TWEAKING THE RECIPES

 Do you follow recipes exactly? Or, like most of us, do you embellish, adapt, substitute or otherwise make a recipe your own? 

When I was testing recipes for my new cookbook Flavors of al-Andalus, I tried to be very specific and accurate even though I know full well that most cooks will make changes.  And, full disclosure—I do it too! 

Having invited friends to Sunday lunch, I opened my new cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, and picked a few recipes suitable for a sizzling August day. 

How about chilled gazpacho? The recipe for Winter Gazpacho with Oranges did not sound exactly seasonal for late August. I just happened to have a bag of oranges that needed to be used and I could swap luscious fresh figs for the dried ones that the recipe called for. <<<

Served chilled, this version of gazpacho was perfect for a hot August lunch. I used fresh figs instead of dried, added sliced radishes for crunch.<<< Just a little tweaking, otherwise the recipe is straight from the book. (See below for a more radical tweak.)

Like all gazpacho, this one starts with an emulsion of bread, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. It has oranges and lettuce added. Other versions have only cucumbers.  Or tomatoes.

Fideo Noodles with Octopus, a pasta paella with seafood, sounded like a good choice for pescatarian guests. But, in fact, most of my pescatarian acquaintances refuse to eat octopus. (Re.: the film “My Octopus Teacher.”) Maybe I should have thought of that when compiling recipes for the book, but I do make the point throughout that you can always change up the ingredients, tweak the recipes to your tastes. So I used squid and anglerfish instead of octopus. <<<

Stock and sofrito are the base that gives Spanish paella and pasta dishes so much flavor. In this day and age sofrito is made with tomatoes slowly fried in olive oil. But the recipes in the book contain no tomatoes! That’s because tomatoes come from the New World and were unknown in Moorish Spain. But we don’t live in Moorish Spain and I had plenty of tomatoes. Should I use them?

No. I made the sofrito as given in my recipe—carrots add bulk and color, a spoonful of vinegar or wine gives a tangy flavor boost. It was perfect, deeply flavorful. 

Sunday lunch: Beatrice serves fideo noodles with fish, shrimp, and vegetables.

Fideo Noodles with Octopus

Cazuela de Fideos con Pulpo

The recipe in Flavors of al-Andalus calls for cooked octopus (and even tells how to cook it). But you can change the octopus for fish or squid.<<<

Fideos are thin, round noodles, the sort you might put in chicken-noodle soup. They range in thickness from threads of angel’s hair to spaghetti-like cords. The name comes from the Arabic, fidaush, which means fresh pasta (the Arabic word for dried pasta is itriyya).

Fideos have been toasted.

The method of cooking fideos is quite different from Italian-style pasta dishes. The dried pasta is usually toasted in olive oil. And rather than cooking it in a pot of boiling water, the fideos cook right in the sauce, soaking up the flavors. For this recipe, use thick fideos, designated grueso or no.4. If fideos are not available, substitute spaghetti broken into short lengths.

You will need stock both for the sofrito and for cooking the noodles. Use a simple stock made from fish trimmings and shrimp shells or store-bought stock. (There is a recipe for Simple Fish Stock in Flavors of al-Andalus or in this blog post.  

For the sofrito

Makes 1 cup sofrito, half of which is needed for the noodle recipe.

Sofrito after blending.

¼ cup olive oil

1 ½ cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped carrots

3 cloves chopped garlic 

¼ cup chopped fennel bulb (optional)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

¼ cup water, chicken, or fish stock

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Herbs (optional)

Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and fennel, if using, and sauté for 15 minutes or until the onions are golden and beginning to brown. Add the parsley, vinegar, and water or stock. Add salt to taste, ½ teaspoon if using water. Season with pepper and herbs, if desired. Cover and cook the mixture 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft enough to mash.

Transfer the mixture to a mini food processor and process until the sauce is fairly smooth. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months.   

To cook the fideo noodles

>>>You can substitute pieces of squid or firm-fleshed fish such as angler or halibut for the octopus.

