Bizcochos de Almendras

Almond cakes. Mmmmmm. It was good to get back in the kitchen. Not that I haven't been in the kitchen. I practically live in the kitchen. It was just good to get back in this cookbook again, after a week of vacation and a week of recovering from vacation.

The ingredient in this recipe I have never cooked with before is almond paste. I got mine at Whole Foods and it comes in a wrapped tube. It is basically ground almonds and some kind of sweetener. Bizcochos de Almendras is bursting with almond flavor, and it is heavenly. This is by no means low fat or even moderate fat. The recipe uses 2 sticks of butter and 1/2 cup of almond paste. Very rich. You cut it into about 16 squares. Eat one! It is amazing. Personally I prefer it for breakfast with coffee, rather than for dessert. I try not to eat such heavy things right before bed. Much better to have first thing in the morning, when the whole day is yet to be lived and is full of opportunities to burn fat and calories!

In my mind I've turned over a few ideas to make this a little lighter or healthier. I was thinking of using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose white flour. That might work, or use half white/half wheat. Maybe not quite so much butter. Then again, I would hate to ruin perfection.

The sliced almond topping is quite lovely and frankly I thought it could use a little more almonds than it calls for. I added a little extra, and next time I make it I would add even a bit more. It adds a nice crunch, and almonds are a good fat. The brushed egg white topping makes it nice and meringue-y and the texture of this cake is similar to lemon bars.

This is fun and easy to make! I highly recommend it.

Hmmm....what's next?

Pollo al Diablo

While vacationing at a beach house in Sea Ranch (Sonoma/Mendocino, CA coast) this week, I had the pleasure of making Pollo al Diablo (Chicken Diablo) while looking out at the ocean and watching foxes and deer prance through the meadow. Not your everyday cooking experience. The wise person who designed this house must have enjoyed cooking and eating, because the kitchen has the best window view of the beach, and the deck, which is the perfect spot for a barbecue and patio table, also faces the ocean.

Before I get started about the sauce, let's talk about chicken. I have not always been able to cook chicken. When I was a preteen and my mom was teaching me how to cook, I couldn't stand handling raw chicken. I remember refusing to touch it. She didn't force me, but she said, "Someday, you'll have your own family, and you'll cook chicken." Yes, Mom, you were right. At the start of my domestic family life, I was able to put off this inevitability for a few years by being a vegetarian. Around 2000 I started eating meat again, and it took me quite awhile to cook it on my own (rather than ordering it at a restaurant). I started with fish, then beef, then chicken was last.

I still do not enjoy handling raw chicken! And I'm just talking about boneless, skinless chicken breasts that you only have to trim and cut. Yes, I am THAT wimpy. I'm not even talking about handling whole chickens, where you sometimes have to cut away bit of liver and kidney and such. Sorry, but I'm just not there yet. I might get there, as I work my way through this cookbook and become more and more adventurous.

In spite of my squeamishness, with the right chicken recipe, the results are well worth it. Delayed gratification. It's not like recipes that are a pleasure to prepare all the way through, like gazpacho, or plantain omelet. There is nothing about the sensory experience of handling raw chicken that is enjoyable to me. But Pollo al Diablo is definitely worth it! And it is really very simple to prepare.

You start by making the marinade/sauce at least two hours before cooking. This sauce reminds me of something you would have seen in a cookbook or magazine in the 1970s, with ketchup and sour cream. Use good quality ingredients, and it works. I used Westbrae organic unsweetened ketchup, and Trader Joe's sour cream. Also, Trader Joe's hot sauce, which I like better than those I've tried from Whole Foods.

Mix 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup hot sauce (depending on how spicy you like it), 1/4 cup honey, and 1 cup sour cream in a bowl. The mixture is a pale pink/orange color. Drop 1/2 tsp. each of paprika and cumin on top. Don't mix it yet! Look at how pretty it is. The powdered spices look like an artist's palette. Add 1/2 cup ketchup. Stir it slowly and watch the colors swirl and change. It's like mixing paint, except it smells yummy. Keep mixing until it is all blended and smooth, then marinate 6 chicken breast halves in half of it for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. Reserve the rest of the sauce in the refrigerator.

