FRIDGE FORAGE

 Everyone cleared out and left me to my own devices. In cleaning out two fridges I found all sorts of foods that needed to be consumed or pitched. Unopened bags of Padrón peppers someone had bought when we were already inundated with green peppers from the garden. Three kinds of chorizo. Some cooked pasta. Half a jar of chickpeas. Leftovers from a photo shoot: carrot salad, meatballs and stale bread. Several egg whites left over from ice cream making. 

Too much chorizo.

The crisper was the most alarming. Besides those Padrón peppers, a carton of radishes and half a cabbage, still extant, vegetables from the garden were piling up. Zucchini, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. 

The selection suggested my favorite summer vegetable dish, pisto, a medley of sautéd vegetables. Pisto, also known as fritada (Aragón), samfaina (Catalonia), tumbet (Mallorca), and ratatouille (France), can be freely varied, vegetarian or with meat or fish. I made a big panful of pisto, then turned it into four different meals. 

Pisto ingredients.

Pisto Plus. Chop and sauté in olive oil onions, garlic, green and red peppers, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. Add other vegetables, raw or cooked—squash, carrots, greens, mushrooms, potatoes and a large etcetera. How about those radishes? I added some quartered radishes to the mix. Nope. Once radishes lose their red color and their bite, they are pretty dull. 

Carrot salad with raisins.

Variations on the variations: Instead of chopped tomatoes, use tomato sauce or even leftover gazpacho. Choose your favorite herb: oregano, basil, parsley, mint, cilantro. Add chopped serrano ham or bacon to the basic pisto.   I threw in a cupful of  Carrot Salad with Raisins and Pine Nuts which were a real plus in this pisto mélange.  

1. Pisto with Meatballs (Pisto con Albóndigas)

I just happened to have 72 fried meatballs in a Tupper in the fridge. I added a few to the pisto. The rest will freeze to see another day. 

Reheat leftover cooked meatballs in the pisto. Season with favorite hot sauce. Serve with chopped parsley or cilantro. Or, add soy sauce, ginger, vinegar and Sherry to the pisto and make the dish sort-of Asian.

Basic pisto vegetables + carrot-raisin-pine nuts + meatballs.

2. Pasta with Pisto and Chorizo.

Leftover pasta gets resuscitated, served with pisto plus chorizo.

Best way to rejuvenate cooked pasta: put it in a heatproof bowl and add boiling water to cover. Soak 5 minutes and drain. Fry chopped chorizo, add pisto to the pan and heat. Serve over pasta and grate cheese on top.

Pasta, pisto and chorizo. Finish with fresh basil.

3. Eggs Scrambled with Pisto (Huevos Revueltos con Pisto)

Scramble eggs and pisto.

Heat pisto in a skillet. Stir in 2 eggs (or 1 egg and 2 egg whites). Cook on medium while mixing the egg into the vegetables. Serve hot with fried bread. 

Egg and vegetable scramble.

That leftover stale bread? Turn it into picatostes--croutons or strips of bread fried in olive oil. Once fried they keep well. Serve fried bread with eggs, with vegetables or as dippers with cheese dips. Transform the croutons into crumbs in a mini food processor and use the crispy crumbs as topping for vegetables or pasta.  

4. Pisto with Chickpeas (Pisto/Alboronía con Garbanzos)

This is an actual dish called alboronía that, besides the sautéd vegetables, often includes pear or apple. Reheat the cooked pisto with the chopped fruit and drained and rinsed cooked chickpeas. Season with cumin, smoked pimentón (paprika) and a dash of vinegar. Serve it with pine nuts and, if desired, quartered hard-boiled egg. 

Peppers tipo Padrón (same variety as the famed Galician peppers, but not grown in Padrón)--Remove stems and seeds, place on a tray and freeze, then bag them and store in freezer. They're ready for frying or adding to soups and stews. 

More interpretations of pisto:

Pork and Vegetable Stew.

Pan-Fried Hake Fillets with Pisto.

Vegetable and Mackerel Dish.

Pisto with Lamb and Couscous.

Recipes with leftovers:
Fried Bread Crisps.

