Barcelona Bites

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Barcelona Bites is moving to a new address!

Hi everyone! So in my neverending quest to simplify my life, I've decided to merge my two blogs into one. I thought it'd be easier to have a separate blog on which to write about food stuff but in the end, I've decided that I prefer just having one spot to write down whatever I want about anything I want.

I still plan to write about food but now it will all be at www.johannawrites.com instead of here. Please adjust your bookmarks and feeds accordingly!

On the Radio

I always dreamed that one day I might get to go on Australian radio and talk about tuna fish... Listen here!

Hofmann Culinary School Week 12: Lentils

This week we cooked:

Ragout de Lentejas y Cordoniz Confitada (Lentil Stew with Quail Confit)

and

Salmón al Vapor con Redducción de Forum y Espárragos Asados

(Steamed Samon with a Forum Vinegar Reduction Sauce and Roasted Asparagus)

I know I've said this before but one of the things I like most about living in Spain are the school lunches. Both in Madrid and in Barcelona, Nico has had delicious, healthy and varied lunches at school. Certainly they're a far cry from the tater tots, hamburgers, tacos and overcooked canned green beans that seemed to show up 9 out of 10 times in the school lunches of my youth (although I do long for a good tater tot every now and then). Today, for example, they ate lentils with rice, hake in tomato sauce, salad and seasonal fruit. Tomorrow they'll be having chickpeas with spinach, chicken, salad and seasonal fruit.

One of the benefits of these lunches is that they teach him to appreciate foods that I'd normally never prepare at home. The problem with this is that I have no idea how to make a lot of this stuff in the style to which he's become accustomed.  Lentils and chickpeas are ingredients that show up at least twice a week at school and Nico claims to love both. Whenever I try to make either one however, he complains and says I don't know how to do it right. The infamous "Bottom Soup" is a case in point.

To digress just a bit, I can see that more and more I'm becoming "the weird foreign mother" in Nico's eyes. While American kids of immigrants complain that their mothers talk funny, can't help them with their homework or whip up a decent batch of cupcakes; Kids in Spain with immigrant parents get embarrassed when their moms talk funny, can't help them with their homework or whip up a decent pot of lentils. Also, they don't like it when you pick them up at school wearing khaki shorts (how American!).

I royally embarrassed Nico the other day when as I was paying for some fruit, I started muttering the amount of change I was counting out in Spanish. In reality, I was just saying some of the numbers aloud and muttering the others (as one does while counting change), but to Nico it sounded like this "Two, seven, eight, three, five..." After we left the store, he looked at me in horror and asked "But Mommy, WHY were you counting like that?? That isn't at all how the numbers go in Spanish!" He then proceeded to review with me the numbers from one to ten to ensure that such a humiliating event would never again occur in the future. Yep, I'm that mom now. The one who doesn't even know how to count right.

Back to food though. Lentils are an integral part of Spanish home-cooking, so ubiquitous that I once had a friend in Madrid who complained that the neighbors lentils were always floating up out of her shower drain (ew!).  The lentils I have made up until now, however, could only be described as.... um, well... brown? Brown and boring. No wonder Nico complains.

But now I know how to make a truly delicious lentil dish thanks to my latest class at Hofmann. These melt in your mouth without being mushy and the flavor is divine. So this is where all that lentil-love comes from!

Ragout de Lentejas (Spanish Lentils)

Serves 4 as a side dish. Click here for printable recipe.

Ingredients

-100 grams (about 2/3 cup) of Spanish pardina lentils

-40 grams (1.5 oz) of diced bacon

-40 grams (1.5 oz) of diced ham (GOOD cured ham like prosciutto or jamón serrano)

-one squashed (but not peeled) garlic clove

-one small onion with three cloves stuck in it

-1/2 stalk of celery

-1/2 leek

-1/2 peeled carrot

-600 grams (2.5 cups) chicken stock

-Olive oil

-butter

Directions:

-Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and saute the onion, garlic, and vegetables for several minutes over low heat (until everything is nice and golden and soft).

-Add the ham and bacon and saute for a few more minutes

-Add the lentils and saute for a few more minutes

-Add the just enough stock to cover everything and simmer over low heat for about 45-50 minutes.

-During the first 2/3 of the cooking time, make sure to add more stock periodically so that the lentils are always barely covered with liquid.

-When the lentils are soft, remove them from heat and add a few tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste (remember that because of the presence of bacon and ham, you may not need much, if any salt).

 

 

 

Hofmann Culinary School Week 11: Sushi

The other day I wrote about making ham croquetas at Hofmann. Oddly enough, we also learned to make tuna tataki and sushi on the same day we did croquetas.

