NEW YEAR’S EVE: 12 GRAPES, CAVA AND—SEITAN?

 

For New Year's Eve: twelve grapes at midnight, bubbly cava for toasting and delicious (vegetarian) food.

I’m planning a vegetarian menu for New Year’s Eve. Got the grapes, got the chilled cava. Now, what food to accompany the occasion?

Cooking for vegetarian friends is always a (pleasurable) challenge. I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. I like to make tasty food. I want to please my guests with the meals at my table. With that in mind, I bought a block of seitan (in Spanish, it has an accent, seitán), a vegetarian product made from wheat gluten. 

Slices from a block of seitan.

Prepared, ready-to-eat seitan has a remarkably chewy texture, which makes it perfect for using in a dish normally made with meat. For my holiday dinner party, I turned it into a really delicious pâté to serve as an hors d’oeuvre. 

Purchased at a big supermarket, the seitan was labelled “sin lactosa” (no lactose); “ecologico” (organically grown), and “sin azucares, (no sugars). I failed to notice that it did not say “vegan.” When I got a magnifying glass to read the small print of the ingredient list, I realized that the seitan contained egg (as well as sunflower oil, oat flakes, textured soy protein, onion, soy sauce, yeast extract and spices). The egg was not a problem as my guests aren’t vegan. But, best to look at the labels.

Seitan can be used without cooking—slice and put it on a sandwich, for instance. But it is much improved if simmered in a sauce, grilled or fried. Seitan takes up the flavors with which it cooks, so use herbs, spices and aromatics generously. 

Vegetarian pâté made with seitan and mushrooms, served with toasts, crackers and caperberries. This version is coarsely processed.  

Same pâté as above, but processed with caper brine to make a smooth spread. 

Vegetarian Pâté with Seitan

Paté Vegetariano con Seitán

For a luxurious finish, I’ve added butter to this pâté. To keep it vegan, omit the butter and increase the quantity of olive oil. 

8 ounces mushrooms

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

6 ounces prepared seitan

3 tablespoons brandy

Chopped thyme

¼ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

1 ½ ounces softened butter (optional)

1 teaspoon miso paste

1/8 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper

Salt, as needed

Caper brine (optional) or water

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped pistachios

Toasts or crackers to accompany

Coarsely chop the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the mushrooms, shallots and garlic. Sauté on medium heat until they are softened and beginning to brown, 5 minutes. Tip the skillet to one side to allow the oil to drain to one side. Skim out the mushrooms and reserve them.

Cut the block of seitan into cubes. Add to the oil in the skillet and fry the seitan, turning, until lightly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the brandy to the pan and cook off the alcohol. Stir in the thyme and pimentón and remove the pan from the heat.

Place the seitan in a food processor with the miso and butter, if using. Process until seitan is chopped. Add the mushrooms and remaining 1 tablespoon of brandy. Process to desired degree of smoothness. Add pepper and salt, if needed. To make a very smooth and creamy pâté, thin the seitan with caper brine or water. Stir in the pistachios.

Serve the pâté room temperature accompanied by toasts or crackers. Store it, covered and refrigerated.

More recipes for pâtés and terrines:

Partridge and Chicken Pâté.

Ibérico Chicken Liver Pâté.

Fish Pâté.

Monkfish Liver Pâté.

Fish Terrine.

Vegetable Terrine.

Wishing you all the best in the New Year.

FESTIVE ROAST PORK FOR HOLIDAY MEALS

 

A pork shoulder roast--perfect for a holiday dinner party.

Whether you’re feeding a crowd or just a small dinner party, roast pork may be the perfect holiday menu. It’s festive and fairly economical. 

Last Christmas, when I was in the U.S. with family, I helped Juana, my Venezuelan consuegra (fellow mother-in-law) prepare a whole pernil, a whole bone-in, skin-on, shoulder of pork. She scored the outer layer of fat and studded it with cloves. In roasting, the fat would crisp to delicious cracklings. She cut deep gashes in the meat and rubbed an aromatic marinade all over it. I watched over it, turning the meat a few times, for the next 24 hours. It was then roasted in a slow oven for about six hours. 

We were 14 at table for that Noche Buena feast. The pork went around and round again and still there were leftovers (to serve with arepas on Christmas day). 

Pernil--whole bone-in pork shoulder with crackly skin will feed a crowd. 

Home in southern Spain, I couldn’t easily find a whole pork leg with skin and certainly didn’t need such a massive piece of meat for family meals. I started with a 3-pound boneless chunk of shoulder, a cut called cabezal, and used the same marinade as for the Venezuelan-style pernil. It provided a festive dinner for four, plus leftovers for sandwiches in the following days. 

Make the marinade 24 hours before roasting the pork. The ingredients given make enough marinade for a whole (8-pound) bone-in pork shoulder. If making the 3-pound boneless roast, as described, save half the marinade in the freezer for another use. It’s terrific for anything from leg of lamb to whole turkey, chicken breasts to pork chops. 

