Escudella (and an apology...)

Folks, it has been just too hot and busy to cook this summer! I even made escudella, this amazing Andorran stew (in 90+ degree heat) that's the country's national dish, but never managed to sit down and write it up! And for that, I'm very sorry...

I prepared it by sort of combining this recipe and this recipe, but I also changed the cooking method so that I wasn't going to have a pot on the stove for 3 hours. It was a moderate success, but a little bland for my taste. But, that means, most people would probably love it! I've got a serious penchant for spice...

At any rate, I'm just going to have to pick this little experiment back up in a month or two, once the weather cools and the days shorten and I'm itchin' to get back in the kitchen!

Until then, hope you're all enjoying the summer. If you can, help out your neighbors in need and donate to your local food pantry (here's our region's). And, be well!

Cheers!

Spinach w/ Raisins and Pine Nuts & Onion Salad w/ Honey

Tonight, we prepared a vegetarian meal that was delicious and hearty, even without the meat!

I found a recipe for spinach with raisins and pine nuts, which I almost served as a raw salad, without cooking the spinach like it suggests, but decided in the end to follow the instructions - especially since I planned to bend the rules with the "dressing" for it. (A second recipe I found only blanches the greens, so I opted to do that.) The recipe also indicated that you could add white beans, so we did just that.

Then, I found a recipe for onion salad with honey, which sounded like it would make an awesome "dressing" for the salad if I carmelized the onions and served it warm. I also used an oregano-flavored vinegar from the pantry, since I figured the herb taste would pair nicely with the spinach.

Funnily enough, I accidentally added the olives that were supposed to be in this recipe to the spinach instead (and didn't realize it till I was writing this up), but it all ended up on the same plate. So, no worries!

At any rate, all my hunches were right on! Adding a dollop of the sweet and tangy onion mixture, which really was more like a relish, was a fantastic finish for the spinach. And, since it cooks quickly using only the stovetop, it's an easy summer meal.

Here's how I made it:

Olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jar (50g) pine nuts
1 can (4 oz) sliced black olives
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 can (15 oz) small white beans
2 lb baby spinach

3 Tbsp olive oil
2 vidalia onions, finely diced
1 Tbsp honey
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp Gustare oregano-infused white balsamic vinegar

In a skillet, heat a little oil over medium heat and saute the garlic till lightly golden. Then, add the pine nuts, coat the kernels in the oil and continue to brown the mixture. After a few minutes, add the olives and beans, lower the heat and keep warm.

In a second skillet, saute the onions and honey in the oil over medium-high heat till the onions begin to brown. Next, season with salt and pepper, add the vinegar, reduce the heat and continue to cook till the mixture thickens.

While the onions are cooking, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Blanch the spinach for just a few seconds - essentially, put the spinach in the water and then immediately pour into a strainer. Drain well.

Place the spinach in a serving bowl and top with the bean mixture. Add a spoonful of the onions, and dig in!

Destination #26: Andorra

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Today, I was introduced to a country I didn't know existed. A family from the tiny (just 181 square miles!), land-locked Principality of Andorra were recent guests at our favorite Cape Cod inn, The Beach Breeze. Situated between France and Spain, with strong Catalan culinary influences, Andorra is a country I just have to cook!

Just so you know, there are six athletes from Andorra, which has a population totaling roughly 86,000, competing in the Olympics: Joan Tomas Roca enters the final in Men's Trap shooting tomorrow ranked 33rd; Antoni Bernardo will race in next Sunday's Men's Marathon; Monica Ramirez Abella swam the Women's 100m Backstroke in 1:07.72 (second in her heat); Hocine Haciane Constantin swam the Men's 200m Butterfly in 2:06.37 (fifth in his heat); Cristina Llovera ran the Women's 100m in 12.78 seconds (fifth in her heat); and Daniel Garcia Gonzalez made it the elimination round of 16 (which determined the Quarterfinals) in Men's Judo. Felicitats! Bona sort i Joan Antoni!!!

I also need to update you about the blog. So far, my summer has been crazy busy, which has made it hard to enjoy and complete my blog cooking. Therefore, I've decided to devote two weeks to each destination, giving me more time to cook the meals and share my results.

