Next up: Fideuà from The Cuisines of Spain

For dinner tomorrow night, I'm planning to try fideuà, which is like paella, with pasta instead of rice.

My guide will be Teresa Barrenechea's 'The Cuisines of Spain', which is the basis of the way I make paella now. I won't be using traditional fideos para fideuà, but I've heard that good small pasta may be substituted.  I'll let you know how it goes, and if I make any changes or substitutions, I will post them here.

John's Spicy Sweet Potatoes

John's Sweet and Spicy Potatoes

5-6 sweet potatoes - scrubbed clean - could leave peels on, or peel them first
Chop sweet 'tatoes into bite-size chunks.

Mix:
3 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp palm sugar
3 tbsp Blue Agave syrup
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cayenne pepper or red chile powder for less heat, or blend to taste
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 stick melted butter
1 tsp kosher salt
1 clove garlic, mashed

Toss sweet 'tatoes with the mixture above to coat.

Bake in shallow pan, covered, in oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

Mer's Arroz con Coco y Pasas or Coconut Rice with Raisins

Mer's Coconut Rice with Raisins

2 cups rice (Mahatma Jasmine rice or another long grain or basmati rice)

1/2 can coconut milk

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup finely shredded *unsweetened* coconut

2 tbs Amontillado sherry

1 tsp kosher salt

The rice will be cooked in a total of 3 cups liquid, including the coconut milk and sherry.  Part of the liquid consists of water used to soak the raisins and coconut.  Just make sure the total liquid volume is 1.5 times the volume of rice.

Soak the raisins and coconut for about 1 hour in:

2 tbs sherry plus 2 cups minus 2 tbs water

Combine the soaked raisins/coconut, coconut milk, any extra water needed to reach 3 cups, salt and rice in a microwave rice steamer (cheating, I know, I am ashamed, for about 15 minutes!)

Cook on full power with lid off for 9 minutes - stir well, and return to microwave with lid covering steamer.  Microwave on full power for another 4-6 minutes.  

The sugars from the raisins, coconut milk, and sherry will caramelize a bit on the bottom of the pan - this is called titoté in Columbia.  Kind of reminds me of soccorat, the crust that should happen at the bottom of paella - just be careful not to burn.  Leave the rice in the steamer for another 5-10 minutes to soften before serving.  My version does not use sugar - I find this sweet enough for me.  I first had this in Panama, but found a version of it on a blog about Columbian Recipes, and then I modified a version I found in:

 

Mer's Ginger Shallot Sauce (variation on Momofuku Ginger Scallion Sauce)

Mer's Ginger Shallot Sauce (for buckwheat soba noodles)

(a variation on David Chang's Ginger Scallion Sauce from Momofuku)

1 whole ~ 3-4 in. ginger root, peeled and grated;

2 shallots: finely chopped;

~ 10 allspice seeds freshly ground in mortar and pestle;

Saute the above in 1 tbsp olive oil; add

2 tbsp tamari

Boil buckwheat soba according to directions (don't overcook!).  If they contain salt, do not add any salt to the boiling water. Snow peas, kale, or raab may be added about 1 minute before noodles are done boiling.

Add the sauteed ingredients to the noodles just when they are finished cooking, either before draining water to serve as soup, or after draining water to serve as noodles.  

Mer's No-Snockered-Guests Sangria

Mer's Sangria

I use zinfandel (not white zinfandel - red zinfandel that you would get if skins are left on during fermentation) - my favorites are from Amador County in Northern California, near Plymouth.

Oranges - scrubbed clean and sliced into 1/4" thick rounds too big to fall out of the pitcher when poured.

Combine a bottle of zin with sliced oranges in a pretty ceramic wine pitcher, comme ça:

That's it.
Nothing else.
It's not a cocktail! Don't add triple sec - don't know why all the restaurants do that - maybe because its cheaper than nice oranges or stores longer. Or maybe because it is well known that snockered patrons spend more and tip better! ;)

Mer's Zarzuela de Camarones, or is it Shrimp Creole? ;)

Mer's Zarzuela de Camarones, or is it Shrimp Creole? ;)

3 pounds of peeled shrimp - tails on (Costco!)

Finely dice:
1 bunch of celery
1 sweet white onion (mine was from Yerington, Nevada)
2 large shallots
4-6 bay leaves (I used some from the bay laurel tree in my living room)
1 small bunch parsley
black pepper - freshly ground
2 tsp kosher salt
Saute in a very large paella pan with about 6 tbsp olive oil.

Dice:
2-4 sweet red bell peppers (green ones are funky and could therefore become associated with unpleasant memories!)
1 pound roma tomatoes
Add to saute pan and cook until beginning to soften.
(Indeed - *technically*, creole doesn't traditionally have tomatoes in it, so I'm using the term liberally/literally, meaning 'mixed'. Also, especially if you don't use wine, the acidity of the tomatoes helps the shrimp cook faster without turning into little hockey pucks!)

This is a good point to pause, so that shrimp may be added within minutes of serving to avoid overcooking them.

