My kitchen is a mess, but this was worth it

Occasionally, I toy with the idea of retiring to Spain, but with the 8.5-month stretch of unemployment I had in 2022-2023, those plans are quite far in the future.

Not that I need an excuse, but it's a good one to explore the cuisine. I may have mentioned I found Spain on a Fork via a Facebook group for Americans in Valencia. I was looking for appetizers for a pasta dish with chorizo I plan to serve my favorite guinea pig and I came across chick pea fritters. To my endless delight, this is another recipe where I already had everything in the pantry.  Let's get to it:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 60 ml
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour 60 grams
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup beer 120 ml
• 1 shallot
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley 8 grams
• 1/2 tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika 1.25 grams
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1.50 grams
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) 15.5 oz / 440 grams
• sea salt & black pepper

FOR THE AIOLI

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads
• 1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise 120 grams
• 1 tsp lemon juice 5 ml (I recommend a bit more)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 15 ml
• sea salt & black pepper

Instructions

Add the flour into a large bowl, make a well in the middle, crack in the egg and whisk the egg, then add in the beer and whisk everything together until you a creamy batter

Add in the shallot finely chopped, finely grate in the garlic, add in the chopped parsley, sweet smoked Spanish paprika, ground cumin and season with sea salt & black pepper, mix together until well mixed

Drain the can of chickpeas into a colander and rinse under water, then shake off any excess water, (I tossed them with a paper towel as well) transfer the chickpeas into a bowl and using a potato masher or large fork, mash down on the chickpeas until they're semi-mashed. (I recommend the fork if your masher doesn't have a lot of surface area)

Add the mashed chickpeas into the bowl with batter and mix together

Heat a large fry pan with a medium heat and add in the olive oil

After a couple of minutes start adding in spoonfuls of the batter, all in a single layer and evenly spaced out, cook in batches, fry for 3 minutes per side or until golden fried, transfer into a dish with paper towels as you finish. 

I took a touch longer to get them fully crispy on both sides, but no more than a minute each.

To make the aioli, add in the cloves garlic roughly chopped into a mortar, along with the saffron and a pinch of sea salt, using a pestle pound down on the ingredients until you get a paste-like texture, then add in the mayonnaise, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and season with a kiss of sea salt & black pepper, whisk together until you get a creamy sauce

I found there to be way too much aioli and I am not sure what to do with the rest of it. I'll figure something out.

Transfer the aioli into a serving dish and decorate the fritters around it, serve warm or at room temperature, enjoy!

Another thing to do with tinned fish, it does take longer than stated

I'm feeling rather pleased this week. This recipe as quite a find (I'll get into timing in a bit) and I found it when I was searching for something else (which I now forget). I chose to make it for two reasons: One, I had everything in the pantry. Two: It intrigued me because I don't always see recipes that use a considerable amount of shallots and Three: I wanted to see how the anchovies did with the sweetness of tomato paste.

Pretty damn well, I'm happy to say.

Our ingredients list (easily halved for those of us who live solo #StudioLiving)

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 large shallots, very thinly sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, 4 thinly sliced, 1 finely chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (taste often and adjust as necessary)
• 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste (I used more, which will not surprise anyone)
• 1 (2-ounce) can anchovy fillets (about 12), drained (I had a jar of Bellino and used those. Solid choice. Use your favorite whatever its container)
• 1 (4.5-ounce) tube or (6-ounce) can of tomato paste (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup) (Here's another happy thing. A whole can of tomato paste! Much cheaper than a tube of the double-concentrated, though I always have that around for those recipes that one just on Tablespoon)
• 10 ounces pasta (I had radiatore. I think farfalle would also work, a recommendation for occasional guest Ny. I love long pasta like the buccatini on Alison Roman's page, but my stove is rather small to handle the big pot needed)
• 1 cup parsley, leaves and tender stems, finely chopped
• Flaky sea salt

 Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium high (I actually used a saute pan, I usually do for pasta sauces). Add shallots and thinly sliced garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots have become totally softened and caramelized with golden-brown fried edges, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Okay, here's where I get cranky. This is a bit too hot of a pan, IMO, and a bit too short of a time frame. I did this over medium heat, stirring every 1-2 minutes and occasionally taking a sip of wine. It took me closer to 40 minutues (and an episode of The Leviathan Chronicles podcast), but I got the shallots nice and brown and the kitchen smelled fabulous. 