That said, let's spend a couple weeks together enjoying some recipes from Andorra!

Beach bound...



Photo: Scott Morrow

Sorry, gang - Ticket to Bite is on hiatus this week...

I'll have only one free night to cook, which certainly doesn't befit any destination.

Headed for a little Cape Cod beach time this coming weekend. Catch you on the flip side!

Be well, folks!



Pastizz-ish

Today, I decided to wing it.

I knew that my other recipe for this week's destination would be pastizzi, a very popular dish in Malta that comes in a few varieties, but I couldn't decide which kind to make. Really, I wanted to prepare them all, but my wife is traveling this week and I didn't want a lot of leftovers not knowing if they'd freeze well.

One kind, pastizzi tal-irkotta, fills these little pockets with seasoned ricotta cheese. Another, pastizzi tal-pizelli, uses spiced peas and onions. There's a third kind, apparently, with anchovies but I found only one mention of those and no recipe. (That's OK, I'm not a big fan of anchovies, anyway.)

So, here's where I improvised. I had some ricotta left over from last week's cooking that needed to be used, but only about 8 oz. and the recipe I pulled from called for 14 oz. Plus, we have some other Mediterranean ingredients open and being shuffled around the fridge, like olives and sundried tomatoes. I grabbed everything we had that sounded like it would taste good together and made my filling from that.

Moreover, I cheated on the dough and used a store-bought crust. You really should check out how the recipe says to make the pastry, however. I bet the steps to incorporate the shortening and margarine produce an incredibly flaky and rich crust. Honestly, though, you can see by the crumbs in the picture that the texture of my cheat was wonderful, but admittedly the dough could've use a little extra flavor.

Anyhoo, the final result was tasty indeed! So much so that I'm going to bring the extras to my girls' night out tonight and share them! I bet the filling would be great with a little roasted garlic, and maybe baked in little mini quiche shells or this way but in bite-sized portions for a tasty appetizer...

Here's how I made them:

8 oz. ricotta
1 small onion, finely diced
1 Tbsp sundried tomatoes, minced
1 Tbsp olives, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and freshly cracked black papper, to taste
1 egg, beaten or Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let the flavors blend at room temperature while you roll out the dough. Form a large rectangle with the dough, roughly 12"x18" and cut it into 6 squares.

Place about 2 Tbsp of the ricotta mixture into the center of each square. Dab a little milk or water around the edge of each square and fold the dough into triangle-shaped pouches. Press the edges together and use a fork to crimp them shut. 

Brush each pastizzi evenly with the beaten egg or oil, poke a vent in each so steam can escape and bake for 35 minutes till golden brown.

Hobz Biz-Zejt

Put simply, Malta's favorite (perhaps national?) snack is a perfect, light, no-cook supper for the dog days of summer like these. Basically just bread with tomato and other fresh, Mediterranean toppings, you can make it as hearty as you like if you're in the mood for something more substantial. Even if you decide to make it bruschetta-style, you can just fire up the grill and it's ready in a flash! No oven required.

This meal is so easy it's barely a recipe. We got a crusty Tuscan sourdough boule from the grocery and a couple juicy beefsteak tomatoes. I toasted thick slices on the grill, brushed with a little olive oil, until it was golden and crunchy on the outside and warm and chewy on the inside.

Then, cut a tomato in half, take out the seeds, and rub the flesh and juice into the bread. You'll end up with nothing much more than the skin in your hand when you're done. At this point, you can add as few or many toppings as you like! Typically, the Maltese top theirs with things like tuna, capers, olives, bell peppers, cheese and pickled onions. I had all those, except for the onions, so I grilled up some fresh ones while I toasted the bread and used those instead.

There are loads of recipes out there for hobz biz-zejt, each with slight variations, and they all sounds just as tasty as the one I picked. So, raid your pantry and let your imagination go wild!

The Temples of Malta

Ġgantija Temples (visitmalta.com)

What are older than the Great Pyramids, Stonehenge and every other ancient stone structure that survives today? The prehistoric Temples of Malta.