Serves 4

¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed

3 tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces whole shrimp, peeled, heads and tails reserved

1 pound thick (#4) fideo noodles or spaghetti broken into 1 ½- inch pieces

1 ½ cups sliced asparagus from a 10-ounce bunch

½ cup sofrito (recipe above)

¼ cup white wine

5 cups octopus cooking water or fish stock 

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt to taste

½ cup shelled peas

8 ounces cooked octopus tentacles

Sprigs of mint to serve

Sliced lemon to serve

Place the saffron in a small bowl and add ¼ cup hot water. Let it infuse 10 minutes.

Heat the oil in a cazuela, paella pan, large skillet or flat-bottomed wok over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp heads and shells and fry them, pressing on the heads to extract the flavorful juices. When the shells begin to brown, remove the pan from the heat, tip it so the oil runs to one side, and lift out the heads and shells. (The fried shrimp shells and heads can be added to stock or discarded.)

Add the fideo noodles and asparagus to the oil remaining in the pan and fry them, stirring, on medium heat until the noodles just begin to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the sofrito, wine, and saffron water. Stir to combine well. Add the octopus cooking water or fish stock. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer the noodles 10 minutes. >>>I toasted the fideos and skimmed them out before sautéing the pieces of fish and asparagus. I stirred in the sofrito, returned the fideos to the pan, then added the stock and continued with the recipe.

Stir in the peas and shrimp. Place the cooked octopus tentacles on top of the noodles. Cook until noodles are al dente, 5 to 8 minutes. Add sprigs of mint, cover the pan with foil or a cloth and let the noodles sit 5 minutes.

Serve the noodles in the pan garnished with sprigs of mint and lemon slices. Use scissors to cut the octopus into bite-size pieces. 

The fideos I served to guests has monkfish, small pieces of cooked squid, shrimp, asparagus, peas, and artichoke hearts from a jar. 

(Winter) Gazpacho with Oranges—with the addition of sliced avocado and shrimp.<<<  Use dried figs instead of fresh ones, change the summery colors for winter ones and this would make a gorgeous starter for Christmas dinner when oranges and avocados are in season. 

Dessert was a nod to a recipe in Flavors of al-Andalus. Tortas de aceite—crispy olive oil cookies—formed the base of a sort of napolean dessert with sliced peaches, cream, and caramel sauce. There is a recipe for the tortas in Flavors of al-Andalus. Only I didn’t bake these; I bought packaged Inés Rosales® tortas. (The peaches were macerated in oloroso Sherry. The cream was equal parts whipped cream and cream cheese with vanilla and grated lemon peel--no sugar. The caramel sauce was straight out of a squeeze-bottle.) 

*** *** ***

My new cookbook,

FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, published by Hippocrene Books, is available from your favorite bookseller. For more about what’s in the book, see Meatballs with Backstory. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

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STORE-BOUGHT GAZPACHO

 

Gazpacho straight from the carton.

Store-bought gazpacho is, undoubtedly, a contradiction in terms. By my own definition gazpacho should be made with ripe, raw tomatoes at the top of the season. When I’ve got those perfect tomatoes, I make gazpacho. Nevertheless, I confess to buying gazpacho in cartons at the supermarket. Gallons of it. We swig it all day long during this heat wave. Gazpacho is sustenance and survival.

Gazpacho in cartons, pasteurized for safe keeping, is fairly natural—97,4 percent vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, onion and garlic), extra virgin olive oil (2.2%), wine vinegar, salt and lemon juice according to the label on one supermarket brand. It contains no bread (my homemade gazpacho always has bread) nor other thickener, so this it is fairly low in carbs, gluten-free. There are more expensive brands. But for thirst-quenching in quantity, this basic one is just fine.

Refrigerated, store-bought gazpacho keeps a couple of months. Once opened it needs to be used within five days. With an empty household I found myself with unused gazpacho and devised ways to use it up.

Gazpacho makes excellent salad dressing.

The first time my in-laws came to visit us in Spain (almost sixty years ago!), my father-in-law obstinately refused to eat gazpacho, pronouncing “cold soup” an abomination. He said the only thing gazpacho was good for was salad dressing. Well, it does make good salad dressing! Pour it straight from the carton over the greens, then add some additional extra virgin olive oil. 