If there were ever two culinary ships meant to pass in the night without setting eyes on each other, it would be Spanish croquetas de jamón and Japanese sushi. The croquetas would say "Hola!" and attempt to give the sushi a big greasy kiss. The sushi would then cringe and withdraw in horror as politely as possible before running off to disinfect itself in rice wine vinegar. This is why you do not, and will never see, any croqueta-sushi fusion joints in your town.

Still, as I sat there watching a French man demonstrate how to make croquetas, and then sushi in a Spanish culinary school, I couldn't help but reflect on what an accurate portrayal of my life so far the lesson really was. If a Chilean man had walked in and showed us how to make Swiss fondue, all the countries I've lived in so far would have been completely covered. And that's not even counting all those Mormon casseroles, American layer cakes and New York City bagels that I spent the first 27 years of my life consuming before I moved abroad.

I wrote about tuna and sushi for this week's Jerusalem Post column so head over there for a great tataki recipe.

Getting ready for the the tasting.

 

Mmmmm tuna tataki!

Hofmann Culinary School Week 11: Ham Croquetas

If there's one thing that is sure to be on just about every single tapas menu in every single restaurant in Spain, it's croquetas, little fried balls of dough, usually filled with ham, cheese, cod or mushrooms. They are rarely awful, but rarely truly delicious. Nevertheless they're usually filling in a satisfactory but somewhat mediocre, good-hangover-food sort of way. My intuition tells me that somewhere in Spain there's at least one giant croqueta factory (staffed mainly by deep-fried oompa loompas) that sends out boxes of frozen dough balls to be consumed in most of the tapas bars from Andalucia to Asturias.

That being said, when croquetas are good, they're really lip-smackingly tasty and since they're such an integral part of Spanish culture it's no surprise that we learned how to make them in class at Hofmann. Luckily the ones we made were some of the best I've ever had and I definitely plan to make them at home.

Croquetas de Jamón (serves 4)

Click here for a printable version

Ingredients:

-2 ounces (60 g) diced ham (and I'm talking about the good stuff here like jamón serrano or prosciutto)

-1/2 pound (200 g) diced onions

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-1 tablespoon butter

-1/3 cup (40 g) flour

-1 cup (1/4 L) milk

-a pinch of nutmeg

-salt and pepper to taste

-1 egg, flour and bread crumbs to roll the croquetas in before frying.

-vegetable oil or olive oil for frying

 Directions:

-Heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil and over medium-low heat, slowly saute the onions until they are completely soft and golden brown (at least 20 mins)

-Add the ham and continue to saute for a few minutes more (the longer you saute the ham, the stronger the ham flavor will be).

-Turn the heat down to very low and add the flour and incorporate it well into the ham and onions. Saute for a 6-7 minutes to make sure the flour is well cooked

-Add cold milk (in two parts), stirring well to blend.

-While continually stirring, cook 3-4 minutes more.

-Add nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste (beware that you may not even need salt because of the saltiness of the ham).

-Remove from heat and spread the batter on a plate. Cover with plastic and refridgerate until well chilled.

-Beat egg and put in a bowl. On one plate put a small pile of flour and on another plate put a small pile of bread crumbs.

-Remove batter from fridge. Roll into ping pong sized balls and dip in flour, egg and bread crumbs (in that order).

-Heat vegetable or olive oil in a saucepan (remember that you need to have enough oil so that the croquetas can be completely submerged).

-Drop in balls of batter (about 5 at a time, they should not be touching) and fry until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain.

-Croquetas should be served right away while they're hot!

 

 

 

Taller de Tapas and Cata 1.81

One of the challenges facing tourists in Spain is the eating schedule. Restaurants don't open for lunch until around 2pm (if not later) and dinner doesn't generally start until at least 9pm.

For this reason, every time we go out to dinner, Alex and I are, without fail, the first ones in the restaurant. Apparently Spanish people do not have  5-year olds who think it is acceptable to bounce into one's bed at 6:30am and say "Is it morning yet? I'm bored of sleeping!."

I'm not a big fan of staying out late and by the time 9 pm rolls around, I'm more likely to be found watching Mad Men in my pajamas than waiting patiently outside the doors of some restaurant just so that I can finally get some dinner.

That being said, there are a few options for people like me. First of all, there is Taller de Tapas, a chain tapas joint that is open continuously from 12 pm- 1 am.

Advantages:

-It is nearly ALWAYS open

-There are many locations in Barcelona. You can see where here.

-The food is definitely a step up from any of those places you see around town that have the pictures of the food they serve posted on a sign outside (AVOID THOSE PLACES!). Some of the dishes are truly delicious and the menu offers authentic "seasonal" regional specialties from all over Spain. You can see the current menus on their web site.

-Menus are in English

Disadvantages:

-It is a chain and it feels like one.

