Cherries

They´re red, they´re beautiful, they´re back!

Penance

Yesterday we had dinner at Buen Gusto.
It´s my favourite Chinese restaurant, a big, brightly lit, garish place, very noisy and bustling. The food is out of this world. Well, out of this Madrid world, which ain´t all that cosmopolitan, really.
We pigged out massively. It was terrible.
I now feel sorry, and slightly sick, and must atone for my sins.
A bowl of broth is all I will have. Good ole chicken consommé, made by simmering chicken bones and stock vegetables and a serrano ham bone for three hours.
I can´t actually contemplate the idea of cooking. Good for me that I made a big batch two weeks ago, and it´s patiently waiting in the freezer, neatly portioned and labelled.
I don´t put garlic in stock, by the way. The illustration is for sopa de ajo, of which more some other time.

Restaurante chino "Buen Gusto". Pº Sta. María de la Cabeza 60.

A nice cup of tea

Here´s another breakfast post, dedicated to my darling daddy. A lovely cup of tea, black indian, Pompadour Gold of course. A dash of milk and a sixth of a spoonful of caster sugar. In my most favourite mug.

Asparagus

We´ve been eating quite a few bunches of asparagus this spring. I do love them.
And I love the trick where they snap on their own just at the place where you have to cut them because they´re too fibrous.And I like eating with my hands.
We´ve had them steamed, and then dipped in mayonaise or in vinaigrette. Once I went so far as to try hollandaise and it was heavenly.
I´ve done risotto, and asparagus soup, and thought I´d make a quiche but was too greedy and ate them before that could happen.
I´ve roasted them, and boiled them.
But my favourite method, so far, has been to pan-steam them.
You take a non stick pan with a lid. Put some olive oil on it, very little will do. Put the spears in , and leave them for a minute. Then cover , and leave two to five minutes, depending on the thickness.
This is quick, unfussy, and gives you a crispy burnt asparagus that is also juicy and that cooks very fast.

Toast and oil for breakfast

I´m about to have breakfast.
A leisurely and healthy breakfast is by far the best start to the day. It makes life easier, and happier, and I see it as a major perk of my job that I can do it.
Since I work at home, I have the privilege of spending my first couple of hours in my pijamas , drinking tea, answering emails, drawing and colouring, and reading the papers on the web.
By 10 o´clock the hunger hits, and then I take a break, and eat my breakfast, proper, while I read whatever book I´m on at the moment ("Esta noche volveré tarde", if you´re interested. A very funny novel from the 50´s, that could show these chick lit girls what´s what).
Today I´m going to have white bread toast with the best olive oil. My husband´s family are olive growers, so of course we´re meant to push the envelope, but I swear , this stuff, Oleoestepa, really is the best. Look out for it.

hamburguer

I had lunch today at alfredo´s. Arguably, the best burguer in Madrid. There are other candidates, but this one is my favourite.It is the right distance from home, either a 3€ taxi ride, or 20 minutes nice weather walking.

The burguer is perfect, charred black outside, perfectly a point, pink in the middle. A generous dollop of mayo, a slice of tomato, some lettuce, a good bun. a delicious cluster of fries, hot, crunchy, golden brown.
And a bottle of ketchup and mustard. No stupid little single-serving bags that you have to open with your teeth,smear all over your fingers. They pile up on the table, the tell-tale debris of your greedy ways with condiments.

This sketch was dashed off while we waited for our blts. Quick service, I didn´t have time for more.

Alfredo´s Barbacoa. C/ Lagasca 5. 91 576 62 71

bananas

I was thinking of doing a banana post, inspired by
this one at mattbites.
And so I went to my drawing board. And there I managed to upset the inkpot. Rivers of blackest ink flooded my table, ran down my arm, splashed my shirt. I can only describe that as treading on one of life´s banana skins, like the great inmortal P.G. Wodehouse used to say.

Here´s a smoothie to make anyone rebound from that, or any other disasters. bananas pack a lot of energy.

1 ripe banana
4 or 5 strawberries
splash of yogurt
juice of one orange
juice of half a lemon
spoonful of sugar

blitz. enjoy.

