This is more a technique than a recipe. I stumbled on it through Fine Cooking and it is so simple and efficient. Infuse olive oil with fresh herbs for 10 minutes in a hot oven, then add the shrimp and roast them for another 10 minutes.

This dish resembles Gambas al Ajillo, but it is much more hands-off and the shrimp comes out perfectly tender, which is a tricky thing to achieve in a saute pan. It’s like an Italian tapa…my favorite kind of food. You’ll be sopping up the olive oil with crusty bread just like a Spaniard.

Roasted Shrimp with Garlic and Herbs
adapted from finecooking.com
serves 2 (but easily scaleable)

Ingredients
3 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
zest of 1 lemon
large pinch red pepper flakes
8-10 extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and fresh black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the olive oil, thyme, rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and a twist of cracked black pepper in a baking dish. Place in the center of the oven and roast until the oil is fragrant, about 10 minutes.

2. Add the shrimp and toss with tongs until coated. Roast until the shrimp are pink and firm, about 10 more minutes.

3. Remove from oven, squeeze the lemon juice over the shrimp, season with salt and more pepper. Toss and serve with crusty bread.

After making these simple, quick, and incredibly delicious clams, we were asking ourselves why we had never grilled clams before. We saw this recipe on Gourmet’s award-winning show on PBS, Diary of a Foodie. It’s as easy as placing the clams on a hot grill and then tossing them in 5-ingredient sauce. These clams are a perfect starter for a Summer BBQ. Make the sauce in a large foil pan right on the grill, alongside the clams and serve family style.

Smoked paprika, aka pimentón de la Vera, is a distinctive spice that you will recognize from many restaurant dishes. It imparts a warm, smoky, meaty flavor that mimics the chorizo you find in many clam and mussel recipes.

Grilled Clams
4 First Course Servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 tblsp minced garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
32 small hard-shelled clams (Manila or Littleneck), scrubbed and debearded
4 slices (or more) French baguette
1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
Coarse salt and pepper to taste

1. Light half of your grill on high, and the other half on low.

2. Put butter, wine, garlic and smoked paprika in a shallow foil pan large enough to hold the clams in 1 layer and sturdy enough to resist the heat of the fire (or you can do this in a large skillet on the stove). Place pan on the cooler side of the grill, and cook, stirring a few times, until the butter is melted and the mixture is fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Let the sauce come to a simmer.

3. Place clams flat on the hot side of the grill, directly on the grill grate, close the cover, and cook until they pop open, 3 to 7 minutes. Use tongs to transfer clams and their juices, to the pan as they are done. (Discard any that do not open).

4. While clams cook, arrange bread slices around the perimeter of the grill until lightly toasted.

5. When all the clams are in the pan, stir them around a bit in the sauce, and sprinkle generously with parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Serve family style, with the grilled bread to sop up the sauce.

Continue Reading →

Spinach sauteed with plump golden raisins and toasted pine nuts is a distinctly Catalonian dish. Spinach Catalan would be a vibrant side dish for any meal.

Mussels with Chorizo
serves 2

Ingredients
2 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatos with juice
2 oz dried, hot chorizo, cut on the diagonal in 1/4 inch slices
1/2 tsp coarse salt
fresh pepper
1 lb mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or a large, heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and continue to cook, 3 minutes. Add white wine and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and chorizo. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add mussels. Cover and continue to cook, shaking the pot occasionally, 4 – 6 minutes. Discard any mussels that don’t open.

Spinach Catalan

Ingredients
2 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 bag baby spinach
dash of sherry vinegar

1. Cover the raisins with warm water and let plump for 10 minutes. Drain them.

2. Heat olive oil in a large, wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add raisins and pine nuts. Add spinach, season with salt and pepper, and use tongs to fold the spinach in the oil. Continue until spinach is just wilted. Finish with a dash of sherry vinegar.

Happy 2010! New Year’s Eve is an important event throughout the world, as we reflect on the past year and welcome the new one, with hopes of happiness and prosperity.