-The prices are on the higher side (for what it is).

-The proportion of deep-fried greasy stuff on the menu is way too high for my taste.

-It is obvious that at least 75% of the other customers are also tourists which always makes one feel a bit silly.

All in all it's a very good option for getting decent food at times when normal restaurants are closed. That being said, there is an even BETTER option which I am now going to tell you about!

Cata 1.81

This is another tapas restaurant but the food is much better and the clientele waaaay less touristy.

Advantages:

-They open at 6pm Monday-Saturday (closed Sundays).

-The food is surprisingly affordable (often cheaper than at Taller de Tapas) with the average tapas dish only costing around 5 or 6 Euros. You can see the menu in English here!

-Cata 1.81 started with the idea of being a wine bar with just a few gastronomic specialties. Therefore, they have an amazing wine list with nearly 300 different wines (most of them Spanish) to choose from.

-The menu is based on traditional Catalan cuisine but also very fun, creative and in some cases, quite experimental. Signature dishes include Macaroni with Sobrasada sausage and white chocolate (a weird but shockingly tasty combo); a truffled bikini (a "bikini" is a toasted ham and cheese sandwich in Spain); and pig's trotters stuffed with figs and nuts, served with a wine sauce and honey ice cream!

Disadvantages:

-The decor is trying a bit too much. I'm sorry but I think like most other people in the world who were alive in 1997, horrible flashbacks of the Spice Girls tend to invade my brain whenever I see the Union Jack in sequins.

Info:

Cata 1.81

Calle València, 181

93 323 68 18

www.cata181.com

 

Resolutions

This is the first time I've ever participated in Illustration Friday. This week the word was "Resolutions" and this is my submission-

It's a combination of a drawing and a photograph and since I'm new to Photoshop, please don't judge me too harshly!

As for the list of "resolutions," it's a fake as anyone who knows me could attest. I don't drink, I don't exercise and I would never give up donuts.

Here is my real list:

-Go on more dates with my husband

-Continue to do lots of art and writing without always stopping to ask myself "Why the hell am I doing this?"

-Find the perfect pair of red ballet flats

-Spend more time with my kids without simultaneously making lists in the back of my mind about what I need to do that day

-Be more experimental with how I cook vegetables

I think that should do it.

What I've been reading:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (amaaaazing!)

Life by Keith Richards

Just Kids by Patti Smith

The Bolter by Frances Osborne

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Hofmann Culinary School Week 10: Roscón de Reyes

Dios mío, I'm beginning to feel as though this holiday season will never end. Because Alex and the kids spent the Christmas and New Year's in New York City with my mother-in-law this year, we celebrated Christmas at the beginning of December with my parents who were visiting. And then it just kept going and going and going and it's still not over. Tomorrow in Spain is El Dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), which for most kids is just as important (if not more so) than Christmas itself. This is the day they get their presents (instead of leaving out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, they leave water for the kings' camels).

During our last class at Hofmann before vacation we made Roscón de Reyes (sometimes spelled Rascón) which is the special cake eaten on King's Day. It's basically a brioche baked in the shape of an enormous donut with a marzipan filling. The cake is then studded with a variety of garishly-hued candied fruits and icing sugar.

Inside you bury a small ceramic king and a dried bean and from what I could understand, the person who finds the king gets good luck and the person who finds the bean has to pay a tax of some kind (unless they are not warned beforehand in which case they might be treated to the the heimlich maneuver).

I am a BIG fan of brioche and can think of nothing better than stuffing warm wads of the freshly-baked pillowy bread directly into my mouth. However, I am not so fond of all the frou-fra that gets put on top of these cakes so I decided to just put pine nuts on top of mine and leave it at that. But then the teasing started. Apparently the candied fruits are meant to represent jewels so the more you have on your cake, the better off you are. Compared to the other roscónes, mine did look a bit sparse. "Oh I'm just a poor girl from Salt Lake City, Utah where we have nothing but Mormons and salt" joked one of my classmates when he saw my minimalist roscón. I gave into the pressure and stuck a few strips of candied orange peel on top. I had also realized that since I planned to bring it home and use it as Alex's birthday cake, I should perhaps make it look at least slightly festive.

It was a big hit although I didn't manage to take any decent photos.

As for Luca, he was mainly interested in the paper crown which traditionally comes nestled inside.

Hofmann Culinary School Recipe for Roscón de los Reyes

 Ingredients:

For the brioche dough

-4 1/3 cups (500 g) flour

-1/2 cup (100 g) sugar

-one egg

-2 packages of dry yeast (the original recipe calls for 80 g of fresh but I know that can be harder to locate in the US).