2. Add red-pepper flakes and anchovies. (No need to chop the anchovies; they will dissolve on their own.) Stir to melt the anchovies into the shallots, about 2 minutes.

This took about seven minutes. I recommend smushing the anchovies a bit to help distribute them evenly from the get-go.  I also needed to deglaze the pan with a splash of the chardonay I was drinking when too much was sticking to the bottom of the pan. 

3. Add tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly to prevent any scorching, until the tomato paste has started to cook in the oil a bit, caramelizing at the edges and going from bright red to a deeper brick red color, about 2 minutes. (try closer to 6) Remove from heat and transfer about half the mixture to a resealable container, leaving the rest behind. These are your leftovers to be used elsewhere: in another batch of pasta or smeared onto roasted vegetables, spooned over fried eggs or spread underneath crispy chicken thighs.

4. To serve, cook pasta according to package instructions in a large pot of salted boiling water until very al dente (perhaps more al dente than usual). Transfer to Dutch oven with remaining shallot mixture (or a skillet if you are using the leftover portion) and 1 cup pasta water. Cook over medium-high heat, swirling the skillet to coat each piece of pasta, using a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any bits on the bottom, until pasta is thick and sauce has reduced and is sticky, but not saucy, 3 to 5 minutes. (The swirling looks cool if you want to show off, but really isn't necessary.) 

5. In a small bowl, combine parsley and finely chopped garlic clove, and season with flaky salt and pepper. Divide pasta among bowls, or transfer to one large serving bowl, and top with parsley mixture and a bit more red-pepper flakes, if you like.

It just sounded good in my head and I call it sunset pasta

Hello! It has been quite a while, but sooner or later, I will be back to post. Today's recipe features saffron.

Now I don't have to tell you saffron is not cheap, to put it mildly, so I don't have it often. That said, spices do go stale and as I get older I have learned that nice things don't always need to be saved for a special occasion.

Alternately, one can do something to make an ordinary day a special occasion. Like a random Sunday after a dentist appointment.

I had some cream in the fridge from a pasta dish I'd made a couple weeks ago (I'll blog that soon), and had the urge to do a saffron cream pasta. Then, out of nowhere, I got it into my head that tomatoes would be fun to add. Specifically, one of the small square baskets of grape tomatoes that were on sale, cut in halves or quarters, and lightly salted. This will make two generous servings.

I started with a shallot, 2 Tablespoons diced, and about 2 teaspoons olive oil in a 1-quart saucepan to sauté for about seven minutes, stirring constantly until it started turning brown. From there, I added

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk

The following ingredients went in one at a time with 5-10 seconds of stirring before I added the next:

• 2 generous pinches of saffron
• the aforementioned tomatoes
• 1/4 cup grated Grana Padano
• 3 grinds of black pepper

I let it cook down for a while, stirring every two minutes or so. In between stirring, I chopped 2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley.  Lately, I tend not to bother making a roux for cream sauces these days, instead taking the time to reduce the sauce while the salted water for the pasta comes to a boil. I had mushroom tortellini in the freezer. I added the parsley to the sauce when I put the pasta in the water. 

Between the tomatoes and the saffron, the sauce came out a rather pretty shade of sunset orange.

While the pasta was cooking, I filled a large bowl with baby spinach leaves and microwaved them on high for a minute. No water, no salt, just a quick zap is all that's needed. While I always reserve at least half a cup of pasta water to add to sauce, I didn't need any this time. Adding the drained pasta was enough and the sauce stuck nicely. It must have been some very starchy tortellini. I added the pasta to a bowl topping with a touch more parsley and more Grana Padano. I probably could have stirred the spinach in while it was in the saucepan, but I like serving things on a bed of spinach for some reason.

I'm quite pleased with this and it went pretty well with a glass of Chardonay. I did add another grind of black pepper, but I didn't want to add too much, or it would overwhelm the saffron.

Thank you for reading!