Around 7,000 years ago, Malta's earliest inhabitants most likely migrated from Sicily and belonged to an agrarian society that worshipped a goddess of fertility through animal sacrifice and other rituals. From around 4,000 to 2,500 B.C.E., they constructed megalithic temples with trefoil floorplans, apses extending from a central path, small inner chambers where priests and priestesses likely performed ceremonies, incomplete domes with curved walls and pole-and-hide roofing. Many have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Oddly, in about 2,400 B.C.E., the inhabitants of Malta simply disappeared. There is no sign of pestilence or epidemic, war or catastrophe. One theory: Several drought years may have sent the agrarian society, who raised livestock and grew crops, in search of a better climate and more fertile land.

I'll be preparing my first Maltese dish on Wednesday, so check back then!

Week #25: Malta

We're going to bask in the Mediterranean sun this week as we visit the island nation of Malta.

Malta's rich history spans 7,000 years, from the Neolithic Maltese Islanders through, among other conquerers and patrons, the Carthaginians, Normans, Knights of St. John, French and English until finally gaining independence in 1964.

A three-island archipelago situated about 60 miles south of Sicily and 180 miles north of Africa, Malta - like many countries - boasts cuisine that's heavily based on seasonal ingredients and an eclectic blend of indigenous and colonial influences. Malta is the largest island, followed in size by Gozo and Comino. About 400,000 people call this tiny country home.

There are so many fresh flavors in the recipes I've been researching, perfect for light summer meals. Hopefully, I can narrow down my options to two or three awesome dinners. Stay tuned, folks!

Kuy Tew Cha

Just look at those noodles!

If you went to college in the '80s or '90s like me, you're probably flashing back to hot-pot ramen dinners in your dorm room.

Am I right?!

I know this recipe is somewhat similar to my stir-fry earlier in the week, but when I read in my Extending the Table cookbook that I'd get to use Chinese noodles, I couldn't resist it. But, at least it doesn't contain chicken!

This recipe is so simple and easy to make. Even the name is straight-forward and translates to Noodles with Broccoli and Meat. The noodles take all of 3 minutes to cook, the broccoli about 5 minutes to steam, and the pork and shrimp about the same to saute and simmer. Then, you just throw it all together! Easy peasy, folks!

It's not quite a one-pot (or hot-pot) meal, but it's definitely worth a little extra washing up. Here's how I made it:

1 pkg (8 oz) Chinese noodles
1 head fresh broccoli, cut apart
3 boneless pork chops, cut into 1" pieces
12 raw shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
Oil

Cook the noodles as directed, drizzle with a little oil to prevent sticking, and set aside.

Steam the broccoli until al dente and also set aside.

Heat a little oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the pork and brown on all sides. Add the garlic, shrimp, soy sauce and sugar and stir to combine. Toss in the broccoli and continue to saute for about 5 minutes till the protein is cooked. Mix this with the noodles, and dig in!

Saik Chrouk Ch'ranouitk

Technically, this says I made Khmer Coconut Pork Skewers, but I actually made them with chicken. (I said I had a lot in the freezer!)

The marinade for the meat has some of my absolute favorite flavor obsessions: coconut, garlic, lime... YUM!!! So, how could I resist?! The fire even adds a slightly toasted flavor to the coconut.

So. Good.

Interestingly, the recipe says to baste frequently with the leftover marinade while grilling, but it wasn't liquidy. The way I prepared it below, the marinade was a sort of grainy paste. I wonder whether another liquid ingredient was missing. Some coconut milk would be a logical addition but it's definitely not necessary. It's delicious just the way it is!

If you're looking for an alternative to your usual summer barbecue, look no further. Make extra, because I bet the leftovers would make a great snack served chilled.

Here's how I made it:

2 Tbsp lemongrass (you can find it prepared in the herb section)
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Zest of 1 lime
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 to 1/3 cup water (depends upon desired consistency)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
3 chicken breasts, cut into large cubes

In a blender or food processor, blend the lemongrass, onion, garlic, lime zest, turmeric and water into a paste. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the sugar, salt and coconut. Add the chicken and toss to coat the pieces. Cover with cling wrap and marinate for an hour at room temperature. (Keep the bowl out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources.)

When you're ready to cook, thread the meat onto skewers and grill for 15-20 minutes. Turn the skewers frequently to cook the meat evenly.