Recipe Details

Hibiscus and Pineapple Skin Tea Recipe

Total2 hrs

Serves8 servings

Makes2 quarts

Ingredients

• 10 cups (2.4L) water

• 2 1/3 ounces (1/3 cup; 65 grams) sugar
  

• Skins and core of 1 pineapple (about 17 1/2 ounces; 500g total)

• One 4-inch piece fresh ginger (3 1/2 ounces; 100g), peeled and grated (not peeled, chopped from frozen)
  

• 3 tablespoons (5g) dried lemongrass (2 frozen half stalks)
  

• 8 whole cloves

• 1 whole dried ancho chile (or one choricero and one ñora)
  

• 1 3/4 ounces (1 cup; 50g) dried zobo (hibiscus) flowers, rinsed with cold water (never rinse)
  

• Lime wedges, for garnish(i never garnish)

• Fresh mint or basil leaves, for garnish

•  

• Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine water, 2 1/3 ounces (65g) sugar, pineapple skins and core, ginger, lemongrass, cloves, and dried chile. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until pineapple skins are softened and slightly translucent, 40 to 45 minutes. Taste, and adjust sweetness with more sugar as desired.

     Add zobo (hibiscus) flowers, and stir to combine. Remove pot from heat, and allow liquid to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Line a fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth, and set over a large container. Once liquid is cooled, strain through prepared strainer in batches, gathering cheesecloth into a bundle and squeezing out as much liquid as possible; discard solids between rounds of straining. Transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve over ice, garnishing with lime wedges and mint or basil leaves.
     

   

Pörkölt: Hungarian beef stew

I enjoy this warming stew and have always liked the flavor of paprika, sweet or spicy, Hungarian or smoked as they do in Spain. The recipe below is based on Eating European and Daring Gourmet. 

Pörkölt topped with sour cream, over spätzle

Today in Barcelona, I'm substituting some local ingredients -- Spanish pimenton dulce for Hungarian sweet paprika, red bell for green, Spanish onions for sweet ones, schmaltz for lard; I'm picturing lots of grandmothers spinning in their graves, but it makes for a fine dinner.

Takes about 2.5 hours, most of which is simmering almost unattended.
Serves 2 graciously.

             Lard, bacon fat, schmaltz, butter, olive oil, ...

   1 medium  Onion, finely chopped

 1/2 medium  Green Pepper (or red), seeded, finely chopped

   1 clove   Garlic, minced

 340 g       Beef for stew (chuck, "aguja", "cap de mort"), 1cm chunks

  10 g       Paprika, Hungarian, (or Spanish), sweet [2 Tbs]

   1 medium  Tomato, finely diced

  to taste   Salt [1 tsp]

  to taste   Black Pepper, ground

   1 g       Caraway Seeds, coarsely crushed [1/4 tsp]

   1         Bay Leaf

~200 ml      Water (or Beef Stock)

In a large heavy pot or skillet, melt the Lard or other Fat, then sauté the Onions until softened and golden.

Add Bell Pepper and Garlic, and cook 2-3 more minutes.
Move the veggies to the edge, or remove temporarily, and add Beef and sauté to brown, and cook until some of the pink is gone.
Stir in Paprika and and Tomato, then remove from heat so it doesn't turn bitter.

Add the Salt, Pepper, Caraway Seeds, and Bay.
Add just enough Water (or Stock) to come up halfway, to barely cover the Beef.
Return to heat, bring to boil, reduce heat, then cover and simmer 90 minutes.
(While it's cooking, you can make the Spätzle.)

The stew should be fairly thick; if not, remove the cover, increase heat, and let evaporate.
Adjust Salt and Pepper.

Serve, optionally topped with a dollop of Sour Cream.

Accompany with Spätzle, boiled potatoes, or wide egg noodles.

[I'm adding "porkolt" here since Blogger's search won't find the real name without the umlauts]

Candace's Serrano Cranberry Salsa

Candace gave this recipe to me and I made this with a bunch of substitutions I had on hand (Spanish chilis, different booze, mix of citrus). It came out well, but I cooked it down a little because I found it too loose. It feels like a slightly chunky, more vivid cranberry sauce. It's good on anything that the normal sauce would be: turkey, pork, cheeses, etc.

