Solomillo a la Pimienta

Lately, I’ve been missing Spain.  The best way to cope with nostalgia for another country, in my opinion, is go back!

Just joking, I don’t have the money for that.  So I turn to food instead.

Huevos Estrellados

Some days, you can just have so many things go slightly wrong that they pile up on you and the only option is to sit on the couch, have a beer, and let the day wash away, hoping that the tide will bring an easier, if not brighter tomorrow.  Those days which flicker with mild to moderate misfortune, like an aging florescent bulb.  This is a meal for one of those days.

 

 

Caroline’s Soup

When I first came back from my visit to Atlanta to see Caroline, I mentioned that we had many tasty food reunion moments, including wonderful coffee and my splurge purchase of a Southern cooking bible.  Today we are finally going to wrap up that visit.  This blog has indeed suffered from my good luck in finding a job, as I’ve wriggled into my brother’s home  and tried to get used to an hour-long commute – all the while feeling rather chirpy that I’m getting paid a full-time wage again.  So let me apologize by offering up Caroline’s favorite soup.

New Year’s Snacking – Hotlanta Style

It’s time for New Year’s!  The last few years, I’ve been wrapped into the Spanish scene – where you go to a house party until 10 in the morning and eat your twelve grapes as the clock chimes twelve times for midnight.  This year I’ll be calming it down back in the Pacific Northwest, and we will probably all go to bed at one.  I’m not upset by that prospect.   In keeping with the calmer party, I will be bringing along some snacks with my bottle of prosecco, so we can all feel fancy.

I made these for Christmas out of the cookbook I bought while visiting my friend Caroline down in Atlanta in October: Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking.   I was a little worried about getting it home in my suitcase as it’s a doozy of a book, but it has been entirely worth it.  Justifying an impulse buy is quite priceless.

Tiny little turnovers of cheddar and pepper jelly, these are crunchy and flaky and delicious and you should totally make them.  They take a little time to put together, which I don’t usually approve of, but these are worth the effort.  I was reminded of my college roommate and her love of pepper jelly from Pike Place – we’d go get some and sit in our dorm looking out the balcony while smearing cream cheese on Ritz and dollops of sweet and spicy red pepper jelly on top.  These are a little more complex and elegant, but you have to start loving pepper jelly somewhere.

I have no more reminiscing or fun things to say about the ingredients – I’m kind of discombobulated right now because I finally landed a job in Seattle, but only on a temp to permanent basis.  So just a few hours ago I loaded up my clothes and toothbrush and moved in temporarily with my brother up north.  My life isn’t looking anything like I had planned, but I’m excited to start work and leery of aggravating my brother and sister-in-law.  Cross your fingers and eat some turnovers, because they help everyone feel more settled and cheery.

Cranberrry sauce – not just for turkey

On my way to Spain to finish up my Master’s degree, I fell prey to one of my great weaknesses: buying everything in sight at the airport.  When you travel alone internationally, you really don’t have many other choices.  You are required to show up hours early then wander around the terminals amidst happy displays of tourist gear and snacks, bars and miniature shopping centers.  So I’ve now started budgeting my time in the airport into my travel spending plans.  Know thyself.

This time around, I impulse bought the Gourmet Magazine Holiday Special.  I was in love with Gourmet Magazine, then they shut down.  So when I saw that familiar calligraphy on the stand while I bought my anti-ear-squeeze gum for the plane, I snatched it up without an ounce of remorse.  Totally worth it.  It’s a compendium of holiday favorites from years past, and since I came to the game late, a lot of the recipes are new to me, though not all.

One of the recipes was for a delicious eggnog and cranberry cheesecake, which I attempted as my first every cheesecake.  Visually, it was a disaster.  But the flavor came out so beautifully, it’s already queued up as my next attempt – I’ll post it then.  But what did come out beautifully was the cranberry jam component, which ended up doing double duty as our cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.  It was so good, I snatched up the cranberries when they went on sale to stick in the freezer for future batches.  I did jazz it up ever so slightly, but this is a soul-warmingly good balance of tart and sweet and perfect for any winter table, holiday feast or otherwise.

