OLIVES, RECYCLED

Grilled duck breast with olive-Sherry sauce.

My home-cured olives have lost their punch. They still taste great, but the texture has changed and they are too mushy to serve as aperitif. I picked and pitted the olives myself, then brine-cured  them with thyme, fennel and garlic. Because they have no preservatives, the olives don’t keep more than a few months.

What to do with several jars of olives past their “best by” date? Use them in olive spreads such as olivada (a recipe is here  ) and in cooked dishes where the texture doesn’t matter. I’ve made Chicken with Lemons and Olives from Paula Wolfert’s original Moroccan cookbook, Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco (Paula has a new Moroccan book coming out this year) many times, and will try her recipe for fish tagine with olives.

Surprisingly there are very few recipes for cooking with olives in Spanish cuisine. I did find one old country dish for duck braised with olives that comes from wetland regions, such as Coto Doñana below Sevilla and the Tablas de Daimiel in La Mancha, where wild duck is hunted. Feeding on fish and crustaceans, duck acquires a “fishy” flavor. From that derives the custom of cooking it with assertive flavors such as sour oranges, tangy olives or strong wine.

I decided to adapt the braising sauce, redolent with Sherry and herb-flavored olives, to accompany quick-grilled duck breast. Sliced and served rare and juicy, the duck was gorgeous with the tangy sauce. The accompaniment you see in the photo at the top is cous cous with peas, green beans, zucchini, red pepper, onion and radish. While a robust red wine is classic with duck breast, dry Sherry also goes nicely with the rich meat.

Magret de Pato a la Parilla
Grilled Duck Breast with Olive Sauce

Use a heavy skillet to grill the duck breast. As a great deal of fat is rendered from the meat, you will need to—very carefully—drain it off while the meat is cooking. Duck breast is usually served very rare.

Serves 2 or 3.

1 boneless duck breast (magret), 
    15 to 16 ounces
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Sherry vinegar
Olive sauce (recipe follows)

Use a sharp knife to score the fatty side of the duck breast in a diagonal cross-hatch, without cutting into the flesh. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and Sherry vinegar. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Heat a heavy frying pan on medium heat. Brown the duck breast, fat side down, until fat is crisped and browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Very carefully drain off excess fat. Turn the duck breast and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the breast on end to brown the edges. The duck should be browned on the outside and rare in the center.

Remove and allow to stand 10 minutes. Place on a cutting board and carve crosswise into ½-inch slices. Serve the slices topped with olive sauce.

Duck breast with olive-Sherry sauce.

Salsa de Aceitunas
Olive Sauce with Sherry

Olives and lemon peel give zest to this cooked sauce, which also goes well with grilled fish, lamb and chicken. Use any variety of pitted olive, green or black, for this recipe.

Makes 1 cup of sauce.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 strip lemon zest, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup dry Sherry
½ teaspoon cornstarch
½ cup water or chicken stock
Pinch of cumin seed
Pinch of thyme
Pepper
2/3 cup pitted olives, coarsely chopped
Salt, if needed

Heat the oil in a medium skillet and sauté the shallots, carrot and garlic until softened, 3 minutes. Add the lemon zest and tomato and cook another 3 minutes.

Add the Sherry. Stir the cornstarch into the water or stock and add it to the pan with the cumin, thyme and pepper. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Cover and simmer until vegetables are very tender, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the olives and simmer 5 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve the sauce hot or room temperature.

SEVILLA: VIRTUAL TAPAS

All about tapas, by Enrique Becerra, Sevilla.

Sevilla is the tapas capital of the world. This is where the tapas custom originated. Although I live only a couple hours away from that magical city, I don’t get there very often.

But I vicariously enjoy virtual tapas from Sevilla every day by following posts on Facebook from Sevilla Tapas. Shawn Hennessey, a Canadian who lives in Sevilla, posts  "live" photos of tapas from bars that she is visiting in the moment, sometimes as many as six in a day! Shawn, known as "la chica con el blog de tapas,”  also does tapa tours and blogs about other happenings in Sevilla. (You can see her vertiginous cathedral rooftop slide show at http://azahar-sevilla.com/blog/2011/05/18/cathedral-rooftop-visit/ )

It was thanks to Shawn that I acquired a copy of a book about tapas, with essays and recipes, from the owner of one of Sevilla’s long-established tapa bars, the eponymous Enrique Becerra. The book (in Spanish) is EL GRAN LIBRO DE LA TAPA Y EL TAPEO by Enrique Becerra (Almuzara, 2009).

Tapas of baked shrimp.

The book answers the question, “what is the tapa?” Answer: a small portion of something to eat that accompanies a glass of wine. And, yes, size matters. Not too big (you would need more wine), not too small (wine left over). Enrique Becerra relates how tapas originated (on Calle Sierpes); the meaning of the verb tapear—only conjugated in the plural, as in, “we’re going for tapas”—and the philosophical discussion of whether the tapas occasion can take place in a single bar or must move to several, and whether it can be enjoyed only standing up or whether it’s ok to sit at a table. The reply: it all depends.

A few other observations from the book: tapas—to be tapas—are served one at a time and in individual plates. In other words, tapas are not meant for sharing.  Although raciones might be .

The recipes in the book are for very traditional Sevilla dishes—such as patatas con cazón en amarillo, potatoes and fish in yellow sauce; sangre encebollada, chicken blood stewed with onions and wine; remojón granadino, potato salad with salt cod and oranges—or reinterpretations of classics, such as shellfish sausage with fake baby eels in garlic or three-fish brochette with avocado sauce.