Ready-made gazpacho makes a quickie substitute for real tomatoes in a pasta sauce or soup. Use it with water or stock as the cooking liquid for paella. And, should the weather change, heat the gazpacho to make a tasty tomato soup. (Heat it gently without boiling.) Add some cooked elbow macaroni and grated cheese to the soup for a whole new lunch experience. Or make a version of pan con tomate, bread with tomato: spoon gazpacho over slabs of toasted bread, add olive oil, and top with slices of serrano or ibérico ham. 

Gazpacho-mayonnaise with sliced chicken.

Here’s a lazy summertime lunch dish using store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled chicken. The sauce made with gazpacho is an easy version of salsa rosa, pink mayonnaise. It goes very well with cold cuts, shrimp or fish, coleslaw. If making a larger quantity, mix the sauce in a blender. (Recipe below.)

Chicken breast cooked in gazpacho.

Gazpacho heated is an instant sauce for cooked  chicken. Or, if you’re starting with uncooked chicken pieces, sauté them in olive oil until nicely browned, add gazpacho to the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Serve the chicken with the sauce. 

The chicken in sauce is nice served with plain rice, but cous cous is faster—just add boiling water to the grain with salt and a little extra virgin olive oil (same volume of liquid as of cous cous), cover and set 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving. 

Sliced Chicken with Gazpacho Mayonnaise

Pechuga de Pollo con Mayonesa-Gazpacho

Gazpacho-mayonnaise.

Serves 4.

3-4 cooked chicken breasts

Salad greens

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup gazpacho

1/8 teaspoon hot or sweet smoked pimentón (paprika)

Sliced olives

Cherry tomatoes, quartered

Basil sprigs

Slice the chicken breasts. Arrange salad greens on salad plates and spread the sliced chicken on top.

Beat the mayonnaise smooth. Stir in the gazpacho a little at a time. Beat in the pimentón. 

Scatter olives and tomatoes over the chicken and greens. Garnish with basil. Serve the chicken accompanied by the gazpacho mayonnaise. 

Classic Andalusian Gazpacho

Gazpacho Variations 

***   ***   ***

My new cookbook,

FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, published by Hippocrene Books, is available from your favorite bookseller. For more about what’s in the book, see Meatballs with Backstory. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

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“VIBRANT RECIPES SURPRISE AND DELIVER”

 

Here's Donna Gelb in her New York kitchen with my cookbook, Flavors of al-Andalus. She’s the one who wrote those glowing words "vibrant recipes that surprise and deliver," that appear on the back cover of my cookbook. She's preparing to make Vegetable Paella, one of the recipes from the book.

Donna was on my select list of persons who received the advance (digital) edition of the book. Besides being a cookbook author herself she is also a board member of the Culinary Historians of New York. So I thought she might be especially interested in a cookbook with a historical angle (those flavors of al-Andalus come from Moorish Spain, 711 CE to 1492). Here’s what she wrote:

I’ve cooked with Donna in her New York apartment, where we prepared paella for family and guests—two paellas, actually, as we had a vegetarian amongst us. And she has joined me in my kitchen in Spain on several occasions.

We met when Donna was exploring the idea of writing a cookbook/memoir about being Jewish in Franco-era Spain. 

As a teenager she lived with her family in Madrid where her father had business interests. She remembers one Christmas season, her father was given one of Spain’s esteemed hams. Not to be enjoyed by a Jewish family, the ham was gifted to their housekeeper, Conchi. Donna recalls another occasion when the family was celebrating a Passover seder in a restaurant cellar* while barefoot penitents dragged chains past the windows during Semana Santa processions. 

*It was not until 1967 that Spain passed the law of religious freedom that allowed non-Catholics to practice their religions. In 1968 the ministry of justice repealed the Alhambra decree of 1492 that expelled Jews from Spain. My cookbook, Flavors of al-Andalus, has many recipes attributed to the Sephardic Jews of Moorish Spain.