-4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter

-1 1/2 teaspoons (8 g) salt

-3/4 cup (190 ml) milk

-Grated peel of one half lemon

For the marzipan paste filling

-1 1/4 cups ground almonds (125 g)

-1 1/4 cups (125 g) powdered sugar (icing sugar)

-one egg white

Possible Toppings: Candied fruits, pine nuts, icing sugar

Directions:

-Dissolve the yeast in the milk.

-Add the rest of the ingredients in the following order: flour, egg, sugar, salt, butter and lemon peel.

-Using your hands, knead all the ingredients together for a good 15 minutes (forcefully!) You can do this with a dough hook if you have a machine. When you are finished the dough should be elasticky and no longer sticky.

-Leave in a film covered bowl to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

-Make your marzipan but combining the ground almonds, powdered sugar and egg white. Roll it out into a long tube (like a snake!). Cover your figures (the king and the bean if you have them) with aluminum foil and hide them inside the marzipan.

-Remove the dough from a bowl, knead it lightly and form in into a long tube.

-Wrap the edges of the brioche dough tube around the marzipan tube so that it is completely hidden.

-Arrange the tube of dough in a circle and pinch the ends together to form a large ring.

-Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has again doubled in size.

-Decorate with your toppings and bake at 400 F (200 C) until golden brown.

 

 

 

 

Hofmann Culinary School Week 9: The Gypsy's Arm

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything about my classes at Hofmann for the past few weeks.  I got behind and then we went on vacation for the holidays so now I've got a bit of catching up to do before we start up again.

The past few classes have been primarily dedicated to preparing typical holiday Spanish cuisine. We started with a cake that bears the rather un-PC name of Brazo de Gitano (Gypsy's Arm).  This is basically a rolled sponge cake (like a swiss roll) filled with jam, chocolate, whipped cream or pastry cream. The cake is then usually decorated with chocolate or in our case, we spread an egg yolk custard on top and then burned it with a kitchen iron. 

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the Brazo. Mainly this is due to the flavor and texture of the sponge cake. It usually tastes like fluffy cardboard to me and I'd really much rather just be eating a peanut butter cookie.

That being said, the Brazo de Gitano does seem to be a rather established part of Spanish pastry culture, especially around this time of year. One of my vintage Waly recipe cards even has a recipe for it.

Hofmann recipe for Brazo de Gitano

Ingredients:

For the sponge cake-

-5 egg yolks

-5 egg whites

-1 whole egg

-2/3 cup (120 g) sugar, divided in half.

-1/2 cup (60 g) potato starch

-grated peel of 1/2 lemon

-one pinch of ground cinnamon

For the pastry cream filling-

-one scant cup milk (240 ml)

-1/3 cup plus one tablespoon (80 g) sugar

-3 egg yolks

-1/2 vanilla bean pod

-2 1/2 tablespoons (20 g) corn starch

For the egg yolk custard topping:

-1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (100 ml) milk (will be divided)

-3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

-2 eggs

-one heaping tablespoon (20 g) corn starch

Directions:

-Beat the egg whites until soft peaks begin to form. Add half the sugar (1/3 cup or 60 g) and continue to beat a punto de nieve (until stiff peaks form; in Spanish this means to the point of snow which is much more poetic). Set aside.

 -Mix the 5 yolks, the remaining sugar and whole egg together.

-Add the lemon peel and pinch of cinnamon.

-Mix in the flour and potato starch.

-With a wooden spoon or spatula, carefully fold in the egg whites until the mixture is no longer streaky with egg whites.

-Spread the batter into a rectangle on a baking sheet that has been prepared with either buttered parchment paper or a non-stick silpat. In class we did this by putting the batter in a pastry sleeve and then piping it out (you can see pictures of this on my friend Lisi's blog), but I imagine you can do this by spreading it out with a spatula as well.

-Bake at 450 F (230 C) until golden (about 8-12 minutes)

To make the pastry cream:

-Divide the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and add them to the milk.

-Start heating the milk over a medium flame

-In the meantime, beat the egg yolks and sugar together and add then add the corn starch.

-When the milk starts to simmer, pour in the egg mixture and bring to a boil (while constantly whisking). Immediately reduce heat and let cook for another minute or two (while continuing to stir) until mixture has thickened.

-Transfer to another bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it cool.

To make the egg yolk custard  (You could also spread whipped cream or chocolate sauce on top of the cake if you don't have a kitchen torch.)

-Mix 2 tablespoons of milk with corn starch

-Add the eggs and beat until well blended.

-Heat the remaining milk and the sugar. When the mixture starts to boil, add the egg mixture and cook until it boils again.

-Remove from heat, cover and cool.

Assembling

-Once your cake has cooled, spread the pastry cream over it and then carefully roll it up. Use a knife to straighten up the ends.

-Spread the egg yolk custard on top and burn it using a kitchen torch.