Wed

So much cooking, leftovers tonight!

Spinach tortilla and black beans

Spinach Tortilla:  Beat 5 large eggs.  Add a minced shallot (I used 3 green onions.  Add 5 oz spinach and mix well.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cook 10 minutes over med heat, flip and cook another 3-4 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.

Soak black beans overnight.  Drain and simmer with one leek, tomato, garlic clove, onion, carrot, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 bay leaf, and enough water to cover by 2 inches until beans are tender.  Then heat 2 tbsp olive oil and saute 1 minced garlic clove.  Add vegetables from beans.  Puree vegetables, then stir into beans.  ( in retrospect, I would have trimmed the onions and tomatoes prior to putting them in the pot and I think I would have doubled or even tripled the paprika)  Salt and pepper to taste.  Served with cod and a salad.

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Beef with red peppers; sauteed mushrooms

This picture is not too good.  The sauteed beef with red peppers had a nice flavor, but it needs some tweaking.  The mushrooms were delightful.  Chopped button and portabella mushrooms and saute in 2 tbsp olive oil over high heat for one minute.  Add 2 large minced garlic cloves, 2 tbsp chopped parsley, salt and pepper and cook another 2 minutes.  Add a squeeze of lemon juice.  Serve immediately.

Easter

Tortilla Espanola (from Mario Batali) Slice 1 1/4 pounds waxy potatoes, peeled and cut 1/4 inch thick.  Thinly slice one small onion.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil to pan, add potatoes and onions and cook over  med to med-low heat for 20 minutes, tossing often so that they get fork tender, but don't brown.  Whisk 8 eggs with salt and pepper to taste.  Add potatoes to bowl and mix.  Return to pan, spreading potatoes out.  Cook for one minute med, then reduce to med low and cook for 20 min or until almost set throughout.  Slide onto a plate.  Then flip it back into pan.  Cook another 5 minutes.  Put on serving plate and let rest 5 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

There are a lot of tortilla recipes.  We liked this one a lot.  We'll try another recipe soon.

A lot of pans for a one pot meal.

Sanford sipping sherry.

This is the cava from our wedding.

Lamb and Roasted Red Pepper Ragout (from Spain and the World Table)  Marinate 4 pounds lamb stew meat with 3 tbsp spanish sweet paprika, 2 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 finely crumbled bay leaf, 2/3 cup olive oil, 2/3 white wine, zest of 1/3 lemon, 1/2 salt, 1/2 tsp pepper overnight.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and brown the meat in batches.  Pour off all but 1 tbsp of fat between batches.  Add browned meat to soup pot.  Then deglaze pan with 2/3 cup white wine and add to soup pot.  Meanwhile in a different pan, heat 1/4 cup olive oil.  Add 4 cups chopped onions.  Cook about 10 minutes, until translucent.  Add 2 1/2 tbsp smoked parika, 2 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 3 tbsp finely minced garlic (whole head).  Cook until it starts to stick.  Add 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper.  Add to soup pot.  Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup chicken broth and add to pan.  Add another 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon zest to soup pot.  Simmer, covered for about an hour.  Rinse 2 jars roasted red pepper and dice.  Add to pot and cook another 30 minutes.  You can now add salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.  Add 8 tsp chopped parlsey.  (we forgot)

Kurt Kingsley

Kingsley and Speake kids

Laura Kingsley

Chicken Pepitoria

This is a popular celebration meal in Extremadura.  It was delicious!  

Mix 1/4 cup flour with salt and pepper.  Coat 8 chicken thighs.  Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet until it shimmers.  Brown chicken in batches.  Return chicken to pan.  Add 2 bay leaves and 8 minced garlic cloves.  Add 3/4 cup white wine ( I used rose) and 2 cups chicken stock.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes.  Meanwhile grind 3/4 cup toasted almonds.  Mix with 2 egg yolks.  Combine the almonds and eggs with some of the cooking liquid.  (I skimmed some of the fat off the top after the 30 minutes)  Stir into the chicken and cook another 10 minutes.  Stir in chopped parsley and scatter toasted sliced almonds over each serving.  Serve with oven fried potatoes and steamed broccoli.  (Adapted from Seasonal Spanish Food)

Spain/Portugal

We started Spain and Portugal today.  We decided to start simple, with ingredients that we already have.  We took the rest of the fermented bean pastes, korean chili sauce and dried anchovies to the restaurant for family meal.  Looks like Sanford might not be done with Korea just yet.

More sizzling meat:  Pincho Moruno - Cut 1 lb pork loin into 1 inch cubes.  Marinade:  1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, fresh ground pepper and 2 tbsp olive oil.  Marinate several hours, turning occasionally.  Place on skewers and grill until just cooked. (From The Best of Spain).  It's rainy, so we cooked it on the griddle.  It was good, but a little dry.  Next time we will oil the griddle and cut the pork loin a little bigger so it gets more texture and less cooked in the center.

Patatas Pobres:  (also from The Best of Spain).  Heat 1 tsp oil in cast iron pan.  Slice and peel four baking potatoes 1/8 inch thick.  Toss potatoes with 3 tbsp olive oil, making sure to coat each potatoes.  Layer potatoes, salting between potatoes.  Cook covered 20 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time.   Sprinkle with 1 minced garlic clove and 1 tbsp minced garlic. 

Insalata Mixta:  Romaine, mushrooms, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna and olives (not pictured) tossed with red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Change of Months

We've been pretty successful about exploring Korean food until this past week.  With my working late hours and then throwing my back out, there hasn't been a lot of cooking.  Also, Sanford's belly had a little trouble with so much fermented foods.  So we have decided to move on to the Iberian Pennisula.  Jack and Sam are disappointed, since this has been their favorite month so far.  We have promised that we will return to it, especially since we have a fridge full of fermented beans and dried anchovies.  We are waiting for the recipes from Jack's classmate, Dong.  Dong is getting recipes from his mother in Korea.  The bulgogi was everyone's favorite.  I loved the scallion pancakes and Sam was a fan of making his daily sushi.  I think moving back to a European country will be a little easier for us to do for an entire month.