Tapas

What to make when its searing hot outside? Things that don't heat up a small apartment kitchen. Boy, if our A/C would just learn how to efficiently cool, we'd be doing Pizza Building dinners, and open-pit bbq roasting, and flambe (how do you do pretentious accents on letters in this get-up?). Tapas with minimal cooking.

Now, to answer the recent Pinot Grigio bashing comments: First, you must get over your bad selves, Chris and Beth. And re-read. We were not bashing the P.G. realm; it is just not an overwhelmingly complex wine. We do actually drink it, but find the ones we really like are more pricey. For example, Alois Lageder 2004 Benefizium Porer, a P. G. from Alto Adige. Nice apple and crispness, but $20.00. That is about our wine limit unless a special occasion calls for something pricier. This was probably our favorite P. G. and we DID enjoy it.

The Pinot Grigio of all Pinot Grigios, the standard by which all other P.G.s are rated, is the Santa Margherita. Santa Margherita selects their grapes from the Alto Adige/Valdadige region in Northern Italy. We were very excited to try this one, but were underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, highly drinkable, but not very "special." And although we found it for about $17, it often retails for more like $20-25. We didn't regret it, but have found many more wines for less with more character (to us). Everyone's tastebuds are their own authority, of course. Unh! Sean should be doing this part! But I haven't trained him on blogger yet.

Last night, we had Sean's dad over for dinner and did our own tapas. With tapas (small plates), simple is absolutely the best. Remember the bruschetta from your layover, Corner-Pocket Callaways? (that's Chris and Beth) Caprese salad first, of course, since the tomatoes were good and the mozzarella cheese was about 2 minutes old when we bought it. Then on to sliced avocados with lime juice, zest and cilantro.

Then we got experimental and tried a new PRETENTIOUS SALAD. This one was from one of our cookbooks called New American Cooking: California, by Williams-Sonoma. I had tried smoked trout on some pretentious bruschetta (please get everyone you know to call it Broosketta- thank you) at Chef's Table in Huntsville and it won me over. This one was fine, but Sean would just use smoked salmon next time and skip the salad part. It breaks the traditional Pretentious Salad formula, but fennel is always allowable in our salads.

Smoked Trout, Fennel and Arugula Salad

2.5 T. olive oil

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 small shallot, minced (less for Sean)

salt and pepper to taste

1 fennel bulb, quartered, cored, then sliced thin crosswise

1 whole boneless smoked trout (about 1/2 lb)

5 oz. young arugula leaves

Make the dressing about 30 minutes before serving this salad. Whisk together the oil, lemon juice, shallot, salt and pepper. Let stand for 30 min to allow the shallow flavor to mellow. We used a trout that had been shrink-wrapped or vacuum packed; the whole thing was just too scary for me and had too many bones to worry about. Still had skin on it, but was easily removed. Toss the trout with 1 T of the dressing.

In a large bowl, combine the arugula and fennel with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper now (or later if you want), and divide among salad plates. Arrange the trout on top.

Our last tapa was seared ahi tuna with lime crust. Oh the picture in the cookbook was gorgeous, and it's from Flavours, a Donna Hay cookbook. We would change it a bit next time, of course, and add much, much more pepper to the crust. You can overcook the tuna if you need to, but rare to medium rare is actually quite nice.

Seared Tuna with Lime Crust

12 oz. tuna fillet

1 T grated lime rind

1/3 c. lime juice

1/4 c finely chopped dill (I used cilantro as Sean detests dill)

2 T chopped parsley

2 small red chilis, seeded and chopped (I used crushed red pepper flakes-- chili-shy)

2 T. olive oil

sea salt and cracked pepper

13 oz. fettucine

1 T olive oil extra

3 1/2 oz. arugula leaves

Trim the tuna of any sinew and place in a shallow dish. Combine the next 7 ingredients and pour over the tuna. (I did half and saved half for later). Refrigerate for 20 minutes, turning once.

Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water until al dente. Meanwhile, heat the extra oil in a frying pan on high heat. Remove tuna from marinade and cook 1 minute on each side or until well seared, then slice.

Pile the pasta on serving plates (or cool bowls) and top with extra marinade (the part I saved for later), arugula leaves (slightly chopped if you wish), and tuna slices. Drizzle with extra oil and lime juice before serving. Serves 4.