Add shrimp, then add
1/2 bottle of chardonnay and simmer until shrimp is *just* done.
(I used Frei Brothers Reserve Russian River Valley 2007 Chardonnay (Northern Sonoma), which had really nice vanilla/caramel/spice notes - not super-fruity, more malo-lactic).
If you can't use wine, use a mixture of 1/4 each unsweetened apple juice, orange juice, pear juice, and water - 375 ml total.
Drop in some slices of very clean oranges with peels on at the last second if desired.

Test seasonings and add more salt *only* if necessary.
This is good with rice, or even better with crusty sourdough bread (a blended influence of my Bay Area Mama and my New Orleans Papa!). For din-din, try with Mer's No-Snockered-Guests Sangria!

Mer's Black Bean and Sweet Pepper Salad Cubana

Mer's Black Bean and Sweet Pepper Salad Cubana

Soak:
1 lb. dry black beans for at least 4 hours in water to cover.

Finely chop:
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
cumin
Saute in 2 tbs olive oil in large cooking pot.

Drain soaked beans and add to cooking pot and add 6 cups of water.
Add 1 tsp kosher salt.
Simmer gently for 2 hours (if at high altitude - 1.5 hours would probably be long enough at low altitude).
Cooked beans may be refrigerated overnight or until chilled.

Chop ~ 10-20 small red, orange, and/or yellow aji dulce (small sweet peppers).
Squeeze juice from 1 fresh lime. If dividing recipe to make one half with cilantro and one half with parsley, squeeze each lime half separately, or divide juice in half.

For each recipe half, mix 2 tbs olive oil, more cumin, juice of 1/2 lime, black pepper, and salt to taste if necessary (probably 1 more teaspoon of salt).

Chop 1 small bunch of cilantro and 1 small bunch of parsley separately - one for each recipe half.

Toss ingredients together with either cilantro, or parsley, or both, just before serving - taste - adjust seasoning.

Garbanzo beans may be substituted for black beans.

Mer's Limoncello

Mer's Limoncello

1-2 pounds of organic lemons
1/2 of one 750 ml bottle of Everclear (200 proof grain alcohol) per 750 ml of limoncello - its best not to use vodka, as it contains water and flavors, which will affect the extraction.
Glass container for extracting lemon peels - wide mouth with lid, or cover with several layers of plastic wrap


Peel lemons carefully, removing only the yellow part of the skin. Drop peelings directly into grain alcohol in a glass container.

Cover container and keep in dark cabinet for 3-4 days until yellow color is extracted from peels. The peels will look like potato chips when the extraction is done. It may take less than 3-4 days, particularly if warm.

(Squeeze juice from lemons and freeze for other uses!)

On bottling day:
Make simple syrup: equal parts v:v of sugar and water:
375 ml water + 375 ml by volume of cane sugar for simple syrup - bring mixture to boil, cool with lid covering.

Sterilize containers for bottling (either with commercial sanitizer, by washing in dishwasher, or with a 1% v:v bleach solution, and rinsing well).

Decant lemon extract from lemon peels. Add one volume of simple syrup to bottles, followed by one volume of lemon peel extract. The clear components will become cloudy when mixed - this is normal. Store in refrigerator. Really nice with fizzy water and ice in the summer - or with mint and a splash of rum for a limojito! Also good on fruit or ice cream for postre!

Patacones de la familia de Silvera

1. Buy green large plantains (about 2-3)

2. peel the plantain by making several lengthwise slits and pushing the skin with a knife (try not to touch the skin, it has a sap that is very sticky to the hand and hard to wash off). 

3. after peeling the plantain, cut the plantain in 1 inch sections.

4. fry the sections (in canola or vegetable oil) until golden all around (a few minutes in hot oil), and put in paper towels to absorb the extra oil.

5. smash the plantain using the bottom of a large coffee cup.

6. Fry again the smash plantains until golden brown in both sides

7. Add salt and eat...

Mer's note: In my Panamanian cookbook, it says that these may be frozen after mashing at step 5, then fried when you want to serve them.  Katia and Flor's note: They *really* are best right out of the pan!  Mer learned from Katia and Flor that plantains that are yellow are for postres!

Mer's Vegetarian Pozole

Mer's Vegetarian Pozole

Chop finely:

4 stalks celery;

2 shallots;

2 cloves garlic;

Saute in 4-8 quart pot in 2 tbsp olive oil.

1 ripe poblano or pasilla chile: roast and puree with 1 clove garlic and 1/2 stalk celery and olive oil, add to sauteed vegetables above.

Add:

4 cups water or stock

1 can hominy

1 can whole green chiles, chopped

2 tsp kosher salt or to taste

black pepper

cumin

cilantro (only if not cilantro-phobic)

In a separate frying pan:

Saute1 package Quorn Tenders in olive oil until browned and crispy, deglaze with 1 oz. brown tequila, add to pozole at the last minute, bring to boil for 3-5 minutes.

May be served with warm tortillas, but I usually serve as soup/stew.

*Really* good with Dos Equis lager!
If you want to make a pescetarian version, just use shrimp instead of Quorn Tenders.