Dastardly Dungeness

Dungeness crab season is NOW. I love the sweet, succulent taste of fresh crab. You don't even need butter -- really.
During a road trip along the North Oregon Coast, we stopped in Newport. For lunch we had oyster shooters and fresh crab.
When I lived in Alaska, I learned how to kill Dungeness and Kings. Kings are scary business but the Dungeness I figured out. YUM.

Cool Bar

While in Portland over the weekend, my sister Deirdre, Kat and I went to Henry's in the Pearl District for cocktails and din din.
Deirdre pointed out this wicked cool bar feature: between the bartender's well and the customer's bar top, there's a thin slab of ice WHERE YOU KEEP YOUR BEVERAGE COOL. How awesome is that?

Bread Custard

Sole told me about a bread pudding that is served like a terrine. She showed me this dish.

7 eggs
1T powdered sugar
6T granulated sugar
5c milk
1/3c carmelo (carmelized sugar)
lady fingers and/or other sweet cakes

In a terrine pan, liberally drizzle the bottom of the pan with carmelo. Break up lady fingers and sweet cakes and put in pan. Beat eggs, milk and sugars with an immersion blender, beaters or blender until frothy. Pour the eggs mix over the bread. Create a water bath for the terrine pan. (Place the terrine pan in a pan larger than the terrine pan. Pour water in the larger pan, so the water comes at least mid-way up the sides of the terrine pan.) Set the oven to 300 degrees and cook for at least 1 hour. Test with a toothpick for doneness. Serve warm or cool, slicing the bread custard like you would a terrine. Serve solo or with fresh fruit.

Snails in Salsa

Spring is snail and asparagus season. By the time you're tired of eating them, they are out of season.
Sole told me how to make a great almond sauce for the snails.

almonds
onion
garlic
celery
whole peppercorns
saffron or orange colorant

Grind all ingredients well. Add a little water to make a paste. Add the paste to the snails and heat through. The snails will release their juice, so there's no need to add more water. If you want a thinner sauce, add water and stir well. Serve warm with thick, crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

Pinchos Amarillos

You may see pinchos on some tapas menus. They are kebabs of meat and veg. Sometimes you actually get a skewer othertimes, you get the ingredients and no skewer.

beef, cut into stew chunks
peppers, deseeded and roughly diced
onions, roughly diced
olive oil
dried oregano
salt
black pepper
orange colorant

Put beef, peppers and onion in a mixing bowl. Liberally cover with oil. Add spices and mix well. Skewer and grill or cook ingedients on flat griddle. Serve hot.

Whole Fish Dish

Sole also showed me a fish dish. It's very similar to a fish tagine.

7 sardines, cleaned, scaled and deboned
5 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
4 tomatoes, roughly sliced
bunch of parsley, coarsely chopped
vinegar
water

In a low, clay dish on medium-high flame, cover the bottom with olive oil. Lay the fish in the oil. Place tomatoes, garic and parsely over the fish. Add another layer of the same. Add vinegar and water to cover. Cover dish with lid and let boil. Bring heat down to a simmer for at least 20 minutes. If you have any, add some fish stock as the water and vinegar burns off. Add a dash of yellow colorant. Continue to simmer until fish is cooked through. Garnish with dry roasted, deskinned almonds.

Sole's Pollo Escabeche

Sole runs a bar/restaurant in Valor called Alben Humeya. She showed me her version of gazpacho and poor man's potatoes. She also showed me pollo escabeche.

4 chicken thighs
1/2 onion, cut in half moons
1 head garlic, break up cloves
1T peppercorns
3 bay leaves
orange colorant
small bunch parsley, tied in a knot

Char grill the chicken. Rinse in water and salt. Fry the chicken until the skin is deep brown.
Drain chicken and place in a dutch oven.
Put onions and garlic in the same oil the chicken was frying in. Brown the onions and garlic. Drain and put in the dutch oven with the chicken. Add parsley knot. Gently pour in 1 bottle of rose or white wine (don't use red wine). Add a little vinegar and water to cover. Cook on medium-high heat to reduce liquid. Serve when chicken is falling off the bone.

Fiesta Farewell

This year the town organizers for the fiesta of San Marcos in Mairena put together a week's worth of activities. I happened up on the beginning and the end.
Saturday night, after church (natch), people gathered down the hill to the cultural center for dancing and drinking (and to watch the football match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona).
Laid out on tables were baskets full of fava beans, donut hole bread, Fanta (for the kids) and a coarse red wine. Servers passed around chunks of salted bacalao then chunks of pork fat. You deshell your beans and eat them raw. Gnaw on the week-old bread and wash it down with wine.