I don´t like my drinks too sweet, so you´ll probably want more sugar than that.

more grown-up food

apples.
yes´m. it doesn´t sound likely as a choice of adult food, but that´s what it is , for me. more than capers, sushi or bitter greens.
because when I was little, all I wanted was to take big chunky bites out of apples. and it was never possible, because my mouth was too small.
and now that I can, I still feel a little frisson of grown-upness with every single apple that I snatch and cruch at.

my very excellent fish soup

now don´t think me vain, but I am ever so proud of this soup. I love it. everyone who tries it loves it. and every time I make it I pat myself on the back , and think, well, now, you´re a grownup. this is grownup food.

going to the fishmongers used to scare me. i´d look at the array of glistening glassy eyed fish, and wonder, what was what, and what did people do with them?. you see, my family are not big fish eaters. as children we´d be given the occasional fishfinger, but everyone, from my grandparents down to the smallest cousin, seemed to have a profound contempt for seafood. and on good friday we´d ahve pasta, thank you very much.

however, some members of the family, especially my mother, would always make a point of asking for fish soup at restaurants. and when I had it I loved it , but always to me this was restaurant food, sophisticated and difficult. and that was that.

enter alain de botton. in one of his books he makes a wishlist of things, among them a chef, and the dishes he should be proficient in. I can´t remember it all, but it included roast chicken, zuchini fritters and fish soup.

and I thought, yes, that´s a good list. I can roast a chicken, and I don´t fry so am exempt from the fritters, but the fish soup nagged me.

so I started to hunt around for recipes.and found all sorts. they all involve a terrifying amount of fresh fish, and all sorts of preparations with mussels on one hand, shrimp heads on another, and a lot of complications involving mouli legumes. and I thought, screw that. there has to be an easier way.

finally, I found it. this is a very very simple and very quick soup. you only make a sofrito, add stock, simmer a few minutes with some rice or rice cakes to thicken it. blend it and then poach the (frozen) fish inside.

I like frozen fish. they´re convenient, they can be had on mondays, they´re really very good. nothing compares to a good smacking fresh fillet of fish, but frozen fish is not expensive and it´s not intimidating. a good place to start.

one thing. the soup stands or falls by the stock. this must be prime quality excellent fumet. and if this is where you say "aha, I knew it couldn´t be that easy", let me just point out that there are some execllent commercial fish stocks around. just don´t use cubes, nd don´t use cheap bottled stocks. go for broke, which is actually maybe a couple of euros more, and a world of difference.

and if you actually do make your own fumet you´ll be shocked at how quick and how delicious it is. and you´ll want to pat yourself on the back, because you will have tackled a preparation involving fish heads, and that´s VERY grownup.

ingredients

serves 4

1 litre good fish stock
1 onion or leek or both
1or 2 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes (grated if fresh, tinned is excellent)
pinch saffron trheads
salt, pepper
olive oil for sauteeing
300 gr. peeled prawns
400 gr. white fish. both defrosted if frozen
rice cakes3, or 1 cup cooked rice.

heat oil, sautee onion, garlic, cover and sweat til soft. add saffron, stir for a minute. add tomatoes and leave to become as pulpy as you can. all patience at this point will be rewarded. if you´re very rushed, you can used tomato sauce, in which case, a couple of minutes is enough.

add stock, and leave to simmer ten minutes. add the rice cakes, and let them soak the stock.blend. if you want more body, add more rice cakes,let soak, and blend again.

up to this point, this can be made ahead. it is a good idea to do so, as soups improve with staying around a little. it also freezes perfectly,and is a good idea to have around.

reheat, or continue. put fish, cut into slices so they´re more or less same size as prawns. leave three minutes, check for doneness, and you´re done.

served with garlic bread or focaccia and a green salad, this is a whole meal, and very delicious, too.

substance abuse

let me confess. I am an addict, and it don´t look like I´ll be recovering any day soon.
my house can´t hold any more cookbooks. they have overflowed from the kitchen bookcase, and sit on chairs, nestle on headboards, under sofas, on radiators and window sills. they lurk in stray piles of papers on my desk, inside drawers, under sofas.
and I just give in to my cravings, with no thought for my personal space.
yesterday at the bookfair, I bought 3 new cookbooks. they only set me back €7, how could I resist?
it´s very stupid. the equivalent of having 67 pairs of jeans. and only wearing the same 3, of course.
I could cook all my life with a handful of the books I own, but I go on buying. there is so much promise in a cookbook. it sets my mind off, ideas for menus and occasions bumping into one another and shooting off sparks.
so , what does it matter if all I have afterwards is a tuna sandwich or a bowl of tomato soup? I enjoy my artificial paradise, and that´s that.