Hotlanta

Surprise, surprise: I went traveling.  Just after getting back from my mini trip to Sevilla to wrap up paperwork (as if, I am currently gathering more official stamps so I can get permission to begin the application process in the hopes that someday my diploma will come in the mail), I went on down to see my friend Caroline.  I bought the tickets with some sky miles in a fit of frustration after a disappointing breakup and PowerPoint-shaped rage against my thesis.  Fabulous decision.

Caroline was a wonderful hostess. She shared her friends and took me around town to eat in many, many lovely places.  We also got the chance to cook together for the first time in over a year, after buying way too much food at the Dekalb Farmers Market.  Where they don’t let you take pictures, so oh well.  I took a few pictures of my favorite things she prepared for us, and those will be popping up in the next few weeks.  Especially since her breakfast burritos were worth the price of the tickets alone. Also, I bought a gigantic cookbook on southern cooking.  So there’s that.  In the mean time, for anyone thinking of going to Atlanta, please consider…

Summer to Fall Transition Time: Roasted Tomatoes

Well, it’s fall, and this post is late. Sorry.

One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh, ripe tomato.

Even with globalization allowing us to have year-round tomato-like objects, there is no replacement for in-season acidic, sweet tomatoes.  Spain had delicious, delicious tomatoes, and I went from tolerating them from eating one a day, at least.  No joke.  Just sliced up with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and white wine vinegar.

So when I saw this recipe from one of my favorite food writers, David Lebovitz, I felt that he was speaking to my need for delicious tomatoes outside of summer.  He offers up the suggestion of oven roasting them to intensify their flavor, and then freeze the suckers.   He was right.

Bye Bye Spain

I had a little post about roasted tomatoes in the works, but then I got lazy and didn’t finish it before taking off for Spain for my Master’s wrap up.  That’s all done with, and now I’m on my way back the the Pacific NW to try to cobble a new life together.  Again.  I’m actually sitting in the Madrid airport, trying to take advantage of the expensive little mobile modem I had to pick up.

A sick bitter orange tree was blooming out of season, allowing me to get one more whiff of azahar in October. My friend said it was Sevilla saying goodbye to me.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

A few weeks ago I made an offhand comment in…well, a comment about making these cupcakes as a way to spit in the eye of all my friends with dietary restrictions.  This recipe has animal products, refined sugar, alcohol, gluten…pretty much everything you need to cut people out of dessert time except for nut allergies.  The comment was born out of break-up aggravation and anger, and I figured channeling that through defiant cupcake baking was more productive than lashing out or boring my friends.  Also, it was my sister-in-law’s early birthday celebration the same weekend and she loves these, so win win!  In fact, I first made these when we went bridesmaids’ dress shopping for her wedding two years ago.  Cupcakes + prewedding diets = still totally delicious.

Irish car bombs are a pint of Guinness with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream dropped in them and chugged before the cream curdles.  I’ve had one, at a college Model United Nations party (oh yes, I was quite the cool one), and they can go to your head.  Like immediately.  They are tasty, but I’m not great at drinking quickly, so I prefer these cupcakes.  Last warning: these are incredibly rich. The cake is moist and intense, and the frosting is very sweet – don’t slather it on too thick.  Add a rich chocolate ganache filling to the party and it becomes a one cupcake is enough dessert.

Oh, and I had said that I wasn’t going to do gluten-free any more, but for those celiacs out there, yes, I had already mentally adapted this in a mental win-hearts-and-minds-of-friends ploy.  Follow the recipe with your favorite flour substitute, add a teaspoon of xanthan gum, and use a gluten-free beer.  I haven’t seen a stout yet, but Green’s has a tasty amber that could work.

So let’s make cupcakes.

Clams! Again! But Spanish this time.

About two years ago, I wrote up my favorite recipe for clams. And it is still my favorite recipe.  But last Christmas Day, after my drunken Abandoned Americans in Sevilla party, I got adopted by a family that served me an equally wonderful set of clams.  And I’d like to share the idea.