Palette of spices for marinade.

In America, Juana used store-bought spice mixes for the marinade (adobo, sazón and mojo criollo). But making your own blend is easy enough. The ingredient list is long, but probably you already have the required herbs and spices in the pantry or herb garden. Assemble them in a row and it takes no time at all to mix up this marinade. I customized the blend, adding wild fennel seeds and Spanish smoked pimentón (paprika). 

Wild fennel seeds in the mix.

Use a mortar or spice grinder to grind the dry spices and herbs. Use a mini food processor to grind the fresh herbs and aromatics. The dry ones can be stored in a jar; the fresh mix, in the fridge. Combine them immediately before using. 

Whether a whole pernil or a small roast, slow roasting at 300ºF is what makes for tender, juicy meat. Always keep some liquid in the bottom of the roaster—water, the strained marinade, wine or stock. Cover the meat with foil until the last 30 minutes. The meat should reach about 180ºF internal temperature when done. Then turn up the heat and uncover the meat so that it browns nicely.

Roast pork is ideal whether hot or cold.

Pork is juicy and tender. It's served with sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts that have roasted with the meat. I've added homemade apple chutney as a relish.

Spoon pan juices over the meat.

Herb-Marinated Roast Shoulder of Pork

Asado de Cabezal de Cerdo con Marinada de Hierbas

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast 

For the marinade:

Dry spices and herbs

2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 teaspoon peppercorns

1-2 cloves

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)

¼ teaspoon hot pimentón or pinch cayenne

¼ teaspoon turmeric

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

Fresh herbs, onion and garlic in the marinade.

Fresh herbs and aromatics

½ cup parsley

1/3 cup fresh cilantro

½ onion, coarsely chopped

15 cloves garlic

Zest of 1 lemon (1 ½ teaspoons)

1 bay leaf, broken into pieces

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

½ teaspoon fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons capers

1 tablespoon seedless raisins or chopped prunes

1 tablespoon olive oil

Liquid

Fresh orange juice (1 cup for the 3-pound piece of pork)

Boiling water

24 hours before roasting the pork:

Blend of dry spices and herbs.

Crush the dry spices and herbs in a mortar. Place the salt in the mortar first with hard items, such as peppercorns, cloves, coriander and fennel seeds. Continue with the oregano. Stir in the ground pimentón, turmeric and cumin. Reserve the spice mixture.

In a food processor, finely chop the parsley and cilantro. Add the onion, garlic, lemon zest, pieces of bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, capers, raisins and oil. Process to make a paste. Place in a bowl and stir in the dry spices. (Divide the mixture in half. Freeze one half to use for another marinade.)

Garlic and herb paste.

Place the piece of meat on a work surface. Use a thin knife to cut 1-inch slits all over the top and bottom of the pork. Rub the herb-garlic marinade all over the meat and into the cuts. Place the pork in a non-reactive container. Pour over the orange juice. Cover tightly. Refrigerate the meat, turning it two or three times during 24 hours.

Rub marinade on all sides of the meat and poke it into slits.

Ready for the oven--pork is tied to make a compact shape and placed on a rack in roasting pan.

Two hours before roasting, remove the meat from the marinade, scraping off excess. If desired, tie the meat into a compact roll using kitchen twine. Allow the meat to come to room temperature. Strain the marinade, saving the liquid. Discard the herbs and solids. 

Preheat oven to 400ºF. 

Place the pork on a rack in a roasting pan and place in the oven for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 300ºF. Add enough boiling water to cover the bottom of the roasting pan. Cover the pork with foil. Return to the oven for 1 hour.

Carefully turn the pork. Add the reserved strained marinade liquid and enough boiling water to cover the bottom of the pan. (If desired, add potatoes, carrots or other vegetables to the pan.) Cover the meat with foil and return to the oven for 1 hour. 

Check the meat again and add additional water if needed. Roast 30 minutes.

Turn the oven up to 375ºF. Remove the foil from the pork. Return to the oven until the top surface is browned, about 30 minutes.

Remove the pork to a cutting board. (Remove any vegetables to serving bowls.) Pour the pan juices into a saucepan. 

Allow the meat to rest at least 15 minutes before slicing. Bring the pan juices to a boil and simmer 15 minutes to reduce slightly. Season, if needed, with salt and pepper. Serve alongside the pork.

'Twas the day before Christmas and I've got a lovely gift! Fresh orange juice goes into the marinade for the pork.

More recipes for pork shoulder:

Larded Pork Pot Roast (Carne Mechada).

Zamora-Style Rice with Pork and Sausage.

Pork Braised in Milk.

Galician Pork with Greens (Lacón con Grelos).

Pork and Vegetable Stew.

