In fifteen days, the 3rd and final of the
Grand Tours begins in Ourense, Spain starting La Vuelta 2016 or the Tour of
Spain. These 3 week long bicycle team competitions never cease to amaze me and
that’s despite the “down-fallen” one who had 7 yellow jerseys removed from France’s
record books. Pharmaceutically enhanced or not, that still means riding a
bicycle roughly 100 miles per day for 3 straight weeks over mountainous passes
that make the Pali and H3 seem relatively flat. Other than this annual feat of
endurance, the other thing about Spain that amazes me is the food. Of course!
Like a lot of Europe, Spanish cuisine is heavily
influenced by both the regional products available and the multitude of
cultures that originally settled in the given area. From the seafood dishes created
in the Northern and Eastern coastal regions to the lamb and goat based stews in
the central provinces to the chickpea based stews in Madrid, the one constant
are flavors that awaken and perk the palate. I don’t think anyone will ever
accuse traditional Spanish cuisine as being bland.
Tortilla Espanola
Hailing from the Northern Navarra region, the tortilla
espanola or tortilla batatas isn’t related to Mexican tortillas by any stretch
of the imagination. While the Mexican tortilla refers to either the thin corn
or wheat based dough used in tacos, burritos and quesadillas, the Spanish
tortilla refers to a potato and onion based omelet. Thin slices of potato are
mixed with cooked onions then surrounded with beaten eggs and cooked in olive
oil until both sides are golden brown. Personally, it’s a great way to use
leftover eggs – I know I can simply make the traditional omelet but that would
be too… boring. Slicing potatoes also allows me to “play” with my latest
kitchen “toy”, a chef’s knife with built in ridges above the cutting edge that
don’t allow the sliced potato pieces from sticking to the blade. They literally
fall off on their own! And if you’re thinking that potato, onion and eggs don’t
sound exciting, that’s just the mandatory trio. I spice my tortilla espanola
with cherrywood smoked sea salt and smoked Spanish paprika along with a couple
of dashes of sherry vinegar. And I always serve it with luscious Romesco sauce…
Sauce Romesco
Hailing from Catalonia on the North Eastern edge of
Spain, this pepper and nut based sauce contains a bevy of palate awakening
ingredients. Featuring rehydrated red chili, roasted red peppers, toasted
hazelnut and Marcona almonds, garlic, toasted bread, fresh tomatoes, olive oil
and sherry vinegar, I use it on everything from grilled beef, pork and chicken,
as a sandwich spread, as a dip for chips and to top tortilla espanola. And it
doesn’t involve much more work than making a basic pesto sauce – the most labor
intensive work simply involves toasted your nuts, peeling and seeding your
tomatoes and soaking your dried chili. Other than that, the food processor does
the rest of the work.
Though we can recreate an authentic Romesco in our own
kitchens, it’s a little more difficult to recreate an authentic calcotada the way Catalonians celebrate
it between November through April. A calcotada
basically celebrates the growth of new spring onions with sauce Romesco and red
wine. New spring onions (calcots) are
harvested and cooked directly over an open fire then bunches of the charred
onions are rolled in newspaper then placed in a cooler for 15 to 20 minutes to
continue steaming. Once they are steamed through, the outer charred skin is
removed and the delicate white portion is dipped in sauce Romesco and consumed
with copious amounts of Garnacha or Carinena based red wine imbibed directly
from the serving vessel or porron. I
say it’s difficult in the 50th because the closest crop we have to the
Spanish calcots are the Tokyo negi sold at Marukai and at $6.99 a
pound or more, you’d be hard pressed into purchasing enough Tokyo negi for a calcotada… unless you were the only guest…
Paella Ala
Valenciana
The name of this Valencian classic dish hailing from the
Eastern coast of Spain actually refers to the vessel used to cook the dish and
not the dish itself. So if you venture to your local kitchen supply store for
the traditional pan, you probably don’t want to ask for a “paella pan” as
that’s like asking for “the pan used for cooking paella pan”. Anyway, what most
of us have sampled stateside and even here in the 50th isn’t the
original version of paella as the original proteins were rabbit and snails.
Nope, the original didn’t contain shrimp or chicken or clams, it was strictly
Bugs Bunny and escargot. What you’ll usually find in a traditional paella is
Bomba rice – a variety that soaks 3 times its volume in liquid (most rice only
soaks double its volume) – and that most precious of spices, saffron. Those hand-picked
stigmas of the purple crocus are priced on par with caviar and are only second
in cost to Alba white truffles.
The big question is how to cook paella; traditional
paella over direct heat or baked in the oven. The direct heat method gives you
that desired crusty layer on the bottom of the pan or soccarat. However cooking uncovered over direct heat can dry out
your proteins especially your delicate clams, mussels and shellfish so oven
baking in a covered pan retains moisture and prevents your shellfish from
turning into dried ebi… but it also
means no soccarat. I love the charred
rice! Something about the flavor of saffron and a little “koge”. It’s almost
like the char in traditionally stone pot cooked Korean bi bim bap. Therefore I simply place the shellfish on the top and remove
them once they’re cooked. You can then mix them back into the rice once the
paella is completed.
Gazpacho
Of all of the regional Spanish specialties, I would think
this classic dish from the Southern Andalusian region would be a hit in the 50th.
Partly because it’s a cold soup and Hawaii basically only experiences two
seasons, a hot summer from October through May and an unbearable summer from
June through September. Therefore the chill does take the edge off of our
ambient temperatures. Partly because the ingredients are grown right in our own
backyard with locally grown tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions and basil
available year round. And partly because you can spice it to your liking with
most residents adding chili pepper water to almost any dish. Plus you don’t
have to even warm up leftovers.
That’s why I was glad to see Tokkuri Tei chef and owner
Hideaki “Santa” Miyoshi make a chilled natto
soup at this year’s Natto Day
which was his take on the classic gazpacho. Fresh vegetable flavors balanced by
the earthiness of the natto. And it’s
not just the fresh flavors in gazpacho that make it the perfect soup for me, I
have what’s known as a “cat’s tongue”. I can’t eat anything that’s at a
scalding temperature. That’s why I never ordered Wisteria’s sukiyaki. My dining companions would be
done eating while I still would be furiously blowing on those molten tofu nuggets trying to cool them down.
So a chilled soup is just what the doctor ordered.
No Farther than
your own Pantry…
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