Kitchen Chick

Blessings for the New Year

Yours truly, Kitchen Chick, being blessed by an elephant. Pondicherry, India

I wish you all peace and well being for the new year.

2009 was a tough year for me for a variety of reasons (and for one in particular), but we ended it on a high note. For the first half of December, we spent an amazing two weeks in India, visiting Chennai (and surrounding areas), Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Fourteen days of sunny 85 F days was just glorious! We returned in time to enjoy a relaxing Christmas weekend with Joe's parents, complete with Kurt Boyd's pastries from The Croissant Shop, and now we are looking forward to kicking off 2010.

I still have a lot of personal business to attend to, but I hope to find to time to write up highlights from our trip to India, including the South Indian cooking classes I took in Chennai. In the meantime, hop over to eCurrent and check out our January restaurant review of Red Pepper Deli. We'll have the photo tour to go with the review up in a few days.

 

Brindisa's Chorizo Sandwiches at Borough Market, London

Chorizo Sandwich from Brindisa, Borough Market, London, UK

In March we went to England to visit friends and family. And eat a lot of good food, because Britain is actually full of really good food. 

Mid-March in England is a lot like Mid-April in Michigan. The grass is green, the daffodils are in full bloom, the trees are just starting to leaf out, and the temperatures are mild. It should also be raining constantly, but in our typical traveling luck we had ten straight days of sunny weather. In England, can you believe?  (Okay, we had two cloudy afternoons.)

We arrived on a Friday morning and sacked out most of the day, while our friends who were hosting us went off to work.

Saturday we hooked up with another friend, P, who took us to Borough Market, which is London's oldest food market.  The Market's management claims that its roots go back to Roman times, which is plausible since this is London, though there's only documentation back to 1276.

We entered in though "the back", and were immediately transported to food heaven. We brushed past a restaurant that was serving up paella on their outside seating area — the aroma was intoxicating — and found ourselves in a fabulous chaos of outside stands with foods from around the world. Sausages, sweets, spices. Pasta, paté, preserves. Oh my! I didn't know which way to turn first. The Indian snacks and condiments, the Mexican chiles, the Middle Eastern meze and spices... You can eat your way around the globe at the Borough Market. We spotted many cured meats and cheeses that are either restricted from import to the US or are taxed outrageously.** The only thing that kept me from buying everything in sight was the fact that for one, we'd go broke on our first day in London, and for another, we wouldn't be able to legally bring it back through customs. (Traveling abroad? Learn what's illegal to bring back before you go.  The real crime?  That it's illegal to bring these things into the States.)

The market was packed. We pushed our way through the crowds and came out into the covered area of the market with more fruit and flower stands, butchers, and baked goods.   We're told locals try to shop on Thursdays and Fridays to avoid the heavy tourist crowds.

Eventually we came out to a corner of the market and found ourselves at Brindisa. Our friend Gauri told us that we absolutely had to have one of the Chorizo sandwiches that Brindisa grills up on weekends. We were hungry, but we passed up a lot of fabulous food because we trusted Gauri that it would be worth it.

You order a single or double portion of chorizo, and Brindisa's cooking staff split a roll and add chorizo hot off the grill with some roasted peppers and arugula (aka "rocket" as its known in the UK). And then you eat.

Oh yeah. The wait was worth it.  It was pretty much perfect. The sweet pepper was a great foil to the salty and spiced chorizo, and even the rocket added something.  The proportions are better if you don't get the double chorizo, but extra chorizo has its own benefits.

You don't have to go Brindisa to enjoy at least a very similar sandwich. Pick up some Spanish chorizo (not Mexican style), available in the cold case at Sparrow Market, some arugula, and preserved roasted red peppers with the skins peeled off (I think Brindisa used Spanish preserved pequillo peppers, which are roasted and then preserved). I don't know what kind of bread they used specifically, but a French baguette, ciabatta, or similar bread ought to do the trick.

Borough Market's art deco main entrance (that we didn't use)

**For example, Jamón ibérico de bellota was only approved for import recently, and has a new 100% import tax for "jamon on the bone" courtesy of an ongoing trade war with the EU because its ban on U.S. beef produced with growth hormones.

A quick photo tour of Borough Market in the extended post.

Flashback to Spain: Taberna La Bola, Madrid

Cocido Madrileño at La Bola, Madrid

When in Madrid, take a break from the tapas restaurants and make time to go to La Bola and enjoy Madrid's traditional chickpea-based stew for lunch. And do yourself a favor: eat very little for breakfast and don't schedule anything rigorous for the afternoon. Your stomach will need the room, and afterward you'll need the siesta.