Restaurant and Bar Enrique Becerra
C/ Gamazo, 2
41001 Sevilla
Tel.:(34) 954 213 049
http://www.enriquebecerra.com

Alboronía--vegetable medley.

Book in hand, I’m off to the kitchen to prepare some Sevilla tapas in real time.  I chose a very traditional vegetable dish, alboronía, made with zucchini, eggplant and pumpkin with the unusual addition of apple, and a dead-simple, exceptionally tasty way to cook shrimp.

ALBORONÍA
Vegetable Medley

Adapted from the recipe in LA TAPA Y EL TAPEO by Enrique Becerro. According to Enrique, the dish’s name derives from “Al Burán,” daughter of King Almutamid of Sevilla, the poet king, who, to celebrate his daughter’s wedding, commanded the best cooks in all of Islam. One of them created this delicacy for the occasion.

Serves 4 to 6.

¼ cup olive oil
1 or 2 spring onions, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium eggplant, unpeeled and diced (about 2 cups)
1 zucchini, diced (about 2 cups)
12 ounces pumpkin or winter squash, diced (about 2 cups)
½ apple, diced (about 1 cup)
salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup pine nuts
pimentón (paprika)

Heat the oil in a heavy pan or earthenware cazuela. Sauté the onions and garlic until softened, 5 minutes.

Add the eggplant and cook 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, pumpkin and apple. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. The vegetables should release enough liquid, but, if they appear to be sticking, add a little hot water.

Preheat oven to 450º.

Divide the vegetable mixture between four to six cazuelitas (small earthenware ramekins). Cover the tops of each with beaten egg and sprinkle over the pine nuts. Sprinkle with pimentón.

Bake until egg is set and pine nuts are golden, about 25 minutes. Serve hot or room temperature.

GAMBAS AL HORNO
BAKED SHRIMP

This recipe is adapted from LA TAPA Y EL TAPEO by Enrique Becerra.

“Be sure to spoon up all the pan juices created by the wine and shrimp heads,” Enrique advises. This is best made with large shrimp with heads intact. That’s because the heads contain the roe that adds incredible flavor.

Makes 6 tapas or 2 main dish servings.

2 dozen large shrimp (12-16 ounces)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup manzanilla fino Sherry
salt and pepper
chopped parsley

Peel the bodies of the shrimp, keeping heads and tails intact. Remove the dark vein.

Preheat oven to 450º.

Spread the oil in a shallow oven pan big enough to hold the shrimp in a single layer. Lay the shrimp in the pan. Pour over the manzanilla. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley.

Bake for 4-5 minutes. Serve immediately, spooning pan juices over the shrimp.



©Text, recipe adaptations and photos copyright Janet Mendel.

SPRING IS SPRUNG--A HEAP OF NEW POTATOES

I have a big bucketful of freshly-dug potatoes from my garden. The spuds,   brown-skinned and white-fleshed, come in all sizes, tiny ones, golf-ball sized ones, big lumpy fist-sized ones. Newly hatched, they still smell of the earth.

Potatoes from the garden.

I’ll be eating potatoes for quite a while. But, right now I need to celebrate their first appearance. I choose a simple recipe from the Canary Islands for papas arrugadas, wrinkly potatoes. The potatoes are boiled in heavily salted water until they are wrinkly and lightly coated in salt. Then they are served with mojo verde, a green chile sauce made with cilantro, fresh coriander leaves.

Fresh cilantro, a springtime herb.

Cilantro, a spring herb like mint and parsley, is little used in Spanish cooking. Except for in the Canary Islands. The archipelago of seven volcanic islands is situated in the Atlantic ocean about 600 miles southwest of continental Europe, and only 65 miles off the coast of western Africa. Although the islands are Spanish provinces, they are closer to  Morocco than to mainland Spain. And, in fact, mojo verde is very similar to the Moroccan charmoula sauce. Lots of cilantro, garlic, green chile and a smidge of cumin are blended with olive oil and vinegar to make the sauce that is tangy, hot, and fresh, all at the same time.

To round out my menu, I added fish (fillets of dorada or gilthead bream) and the first runner beans from the garden.

Wrinkly potatoes and fish with cilantro mojo sauce.

 

Wrinkly Potatoes
Papas Arrugadas

Serves 4.

The potatoes and mojo can be served at room temperature. They make great tapas—just spear the potatoes on picks and serve the sauce alongside for dipping. Use small (1 ½ -2 inch) potatoes. Wash the potatoes but do not peel them.

Wrinkly potatoes with mojo.

1 ½ pounds small potatoes
1 tablespoon coarse salt
2 cups water

Place the potatoes in a pan with the salt and water. Bring to a boil and cook on a high heat until all the water has evaporated, about 20 minutes. The potatoes should be tender, coated with white salt and their skins slightly wrinkled. They can be reheated by adding a small quantity of water and allowing it to boil off.

If using very small new potatoes, cook them in the water just until tender when probed with a skewer. Drain off the water and return the potatoes to the heat to dry them.
   

Green Chile Sauce
Mojo Verde

Makes about ½ cup of sauce.

2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño pepper, or to taste
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
½ cup chopped cilantro leaves
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup water

Place all ingredients in a blender container and blend until smooth. Sauce keeps one week, refrigerated. Serve at room temperature.

©text, recipes, photos copyright Janet Mendel