We had all this with mint juleps to start, and a Sauvignon Blanc for the rest. Groth 2005 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, about $16. It's one of our favorites of this varietal, super citrus and mineral but just a hint of smoke. When you cook with lots of herbs, a Sauvignon Blanc is almost a sure-fire guarantee fantastic pairing.

Salad Nights

For the 4th of July, Sean was jonesing for chicken salad. That's my man! I like it too, and it seemed like a great idea. And what better to go with chicken salad than bread salad?

We had a Pinot Grigio with our salads. While we are BIG Italian white wine fans, we haven't been overly bowled over by P. G. Maybe if they made a PG-13, but probably not. We find it a highly serviceable wine, totally unoffensive and overwhelmingly unremarkable. We had it, and we're fine, but there are so many wonderful Italian whites. The WSJ wine index has an article out today about non-Grigio Italian whites and you'll have to hold us back to not buy some of them. We felt bad about not drinking a domestic wine on the 4th, but got over it when we realized the bread salad was Italian.

Anyhoo, chicken salad is a southern staple. We rig it every time. Sometimes with grapes and such, sometimes not. This one was pretty standard so as not to mess with wine. But now we're getting to recipes that we more or less make up, so the science is not exact.

Chicken Salad

Chicken, torn up after cooking (Cook it how you like, grilled is great but we have no grill, poaching is fine, but take note how you poach it: Poach it in chicken stock, and throw in some aromatics like celery and carrots and peppercorns and bay leaves.

Celery, sliced really cool on the bias, or chopped

Pecans, toasted and crunched up a bit

water chestnuts, chopped

sour cream/mayo, which ever you need (we are a mayo-hating household)

salt and pepper, of course

parsley, chopped

Just mix it all up as dry or wet as you like. Often we put sliced red grapes and walnuts in it, which is yumms as well. I've even whacked it way out and twisted it like one of our favorite Pretentious Salads which I have yet to include. Truly anything goes but possum. And we're in Texas, too.

Bread salad is a hard sell. It's a Tuscan dish, probably made primarily in the summer. I have 2 different recipes of it from a cookbook called Italian Intermezzo, by Sharon O' Connor, along with a nice collection of dinner music. I think she has a few cookbooks out with music cds. I adapted our bread salad from her 2 recipes. The idea was great, but I think I'll tweak it differently next time. The one pictured is more like the first one.

Savory Bread Salad (1)

(Panzanella)

1 loaf day-old Italian or French bread, crusts removed, sliced

3 tomatoes, peeled/seeded/chopped in 1/2 in. chunks

1 red onion, thinly sliced and omitted because of Sean

1/2 small cucumber,thinly sliced

1/3 c. olive oil

S&P

1/2 coarsely chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish

2 T. red wine vinegar

Put bread slices in a med. bowl and add cold water to cover. Soak for 10 minutes or until bread is spongy. Using your hands, gently squeeze out all the water. Rub bread between your palms to make coarse crumbs.

In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs with everything else but the vinegar, and set aside for at least 30 minutes, room temp. Just before serving, toss with the vinegar and extra oil.

Bread Salad (2)
(Panzanella Toscana)

1 day old ciabatta loaf, crust trimmed, 3/4 in. dice

2-3 med. tomatoes, or 5-6 Roma tomatoes, peeled, halved

1 garlic clove crushed to paste with a bit of salt

1/3 c. oil

4 t. red wine vinegar (3 for the dressing, 1 for the capers)

2 T. capers (soaked in 1 t. of the vinegar, then drained again)

1/4 brine-cured black olives (please save the canned ones for your garbage disposals)
1 each, red and yellow bell pepper, roasted, peeled, cut in strips

3 anchovy fillets, chopped (and omitted for KK)

1/2 c. chopped fresh basil leaves

Put all the bread in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, squeeze the tomatoes (to seed them) through a sieve and retain juice. Stir in the garlic paste, and salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil (1/3 c. if you can handle it) and 3 t. of the red wine vinegar. Pour over the bread and toss until all liquid is absorbed. If the bread is still too dry, add more oil.

In a serving bowl, you will be making 3 layers of all of this stuff. One layer should involve bread,then peppers, then tomatoes (which you have now chopped), capers, anchovies, olives and basil. You need 3 of these. Set your concoction aside, room temperature, for at least 1 hr. Drizzle with oil, good oil, when you serve.