The wine is served in a carafe with a jug handle and spigot. The spigot is very narrow. The tradition is to pour the wine into your mouth directly from the carafe, not touching your lips or teeth to the spigot. Because the spigot is narrow, the wine creates an arc. So once you've stopped pouring the wine in your mouth, you're got to be quick and careful not to spill wine all down the front of you. The old men were pros at it. I wish I had a proper picture of this but I don't.
Because it's the whole village, the age range is from infant to 90-something. Lots of gossip, joking and hijinks among family members and between families. Very entertaining.

Poor Man's Potatoes

Poor man's potatoes are common fare as a tapa or a side dish, especially in the mountains where the ingredients are easily grown and found.

potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
green peppers, deseeded and cut in strips
onions, cut in half moons
salt
olive oil

Fry the potatoes in oil until done. Add onions and peppers and fry through. Drain the mixture and salt liberally.

Sole, the owner of Aben Humeya in Valor, adds deseeded tomatoes to this dish.

Sole's Gazpacho

Sole (like ole) cooks for the Illsley's at Casa Las Chimeneas in Mairena. She was kind enough to let me watch her prepare some food for the guests. She made gazpacho, poor man's potatoes and a fish dish. Here's the gazpacho recipe.

1 long green chile, deseeded and roughly cut
1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly cut
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
10 tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
5 inches of day-old baguette
water
apple cider vinegar
white vinegar
olive oil
salt

Put all ingredients in a tall container. Moisten the bread and break into chunks. Add enough water to cover. Add vinegars and olive oil. Salt liberally. Macerate with an immersion blender or put batches into a blender. Taste and adjust seasoning. Put the mixture through a sieve and continue to push the immersion blender through. Taste again and adjust seasoning. Serve cold or room temperature. Garnish with croutons.

Another Sole I met (she runs Aben Humeya restaurant in Valor) adds carrot and romain lettuce to her gazpacho.

Roasted Red Peppers

While back in Vejer de la Frontera, my host Annie made roasted red peppers. Wickedly good.


red bell peppers, sliced in half and de-seeded
small tomatoes, quartered
cloves of garlic
olive oil
Slightly oil a baking dish. Place halved peppers inside up. Place 1 tomato quarter and 1 garlic clove in each pepper. Bake for 25 minutes at 250 degrees. Delish served warm. More garlicky served cold the day after.

Fiesta de San Marcos

David and Emma Illsley of Casa Las Chimeneas in Mairena kindly invited me to a community fiesta in the Alpujarras. It was the Feast of San Marcos, the celebration of the spring harvest and bread as well as the blessing of the animals.

The women of the town made pucheros, a mountain stew of garbanzo beans, white beans, lentils, rice, pork fat, fennel, artichoke stalk and chicken stock. It's very salty and very delicious.
The women started gathering the fennel and artichoke stalks on Saturday. They began cooking Sunday morning. They prepared 22 pots to serve the town of 200.

Around noon, the townspeople gathered in the square by the church. There was a long table set up with all sorts of pastries for sale. One table in the square had a wine tasting, another had an olive oil tasting. Beer and wine were served in front of the church with grilled fish and other tapas until about 5pm. Then mass began in the church -- with a full marching band! Horns blaring and drums beating soundly. Super loud.

Unlike most fiestas, the women of the town carried the saint. I was agog that some of these women were wearing high heels!!! The band played and walked behind the saint float and the townspeople rolled behind while men shot off fireworks from guns. It was quite a riot. The women carried the saint on a float from the church to a nearby hill where the priest said a prayer then we sauntered back to the church.
When the saint was safely back in the church, the band played on outside and tables were set for the serving of the pucheros. It was served with round, donut hole bread and a rough red wine, musto -- a bottle for the whole table.

Wine Haven in Granada

When someone excitedly tells you about a place and you know it will be hard to find but then you do, after getting lost and raising the expectations of the people with you, it's awesome when the place is as fabulous as La Bodeguilla de al Lado
on Calle Tendillas de Santa Paula No. 4. Thanks, Scarlett for the fab recco!
We ordered barrel beer, a Calvente chardonnay (easily my favorite white right now) and a rioja picked by the owner. She served the tapa with a broad, gap-toothed smile. Love that. Thinly sliced, grilled zucchini over bread with pork fat lining the plate. Sounds disgusting but look at the photo. It was lovely.