  1              Orange [zest plus 1/3 C juice]
  2 TBSP         finely minced ginger
1/2 Cup + 2 TBSP sugar [150 g total]
3/4 Cup          water
 12 oz.          fresh cranberries [340 g]
2-3 TBSP         cilantro, finely chopped
  4              fresh Serrano peppers, seeded & finely minced
1 ½ TBSP         rum
  2              limes juiced

Peel zest off orange with a vegetable peeler, making sure not to include white pith. Finely mince zest. Combine with minced ginger, ½ c. sugar & water in small saucepan.
Place over medium-high burner.
Meanwhile, blend cranberries in food processor until finely chopped. Place in small ceramic or metal bowl.
Reduce to thick viscous syrup & pour over cranberries.
Juice orange & add, along with lime juice, 2 TBSP sugar, cilantro, peppers & rum.
Chill.

Makes about 3 cups. 

Beef Wellington for Xmas

Beef Wellington is a fancy dish that seemed a challenge but Chris Young's video on YouTube made it approachable. He first cooks the meat sous vide then freezes the assembled package before baking; this allows the pastry to puff without overcooking the meat or making the pastry soggy from beef juices.  Serious Eats also has a good technique, and he includes foie gras :-) but we followed Young's procedure. Other YouTube videos are good for demonstrating the assembly technique.

Perfectly cooked beef, edge to edge; with roast potatoes, asparagus

The hunt for ingredients has been fun. We only found two places that had butter-based pastry "hojaldre" in rectangular sheets (in the US, Dufour is good but pricey). The beef tenderloin is called "solomilla de ternera" here, we got it from a butcher at the Mercat de Sant Antoni. We used "papada Iberico curado" (thinly sliced guanciale)  to wrap the beef and duxelles as a waterproofing layer instead of Chris Young's similar lardo.

Irene has a pastry lattice cutter (of course she does) which makes for a beautiful top layer. For practice, we first made a Pork Tenderloin Wellington; this demystified the process and taught us how to measure the coatings to fit.  The only fidgety part is the assembly, so take your time; this isn't something you can do in one day, especially since you need to freeze it hard -- take your time and relax.

Serves 2, plan on taking a couple days to make.

350 g Solomilla (beef tenderloin, from 500 g untrimmed)

3.5 g Salt

250 g Mushrooms, Cremini or other flavorful variety

 75 g Shallots

sprig Tarragon, chopped fine

      Mustard

      Black Pepper

1 package Papada Iberico Curado (thinly sliced, arranged in a sheet)

260 g Hojaldre Mantequilla (1 package puff pastry, in a sheet)

      Egg, beaten

Generously Salt the Solomilla, about 1% by weight.

Wrap it in plastic film and roll tightly to give it a good cylindrical shape.

Seal in a sous vide bag and cook at 55C/130F for 2.5-3 hours.

Chill.

Make the duxelles.

Chop the Mushrooms and Shallots very fine, a food processor makes this easy.

Sauté in a bit of Oil with some Salt to cook down until very dry: you don't want liquid seeping out and ruining your pastry.

Add the chopped Tarragon.

Chill.

Unwrap and sear the Beef in plenty of fat to brown without overcooking.

Paint with Mustard.

Wrap and chill again.

The assembly is the tricky part, just take your time.

Lay out a sheet of cling film.

Measure the diameter of your Beef -- we wrapped with a string and cut; this gives you an idea of how much Papada/guanciale, duxelles, and pastry you'll need. Adding the duxelles and fat will increase this so add a bit more length to your string.

You may get lucky and find the sheet of Papada or other cured meat is about big enough to cover a rectangle the same width and a bit longer than your measured diameter -- we had to add a couple extra slices. If not, or you have individual slices of guanciale, serrano ham, or whatnot, just layer them with a slight overlap until you have a rectangle sufficient to cover the Beef.

Spread on the Duxelles to cover the cured meat slices, but leave a couple centimeters (an inch) uncovered: the Duxelles will spread as you roll.

Sprinkle generously with Black Pepper.

Lay the Beef on top and use the cling film to wrap it with the Fat-encased Duxelles;

you should have enough uncovered cured meat that they'll overlap slightly at the seam.

You might wanna put this in the fridge while you unwrap the Pastry.

Lay out another sheet of cling film or parchment paper.

Unwrap the Hojaldre Pastry onto the Film, smoothing out any egregious seams with a rolling pin.