You can cook the marinated chicken on the grill, or in a heavy skillet on the stove. Whenever grilling is an option, weather permitting, I grill. And with the beautiful scenery, it was an easy choice. The recipe says to use 1/2 cup vegetable or peanut oil for cooking. I did not need to use nearly that much oil. I used extra virgin olive oil, simply because it's the only oil I had on hand. If I'd been at home, I probably would have used peanut oil for better flavor. The olive oil worked just fine, though. I brushed the grill with a nice coating of olive oil, and grilled the chicken on both sides, occasionally brushing with more sauce as it cooked. Heat the other half of the sauce in a small saucepan on the stove, being careful not to let it boil, and serve alongside the chicken.

Now, a word about hot sauce. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of hot sauce. I used half of that, thinking that is one hell of a lot of hot sauce, and hoping my kids would try this recipe too. 1/4 cup of hot sauce made it plenty spicy enough for the grownups, and too spicy for the kids. Personally I could have handled it a little bit spicier, but not much. You can always add extra hot sauce at the table.

I served this with grilled zucchini, rainbow shell pasta with olive oil and Romano cheese, and romaine salad with cucumbers and apples. For the zucchini, I sliced it lengthwise into long slabs, brushed it with a dressing (olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder), and grilled it over low/medium heat on both sides. Zucchini prepared in this way is mild yet flavorful, and a perfect accompaniment to the spicy chicken. Chilled Rosé alongside is cooling and refreshing.

One final note: leftovers of this chicken, the next day, cold from the fridge, are awesome. There is nothing like leftover cold chicken, if it's good. And if it's good hot, it's even better cold, the next day. It's good straight, but would be nice in a sandwich too.

Enjoy!

~Lori

Ssssssshhh! Don't tell Curt.

(Just between you and me, I'm packing The Columbia Restaurant Cookbook, along with ingredients for three of the recipes from it. I'm sneaking it into the vacation menu. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!)

My Spanish Cooking Diversion: Peruvian Shepherd's Pie

Hi all, well, I tried making the Peruvian Shepherd's Pie last night and I am here to report it was not a success! My kitchen is now covered in grease and I have a big cleanup task today. I have determined that I am either not good at frying, or I need better equipment for frying. It all went pretty well up to the point that I had to fry the potato sculptures, which were very nicely formed. They fell apart in the oil, the result was oil-soaked chunks of meat and potatoes, and my kids complained of how the house smelled. I think I will definitely wait for the actual recipe before trying this dish again. Chef Rachelle Boucher, who was the hosting chef for the cooking demos at the Marin Fair, tells me she will try to get the recipes from Chef Sean. Until then, I'm steering clear of Shepherd's Pie.

The one fun and interesting part of this culinary misadventure is that Chef Sean was right about the Yukon Gold potatoes. They do mash really nicely into a formed "dough" that needs no egg or other binding agent. That's pretty cool, and it's fun to do. He mentioned using it to let kids make sculptures out of for fun. Not a bad idea, and it would be lower in fat and frustration than frying it!

My family is off on vacation for most of the next two weeks, and my kind husband has requested, "Please, no more cooking projects" until we get back. There is a lot to do to get ready!

Peruvian Cooking at the Marin County Fair

While I did not get to cook from the Columbia cookbook today, I did get to watch a Peruvian cooking demonstration at the Marin County Fair.

Surprisingly, the recipe was not provided in this cooking demo. So I'm not even sure what these dishes were called. Chef Sean gave us some background and history on the country of Peru and its culinary influences. The dishes he prepared today were a sort of Shepherd's Pie, and a corn salad with queso fresco (fresh cheese). We got to sample it at the end, and it tasted amazing. I have already purchased the ingredients for the Shepherd's Pie in hopes of recreating it at home, without a recipe.

First of all, I thought it was interesting that the first culinary influence in Peru was Inca, before the Spanish took over. Then, Peru had two types of cuisines, Spanish, and Inca, and the two never really fused into one. It wasn't until 1870 that Peru came to have a cuisine of its own. (I'm totally paraphrasing and hope I got this right.) Peruvian cuisine varies depending on the geography of the region. Up in the mountains, there is not much meat available, and potatoes are the primary vegetable that can grow. In lower regions by the water, seafood is of course more prevalent. A common source of meat in Peruvian food is guinea pig. Yep. I'm glad Chef Sean steered clear of guinea pig in today's demo.