"Old Clothes" Hash (Ropa Vieja).

Bone Broth and Vegetable Soup.

Chicken, Orange and Olive Salad.

LAMB—THE 2ND, 3RD, 4TH AND 5TH TIME AROUND

 

A five-pound leg of lamb for dinner and only two people to eat it--a lot of leftovers to look forward to. (Link to the recipe for Roast Lamb with Spring Herbs is below.)

We were three for Easter dinner and one was vegetarian. Nevertheless, I wanted roast leg of lamb, roasted with lots of herbs. To start, we had asparagus grilled on the plancha, with sour orange mayonnaise. I served the lamb with browned potatoes on the side, a taboulleh salad (made with cous cous, not bulgur), eggplant pisto and a vegetable terrine. Strawberries with almond cookies for dessert.

From a five-pound leg of lamb, now I have a week’s worth of leftover lamb! 

Leftovers for two

1st day—sliced lamb reheated with pan juices, embellished with preserved lemon and chopped dates. I dithered, almost deciding to serve the lamb cold with a mojo verde (green chile sauce, somewhat like chimichurri), but I wanted to reheat the lamb to melt the fat. 

2nd day--cous cous with lamb, vegetables and chickpeas.

Leftovers from Easter dinner become a whole new meal--cous cous, eggplant pisto and roast lamb are recycled, with the addition of Moroccan spices, canned chickpeas, fresh carrots and zucchini.

3rd day: Lamb with spinach, Indian spices.

My favorite recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery (BBC Books; 1994), Lamb with Spinach (Dilli ka saag gosht). Made with spinach from a bag and pieces of roast lamb, it is quick to prepare. 

4th day: Stuffed Eggplant, Turkish style.

Scraps of cooked lamb are folded in with onions and tomatoes and stuffed into eggplants. (Recipe below.) Served with rice pilaf and cucumbers with dill on the side. 

5th day: Bone broth and vegetable soup

Lamb bone broth becomes spring vegetable soup.

Bonus: Lamb Shank. I separated the shank before roasting the lamb, carved the meat off the bone and saved the bone for the soup pot. The meat cut into pieces made a quick sauté for one—me—with garlic and rosemary, served with a little homemade chutney. 

Stuffed Eggplant (Karniyarik)

Berenjena Rellena

I first sampled this stuffed eggplant dish at a cooking workshop in Istanbul given by Selin Rozanes of Turkish Flavors. There we made it with raw ground beef. In this version, I have used the last scraps of roast lamb, cut off the bones. The lamb needs only a few minutes to cook with the onions and tomatoes. 

Long, thin eggplants are best for this recipe. The technique calls for peeling the eggplants in stripes, slow-frying the whole eggplants in oil, then “splitting their bellies” and stuffing. The eggplants finish in the oven. Delicious served with rice pilaf. 

Turkish pepper sauce.

You will need Turkish pepper sauce, a mildly hot condiment. It’s easily made by blending roasted red bell peppers (or drained ones from a jar or can) with a spoonful of hot pimentón, Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes; lemon juice and salt.  

The following recipe is for two servings, but the recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

Chopped lamb for stuffing eggplants.

2 medium eggplant (each about 10 ounces)

Olive oil

3 ounces cooked lamb (about 1 cup, chopped)

¾ cup grated or finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic

½ cup crushed tomato

1 tablespoon Turkish pepper sauce (directions above)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped parsley

Sliced tomato, for topping

Sliced green pepper, for topping

1/3 cup hot water

Peel off strips of eggplant skin.

Trim the eggplants’ stems but don’t remove them. Use a vegetable peeler to remove three lengthwise strips of the skin, striping the peel. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet. Fry the whole eggplants gently until they are golden on all sides and beginning to soften. Remove them and place in an oiled baking dish with the flatter sides up. 

Slit eggplants, spread them open.

With a knife, slit open the eggplant from top to bottom, without cutting them all the way through.  Use the fingers to gently spread open the slit, making a place for the filling.

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Chop or shred the cooked lamb and set aside.