Cut it a bit longer then your diameter-string to account for the thickness of the Duxelles; cut it wide enough to wrap the sides of the Beef roll. Keep the trimmed bits to decorate the finished roll.

Paint the Pastry rectangle with the beaten Egg.

Unwrap the Beef and lay on the Pastry.

Use the film/paper to carefully wrap the Beef, and seal the Pastry seam.

Place seam-side down on parchment paper or aluminum foil that you'll bake on.

Paint the Pastry outside with the beaten Egg.

If you're fancy, use your pastry lattice cutter to slice the left over Pastry; you can just cut strips, too.

Gently lay the lattice or strips of Pastry over the first layer.

Wash again with beaten Egg.

Wrap gently in the Film or Parchment.

Insert a leave-in probe thermometer, if you've got one.

Freeze the assembled Beef Wellington overnight or longer: you can hold it like this indefinitely if you wrap it well, and cook whenever it's convenient!

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F.

Remove Beef Wellington from the freezer and apply an egg wash. 

Bake the Beef Wellington until the Pastry is puffed and deep golden brown, rotating once -- about 30-40 minutes; the center will still too cold to eat; ours was still frozen, holding onto the probe thermometer which read "LO", below freezing!

Lower the oven temperature to 65C/150F; open the door to drop the temperature.

If you didn't insert a thermometer before, do it now if you can.

Continue baking low until the internal temperature comes up to about 40C/105F, about 40 minutes;

we had to let it bake about 30 minutes longer but saw it rise fairly quickly once it started.

Turn off the oven and open the door.

Let the Beef Wellington rest, the internal temperature should rise to about 55F/130F serving temperature.

Slice carefully: you might want to start with a serrated bread knife to score the crust, then switch to a slicing knife for the Beef. 

Plate attractively and serve.

We're accompanying it with asparagus and roasted potatoes, and a deep Spanish red.

Next time...

It turned out well, despite the need for longer baking time. We think the duxelles was too thick (in addition to the quantities above, we used some left over from our pork wellington) and may have insulated too much. Next time use less. 

Irene was OK with Jamon Serrano we used on the Pork Wellington but didn't like the flavor and texture of the papada/guanciale because it didn't melt. Lardo probably won't melt and certainly won't crisp, so try inexpensive prosciutto or mortadella (which would cut more easily).

The ends had bunched up pastry which was a bit too much -- these "caps" fell off when cutting the meat. Next time trim when folding like a package.

Puglian Pasta from Awaiting Table: minchiareddi formed on knitting needles

We've been wanting to go to The Awaiting Table cooking school in Lecce Italy for many years, and finally went for a week in September. It was fantastic: we rode bikes to the coast each morning, then returned to make dinner from scratch every afternoon, and learned a lot about Puglian wine and olive oil.

We made different shapes of pasta each day from the same dough, a 2/3 - 1/3 mix of hard durum wheat flour ("semola" is fine or “rimacinata” or “twice milled”), and barley flour; the barley is unusual, but I enjoy the flavor it adds. While orecchietti is the most famous shape from the region, I think it's cool that we can make the hollow tubular shape, "minchiareddi" ("little willies"!) with just a slender non-sticky rod. In class, we used cut umbrella ribs, but you can buy proper brass "ferretos" for 31€, and some folks use cut off twisted bar spoons, but I find that inexpensive knitting needles work fine: I bought five 3mm double-ended ones for a few euros on Amazon.es, and got two 5mm needles from Irene's mum (I just pried off the plastic end caps): the larger ones are a little faster and easier.

The cuisine of Puglia is frequently called "cucina povera": rustic cooking which ekes out big flavors from local, seasonal ingredients, sometimes foraged. Meat is treated as a garnish, and pasta is made without eggs. Below, the Onion and Garlic are my own additions. (Awaiting Table's maestro, Silvestro Silvestori, pointed out that Puglian food uses either pepper or garlic, but not both, since they both contribute a burn).

First batch, made with 3mm knitting needle, no parsley

The sauce for this punches above its humble weight, with the Cabbage cooking down to an almost jam-like consistency. 