I gather that potatoes are very prevalent in Peruvian cooking. The Shepherd's Pie is similar to a tamale, but uses potato instead of masa (corn) as the holder for the filling. Chef Sean said Yukon Gold potatoes are the only potatoes he's found will hold together well enough for this recipe. First he sauteed finely chopped onion, then added garlic, spices (salt, pepper, cumin, and I forget what else), then Niman Ranch ground meat (I just realized he called it "ground meat," not "ground beef," so I'm really hoping this wasn't Niman Ranch ground guinea pig...). He mashed the peeled, boiled potatoes, then formed it into a dough with his hands. He said no egg or binding agent is needed; just the potatoes. He scooped out a handful of the potato dough and flattened it into a sort of pancake, then spooned some of the cooked meat mixture into it, then folded it up so it looked like a whole potato. He then rolled these in flour and deep fried them.

He started making the queso fresco early on in the recipe. This is homemade cheese. He started heating milk in a big pan and brought it to 190 degrees, without letting it scald. Once it reached temperature, he juiced a lemon into it, and now I am forgetting what else he added. He took some grilled corn on the cob and cut the corn off of it into a bowl, then added a chopped jalapeño pepper, salt, the juice of a lime, chopped red onion, and maybe something else. Then he added the queso fresco when it was done, and that was sort of like crumbled ricotta cheese.

Somehow I managed to be the first person to get to try these two amazing dishes. I guess it was where I sat, in the front row. I'm short and got there early, so I made sure I got a good seat. They passed out plates to everyone in the audience. I sampled a bit of each, then picked up my phone. My family had reached their limit of patience at the barnyard. I grabbed my plate and ran outside. My kids were melting down and crying, and Curt looked pretty spent. I just went up to them all and started feeding them this Peruvian food and they instantly stopped fussing! Molly wanted to go back in with me to get more, so we did. They were still passing out more sample plates, so I got her another one. She has never liked potatoes before, and she said, "I only like baked potatoes." I told her, "These potatoes are fried." So she said, "I only like fried potatoes." She ate the whole thing. When Chef Sean asked if anyone had any questions, Molly whispered in my ear, "Ask him if your child can please have more."

I plan on attempting to make this tomorrow, and I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, there was a Spanish cooking demo today as well, but I didn't get to see it. It was given by a chef from the only Spanish restaurant in Marin, Sabor of Spain. I watched the first two minutes and then had to leave. He was making a paella. But I'm glad I know about the restaurant now so I can check it out.

Caviar de Frijoles Negros, and other thoughts

I made Caviar de Frijoles Negros (Black Bean Dip) this week, and somehow, I haven't managed to make much else from the Columbia lately. After the 4th of July holiday, I will certainly be diving right back into it.

Anyway...the dip was really good. I didn't add the raw chopped onion garnish because it just didn't sound good at the time. I did like the chopped hard-boiled egg garnish, though. Curt's comment was "This looks weird, but I'm hungry." :-) I thought the dip was heavier on the olive oil than it really needs to be. Also, the recipe does not call for salt, and it does need salt, unless you are using beans that are already plenty salted.

This is a pretty simple recipe. It helps a lot if you have a food processor. But, it's not crucial. You just mash the cooked beans with a lot of raw garlic, then heat it for a bit in a pan with olive oil. We dipped tortilla chips. Eli liked it; Molly did not. Probably too much garlic for her.

I hope to do much more Columbia cooking next week. I'd like to get into some of the main dishes, and maybe a dessert. Happy Fourth!

~Lori

Sangria

It was a busy, fun weekend. I'm easing back into cooking today by soaking some black beans I will use to make Caviar de Frijoles Negros (black bean dip) tonight.

I made the Sangria recipe last night for the second time. I read that Sangria may have started by mixing fruit juice with inferior wine. Then, as better quality wine became available, brandy, sugar, and spices were added instead. This sangria recipe contains Spanish red wine (preferably from the Rioja region, which I used), brandy, sugar, club soda, orange juice, lemon juice, and fresh orange slices. (It also calls for maraschino cherries, but I'm not a fan of these so I left them out.) You chill it in the fridge and then you can pour it over ice if you like. Making sangria ice cubes would work well to make it nice and cold without watering it down.

While I enjoy sangria, I have to say that it's not the easiest thing to digest. The combination of fruit and wine is rather rich. You might find you can't comfortably consume as much of it as you could drink straight wine. Just a heads up! It's very refreshing - but it is not light! I haven't figured out yet what it pairs especially well with in this cookbook. Possibly not frijoles negros!

Have a beautiful Monday! I'm off to arrange a date with Mickey Mouse.