Bouillabaisse, kind of

French for a fish and vegetable stew. i had a bunch of vegetables in the crisper, and felt like eating some fish, so this is what came to mind. key flavors from fennel & saffron. probably lots of variations out there. this was mine. a long list of ingredients.

a medium onion, sliced
4 shallots, halved
a medium eggplant, in large chunks
a small zucchini, about quarter inch slices
half a bulb of fennel, sliced. save a few pieces of the fronds for the seasonings
a small container of mushrooms, washed, stems trimmed, but left whole
a red pepper, 1 inch pieces
about a cup and a half of fish or shrimp stock (i use a good quality cube dissolved in hot water)
about 3 tbs of tomato sauce
evoo
about a pound and a half of firm fish, monkfish is great, in big chunks, like an inch and a half or so
season with: a pinch of saffron, some of the fronds from the fennel top, about a tbs of chopped fresh mint, a good pinch of thyme, salt & pepper

prep all the vegetables, cut the fish into chunks, prepare the fish stock.
i used a 9" non stick skillet to get some color on the veggies first, one at a time, dumping them into a big bowl as they finished. then put it all together in a large saute pan with a lid.

so in the skillet, on medium high heat, with a liitle evoo, brown the eggplant, peppers, onions, shallots, mushrooms, zukes, one at a time. doesn't matter what order. keep the pan hot, use as little evoo as possible, you want color on them, but you don't want to completely cook them through in the skillet, otherwise you will have mush later on. when you are finished with the veggies, you should have a big bowl of them and basically no liquid. while you are standing there doing one veggie after another, that's a good time for a cocktail in between batches.

now in your big saute pan, heat a couple of tbs of evoo. put in 2-3 sliced garlic cloves. after a minute of sizzling, add the fish, stir to coat with the oil. after another minute, add the vegetables right on top. add the seasonings. make sure the pan is still hot. add enough fish stock to cover about half the depth of the contents. DON'T cover everything with stock; you're not making soup. add the tomato sauce. give the pan a good shake or stir to mix it all well. cover and simmer for about 5 minutes more. that's it. it only takes a few minutes to finish the fish and vegetables. remove from the heat, let it sit uncovered for a few minutes. then serve.

you could serve it with couscous, or rice i guess. i served it over some crusty bread in the bottom of my serving bowl. this would feed 4-5 people as a first course; 2 or 3 as a main dish.

Huevos Rotos

Literally, "broken eggs". Typical Spanish dish. Potatoes, a little meat, topped with an egg or two.

this is not my photograph; the credit is on the picture. but it is a pretty good representation of what i made.

slice a potato or two *(see note below)
slice a small onion
chorizo, morcilla, jamon, whatever you have
1 or 2 eggs per person
olive oil

in a skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil, add the onion and sweat til it starts to get soft. add the potatoes, and some more olive oil. you want it wetter rather than drier. add your small bits of sausage or jamon, or even bacon or pancetta. saute until potatoes are done. when done, break your eggs on top of the mix. shake the pan so that the egg whites seep down into the potatoes and meat, taking care not to break the egg yolks just yet. to cook the eggs through, put the skillet under your pre-lit broiler for a few minutes.

when served, break the yolks which should still be runny, and let it seep down into everything. you will want a piece of bread to clean your plate. enjoy.

*Note on potatoes: rather than start from scratch - peeling potatoes, parboiling them first, and then slicing them - i like to use the partially cooked, ready-to-use Simply Potatoes, Homestyle Slices. They are available in your supermarket where the ready to eat meals are probably, not in the frozen food section. right out of the plastic bag and into the skillet. they need a lot of salt.

In Praise of Tri-Tip

just ate this cut of beef for supper tonight. wow, this is some really good stuff. you might have to look for it, hard. wegman's has it, that's where i've gotten it before. i've also bought it at whole foods, but you might have to ask. if you like beef, please try this. comes anywhere from 1.5 to 2 lbs. will serve 4 people pretty well. put my dry rub on it last night, into the plastic bag for 24 hours, cooked it tonight. nice cabernet from washington state, columbia valley. great combo.

in a small, ie 1 tsp, of olive oil, in a hot 9" skillet, brown both sides, put in oven preheated to 375. for my taste - rare - took about another 15 minutes in the oven. get a meat thermometer. i took it out when it registered 135 to 140. let it sit for 5-10 minutes before you slice it, like a london broil, thin and on the bias. very lean and so good.

Tapas

Sunday nite supper. I could eat tapas every day, twice a day. No doubt. There are an unlimited number of variations, so I would never get bored. We had a sampler tonight. Traditional stuff.






