Just a lovely end-of-summer day by the pool. And in the pool! Thanks to everyone involved for a great day, especially my able assistant Robin, without whom etc. etc…
Our Menu :
Variantes (marinated olives)
Serrano y Manchego (serrano ham & raw milk manchego cheese)
Pa Amb Tamaquet (catalan tomato bread)
Trempó (majorcan summer salad)
Pincho Moruno (moorish pork kebab)
Gambas A La Planxa (garlic shrimp)
Variantes! (separate entry here)
Jamon Y Manchego : Easy enough, just buy quality from a trusted vendor and slice quite thin.
Pa Amb Tamaquet : Catalunya's beloved tomato bread is as simple as it is pleasing. Grill slices of country bread or baguette. Rub with a cut garlic clove and a cut tomato half while still hot. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper while still hot. Serve, while still hot.
Trempó : Trempó is equally simple, and equally delicious at this time of year. Coming from the Catalan-dominated Balearic island of Majorca, it is nothing more than a combination of equal parts thin sliced onion, bell pepper and apple or pear to two parts tomato. Add a little olive oil and salt and let marry for an hour or two. We veered a bit from the authentic here and went for fully-ripe tomatoes. In the original, taken from Colman Andrews' classic Catalan Cuisine, semi-ripe tomatoes are used, as they are used in many Mediterranean composed salads. And while I heartily endorse this style in general, we're in the middle of Jersey tomato season, so ripe it is gonna haveta be.
Pincho Moruno : Adapted from a recipe in Penelope Casas' The Foods & Wines of Spain, this captures a street kebab I ate while near-penniless in Barcelona. (I know, poor me.) It's best with pork loin cut off the bone into inch pieces, marinated overnight in about 4-6 tbsp olive oil per pound of pork. The spice mix, also per pound, is 1/2 tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp of thyme, 3/4 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, a handful of chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. She has you add a bay leaf, crumbled, which I omitted as I was out of them. (And still am, bulk spices are not easy to come by in Western NJ.)
Perhaps the mother of all tapas (barring maybe the olive) : Gambas Al Ajillo, the griddled garlic shrimp of the Spanish coastal regions. It pops up even inland, and has a million names, but in its simplest form it is pure class. Grill oil-drizzled, salt & peppered raw shrimp on a hot metal plate, over a coal fire. Turn once. When very nearly done, add chopped garlic and parsley. Turn again, then turn onto a plate. Eat.
Accompanied with grilled eggplant, spring onions & zucchini and a Romesco sauce.
Drunk with Estrella Damm beer & this excellent and readily available Mionetto Prosecco:
& somehow followed by dueling desserts! (The fruit tart was my favorite, and no, I can't believe I tried both either.)
Also, we promise no endangered yellow dinosaur was served at this meal. No, no, we're quite sure of it, really.
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