La Bola, founded in 1870, is famous for its Cocido Madrileño. Once you find Calle de la Bola, it's not hard to spot the bright red painted walls of the taberna. Step inside and you step away from the bustle of modern Madrid into a charming old-fashioned dining room with gleaming dark wood paneling, red-and-white dressed tables, walls covered in bullfighting photos going back through time. Being Americans in Spain, we unsurprisingly arrived somewhat on the early side for lunch, which meant we had no problems getting a table. (Reservations are recommended, however.) And of course, our waiter, a man with an obvious sense of humor who enjoyed correcting Joe's Mexican Spanish, knew why we had come to La Bola. 

Cocido Madrileño is brought to your table in a clay pot that looks misleadingly small, one per diner.  The first thing to come out of that pot is a fragrant saffron-colored both with thin noodles, which I ate enthusiastically. I should have slowed down because I could hardly make a dent in the feast that followed, a huge plate of chickpeas, with beef, chicken, and pork and cabbage — I don't know how it all came out of that pot — with fresh onions and peppers and sauce on the side. Our waiter teased me about how little I was able to eat. He pointed to a table with two small Asian women and said that they were able to eat the entire stew. I looked at him apologetically. Dessert was, sadly, out of the question.

We stumbled back out into the Spanish sun and somehow found our way back to our hotel. Cocido Madrileño is one of those meals where you wonder how on earth you'll ever be hungry again...

Taberna La Bola
Calle de la Bola 5
91 547 69 30

A quick visit to Las Vegas

Sunset view from the 51st floor outdoor patio of the Voodoo Lounge in the Rio.

Hello, dear readers. A last minute scheduling change had me on a plane to Las Vegas for a work-related conference. It was my first time out there, and while Vegas has never been high on my list of places to visit, I was curious to see that jeweled city in the desert. We stepped out of the airport into a 100 plus degree furnace blast of dry heat. Vegas was having a heat-wave. (Average May high temps are in the 80s.) I had been in the desert before, but farther north along the edge of Nevada and Utah. This was different. I live in Michigan, land of humid summers (comparatively speaking — there are more humid places out there). I had no understanding what dry heat really felt like until that moment. Wow. Just, well, wow. I didn't mind the heat in the shade, but the sun was brutal. There should be signs posted at the city limits and airports that read, "Welcome to Vegas. Sunglasses required."  That is, if you go outside. You could just say in your casino/hotel/mall and never come out. Of course, you'd be missing many of the fun sights up and down The Strip, such as the dancing waters at the Bellagio.

Regretfully, our tight schedule didn't allow us to fully explore the culinary delights of that altered reality that is Vegas, but we did manage to hit a few places. For our first night in Vegas we ate dinner at Diego (see below) and then headed out to the Rio to catch the Penn & Teller show. We got there early, and when we asked if there was an outdoor patio where we could enjoy a drink, the staff person looked at us like we were crazy. It had been, after all, over 100 degrees F that day. But it was evening and cooling off. She directed us to the VooDoo Steak & Lounge, a club/restaurant/bar with both interior seating and an outdoor patio on the 51st floor of the Rio. Before 8pm there's no cover.

At Diego I tried the "Signature Tasting" plate with artistically arranged samples of four dishes. That night's selections included the Veracruz Seafood pot (upper right corner. recommended). Unfortunately, I did not take notes of the others, but I think they were Birria de Res al Horno (upper left), Cochinita Pibil (bottom left), and the Camarones a la Diabla (bottom right). My favorite was the seafood pot. My traveling partner Barb tried the mole poblano, which was also nice. We loved the guacamole, fresh made at your table, but were less than thrilled with the plantain side dish, which we found to be on the dry side.

Below: Diego's Signature Tasting plate

For our last night, we caught a showing of Cirque du Soleil's gravity defying adventure Ka and then headed to Pearl Chinese Restaurant where we enjoyed an equally delightful (and equally expensive) meal. They serve up mostly Cantonese and Shanghai cuisine, though if you ask for other dishes they will likely tell you that they can make them. I ordered Chrysanthemum tea (my favorite!  which for some reason I can't get in restaurants locally any more!), and the pot came to the table with its own small ceramic brazier to keep it warm. The Barbecued Pork, Roasted Duck and Soya Chicken Platte (sic) appetizer was tasty. We picked it as a way to sample a variety of their meat preparations. The Soya Chicken was moist and delicate, and the duck in particular was outstanding. If I could go back there, I would order the Peking Duck because, well, the duck was just that good. I quizzed our waitress and she explained that since they have both a Western and Chinese clientele, they try to accomodate the tastes of both groups. She pointed out which part of the menu listed the Westernized/fusion dishes and which part listed the traditional authentic Chinese dishes. Barb had Wok-Fried Filet of Venison and Asparagus, and the venison was tender. I hardly knew it was venison — my only other experience with venison was as a tough thin steak. I ordered a delightful dish of preserved tofu with pork, and I was truly sad that our hotel room didn't have a refrigerator for me to store the leftovers for breakfast. For those of us used to abundant free rice at Chinese restaurants, take note: Pearl, unbelievably, charges for each bowl of rice.