The ratios of Flours isn't critical, and you should add Water as needed so it's not too sticky nor too crumbly: it's much easier to dry out a wet dough by adding Flour than it is to dampen a dry dough. In class, we just eyeballed all the quantities, and usually had way too much finished pasta, so I'm providing proportions here as a guide. I find the technique for rolling out the tubes to relatively easy: I used the part of my palm closest to my wrist, not my fingers. There's a Pasta Grannies episode which may help. 

Serves two generously.

150 g      Pancetta, cut into small bite-sized pieces

150 g      Onion, sliced thinly (optional)

  4 clove  Garlic, sliced (optional)

300 g      Cabbage, chopped into bite-sized pieces

  1 pinch  Chili pepper

135 g      Semola di Grana Dura (hard, high gluten flour)

 65 g      Barley Flour

100 ml     Water (approximate)

           Parsley, minced

           Parmesan, grated

           Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for finishing

In a large skillet, cook the Pancetta over medium heat until it starts to get a bit crisp; reserve, but leave the rendered fat in the skillet. 

Add the Onion and cook to soften a bit, then add the Garlic and cook a bit more.

Add the Cabbage -- it's quite a lot -- and cook covered over low heat for a long time, stirring occasionally, until quite tender and almost jam-like.

Adjust Salt.

While the sauce is cooking, make the pasta. In class we used traditional large wooden pasta boards to mix and shape the pasta: they have a slightly rough texture to grip the dough. At home, I used a slightly textured polypropylene plastic cutting board and it worked fine.

Mix the Flours and make a well; pour the Water in the center, then mix with your fingers, incorporating the flour into the water. Continue until it's loosely combined, then knead firmly until smooth -- about 10 minutes. 

Roll out some of the dough to a finger-thick snake, and cut off 1 cm sections: I do 10 at a time.

Place a pillow of dough on the board and gently press in a knitting needle, then gently press and slide with the base of your palm, sliding back and forth, to wrap the pasta around the needle and stretch it along its length. It might take a few tries, but it'll work fine. Give it a gentle twist back and forth on the needle to free it, then slide off the end to a plate. You should have a rustic tube of pasta.

Continue until all the dough it used; this will take a while, about the same as you need to soften the Cabbage sauce.

Boil the Minchiareddi in salted water until al dente, about 4 minutes. Drain.

Add the Sauce to the now empty pasta pot, then add the pasta, and stir gently to combine.

Plate, garnishing with Parsley and grated Parmesan, if desired.

Anoint with a generous glug of high quality finishing Olive Oil.

 

Second batch, made with 5mm needle, with parsley

Next Time:

Use more Cabbage since it cooks down so much, doubling the quantity should be fine.

Add Salt to the pasta flours before making the dough.

Patatas Panaderas: rustic and simple potatoes

We were looking for a simple, rustic starch to go with our meal and this looked good -- a bit familiar, replacing the expected butter with the more typical olive oil of Spain. Potatoes, onions, olive oil, garlic, some wine -- that's about it. This isn't an awesome, impress-your-friends dish,  but straight forward comfort food that will go with many dishes; we served it with sous vide and seared pork loin and sauerkraut.

Not going to win any beauty prize, but it's easy comfort food

Most recipes I've seen bake for a long time (hot, expensive), some cook in the microwave (won't get crisp), others on stovetop in copious oil, and most finish with a splash of wine then baked hot and uncovered. Teresa Barrenechea's is very simple, one step, but covered at very high heat to cook and crisp -- 500F for 30 minutes, covered the whole time, no wine. They all start by slicing the potatoes and onions, then adding seasonings and oil. This chef's video shows the technique and this page has ingredients and instructions. This recipe cooks everything covered in a microwave for 10-11 minutes, but there's no way it can get crusty and crunchy. Spain on a Fork has a recipe and video, and I've found his others to come out well. La Tienda has a simple one, like Barrenechea's, but with a final uncovered browning stage.

I don't want to crank the oven for over an hour, so I first cook in the microwave, then brown in a hot oven.

This serves two as a side dish.

  2 medium  Potatoes, peeled, sliced thin

1/2 medium  Onion, peeled, slice thin

    bunch   Parsley, chopped

 to taste   Salt

 to taste   Pepper

 60 ml      Olive Oil (more as needed)

 60 ml      White Wine (amount not critical)

In a microwave-safe bowl, toss the sliced Potatoes and Onions with the Parsley, Salt, Pepper, and Olive Oil to coat well.

Cover tightly with film and poke a small hole for steam.

