Tuna and cucumber sandwich

Last weekend I made this simple sandwich which turned out pretty good: First I toasted the yummy sesame seed bread ($1/loaf) from the Cottage Inn restaurant in A2. Then I mixed a can of tuna in olive oil, mayonnaise, chopped cucumber and white onion in a bowl, pressing and whisking it all together. Then I spread the mix in one of the toasts and on the other I sprinkled Spanish olive oil and I put a slice of tomato. I put both halves together and served the sandwich with sweet potato fries (fried in sunflower oil) with sea salt. It was crunchy and surprisingly well balanced, a tasty simple dinner for nightly enjoyment.

My eater number one (my wife Mishi) and eater number two (my visiting niece Willow) loved them "bocadillos" ; )

Eggplant-tomato ships with Camembert cargo

Tonight for dinner I cooked this tasty tapa for my niece Willow and, of course, for Michelle and myself. I took it from the excellent book The Best 100 Tapas, by Esperanza Luca de Tena, which features easy to make little dishes with a clear Southern Spanish colour.
I took a medium size eggplant, peeled it and sliced it quite thin. Then I soaked the slices in salty water for ten minutes. I heated in a pot a can of tomato sauce. Then I rinsed the slices, battered them in flour and fried them in a pan with very hot olive oil from Córdoba. After that I put them in a plate, set the tomato sauce on top with a spoon, then slices of finely cut Camembert cheese over it and I sprinkled on top the delicately aromatic oregano leaves. It gets cold quite fast, so either you eat them quickly or nuke it in the microwave before eating for about 17 seconds. It just melts in your mouth, it has full taste and it's rather light to enjoy for dinner. With ships like these it's a pleasure to sail!

Triumphant pepper bacon sandwich

Who would have thought that a couple of pieces of bacon could end up frying in its own grease in a round iron skillet, jet black as the feathers of a raven? Who on the face of this earth would have guessed that the big green pepper would have fried in olive oil in another pan? The bread had to be toasted and the guacamole spread on it like green mayonnaise as a softly bed for the royal guests: the crispy bacon and the tender pepper. Before, the avocado was crushed in a battle bowl with a fork and with it went the chopped bloody tomatoes, the scallion or white onion, sea salt, lima or lemon juice, olive oil drops and cilantro and of course the Tabasco sauce with its spicy piercing punch. Accompanying the wedding party sweet potato fries fried in a pool of sunflower oil came to pay homage. The result: a most delicious pepper bacon sandwich crowned with orange fries.  Who would have thought, that, like the music of Camela, something so tacky and “hortera” could at the same time rightfully be called sublime…?  

Cheese pie

For dessert I made an easy cheese pie with the help of a recipe from a nice lady from Cercedilla, Madrid which I heard on Spanish National Radio (http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/comer-y-cantar/comer-cantar-judiones-salsa-marinera-gambones-21-05-11/1107843/). It’s the classic cheese pie with a touch of lemon.

On a blender you put: 4 eggs, 8 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of flour, a package of Philadelphia cheese, a little envelope of yeast (I should’ve put just half, but I wanted them puffy), 2 lemon yogurts. You pour the well-blended mix in an earthenware pot and set it in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius (around 295 degrees Fahrenheit) until it turns golden brown. Then you take it out and wait for it to cool off. You wrap the pot/s in tin foil and set it in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. Then you eat it with a teaspoon and experience an explosion of sweet pleasure in your mouth. And that’s it.

Ajoblanco (almond gazpacho)

As an entree for tonight’s dinner I made a quite interesting Andalusian recipe: the ajoblanco (literally whitegarlic) or almond gazpacho. It’s funny how late in life I even got to try this dish for the first time and the reason is that it’s really an Eastern Andalusian dish, like from Malaga, when I lived all my life in Seville (in Western Andalusia).  Distances are perceived from a totally different perspective in Europe, or at least they used to be, and customs, recipes, picturesque nuances change a lot from place to place, even if they’re physically quite close.

I took the old blender from the closet and put in it: a peeled and chopped clove of garlic, a pinch of sea salt, a piece of bread soaked in water, 250 ml of olive oil from Córdoba, about 600 ml of water, a spoon of Sherry vinegar, an egg, ¾ of a cup of raw almonds and ¼ of a cup of Spanish pine nuts (a little expensive but of superior quality). Then I blended all together very well and put the mix in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. For the presentation in bowls I garnished it with raisins (I wish I had from Malaga here) and green grapes (a pity you can hardly find them seeded anymore). 

The result in your mouth is refreshing and earthy, very cool feeling in early summer, and transports you to Al-Andalus times. This is probably an earlier version of the tomato gazpacho, since we didn’t have tomatoes until we discovered America and brought them with us to old Europe. The magic formula of gazpacho still works with all the power of garlic, olive oil and vinegar in your palate, while I dream of a white almond tree sunny valley.

Pasta al limone

It was on our honeymoon that I discovered this exquisite Italian dish. We were visiting the beautiful, artistic city of Florence. I asked the receptionist to recommend me a restaurant downtown and he told me this one restaurant whose name, regretfully, I cannot recall, because he said it was "molto fiorentino", a very real Florence city restaurant. And indeed it was, and this dish we liked so much that I looked up different recipes online, finding this one the closet to the original we tried:
http://www.ricettepertutti.it/ricette.asp?prog=217
After a while not cooking it, I decided tonight to go ahead and make it again: I boiled in hot water with salt about 400 grams of paste farfalle (butterfly). In a pan I melt 50 grams of Irish butter and added on low the juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons, half a glass of whipping cream, sea salt and black pepper, basil and, very important, fresh chopped chives from the garden, and mixed it all up until I got a cream which I poured over the drained pasta. With dishes like this you realize and come to a full understanding of the level of civilization and refinement of Italy, which comes directly from ancient Rome. The superior balance of acidic citrusy flavours, chivy herbal freshness and soft creaminess transports you directly to the shades and lights of Florence streets where everything that's beautiful and sublime find its brilliant home:

Asparagus sautéed with egg

Last night, a simple, delicious dish from Extremadura featured on this cool website:
http://www.canalcocina.es/video-receta/revuelto-esparragos-trigueros
I cleaned 5 green asparagus, chopped them and lightly fried them (at medium heat) in a pan with garlic olive oil (a little pot of olive oil soaked with cloves of garlic from the day before). In a large bowl I beat 8 eggs, not too much beating, and poured a little bit of whipping cream. With a skimmer I took the asparagus and layed them in the bowl, mixing it all up, adding a bit of sea salt. I poured the whole mixture in the pan for about one and a half minutes, stirring it with a wooden skimmer. Finally I served it on 2 plates over 2 toasts of bread previously sprinkled with the garlic olive oil and salt. I sprinkled some rosemary for adornment and country flavour.

The authenticity of this beautiful region sparkles in the nuisances of this yummy dish which I'd rather eat at a tapas bar in Mérida or Cáceres, but I bring back to life in Michigan with memories of hospitality and fun times. What about accompanying the meal with a good old wine from the land? Time to chew with your eyes closed...