Simple Spanish Cooking at Home

After the spectacular New Year's food at our friends Cindy and Brian, we had to repay the favor. So, we had them over and I decided to make some more Spanish inspired food, though the wife told me I had to make pasta since that's what I usually do best. Any who, we had a great time and the food came out pretty damn good. Thanks to Porthos and our buddy D'Artagnan as they helped me with food timings; an issue I generally have with more than 4 courses...the key is cook everything but the proteins first and re-warm in a 200 degree oven at the end f0r 5-10 minutes. Saves you time and ensures everyone gets warm food at the end.

Smoked Salmon, Yogurt, and Truffle Honey
I've made this before, but I've tweaked it and I have it pretty on right now. Keys here are to use the best fatty smoked salmon you can buy, use full fat yogurt and letting it sit at room temp (cold yogurt does not taste great here), season with salt and pepper which pumps up the yogurt and salmon flavor, and don't be afraid to add loads of truffle honey. Sweet, creamy, smoky, earthy and fatty...

Ingredients
Smoked Salmon (1 package for 16 montaditos)
Sliced Baguette
Room Temp Full Fat Greek Yogurt
White Truffle Honey (maybe you could get away with regular honey and truffle oil?)
Sherry Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

1) Add yogurt to the bread, salt and pepper, and a dash of vinegar - maybe 1/2 tsp or less
2) Drape piece of salmon and drizzle with truffle honey


Salad with Dried Fruits
This definitely isn't Spanish, but it's really really fun to eat. Big flavors and textures - crunchy, bitter from the arugula, sweet with the fruits, and bright vinegary dressing.

Ingredients
6 handfuls of wild arugula / mixed greens
1/4 cup each of dried dates, dried apricots, dried pineapple, dried papaya diced
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts
1/4 cup crushed almonds
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper

1) Combine vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper
2) Dump the fruits in to let sit. Right before serving dump the rest of the ingredients and combine well.


Patatas Bravas
I love this dish and it's done so poorly in most NYC Spanish restaurants. I've tweaked this recipe as well and I think I got it nailed down now. Keys: use yukon gold potatoes - much more flavor than yellow potatoes; bake them first, then crisp them in the pan; make your own bravas and alioli sauce. Spicy, crunchy, creamy, and garlicky...pretty f;n awesome.

Ingredients
6 Yukon gold potatoes - salt, pepper, oiled
Bravas sauce:
5 cups crushed jersey fresh tomatoes
2 tbsp Chipotle powder
2 tbsp Sherry Vinegar
Honey
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Alioli:
1 garlic
1 egg
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp Sherry Vinegar

1) Use a fork to poke holes all over the potatoes and place in a 400F oven. Cook for 45 minutes and remove.
2) Make bravas sauce. Cook 3 tbsp olive oil over medium heat and add chipotle pepper. After 15-30 seconds (you'll smell the chipotle perfume the air), add the crushed tomatos.
3) Make alioli. Add garlic to food processor, pinch salt/pepper, and 3 tbsp olive oil. Puree until all the garlic is minced. Add the rest of the olive oil slowly and continue blending. Eventually it'll become a thick yellow mayonnaise. Add vinegar, taste and adjust if necessary.
4) Cut up the potatoes in chunks and crisp up the potatoes in a pan, then drizzle with the bravas and alioli making sure each potato get some of each sauce.

Clams in Cava
Made a similar dish before and it's still delicious. Make sure to get extra bread to sop up the sauce.







Spaghetti with Mussels and Chorizo
bonus dish steamed Snapper
I wanted to rock chorizo and mussels figuring it would go great with spaghetti. It was pretty delicious, but this is probably the last time I use Barilla pasta. I don't get the same texture I like with De Cecco or Colavita even.

Ingredients
1 pound washed and cleaned mussels
5 cloves garlic minced
1 sweet onion diced
2 chorizo links sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 2.4 pound red snapper cleaned, scaled
Cup Cava - Spanish sparkling wine
Bunch Parsley sliced
1/4 cup clam juice
1 tbsp butter
1 pound spaghetti
5 cups crushed jersey fresh tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil

1) Boil some water and salt it heavily
2) Cook chorizo in olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes and remove chorizo and leave the chorizo oil behind in a wok.
3) Cut the fish three times across the side. Salt and pepper inside and outside of the fish. Add parsley inside.
4) In another sautee pan, sautee garlic and onions in olive oil until softened - 5 minutes.
5) Add mussels and add cava - enough to steam them open. After 3-5 minutes, remove the clams (make sure to remove as soon as they open more than 50%) and add the juice and solids to the wok.
6) Add fish in the wok, clam juice (bottled), and tomatoes and set over high heat. After liquids start boiling set over medium heat, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes. Check frequently to make sure fish is cooked nicely. When finished remove the fish, add sauce on top of the fish, and cover.
7) As the fish is cooking, drop the pasta in the water. Cook for 7-8 minutes - 1 minute under from the package instructions.
8) Timing should be to remove the fish first; then the pasta should finish right there after. Add butter and the pasta to the wok. Add mussels and chorizo and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Serve immediately and drizzle with olive oil. Add fresh parsley to the top and add cracked pepper
9) Serve the fish and drizzle with olive oil. Buen Provecho!

