maybe next time I'll prepare the mix myself). Once the steaks were golden brown, medium rare, I took them off the pan and to the plates and sprinkled them with the sauce helped with a teaspoon. I accompanied the dish with some sweet potato fries, which I fried in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. I'm not eating that much red meat lately, so the taste to my mouth was like heaven, wow, I felt like a gaucho in the middle of the pampa, haha. I had an excellent red wine to go with it: I should've chosen a Mendoza or something but I had a good old Rioja (Lan brand) this time, which can never go wrong.