Now I'm back in Ann Arbor just in time to finish planting my vegetable and herb garden. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that we've had our last freeze! Sunday is the Taste of Ann Arbor, when you can travel around the world — culinarily speaking — by simply heading to downtown Ann Arbor.

Below: a street view of the front of the Paris hotel and casino

Gambas en La Casa del Abuelo, Madrid, Spain

We hit some of the main tapas places in the heart of Madrid. Of course, this meant they were the popular tourist spots, too, but we had a great time. One of our favorites was La Casa del Abuelo for shrimp and their famous sweet red house wine. We loved it so much we went back two nights in a row.

La Casa del Abuelo is actually a small chain with three locations in Madrid. We went to the one on Calle Victoria, an area with a cluster of tapas bars where there's something guaranteed to please everyone.

The place was packed that first night (see below), with hardly a free square foot to stand in, but as a couple left I pushed my way in and grabbed their tiny spot at a wall with a very small and rather high counter. Just the right size for two people, even though the counter was nearly at head level for me (which is why I don't have a downward shot of the shrimp), and with a fabulous view of the guy cooking up front.

The waitress pretty much knew what we wanted. There are just a few dishes that everyone gets, and we got them. (Big surprise...) We had to try the wine, which was indeed very sweet and heavy and dark. We ordered two types of shrimp, one prepared in a garlic and olive oil sauce -- gambas al ajillo -- and the other battered and sprinkled with salt -- gambas a la gabardina.  (Pictures of both are in the extended post.)

Both dishes arrived piping hot. The sauce for the garlic shrimp was still bubbling. You can scald your tongue in your eagerness to try these tasty bits (like we did), or you can lean back, enjoy your wine and crowd watch while they cool down to a non-dangerous level.

We enjoyed them both, but our personal favorite was the battered shrimp. They look plain, but they were all sorts of delicious.

La Casa del Abuelo
C/ Victoria, 12
28012 Madrid
Tel: (34) 915 212 319

Cruceta de Cerdo (and some other things) at Bar Cios, Salamanca, Spain

Pluma de cerdo with patatas bravas

After Son de Mar, we headed a scant block away to Bar Cios, which is also near the Central Market. At a lot of tapas bars, the bartender will also be your chef. We asked about the house special, and the bartender set some lovely pieces of pork loin and red peppers on the grill. He chopped up the pork and served it with a side of potatoes topped with bravas and garlic sauce. We were in heaven. Again. I think there is a special heaven where Spanish pork dishes, like pincho moruno and pluma iberíco and paper-thin slices of cured iberíco hams, are served. Of course that heaven is already right on Earth, in the Iberíco region of Spain. (I just wish our government and protectionist trade policies would allow us to import cured Iberíco hams.)

A short digression on terminology and context:  when they served this to us, they said it was called "cruceta de cerdo" or "pluma de cerdo".  It comes from the same Iberico pigs that the treasured Iberico hams come from, and Salamanca is known as one of the two best regions for Iberico pork.  It shows — this is the best pork we've ever tasted, anywhere.

This was a huge plate that easily serves two or more. It would have made a full meal for one just by itself. We loved it so much (and Bar Cios was so close!) that we went back the next day and ordered it again for lunch...

Pluma de cerdo for lunch the next day, as cooked by a different bartender/chef

I tried to find an address for Bar Cios but, alas, the Internet is failing me. It's right across the street from the Central Market.

More tapas photos from Bar Cios in the extended post. One of the really neat things about Spain is that they'll give you free tapas with your drinks, and two of the following were free...

Pulpería Son de Mar, Salamanca

Mussels at Pulpería Son de Mar

For our second night, we stayed a little closer to the hotel, and found some delightful tapas bars right around the central market. Pulpería Son de Mar is set below street level, so you must descend a flight to get to the bar. It has a clean, modern decor of dark blue walls and dark wood tables.

Having gotten an early start, we were some of the first customers at Son de Mar, a bar specializing (unsurprisingly if you speak Spanish) in seafood. While it's in some ways more pleasurable to hit the tapas bars while the crowds are in full swing, the nice thing about being on the early side is that the bartenders and servers have more time to chat with you.

I got to indulge once again in mussels, which we ordered in a vinegrette style. And of course we couldn't resist trying their pulpo a la Gallega, which they served on the traditional wooden dish. Delish! I love that smokey Spanish paprika. (We actually preferred this dish at Casa Chicho, but if you're in Salamanca and have the opportunity, we encourage you to try it at both places and see which one you prefer.)

Our friendly hosts capped off our visit with free shots of some of their flavored liqueurs for the road, which was wonderful.  (And safe, since we were walking...)