Donna Gelb, food writer and recipe developer, is a native New Yorker. Her interest in food began as a teenager growing up in Spain, Switzerland, and England. She trained in New York at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School, which led to regular recipe testing for The New York Times Magazine, and a column in The New York Daily News.  She collaborated with Francis Mallmann and Peter Kaminsky on the award-winning cookbook Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way (Artisan 2009); Mallmann on Fire (Artisan 2014), and Green Fire (Artisan 2022.), and with Ilene Rosen on Saladish (Artisan 2019) which won the James Beard Cookbook Award for Vegetable-Focused Cooking. An active member of the Culinary Historians of New York since 2003, she has served on the board since 2008.

Here is the recipe for Vegetable Paella that Donna noted in her blurb. I like this recipe because it’s so adaptable—suitable for vegetarian guests and, with sides of sautéd shrimp, clams, and chicken legs, for those who are not vegetarian as well. 

Vegetable Paella

Arroz de Verduras

The Arabs introduced the cultivation of rice in Spain, but did they invent paella? Perhaps they invented the precursor of paella. We know that most rice dishes of that era before modern milling were more like porridge, sweet or savory, made with pounded grains. A few were made with whole grains combined with meat and vegetables.

By strict Valencian terms, this recipe does not qualify as paella. It is simply un arroz, a rice dish. It’s best with seasonal vegetables, but good with frozen vegetables, too. The favas and peas don’t need as long to cook as the artichokes, so add them when the rice is half-cooked.

In Spanish homes, vegetable paella might have bits of fish such as bacalao (salt cod), a handful of clams, pieces of squid, or a few shrimp added for flavor. If you are not vegetarian, you could use chicken or fish stock instead of vegetable. If you are using a well-seasoned stock, you may not need salt, but if using water, add about 1½ teaspoons salt.

A picada sauce of ground almonds, garlic, and parsley, spooned on the finished rice, adds a burst of flavor. 

Makes 4 servings

For the paella:

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup finely chopped onion

1 small head garlic, top ½ inch sliced off

2 (4-ounce) artichokes

¼ cup dry white wine

¼ teaspoon crushed saffron threads

¼ cup hot water

4½ cups vegetable stock or water

1 bay leaf

1½ cups medium-grain rice

Fine salt to taste

¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 cup shelled fava beans

1 cup shelled peas

Lemon slices, for serving

For the picada topping:

¼ cup fresh parsley leaves

A few fresh mint leaves (optional)

¼ cup toasted almonds

¼ teaspoon coarse salt

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon grated lemon peel

To make the paella, heat the oil in a paella pan or large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic head to the pan and fry until the onion is softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Snap off the outer leaves from the artichokes, pare the stems, and cut the artichokes in half. Add the artichokes to the pan, cut sides down. Add the wine.

Place the saffron in a small cup and add the hot water. Let it infuse for 5 minutes. Add the saffron water, 3 cups of the stock, and the bay leaf to the pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then stir in the rice. Add fine salt to taste and the pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, turning the artichokes and head of garlic occasionally. 

Add the fava beans and peas. Add another 1 cup stock. Stir once to mix, then do not stir the rice again. Cook until the rice is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes more, adding the remaining ¼ cup stock if the pan looks dry. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove the head of garlic and reserve. Discard the bay leaf. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or a kitchen towel. Let the rice sit for 5 to 10 minutes while preparing the picada topping.

Extract 4 cloves from the head of cooked garlic. Place them in a mortar or mini food processor with the parsley, mint (if using), almonds, and coarse salt. Grind to a paste. Add the oil and grated lemon peel and process well. Thin the paste with 2 to 3 tablespoons water. 

To serve, spoon some of the picada topping on top of the rice and vegetables. Serve the remainder in a small bowl. Garnish the rice with lemon slices.

Vegetable Paella with optional shrimp.

More with Donna Gelb:

Saladadish, a prize-winning book of salads.

Paella with Donna Gelb. 

Smashed Potatoes with Tapenade Crust.

Farmers' market with Donna Gelb.

In my kitchen in Spain-

***   ***   ***

FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, published by Hippocrene Books, is available from your favorite bookseller. For more about what’s in the book, see Meatballs with Backstory. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)    $39.95 hardcover.

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Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

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