Add more oil to the skillet, if needed. Sauté the onion and garlic on medium heat until softened, 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomato and pepper sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until sauce is thick, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the cooked lamb and heat. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parsley.

Eggplants ready to bake.

Divide the lamb mixture between the two eggplants, pressing it into the slits and mounding it slightly. (If there is too much stuffing mixture, spread it around the eggplants in the baking dish.) Top with sliced tomato and green pepper. Pour the hot water into the baking dish. 

Bake until the eggplants are bubbling hot and the pepper slices are cooked, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Cous Cous with Leftover Lamb

Cuscus con Cordero Asado

Instant cous cous (pictured top right) was presented the first time round as taboulleh, a salad with herbs, olive oil and lemon juice. After reheating in the microwave, I added raisins and almonds.

Eggplant pisto (top, left), a vegetable stew with peppers, onions and tomato, makes the basis of the cooking sauce for the carrots and zucchini.

Ras el hanout spice blend (center) gives authentic Moroccan flavor to this quickie meal with leftovers. If you don't have ras el hanout, combine a spoonful each of ground cumin and coriander with a half-teaspoon of turmeric, powdered ginger, cinnamon, black pepper and a pinch of cloves. 

Add canned chickpeas, well drained, and some water or lamb bone broth to the pan. Cook until carrots and zucchini are tender. Add chunks of leftover roast lamb. Serve the lamb and vegetables around a heap of cous cous. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Lamb Bone Broth

Caldo de Cordero

Bones, skin and trimmings from the roast lamb and the uncooked shank are cooked with aromatics to make a flavorful broth. Once strained, the broth is chilled overnight. Then the congealed fat can be skimmed off.  

For the vegetable soup, sauté chopped onions, garlic, celery, carrots and peppers in olive oil. Add cut-up vegetables--I've used chard, zucchini, potatoes and, for a touch of spring, fresh fava beans.  

Peel the fava beans? 

I don't usually peel the favas but I liked their bright green color when the outer skins are removed. They only need a few minutes to cook when the other vegetables are ready. The rest of the jar of chickpeas finish the soup. It's seasoned with cumin and thyme. 

Indian Spiced Lamb with Spinach 

Cordero con Espinacas Estilo India

Toast the spices and aromatics--peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, chile--add spinach (from a bag) and yogurt. Stir in chunks of already-cooked lamb at the end. Serve with rice.

Eggplant pisto

Eggplant pisto--served as a side with the roast lamb; recycled as the cooking sauce for the cous cous. The recipe for basic pisto is here.

Taboulleh with cous cous.

Cous cous taboulleh salad with fresh herbs, served as a side dish for the Easter dinner. The recipe for this version of taboulleh is here.

Recipe for Roast Lamb with Spring Herbs.

Recipe for the Vegetable Terrine.

FOUR WAYS WITH FISH FILLETS

 A local fish vendor, in a good marketing move, started offering fish en filetes, filleted and ready to cook. Up until then, I had to buy a whole fish, then ask him/her to fillet it for me. Sometimes, if I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cook the fish whole, I wound up doing the job myself. 

Now I could avail myself of fillets of mackerel, sea bass and gallineta, a particularly tasty rock fish. Here are some of the ways I found to cook fillets—pan fried, steamed, broiled and poached.

Pan Fried

Fillets cut from the tail of a whole hake are lightly breaded and pan fried. Served on a bed of pisto, a vegetable mélange that serves as side and sauce.

Steamed

Lomo is the center cut of the hake. It is steamed on a layer of three kinds of seaweed with some sugar snap peas from the garden. Warmed olive oil with a touch of chile, garlic, pimentón and sesame sauces the fish. 

Broiled

Fillets of sea bass broiled on a sheet pan with asparagus.

Poached

Delicate sole fillets are wrapped around thinly sliced ham and poached in simmering fish stock, served with a creamy sauce with mushrooms and shrimp. 

Pan-Fried Hake Fillets with Pisto

Merluza Rebozada con Pisto

Pisto—not to be confused with pesto—is a vegetable melange that serves as both side dish and sauce for the fish. 