For New Year’s Eve 2007, Greg and I were on our honeymoon in Barcelona. We were drinking champagne in a sea of thousands of people in Plaza Catalunya as the countdown started and the fireworks exploded. Here we learned of the Spanish NYE tradition: at each of the twelve strokes of midnight, pop a grape in your mouth as a symbol of good luck for the new year.

This year, at home in LA, we went for an equally deluxe alternative…staying in and eating well. The indulgent NYE meal has become an American tradition, with caviar, lobster, and steak on many holiday tables . For our menu, I recreated some of our favorite tapas from our trip to Spain… and of course our mouths were full of grapes at midnight.

Salmorejo is a tomato and bread dip (or soup) from Spain’s Southern region of Andalusia. It is served cold, and garnished with hard-boiled egg and Spain’s celebrated Iberico Ham. It has a beautiful pink-orange color and is absolutely delicioso. I combined several recipes to make mine.

You’ve probably tried Gambas al Ajillo at your favorite tapas spot. They are fried garlic shrimp, finished with a dash of sherry vinegar and fresh parsley. I followed the tips provided by America’s Test Kitchen to maximize the garlic flavor: marinating the shrimp in minced garlic, infusing the cooking oil with crushed whole cloves of garlic, and frying thin slices of garlic with the shrimp as they cook.

Stay tuned for the next course, Mussels with Chorizo, and Spinach with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts.

Salmorejo

Ingredients
1 lb ripe tomatoes (about 5 medium sized)
1 5-inch piece of baguette, crust discarded
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup extra-vigin olive oil
1 tsp good quality sherry vinegar (or to taste)
1 hard boiled egg
2 paper-thin slices of Iberico ham (or prosciutto), julienned

1. Score the bottom of each tomato with a small X. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds to loosen the skins. Immediately dunk them in an ice water bath. Drain and peel off the skins. Core and quarter each tomato.

2. Soak the bread in warm water for one minute, then squeeze out the water with your fingertips. Discard the water. Mash the garlic and the salt to form a paste with the back of your knife. Blend garlic paste and bread in a food processor until combined. Slowly add the olive oil as the machine is running, blending until thick and smooth. Add tomatoes and sherry vinegar and blend until as smooth as possible, about 1 minute. Force soup through a sieve into your serving bowl, discarding the solids.

3. Cover and chill until cold and the flavors meld, 2 – 3 hours. Garnish with hard boiled egg and Iberico ham. Serve with sliced baguette to dip.

Gambas al Ajillo
2 appetizer portions

Ingredients
12 large shrimp, cleaned & deveined, shelled, with tail on
about 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 garlic cloves, left whole, slightly crushed
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
salt and fresh pepper
2 tblsp sherry vinegar
1 tblsp fresh Italian parsely, chopped

1. Marinate the shrimp for 15 minutes in the minced garlic with a few tablespoons of olive oil and well-seasoned with salt and pepper.

2. Heat 1 inch of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Toss in the whole garlic cloves and let them sizzle until they turn golden brown. Remove and discard.

3. Add the sliced garlic to the skillet, then the shrimp in one single layer. Use tongs to flip the shrimp when they curl and turn pink on the first side, about 1 1/2 minutes. Cook until pink on both sides and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes total. Finish the dish with sherry vinegar and fresh parsley. Plate and season with salt and pepper to taste.

We picked our first cherry tomatoes of the season… how wonderful it is to eat fresh vegetables from the garden!

I learned this simple fish recipe from the restaurant I used to work at in NYC. It’s super quick, easy, and delicious.

I usually serve it with sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes.

Halibut with Cherry Tomatoes and Olives

Ingredients
2 6- to 7-ounce halibut fillets
2 tblsp flour
3 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
pinch of dried crushed red pepper
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, halved
1 tablespoon drained capers
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
juice of 1 lemon
2 tblsp fresh basil or parsley, chopped
salt and fresh black pepper

1. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and sauté until lightly browned and just opaque in center, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer fish to platter.

2. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Add garlic, shallot and crushed red pepper. Add lemon juice and chicken stock, and simmer for 2 minutes. Mix in tomatoes, olives, and capers. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 4 minutes. Mix in fresh herbs. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over fish.