Cortado con hielo

Sundays don't really feel like Sundays in August. They are sort of a soft, wimpy version of a real Sunday —I mean, they are still fun and ok, but they don't really feel like a break from the rest of the week. At least not here, where everyone has gone on vacation and nobody will be back until around the 20th. That's Europe for you. When I was little, in the early 80s, if you were not going anywhere in between the 10th and the 20th of August you had to stock up. I'm not joking. Everything was closed, and when I say everything I mean it. Grocery stores were closed, for crying out loud.

Nowadays things have changed and some stores and restaurants are open even in mid August, but one thing hasn't changed: everyone is gone. Well, everyone except me. I'm here, sitting on the couch, watching the rain fall on this dreary Ferragosto (August 15th), feeling a little bored and a little blue. The forecast promises me better weather tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday and then, Thursday, I'm going on vacation so —really— I shouldn't feel too bored or too blue. I do have things to do, mind you, but they happen to be the kind of things I don't feel like doing at the moment, like laundry or packing for my trip.

What I need this morning is a pick-me-up and —although the weather surely doesn't make it feel like it's the middle of August— a nice, Spanish-style iced coffee is in order. Next week I'll be sipping many of these in Barcelona and that, I have to admit, immediately makes me feel less bored and blue.

CORTADO CON HIELO

One espresso
A splash of milk
One teaspoon of sugar
Ice cubes

Fill a tumbler with ice cubes.
Make a good, strong espresso, stir in sugar until it dissolves, stir in milk and pour over ice. Mix until cold and enjoy.

Tortilla de patatas

As you might have noticed from my recent posts, I have gone to Madrid for a few days and fallen in love with Spain. Not only I enjoyed the trip, the people and the city itself, I also discovered many dishes I absolutely love and rediscovered others that I loved already but had forgotten about. One of them is tortilla de patatas, an amazingly simple yet satisfying and delicious dish my dad used to make for me when I was little. Just so we don't get all confused, the term "tortilla" is Spain refers to what Italians call frittata and Americans (and many others) call omelet, not to what you make tacos or burritos with. How the two terms ended up meaning two completely different things is lost on me, but if someone knows it, please do tell —I have been wondering about it for years.

I made the tortilla using a recipe I found in a book I bought at the Madrid airport, because god forbid that I go somewhere without buying a cookbook. What can I say? I'm obsessed. Plus, our flight back to Milano was delayed a couple of hours and I was bored. So there, I have a good excuse this time. Anyway, the tortilla turned out great and made happy a crowd that is very difficult to please. See, I have these girlfriends, most of whom I've known since the 6th grade, who are a walking and talking collection of allergies with a plethora of food related problems and ideas that make it pretty much impossible finding something that we all can eat. There's two vegetarians, there's a dairy intolerant, two who have to eat gluten free and then there's me —I'm only allergic to crab, which makes me by far the easiest to feed. But I had promised I'd cook them a meal, so I started going through cookbooks, blogs and magazines like crazy. And then it dawned on me. Tortilla de patatas was the perfect solution to our little situation. Everyone loved it (or so they said) and I even got to use my brand new book. Perfect, right?

TORTILLA DE PATATAS

3/4 cup olive oil
6 large potatoes, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1large onion, thinly sliced
6 large eggs.


Heat the oil in a 9-inch skillet, add potato pieces, and onions and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally until potatoes are tender.

Beat eggs in a large bowl with a fork. Salt and pepper to taste.

Using a slotted spoon transfer the potatoes in the same bowl as the beaten eggs, pressing them so that eggs cover them completely. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Discard most of the oil from the pan, reserving 2 tbsps of it. Heat it back up, add potato-egg mixture, and cook on medium-high heat. When the potatoes start to brown, put a plate on top of the skillet and flip to cook the other side. Cut into wedges and enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Madrid

Viva la movida madrileña!

Do you ever feel an instant connection? It doesn't matter if it's with a person, a place, a certain ingredient, a cocktail. You have this almost overwhelming yet calming feeling that you have found your match and that life, after all, it's going to be ok.

In my life I experienced a very small number of such connections, and yet I remember and cherish each one of them. I cannot tell you how long had it been since my last epiphany, let's just say that —finally— a few days ago I had a new one. I wasn't in Madrid for six hours and, already, I absolutely adored the place. Everything about the city, about the neighborhood, the food, the people, the drinks and —I hate to use the word because nothing sounds nuttier and more tree-hugging than the word "energy", but I'll use it anyways because in Madrid even using the word energy seemed ok— the energy is so rich, charged and charging, that I instantly thought "I want to live here."

Food, of course, was a very prominent part of my vacation. I cannot even go five miles away from my house without managing to find a new ingredient or a favorite wine bar, so imagine what happens when you unleash me in Madrid. Madness is what happens. And a very happy, constantly semi-drunk me. As my best friend describes it, locamente borracha, which loosely translates to "stupidly drunk", and yet doesn't even begin to describe the happy stupor in which I found myself as I was taking in the amazing views and the even more amazing food and drinks. Potatoes with salsa brava, a tomato-y, spicy concoction that is a a staple of Spanish cuisine made my taste buds sing. I kid you not.And that was only the beginning.