I bought a whole hake and had the fish vendor fillet it. I used the tail fillets for this fried fish and saved the lomo, or center section, for the steamed fish recipe. This method of breading the fish—dipping it first in flour and then in beaten egg—is especially good for delicate fish such as hake. It works well with cod or sole too. It’s good, too, for firm-fleshed fish, such as pargo and urta, two kinds of bream, that are first fried, then finish cooking in a sauce. The egg coating protects the fish so that it doesn't fall apart. Season the flour with any dried herb—oregano, thyme, garlic powder. Flour the fish and dip it in egg immediately before frying.

For the pisto

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

½ cup chopped red and yellow bell pepper

1 ½ cups diced zucchini

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 cup peeled and diced tomato

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Oregano

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Black olives to garnish

Heat oil in a skillet and add the onion and peppers. Sauté, stirring, until onions are softened, 5 minutes. Add the zucchini, garlic and tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes, if using. Cook until tomatoes release their juices and zucchini is just tender, 5 minutes. Serve the pisto garnished with black olives. 

To pan-fry the fish

Fish fillets, 5-6 ounces each

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper 

Flour 

Seasoning for flour, as desired

Beaten eggs(s)

Olive oil for frying

Pisto, to serve

Pat fillets dry with paper towels. Season them with salt and pepper. Place flour, seasoned, if desired, in a shallow bowl. Place beaten egg in another shallow bowl.

Dredge fish fillets first in flour, then dip in beaten egg before frying in olive oil.

Place oil in a skillet to a depth of ½ inch and place on moderately high heat. Dredge fillets first in flour, covering them thoroughly. Pat off excess flour. Dip the floured fillets in the egg, coating them completely. Fry them in hot oil until golden. Turn and fry the reverse side. 

Drain the fish on paper towels.

Serve the fillets on a bed of pisto.

Hake Steamed with Seaweed

Merluza al Vapor con Alga

Steaming is such a good way to cook delicate fish such as hake. This recipe, which uses several kinds of seaweed (alga) to flavor the fish, is adapted from Cocina con Algas, published by Portomuiños, producers of seaweed products in Galicia (northwest Spain). I´ve added garlic and pimentón to the finished dish.  The recipe called for four kinds of seaweed—kombu (sugar kelp), wakame, sea spaghetti and musgo de Irlanda, Irish moss, which I did not have. (More about cooking with algae here.)  

Use a bamboo steamer or a vegetable steamer basket, if you have one. If not, improvise. A Moroccan cous cous steamer. Heatproof metal colander. Metal cake rack. An inverted pie pan with a heatproof plate on top. The steamer needs to fit inside a deep skillet or wok with a lid. Add enough water to the skillet to reach just below the level of the steamer rack. 

Arrange the fish on top of the seaweed in a single layer. If you have more servings than will fit, do a second steaming. Vegetables such as asparagus tips or sugar snap peas can be steamed with the fish.  

Wakame, sea spaghetti and kombu.

Serves 2.

4 (3-ounce) pieces of hake fillet with skin

Salt

2 to 4 kinds of dried seaweed, such as kombu, wakame, sea spaghetti and Irish moss (about 1 ounce total)

3-inch piece of leek

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 dried chile

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ teaspoon sesame seeds

¼ teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)

Asparagus tips or sugar snap peas

Salt the pieces of fish and let them come to room temperature.

Rehydrate each of the kinds of seaweed by soaking them in cold water for 10 minutes. Drain well. Cut large pieces into strips. Separate strands of sea spaghetti. Place all of the seaweed in the steamer. Cut the piece of leek into lengthwise strands and mix them with the seaweed. 

Steam fish on a layer of seaweed.

Heat the oil in a small skillet with the chile and garlic until garlic begins to turn golden. Remove from heat and add the sesame seeds. (Cover the pan to prevent the sesame from popping out.) Remove cover and stir in the pimentón and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Remove chile and garlic. Keep sauce warm.