Blood Lust

Well, there's only so long you can be in Spain and not eat pork. I love jamon. That was not a problem but I was uncomfortable with all the sausage types.
Blood sausage, however, is another story. I'm not sure why. The texture is almost bread-like. The smell is slightly smoky. The flavor is a hint of chorizo spice but tempered with an earthy quality. I am in love with blood sausage thanks to the staff at Al Sur de Granada on Calle Elvira.

Over a month had passed since I had been there on a group tapas crawl. They remembered I like the Calvente chardonnay, chilled. OMG. That never happens in Spain. And they knew I was a foodie, so they indulged me a detour of the tapas the other patrons were getting. I pointed and tasted (and tipped well).
If you're there around 8pm, go downstairs and for 4 euros you'll be treated to a flamenco show -- dancing, singing and guitar -- sometimes all three. Great spot.

Summer Foods

After an entertaining and vigorous walk through the Albaicin with Eric, the tour guide, he suggested Bodegas Castanedas on Calle Elvira for a hearty lunch. Nothing on the menu dazzled me so I picked two things I have not tried.

Artichoke hearts with anchovies and a baked potato salad with black olives, corn and canned tuna. They were a racion size (larger than a tapa), thus too much for me at one sitting, so I nibbled on both. Although I would make these at home (very simple to assemble), I wouldn't order them again. Both dishes are great for the summer when the last thing you want to do is cook. The potatoes can be done in your rice cooker or steamer thus not heat up your kitchen.

Lunch with Eric at Oliver

While staying at the Oasis Backpackers' Hostel in Granada, I met a fellow foodie, Eric from Holland who introduced me to Oliver, a great restaurant in the Plaza Pescadería. Although Cunini is right next door and gets more press, I prefer the vibe of Oliver and the prices are much better.
Our tapas at lunch included migas and paella.
Eric had been hiking in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains and was ravenously hungry. He was craving grilled octopus. I spied endive with blue cheese and anchovies on the menu. It quickly became our new fave dish. Salty, crunchy and a little sweet from the basalmic syrup drizzled over it.

The following day we returned for lunch and ordered the endive again (you know how that goes). The rabo del toro sounded yummy. We were not disappointed.
I have been told that Spaniards don't usually cook with red wine but the staff at Oliver assured me the rabo del toro was. The meat eagerly fell off the tailbone. The carrots and potato were perfectly fork-tender. A.mazing.

Dinner at Leonore

My last night in Vejer, Annie took me to Leonore, a restaurant she had been raving about. We started with croquettas, crispy and not too cheesy. Then bacalao stuffed red peppers with roasted red pepper sauce and a side of grilled asparagus. Di.vine.

Albondigas, meatballs with a beef-mushroom sauce, and lightly fried potatoes. Yum. Then veal with rice. Sounds simple but amazingly good. Then a whole sea bass, salted, with a side of pistou. The fish needed no seasoning. The bass was long and thick, fresh from the ocean. Amazing.

El Olivo and Jean Pierre

Marta Angulo of A Taste of Spain kindly introduced me to Jean Pierre Vandelle, a semi-retired Michellin star chef. He has a teaching kitchen at his finca between Vejer de la Frontera and Medina-Sedonia in the Cadiz province. He's adorable.

I invited Sarah, an American studying in Cadiz, to help translate. She was a big help with some of the kitchen terms. By speaking a mixture of Spanish, French and English we managed to have a fantastic conversation about the food of Cadiz, cooking styles and farming. After a tour of the El Oliva kichen, a walk along the aqueducts in the working farm and a quick tour of his beloved garden, we supped at a nearby venta.

Jean Pierre ordered everything. Sarah and I gladly complied.

• carrots with minced garlic and parsley
  
• a menage of fish: mojama (dried tuna, but softer than a jerky. LOVE it), tuna skewers with manchego, tuna crudo, salted sardines
  
• scrambled egg with asparagus and jamon
  
• soft-poached egg with roasted green peppers and fried whole fish
  
• clams with artichokes in a tomato sauce
  
• tuna belly with grilled aparagus

The pastries were made of almond paste but I don't know what they are called (lo siento!).