Microwave on high for 10 minutes until the potatoes are just tender.

Preheat oven to 200C convection (if possible).

Transfer everything to a small baking sheet.

Bake on the top shelf until the wine's boiled off and the potatoes are browned and a bit crunchy.

Serve.

Casual Fideuà: easy, quick, slightly nontraditional

Fideuà is Valencian dish made similarly to Paella but uses short thin noodles instead of rice, and this makes it much quicker to prepare. We've made a number of variations in the US (with Spaghettini) and Barcelona (Ravalistan, Assassina). This version was driven by hunger and a "what's for dinner" moment: it comes together quickly, for an easy weeknight meal. My biggest cheat here is using a non-stick skillet instead of one of my paella pans and it worked fine! It took only 35 minutes to make.

Meatballs aren't traditional but this dish is tasty

The first time I made this, I rushed and skipped the Sofrito and it lacked flavor. The second time, with Sofrito, was much fuller in flavor, and I used monk fish for the protein; happily, the noodles stood up in the pan when done, a curious effect that seems to mark a well made fideuà. Here, Fideuà is usually made with fish/shellfish, but I'm using what's on hand, even if a bit nontraditional: Irene's mixed stock and her mini meatballs.

Most recipes seem to use 2-to-1 to 4-to-1 ratios of liquid-to-stock (by weight). This one from a chef seems way off, with a 10-to-1 ratio (!), and starts and finishes in the oven -- too fussy. The one from BBC looks pretty good but seems to use an excess of tomatoes in the sofrito. This recipe is quite detailed and looks authentic.

The noodles (Catalan fideus, Spanish fideos) come in a variety of thicknesses, and I prefer a rather thin one, so I'm using our local Bonpreu store brand cabell d'angel (angel hair) which the package says cooks in only 2-4 minutes, so the final step is fast; thicker noodles take longer, of course. 

The only tricky bit with this is that you want the pasta barely cooked  and all the liquid absorbed: if the pasta is threatening to get too soft, crank the heat all the way up; if the noodles aren't cooked enough, lower the heat and maybe add more stock or water.  You want to dry it out to finish to develop a little crusty base similar to socarrat in paella.

It's typically served garnished with lemon wedges and a garlic-y allioli (try my eggless toum or rapidisimo).

Serves 2 for dinner with a side salad

375 ml      Stock (fish, chicken, etc, as appropriate)

            Olive Oil

200 g       Mini Meatballs (or other protein)

125 g       Fideus/Fideos noodles, thin

1/2 medium  Onion, diced

  1         Ñora pepper (hydrated) or half a Red Bell Pepper, diced

  2 cloves  Garlic, sliced thinly

  1 medium  Tomato, grated

            Salt

  2         Lemon Wedges

In a pot, Warm the Stock and hold.

I'm using a 25 cm (10 inch) non-stick skillet for the Fideuà because neither our old induction cooktop nor portable gas burner heat very evenly; I'd like to try this on our BBQ with our proper paella pan.

 

If you use a firm protein (e.g., monk fish, squid, meatballs), sauté it first in a bit of Olive Oil until barely done; reserve.

Add a bit more Oil if needed and sauté the Fideus Noodles until lightly browned, reserve.

 

 

Add the Onion and sauté a bit, then add the Ñora or Red Pepper, and cook until softened.

Add the Garlic and cook to remove the raw edge.

Add the Tomato and cook the entire Sofrito until a bit dry and thickened to intensify the flavor.

Taste and add Salt as needed.

Add the Noodles back to the Sofrito pan and stir it to combine thoroughly.

Add the Stock and give it one gentle stir to combine well;after that, don't stir the noodles, it makes them sticky: instead, give the pan a shake if you need to.

 

 

Cook over medium-high to high heat: the thinner the Noodle, the less time you'll need to cook and absorb and evaporate the Stock (I needed high heat for these very thin noodles).

Top with the cooked Meatballs (or other protein) to heat through.

Check the texture of the noodles and adjust heat as needed: when al dente, crank the heat up to drive off the rest of the liquid; listen carefully for a little sizzling -- you may also begin to smell a bit of crust forming, check the bottom with a fork and remove from heat when mostly dry.

Garnish with Lemon Wedges, garlic sauce, and serve.

 

Note dark skin on left

Fork holding crusty skin