Arrange the pieces of fish, skin-side up, on top of the layer of seaweed. Tuck asparagus or peas around the fish. Bring the water in the steamer pan or skillet to a boil. Place the steamer over the water, reduce heat so the water boils gently and cover the pan tightly. Steam the fish until it just flakes when prodded with a skewer, about 5 minutes for the 3-ounce pieces.

Steamed fish is moist. 

Broiled Fillets of Sea Bass

Filetes de Lubina al Grill (Gratinador)

A topping of seasoned mayonnaise keeps the fillets moist under the broiler heat. The crumbs give a final crispness. You’ll only need about a teaspoon of the mayo for each fillet. Use the rest to serve alongside as a sauce. 

I used fillets of sea bass (lubina), but gilthead (dorada), scorpionfish (gallineta) or other firm-fleshed white fish would work well. Thicker salmon fillets can be broiled using the same method. The fish is done when browned on top. Timing depends on the thickness of the fillets. Thin sea bass fillets needed only about 4 minutes (6 inches from the heat source). For thick fillets, increase the distance between the pan and the heating element. (The British and Spanish call a broiler a “grill.”)

 

Fish fillets, 5-6 ounces each

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper 

Olive oil 

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, crushed

Chopped parsley

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

¼ cup fine dry bread crumbs

½ teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)

Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper. In a small bowl whisk the mayonnaise with the garlic, parsley and lemon juice.

Spread fish with mayonnaise and crumbs before broiling.

Preheat broiler to maximum. Arrange the fillets on a broiler pan or sheet pan that has been lightly brushed with olive oil. Spread about 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise on top of each fillet. Combine the bread crumbs and pimenton. Sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of crumbs on top of each fillet.

Place the pan about 6 inches under the heating element. Broil until the top of the fish is browned. 

Broil asparagus and par-boiled potatoes on a sheet pan alongside the fish.

Fillets of Sole with Ham and Mushroom Sauce

Filetes de Lenguado con Jamón y Salsa de Champiñones

The sole fillets are folded around thinly sliced ham, then poached in fish stock. Make the sauce separately and reheat it once the fish is ready to serve. This recipe would be equally good made with other flat fish such as turbot (rodaballo), flounder (gallo) or John Dory (pez de san pedro). Depending on how the fish is filleted, you may have two or four fillets from one fish. 

Use store-bought fish stock for the poaching and sauce. Or make a quick stock by cooking head, bones and trimmings in water with leek, kombu (seaweed), lemon and salt. (You can also cook potatoes or rice in the stock to serve with the fish.)

Serves 2.

8 (1 ½-ounce) fillets of sole (from 2 fish)

Salt

1 ½ ounces thinly sliced ibérico or serrano ham

Fish stock for poaching the fish

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

½ cup finely chopped mushrooms

¼ cup dry white wine

½ cup fish stock

1/3 cup cream

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped cooked shrimp

Finely chopped parsley

Fold fillets around sliced ham.

Spread the fillets out flat. Sprinkle them with salt. Top each fillet with strips of ham. Fold the fillets over the ham into thirds. Cut strips of foil 2 inches wide. Wrap the bands like a belt around the center of the folded fillets. Pinch the ends of the foil together to prevent the fillets from unrolling. 

Choose a pan or skillet just large enough to hold the fish in one layer. Add stock to a depth to cover the rolled fillets. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat and carefully place the fish in the poaching liquid. Simmer, covered, until the fish just flakes, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon to a heated platter. 

For the mushroom sauce:

Heat the oil in a saucepan or small skillet and sauté the shallots and mushrooms until softened, but not browned, 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook off the alcohol, 2 minutes. Add the fish stock and cook 10 minutes. Add the cream and cook until the sauce is reduced and beginning to thicken, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped shrimp and heat. 

Serve the sauce with the fish. Sprinkle with parsley. 

More recipes for fish fillets:

Batter-Fried Cod.

Beer-Battered Fried Fish.

Sea Bream with Sherry Sauce (Urta).

Fish in Marinera Sauce.

Hake in Cider Sauce.

Salmon with Leeks and Potatoes.

Salmon with Cava Sauce.