Some boquerones with garlic and parsley. If you think you don't like anchovies, try these. These are not your grandmother's anchovies. No hairy looking tiny bones. Very vinegar-y. That's what they are cured and packed in. On a crust of toasted bread, wow.

 Made some roasted vegetables for dinner the other night; leftovers are the best reason to make a tortilla. No not Mexican tortillas. Spanish tortillas: an omelet with any number of ingredients mixed in - the classic is with potatoes and onion. You can pretty much use what you want though. So I used my leftover veggies - eggplant, onion, fennel, and red pepper. Added a little potato to that to give it some more mass, 3 eggs, and 15 minutes later, you have a tortilla. I will write a separate post about making tortillas, soon.

Those are herbed goat cheese balls from Catalunya next to the tortilla.

Then some delectable Spanish sausages. Morcilla, a black sausage made pretty much everywhere in Spain, and chistorra sausage, originally from Navarre I think. It's a particular type of chorizo. Piquillo peppers are a natural accompaniment to these robust sausages.

Cut the morcilla in half, then in half again the long way, so you have 4 pieces. Heat them in a little olive oil for a few minutes, face down first. Then flip them over for a minute. Once you do, they will open up and expand; it's the rice in them I think. Place them on the bread, garnish with a sliver of Piquillo pepper. The toast is spread first with a little allioli: mayonnaise, fresh chopped garlic, and a touch of Dijon mustard. The chistorra is just cut into bite-size pieces, a couple of minutes in a skillet to warm, and a sliver of Piquillo on a toothpick. Doesn't get any easier than that.


Endless variations. Google 'tapas', and you are sure to find something you like. Beer, white or red wine, Cava, whatever you like will go with these small dishes. Enjoy.

best fried onions

2 medium yellow onions, or whatever you got
evoo
butter
9 inch non stick skillet

the idea is to sear and get a lot of color (flavor) on the onions before you add any fat. so put the pan on medium high heat for a couple of minutes, just empty. while the pan is heating, slice the onions in half vertically, then about 1/4 inch thick slices, not thin slices. with a small to medium onion, you'll have maybe 4 or 5 thick slices. place the slices into the skillet, taking care to keep their shape, don't let the rings separate just yet. salt them to taste.

it will start smelling like burning onion and smoke a little, but that's ok. after maybe two minutes, take a look and if the onion is pretty much completely browned, you're ready to flip them over. do it very carefully to keep their shape, you still don't want the rings separating, not yet. then another 2-3 minutes on your medium high heat and the bottoms should now be brown as well. when they are, now you add about a tablespoon or two of evoo. watch out, it will splatter a bit. shake it around; now you do want to separate the rings in the oil. cook for another 2-3 mins, flipping the pan to toss them a couple of times. the pan should wind up almost dry, hardly any liquid. just before you take them off the heat, add a tablespoon or two of butter and mix it through the onions. that's it. they should have a lot of burnt smoky onion flavor, but because the slices were thick enough, you still have that sweet, soft al dente mouth feel to them as well. over your favorite burger. enjoy.

creamed spinach

1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, nuked and drained
4 tbs butter
1 good sized shallot chopped
3-4 oz heavy or light cream, doesn't really matter
about 2 oz of crumbled goat cheese
fresh nutmeg, ground to taste

in a 9 inch saute pan, melt the butter, add the shallots and sweat, don't brown them.
when they are soft, add the cream and raise heat a little to reduce the cream a bit, a couple of minutes. while it's reducing, add the nutmeg.
after a few minutes of reducing, add the goat cheese, and stir to mix well. immediately add the chopped spinach and continue to mix, off the heat now.
when all mixed together well, salt and pepper to taste.
 so good, and very easy.

served with a simple oven roasted cod fillet. vinho verde. nice supper.

actually, you may want to double the recipe, because once you taste it, you will probably eat all of it before dinner is served. so if you double it, you may have enough left to serve 2 or 3 people.

roasted vegetables

supper last nite:
1 nice eggplant, cubed.
head of fennel, large dice.
1 sweet yellow pepper, large dice.
2 small onions, eighthed.
all in a big bowl, tossed with olive oil and salt and a little garlic powder.

preheat oven to 450.
dump it all in a shallow roasting pan.
put in hot oven, turn down to 400, set timer for 12 minutes.
after 12 minutes, toss veggies with a spatula to mix.
back in oven for another 10 minutes at 400.
remove. to be eaten warm or room temperature.

amazingly sweet. mmm.

leftovers the next morning in a 2 egg tortilla.
should have taken a photo. sorry, next time.