Pulpo a la gallega served on the traditional wooden dish

A pair of liqueurs, one lemon, the other thyme-infused.

Pulpería Son de Mar
C/ Obispo Jarrín 2
37001 Salamanca, Spain
923 269 699

The Medina Cats of Fez

Butcher Shop in Fez, Morocco

I've not been good about posting of late, so while I try to catch up on all the stuff at home, work, and online I leave you with this teaser of some of the sights we saw in the market near Bab Boujeloud, in the Kairouine Quarter of the old city of Fez.

Joe snapped this photo of a cat begging for scraps. Medina cats have a rough life, but the butchers and fishmongers have a soft spot for them. He got some scraps shortly after Joe took this photo.

(Don't worry -- there will be more of Spain to come, and then... Morocco!)

Casa Chicho in Salamanca and the Amazing Pulpo

Pulpo a la Gallega con cachelos

Stuffed full of pincho moruno, arroz negro, and cochinillo asado we made our way back up the street. We paused in front of Casa Chicho, offering Galician seafood specialties. Our stomachs were full, but the lure of seafood was strong. We peered in. Casa Chicho occupies a street corner with an entrance on each street, both leading down a long hallway that obscures the bar-restaurant hiding within. The place was nearly empty, but looked like it had been full not so long ago. Past the bar area, the restaurant decor was, well, the best phrase I can think of is "down home country" crossed with "nautical." If you've been in an American "country" restaurant, then you'll know the feel I'm talking about with the wooden tables and chairs and checkered tablecloths. Add some nets, floats and a ship's wheel. (This might not translate well for my non-American readers, but think "home-y" and not fancy.) 

Despite the fact that our description may make it sound like the Spanish version of a Red Lobster, it didn't feel fake, and it was cozy. It really felt like a very authentic, well-loved place. They clearly had regulars, one of whom came in to split a bottle of wine with one of the chefs at a side table. The bartender and chefs were very friendly, and when we expressed an interest in knowing more about the food, they enthusiastically complied, plying us with Galician regional white wine while serving us some delicious seafood that had us groaning with both joy and pain.

Calamari

We started with pulpo a la gallega con cachelos (octopus). The octopus was cooked to perfection, served with a chunk of potato, and sprinkled with sea salt and Spanish paprika. The crunch of the salt contrasted with the tender bites of octopus. Delicioso! We went on to calamari (squid), because we were curious to see how they'd prepare it. No thick batter here. As you can see from the photo, the coating is so delicate it is nearly sheer‚ and it was perfectly done! Then they brought us a free plate of almejas a la marinera (mussels). Oh, my. Even Joe ate them, and he doesn't normally like mussels much.

By the time we finished, we stumbled out of Casa Chicho (because walking was rather difficult) and made our way back to one of the main streets. We finally found a bus — the last one of the night — that said "Plaza" on it. "Cual plaza?" we asked. "El Plaza Mayor!" replied the driver, shocked that anyone would ask such a silly question. We got on, stopped off in the Plaza for a nightcap of ice cream, and then collapsed in exhausted bliss in our hotel.

We honestly can't say how Casa Chicho compares to seafood tapas bars in Galicia, but we were very happy with our dishes. And if you're in Salamanca, this place is definitely worth a stop. If we ever return to Salamanca, Casa Chicho will be on our must-visit list. If we ever move there, we'll become regulars too.

Casa Chicho
20 c\Van Dyck
Salamanca

Almejas a la Marinera

Cochinillo Asado in Salamanca

Cochinillo Asado

(Remember — you can click on any of the photos in any of these posts to see a larger and tastier version!)

We left La Parrilla and went next door to Cochinillo Asado and slid up to the bar. A mistake in Joe's Spanish resulted in us being poured two rather large glasses of beer. Put it down to the wine he'd already had at the previous bar. Or jet lag. Or something. Anyway, he likes beer. Regrettably, I can't stand beer myself, and we didn't feel our Spanish was up to trying to explain the mistake.

Displayed on the counter was a large serving platter of arroz negro, or rice with squid ink. That looked like a tasty start, so we ordered a plate and asked the waitress about the house specialty, which turned out to be, well, cochinillo asado, or roasted baby pig. This is a famous regional dish. And since they named the bar after it, you can bet they'd do it right. Succulent and tender, with a crispy skin. Oh, and pork fat.  Mmmm... pork fat. (Joe is less enamored of pork fat. More for me!) I adore Chinese roast pork, and I can definitively say that I equally adore Spanish roast pork.

Arroz Negro

We hadn't yet had any patatas, so we rounded out our visit with an order of patatas bravas. I thought they were only okay, but then again they weren't the house specialty. My standard for patatas bravas was my memory of them from a Spanish restaurant in London, England. Somehow that seems wrong, but it can be hard to live up to memory!

Next stop: Casa Chicho for seafood!

Patatas Bravas