THE OTHER BLUE FISH

Fillets of mackerel, a good substitute for tuna.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the guilty pleasure of eating fresh bluefin tuna. I made some half-hearted promises not to buy the endangered fish again. So far, I’m honoring that pledge.

This week at the fish market, alongside the slab of gleaming tuna, were large-sized mackerel, another blue fish. Weighing in at about 3 pounds, this was a meaty alternative to the forbidden.

While the mackerel (caballa in Spanish) would have been delicious simply grilled, I chose a recipe I had tasted in Sanlúcar de la Barrameda, a marvelous town on the Cádiz coast, where the Guadalquivir River empties into the Atlantic.

Besides superb seafood, Sanlúcar is known for good vegetables and, of course, manzanilla, its particular style of dry Sherry. Imagine a fisherman’s wife inventing this delicious dish with the remains of the day’s catch, fresh vegetables from her kitchen garden and a splash of the local manzanilla. With bread, rice or noodles it easily makes a main dish.

The vegetable melange is called pisto. In the summer it consists of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and peppers, but it can also be made with green beans, pumpkin, carrots and potatoes. (There is another recipe for pisto here.)

The fish vendor, María, was happy to remove the head and spine from the mackerel, but that left the fiddly smaller bones. She suggested giving the fish a turn on the plancha (flat grill pan). Then it would be easier to remove remaining bones and skin and to cut it into chunks to add to the pisto.

Bluefish fillets are a good substitute for mackerel. 

Meaty mackerel with pisto, a melange of summer vegetables.

Fisherman’s Wife’s Vegetable and Mackerel Dish
Pisto a la Marinera

Serves 4 to 6.

2 pounds mackerel fillets
Salt and pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch dice
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
¼ cup manzanilla or fino Sherry
¼ cup water
1 bay leaf
1 sprig parsley
Chopped parsley or mint, to serve

Season fillets with salt and pepper. Brush a flat grill pan/griddle or heavy skillet with oil and heat. Lay the fillets on the grill, flesh side down. When lightly browned, 2 minutes, turn and grill skin-side down for 4 minutes. Remove. Cool slightly. Remove all remaining bones and skin. Cut the fish into large chunks.

In a skillet heat the oil and sauté the eggplant, carrot, pepper, garlic and onion, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini, tomatoes, manzanilla, water, bay leaf, sprig parsley, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes, adding additional water if necessary. The vegetables should be juicy, but not soupy.

Add the pieces of mackerel to the vegetables. Cook 5 minutes more. The pisto with fish can be served hot or room temperature. Garnish with parsley or mint.

TAPA-HOPPING IN MADRID

By 8 pm, early for Madrid, I was ravenous. Three of us ducked into a neighborhood bar near where I was staying with friends in the Ventas district of Madrid. Glasses of red wine were set before us and, without asking, a plate of lacón, sliced cured and cooked pork, sort of like picnic ham, drizzled  with a little olive oil and pimentón (paprika). Though I never saw the name of the bar, my guess it was El Gallego—the guy from Galicia—because lacón is such a signature dish of that northwest region. The evening’s tapa-hopping would take us on a virtual tour of Spain’s regions, with a stop in a La Rioja wine bar and on to a standard-bearer for Andalusia.

Billing itself as an Andalusian taberna, El Rincón de Jaén (with five different bar-restaurants in Madrid) specializes in shellfish and ibérico ham. Within minutes of ordering red wines, a plate heaped with fritura mixta, mixed fish fry, with rings of calamari, small, fresh anchovies and a few shrimp was set before us. Piping hot, it was as delicious as anything I’ve eaten back home in Andalusia! We ordered another round of wine and asked for a plate of mollejas. These are sweetbreads, a delicacy of traditional tabernas. Fried crisp on the outside, they were creamy morsels within. The plate came with lettuce, tomato and fried green peppers.

The total bill was €27 (about $37.00) for six glasses of wine, “free” plate of fried fish and plate of sweetbreads. El Rincón de Jaén is at Don Ramón de la Cruz 88; Madrid.

