Gypsy Boy wrote:
(One tiny correction: the little green peppers that trixie-pea bought that morning at the Evanston Farmers' Market and then roasted are pimientos de padron and are, indeed, known as Russian roulette peppers in some quarters. Piquillos are red, quite bit larger, sweeter and, to my taste, with a seductive, albeit indefinable, tang.)

Which farmer was selling these?

I just got an e-mail from La Tienda that they have fresh padron peppers for sale. A bit pricey, but there they are:

http://www.tienda.com/food/products/vg- ... -UPD0608-2

Geo

Tonight, I ran through a few recipes from the old chestnut, The New Spanish Table.

Not the first time I made these, but I just love the manchego crackers with marcona almonds. In combination with olives, cheese and dry sherry, you hit the trifecta of Spanish tastes, and life could not be better (I unfortunately did not have dry sherry on hand tonight, though).


[pp. 168-69]

Tangerine-Marinated Olives (p. 22), which I made instead with orange and limes (2:1):



I just love these olives- very clean tasting.

I also made the Coca with Candied Red [& Yellow] Peppers (pp. 179-80) with Joan's Coca Dough (p. 181). Juan's coca dough is, I think, perfect for this type of "pizza," "flatbread," whatever you want to call it. It is an oily dough and well-complements the sweet(er) topping. And because you use lager in the dough and don't have to mess with yeast or annoying rising times, it's a snap. It's also pliable and only slightly elastic, which makes rolling it out easier as well.


Sauteeing peppers and onions


Coca, pre-baking

The end result, especially after it's dusted with confectioner's sugar, is a sweet, but indulgent, flatbread.

aschie30,
Everything looks absolutely delicious.
My kind of meal!

Jyoti

A sleeper recipe in this book is Baby Carrot and Chard Stew from Gabriela's Garden (pp. 377-78)

Von Bremzen says that Gabriela is her friend and I gather that Gabriela has a very good garden as she warns not to make this stew unless you have very fresh garden produce. As I had both chard and carrots from the CSA box, this recipe was a given. Even though it sounds very plain -- it is immensely delicious (and healthy). The flavor derives mainly from a good dose of good olive oil, aromatics, a "chimichurri" of pestled parsley, garlic, black peppercorns and salt, and smoked sweet paprika. It is a very flavorful -- and surprisingly, hearty -- stew that benefits greatly from the heat of an ancho chile and acidity from red wine vinegar added at the end. Per the instructions, I garnished it with boiled new potatoes (which I drained, then dried in a pan, adding a good glug of olive oil, sea salt and pepper while shaking the pan).

Here is a finished bowl:

A good friend of mine is an AmeriCorps volunteer, and remembering very clearly my year of service--I refer to it frequently as "my year of being hungry"--I'm trying with some regularly to a cook her a hearty meal. I had decided on Spanish food, and on a recommendation from aschie30, decided for tonight's dinner to make the Salt-Baked Pork in Adobo. As aschie30 told me, it's a fool-proof recipe with a tender, flavorful result, and that's exactly what it was. I'd follow the recipe again precisely except, if cooking for myself or for someone with an equal or higher heat tolerance, double the serrano. I served the pork with the Espinacs a la Catalana and quinoa. Happy stomachs and happy leftovers. Count me a fan of the New Spanish Table.

I made the carrot and chard stuff a couple of weeks ago with my CSA chard, and it came out very well, and even convinced my kids to sort of eat a sort of green dishes that was sort of entirely bacon-free, unlike the previous times I've bribed them into eating chard. So thanks, Aschie30, for calling my attention to it.