Mixto iberico, aka pork galore, also ranked very high in my all-time-favorite snacks. I think I ate the equivalent of a whole pig while I was there, and loved every second of it. I cannot say that this kind of nutritional plan is particularly easy on the waistline, but it tastes so heavenly one can only do one thing. Eat more of it.

Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, the best deal on earth. Every tapas on the menu is either 1 or 1.20 Euros and, get this, if you order at least one montadito (tapas) your huge beer half liter beer, which usually goes for a whopping 2 Euros, will cost you only 1 Euro. I was practically in heaven. Not to mention that the food itself was more than good, it was amazing. Jamon serrano, jamon iberico, tortilla madrilena with salsa brava, pate and berry jam, smoked salmon... you name it.

Let's not forget about the drinks, of course. The mojito pictured above was probably the best mojito I have ever had in my entire life, and that includes the two years I have spent bartending in Florida and making what, at the time, I thought was the best mojito on the planet. Well, little did I know that in a cozy, yet air-conditioned, bar on Calle Espiritu Santo in Madrid I'd find a bartender that makes a mojito that is better than mine. The bar is called Lolina Vintage Cafe and, a part from the stellar cocktails, the place is absolutely adorable. As the name suggests, it was entirely furnished and decorated using vintage prints, furniture and pictures from the 60s and 70s, which goes together perfectly with the whole barrio (neighborhood) of Malasana, where the bar is located, sort of a Spanish version of Montmartre or the Village, with indie music stores and independently owned boutiques.

Can you see why I want to go back to Spain as soon as possible?

Paella... my way

When I was ten my family took a brief vacation in Palma de Mallorca, a beautiful, rocky island off the coast of Spain. My primary occupation back in that day was spending as much time as humanly possible in the swimming pool, an activity interrupted only by a few ice cream cones to keep my energy level high.
Everything seemed perfect: the pool was big and surrounded by gorgeous gardens to explore, the sun was high in the sky, the weather was hot but not too hot. Little did we know that we were about to experience what I can only describe as a little culture shock. An insidious problem manifested itself on our first night in Mallorca when, around sunset, all of the sudden I proclaimed I was hungry.
At eight o’clock the two restaurants in the lobby of our hotels were closed. When we asked the concierge at what time they would open he remained vague.
“Soon,” he lied. Two hours later the restaurants were still closed, my parents were enjoying cocktail hour on the hotel terrace and I was passed out on a lounge chair, exhausted by a day of playing in the pool.
When I woke up the next morning my parents were still talking about the delicious paella they had the night before, when the food was finally served around midnight.
I never got to eat this wonderful, authentic paella made in a real Spanish kitchen, but I learned how to make a really good one from my dad who is a paella aficionado like me.

Traditional paella is made with chicken, chorizo and a generous medley of shellfish. My version doesn’t include much shellfish for two reasons: the first one is that I am on a budget and the second one is that I think mussels are slimy, so I opted to use only shrimp.

PAELLA

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pound chicken breast, cubed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme (preferably fresh, but if you want to use the dried kind go ahead)
1 teaspoon marjoram (again: fresh is better, but not a must)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (4-ounce) link hot sausage (Publix sells a hot sausage that is more yummy and less greasy than chorizo)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked Uncle Ben’s rice
1/2 cup diced plum tomato
1 teaspoon Hungarian hot paprika
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads (a little pricey, but definitely worth it)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chicken broth (canned broth is perfect for this recipe)
3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
First of all pour yourself a glass of wine, a good paella is not something you can rush. I also suggest that you prepare, chop and mince all your ingredients before you start cooking. It will save you time and you won’t have to run to the fridge and chop onions like a maniac halfway through the cooking process.
Sprinkle the cubed chicken with rosemary, thyme and marjoram, add salt and black pepper to taste. Heat the olive oil in the largest skillet you own, over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Remove it from the skillet and set aside.
Now take the sausage and remove the casings: the easiest way to do this is with a sharp small knife, but nails and teeth work as well. Add the sausage to the pan and cook 1 minute, stirring to crumble.
Add the chopped onion and cubed bell pepper and cook 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Add rice, tomato, paprika, saffron, and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. At this point the rice will look slightly toasted.
Return chicken to pan. Add 1 cup of broth and 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Simmer until broth evaporates. Add another cup of broth. Simmer until broth evaporates. Add a third cup of broth. See a pattern here? Repeat until rice looks almost done. Four cups of broth should do the trick: you don’t want an overcooked mess that looks like cafeteria rice. Stir in shrimp and peas. Cover and cook an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp is done.
WINE PARING: a medium bodied Spanish red or, if you have time, make sangria.