The next evening found us in the up-scale barrio of Salamanca, full of sophisticated shops and bars and restaurants. We selected Sula, the Madrid beachhead of chef Quique Dacosta, he of two-starred El Poblet of Denia (Alicante), in collaboration with Joselito ibérico hams from Guijuelo (Salamanca). (This gastrobar recently got a mention mention in the New York Times’ travel pages.)

Trendy, modern decor sets Sula apart from tipico tabernas, but, surprisingly, the tapas barely wink at the avant-garde. The soldaditos de Pavía, puffy, batter-fried salt cod, crisscrossed with strips of red pimiento, were classic renditions of this Sevilla bar tapa. We didn’t order the house specialty, exquisite ibérico ham (truth be told, we were getting lashings of it at the tasting stands of Madrid Fusión gastronomy conference). Instead, we sampled two cuts of fresh ibérico pork, secreto and solomillo, each grilled and served atop bread. The secreto was, frankly, chewy; the solomillo, or tenderloin, was melt-in-the-mouth tender. These we chose as part of a six-plate deal for €13.65 (about $18.60) that also included, asparagus tempura and mini chicken burgers with caramelized onion relish (yum) and pisto (similar to ratatouille; see the recipe below) with fried quail’s egg. I ate the quail’s egg in one bite, but the other tapas we shared. With a lovely Garnacha wine, our tapas supper was much enjoyed.

Sula flips the “cellar” concept on its head—racks holding 4000 bottles of wine aren’t cellared, but soar to ceiling height (the restaurant is on the upper level).  Sula is at Calle Jorge Juan 33, Madrid.

On Day 4, we were off to a tapas event at the Mercado San Miguel, a market right next to Madrid’s grand Plaza Mayor, where stalls proffer meat, fish, fresh produce, bread, pasta, oysters, wine and tapas. On the way there, we stopped off at Lhardy, a Madrid institution. Not actually a tapas bar, it’s a delicatessen and high-class take-away food shop (restaurant above), where a restorative cup of consommé or dainty ham sandwich can be had. We had a glass of red wine with puff pastries filled with chorizo.
Lhardy, Carrera de San Jerónimo 8, Madrid.

Right on the Plaza Mayor is Casa María, where you can get a tapa or snack from 9 am right through until 2 am, every day of the year. We nibbled ham croquettes and watched waiters carrying bubbling fish stews to diners in the restaurant. Casa María, Plaza Mayor 23, Madrid.

On my last night in Madrid, I declared, “No more tapas.” (Lunches at the gastronomy fair were grazed, on foot, at stands proferring everything from Asturian cheeses, ibérico ham, Castilian garlic soup, Andalusian olive oil, to canapés of sea urchin roe.) I wanted to sit at a table, eat salad, eat a meal with knife and fork. I offered to cook—but first, I had to make a trip to the funky, local market a block away (open late into the evening) to pick up salad greens and a few other groceries. And, wouldn’t you know? Across from the fruit and vegetable stand was a little bar. We joined the locals for a slice of tortilla de patatas, potato tortilla, and a glass of red wine. My last tapa hop—until the next trip.

VEGETABLE MEDLEY WITH QUAIL’S EGG

PISTO CON HUEVO DE CODORNIZ

This is a splendid vegetable dish, that can be served hot or cold. Topped with a fried egg, it’s a great supper dish. For tapas, serve small portions of the vegetables topped with fried quail’s eggs.

1 ½ pounds eggplant, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
Salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green bell pepper, cut in squares
1 ½ pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 pound zucchini, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
½  teaspoon crumbled dry oregano
½ teaspoon pimentón (paprika)
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley
Vinegar (optional)

Place the cubed eggplant in a colander and sprinkle it liberally with salt. Let it drain for 1 hour.

In a pan, heat the oil and sauté the onion and eggplant for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and green pepper and sauté another minute, then add the tomatoes and zucchini. Sauté on a medium heat another 5 minutes.
   
Season with salt, oregano, pimentón and pepper. Cover and cook on a slow heat until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently so vegetables don’t scorch. The mixture should be juicy, but not soupy.
   
Serve hot or cold, garnished with chopped parsley. If serving cold, add a touch of vinegar.