Patatas Bravas con Huevos

After the amazing tapas dinner at Jaleo, I wanted to recreate the spectacular patatas bravas with my own twist. These potatoes came out great and it's quite irritating why most NYC tapas joints can't recreate this stuff. Most in NYC either have no potato flavor or over/undercooked tater.

I ended up baking the tater since it intensifies the potato flavor whereas most recipes require either boiling or frying the potato which mutes the flavor - a potato boiled is a potato spoiled! I was a bit lazy though with the sauces and basically took existing mayo and spiced it up. When I have more time, I will definitely try making my own alioli and spend more time on the bravas sauce.

Ingredients
4 yukon gold potatoes
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup mayo
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 can crushed Jersey fresh tomatoes
2 tsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp honey
4 eggs

1) Pre-heat oven to 400F
2) Make alioli sauce - combine mayo, 1 tbsp sherry vinegar, 1 clove garlic minced, splash olive oil, and enough water to thin the sauce out. The consistency should be like a thin yogurt.
3) Make bravas sauce - heat chipotle powder in olive oil and add to the crushed tomatoes. Add splash olive oil and honey. Consistency should be like a thick tomato sauce.
4) Olive oil, salt and pepper the potato and add to the oven.
5) Cook for 50 minutes and remove. Let sit for 15 minutes to solidify - if you don't, when you cut up the potatoes it'll turn to mashed potatoes.
6) Use a very sharp knife and cut the potato into bite size chunks.
7) Set non stick pan over medium high heat. Add oil and crisp up the potatoes - both sides should be brown and crispy. Remove taters and set aside.
8) Add olive oil to the same pan and drop eggs in. Let sit for 20 seconds, as the white starts setting a bit use a spatula to gently loosen the egg white from the pan. Once the whites starts solidifying on the bottom of the pan (top of the egg should still be liquid), add water and cover. The water will steam the eggs on the top and yield an incredibly tender white. Remove after 10-15 seconds.
9) Top each potato with bravas sauce and add alioli. Add egg on top. When breaking the yolk and combining with the potato, bravas, and alioli you'll be in food heaven. Crispy exterior and creamy interior for the potatos; creamy and bright alioli and sweet/spicy bravas sauce makes an explosion of textures and flavors.

Random Spanish Inspired Cooking

I decided to cook a Spanish inspired meal to say thanks to my parents for helping me with the move and work around the house. Pretty simple montaditos and tapas, but pretty friggin delicious. Served with a great cava I found from Whole Foods and it brought me back to Barcelona.

Cockles in Cava
I love shellfish and I'm usually one of the believers that all shellfish just need garlic, onions, and booze. These cockles were hella fresh, but I decided to add some tomatoes to the dish since I had way too many tomatoes in the fridge. It worked out perfectly and did not overpower the shellfish at all. Incredibly sweet, tender and flavorful...

Ingredients
1 pound cockles - scrubbed and let since in big bowl of water; change the water 3 times
3 cloves garlic minced
1 yellow onion - small dice
extra virgin olive oil
1 tomato diced
1 cup cava

1) Set saute pan to low heat and add oil, onions, and garlic. Make sure the onions/garlic don't get any color, you just want to soften them.
2) About 7-10 mins later, add the tomato and cook for another 5 minutes
3) Crank the heat up to high, drop the cockles in and add the cava
4) Shake the pan around and you'll eventually see them open after 3-5 minutes. As soon as they open up, pull them out. Make sure to serve with some bread since the sauce is siiiick.
Note - I would say if they open slightly, you can take them out and open them up but they'll be pretty soft. But, I now prefer waiting till they open up 1/2 way...the meat will have better texture while still retaining the plumpness and sweetness. Any longer though and they'll be tough and chewy.


Pan con tomate
It's strange how delicious this simple dish can be, especially when you have great ingredients. Be sure to get the best tomato you can find; I used a great Spanish Olive Oil and some homegrown tomatoes.

Ingredients
1 tomato halved - best you can find
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic halved width wise
salt and pepper
1 baguette - sliced

1) Toast the bread and drizzle olive oil over it - make sure it's not burnt, but nice and golden.
2) Rub the garlic clove over the bread - it'll be weird since the bread will have a heavy garlic taste just with a slight rub
3) Rub the tomato over the bread until the top of the bread changes color - nice and pink.
4) To finish, drizzle some more olive oil and season with salt and pepper.


Smoked Salmon, Yogurt, Caramelized Onions Montadito
I wanted to recreate this spectacular montadito from Quimet & Quimet, but I gave a slight little twist. Kinda like a fun breakfast bite - sweet, creamy, and salty. Incredibly delicious, but I will try to recreate that montadito with the same flavors. Also, need to get better salmon since the one from Quimet & Quimet was spectacular.

Ingredients
caramelized onions (vidalia onion's thinly sliced, salt and pepper, and cooked over low heat until it turns caramel colored)
greek yogurt
smoked salmon
1 baguette - sliced

1) Top the bread with some greek yogurt, caramelized onion, and smoked salmon. Eat.