PERSIMMONS ARE TRENDING

 

Not tomatoes! These sliced persimmons with almond vinaigrette make a very festive salad.

I hadn’t given a thought to persimmons for years until a bag of them landed in my kitchen. Once they entered into my consciousness, the sweet and colorful fruit seemed to appear everywhere. 

I discovered that Spain is a world leader, after China, Korea and Japan, in the production of persimmons. Say what? And that a postharvest process can turn even the mouth-puckering varieties into sweet, firm fruit, ready to eat as soon as purchased. 

The persimmon tree, caqui or kaki in Spanish, has been grown in parts of Valencia and Andalusia since the 17th century, its wood once much appreciated for cabinetry. The prevalent variety in Spain, Rojo Brillante, emerged spontaneously in the 1950s. This variety belongs to the type of persimmon (Hachiya) that is astringent, The fruit contains so much tannin that it is impossible to eat until it is dead ripe, when the skin turns bright red and the flesh turns to gelatinous mush. Then it is like sweet pudding, perfect to eat with a spoon or incorporate in baked goods. 

Confusingly, this is the same variety that is commercialized as Kaki Persimon®DOP, an orange-colored fruit with firm, almost crisp, flesh. These persimmons are picked before they are fully ripe—yellow-orange, not green—and subjected to a process (exposure to high levels of carbon dioxide) that converts the tannins and removes the astringency.  

The Rojo Brillante, whichever its color, is ovoid or heart shaped. 

The non-astringent varieties, such as Fuyu, have firm, sweet flesh with no tannins. They do not need to be ripened before eating. They tend to be orange to red in color, round and squat like a tomato in shape.

Squat, tomato shape--probably the Fuyu variety.

My cache of persimmons, from the farmers’ market, are unlabeled. They look a lot like tomatoes. They are fairly firm, not crisp, but juicy, easy to peel and slice. They taste sweet, but not cloying, without a hint of astringency. I think they are Fuyu. I used them in a festive salad. 

Ready-to-eat Rojo Brillante. 

At the supermarket I bought bright orange persimmons, labeled Rojo Brillante variety. In spite of the name--Rojo Brillante means "bright red," they are orange in color. These are ready-to-eat without further ripening (meaning they have been processed to remove astringency). They are sweet and not quite as crisp as an apple, more like the texture of good melon. Which inspired this variation on a classic starter, persimmon with melon (caqui con melón). 

Instead of summer's ham with melon, this is sliced persimmon with shards of ibérico ham. A lovely appetizer. 

Salad of persimmon with slices of fried cheese and almond vinaigrette.

Persimmon Salad with Almond Vinaigrette and Fried Cheese

Ensalada de Caqui con Vinagreta de Almendras y Queso Frito

Fuyu persimmon has red flesh.

Serves 4-6.

4 medium persimmons, ready to eat (14-16 ounces)

Salad greens such as arugula

¼ cup Almond Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Fried cheese (recipe follows)

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the persimmons. Slice them thinly crosswise. Remove any seeds or hard seed pods in the center. Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing to the sliced persimmons and allow them to macerate for at least 1 hour.

Arrange salad greens on a platter or on individual plates. Place the sliced persimmons on the greens and spoon over remaining almond vinaigrette. Arrange pieces of fried cheese on top.

Almond Vinaigrette

Vinagreta con Almendras

Vinaigrette with chopped almonds.

Almonds that have been fried in olive oil add an irresistible crunch to this salad dressing. 

Makes ¾ cup dressing. (Only ¼ cup dressing is needed for the salad.)

¼ cup chopped scallions

¼ cup coarsely chopped fried almonds

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl combine the scallions, almonds, juice and vinegar. Whisk in the oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Fried Cheese

Queso Frito

The fried cheese—crisp on the outside, melting on the inside—can be served as a tapa or with greens as part of a salad. It pairs nicely with persimmons, sliced pears or thin slices of quince paste. Use a semi-cured goat or sheep’s milk cheese, such as Manchego, or try a lightly smoked Idiazábal.  

Cheese is floured and coated in crumbs.

6-8 ounces semi-cured Manchego cheese

2-3 tablespoons flour

1 egg, beaten

½ cup fine dry breadcrumbs

Olive oil for frying

Remove the rind from the cheese and cut into triangles 3/8 inch thick. Dredge the slices in flour, dip in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

Heat oil to cover the bottom of a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the slices of cheese in two batches, if necessary. Turn when they are browned on the bottom. They need only about 30 seconds per side.

Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Persimmons complement the fried cheese. 

Another version of the persimmon salad. This one has slices of both Fuyu persimmon (red) and Rojo Brillante (pale yellow) plus kiwi and clementines. Strips of ibérico ham make a delicious contrast to the fruits.

More persimmon recipes:

Persimmon Flan.

Persimmon "Waldorf" Salad.

About Valencia's Persimmon Kaki Kaki Ribera del Xúquer PDO