Cue Up the Gypsy Kings

There were some optimistic souls who assumed we were due for a mild summer to make up for the horrific winter we had, followed by a spring with a terminal identity crisis, which it tried to resolve by experimenting with 40s and rainy and 80s and humid in 72-hour rotations for the past two months. Said well-meaning souls do not have my hard-earned and deep-seated cynicism, which is why they might have been disappointed when the weather gods decided Memorial Day weekend was as good as any time to go from zero to July, and to hell with June.

Some might say that my reality-based view of the universe makes me less shiny-happy-whatever, but I say there is a certain grim satisfaction to be derived from being right, to say nothing of being better prepared when the inevitable happens. When the 90s-and-humid hit, I already had a pitcher of cold-brewed coffee ready in the fridge, and I was also raring to make my favorite heat-busting celebration of summer, even if it had to be made with supermarket tomatoes because it isn’t actually July and the Jersey tomatoes are still weeks away.

Gazpacho, like flamenco music, is one of those things I fell so hard in love with at first exposure that I have to attribute it to genetic memory. After all, some part of my cross-Mediterranean mix does come from Andalusia, the ancestral home of both. I’m still trying to find the time and discipline to learn guitar, but regularly making gazpacho during the sauna season honors my forebearers with almost no time or effort, and consistently helps me keep my cool.

Gazpacho is infinitely forgiving and you can vary the amounts and ingredients according to what you have and like. For example, this version comes from Jose Andres, my favorite Spanish chef and the source of the best flan ever. His (actually his Andalusian wife’s) recipe uses half a green pepper rather than one whole red one, but I almost never buy green anymore since red is so much sweeter and more versatile, so I used that. Of course, the better tomatoes you use the more deeply flavorful this will be. When the heirlooms hit the farmers markets, go nuts with any variety you can find.

Gazpacho
(Adapted from Jose Andres’ Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America)
Serves 4, if I feel especially self-sacrificing

2 pounds ripe tomatoes (around 5-6 medium ones)
1 large cucumber, peeled
1 small red pepper
1 garlic clove, peeled
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish
2 teaspoons sea salt

Core the tomatoes, chop roughly into eighths, and place in a blender. Roughly chop the cucumber and pepper and add to the carafe on top of the tomatoes. Add the garlic, vinegar and water, and blend until the mixture is uniform and no visible chunks of vegetable remain. Taste and add more vinegar to balance the tomatoes and pepper if they’re especially sweet.

Add the oil and salt and blend again briefly. Don’t blend too long or the gazpacho will start to heat up and you’ll lose the fruitiness of the olive oil. Chill in the carafe until very cold, at least 30 minutes.

Serve in glasses, drizzled with a tiny bit more olive oil and vinegar. If you like, you can also garnish with cherry tomatoes and additional diced cucumber.

Notes:

The recipe calls for straining the gazpacho after the initial blending and before the refrigeration step, but I never bother because unless I’m paying big bucks for it at Jaleo, when perfection is to be expected, I prefer gazpacho to be a little rustic. You can strain if you like, but the extra fiber is good for you, and shouldn’t life have a little texture?

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Happiness is…

…an heirloom tomato in season.

Green and Red Zebra Tomatoes with Wasabi Egg Salad on Sourdough
Serves 1

2 small perfectly ripe zebra tomatoes, one red and one green
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 tablespoon each wasabi and regular mayonnaise
Maldon salt
4 thin slices sourdough bread

Lightly toast the bread.

Roughly chop the eggs into a bowl, and combine with the mayonnaise.  Salt to taste, then divide evenly between two slices of bread.

Thinly slice the tomatoes and place on remaining two slices of bread, salting lightly.

Close each sandwich.  Pick one up, take a bite, and close your eyes in bliss.

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$12 Paella Cakes

Paella Cakes with Jersey Corn and Tomato Salad

Longtime readers (Hi, Mom!) may recall The $12 Empanada Incident, in which His Lordship’s finely-tuned sense of food value was grossly violated by a single, tiny empanada of spinach, artichoke and Manchego cheese. Inexplicably priced at $12, this item, which would more properly have been labeled an amuse-bouche, greatly impacted what was otherwise a very enjoyable meal with my family. As I predicted, “$12 empanada” has been our household’s benchmark for restaurant gouging ever since.

By that pricing logic, tonight’s dinner should be valued at least at $12, and if it did show up on Amada’s menu, where I think it would not be at all out of place, I’d wager it’d be closer to $20. This is particularly ironic given that it’s retooled leftovers of a pantry-clearing dish.

For dinner last night, I tried out Mark Bittman’s tomato paella, in my neverending quest for a vegetarian paella that’s actually worth the bother, not to mention my desire to make inroads on a nearly-full box of arborio. I’m not sure this is the Holy Grail, since it still didn’t have all I was looking for despite the use of lovely ripe in-season locally-grown Jersey tomatoes, artichoke hearts and twice the optional amount of saffron, but it was quite nice and used half the box of rice.

It also made a ton, and in an effort to stave off boredom, I thought of frying them up as cakes served over a salad of the remaining tomatoes and fresh corn. The rice being quite sticky on its own, it wouldn’t take much more than an egg or two to hold it together, but we also had a good-sized piece of Manchego, and when is cheese ever a bad idea?

Certainly not this time. The cakes were crisp and savory, yet still lighter than the paella alone thanks to the added freshness of the salad. I love it when the leftovers are better than the original, and I love it more now that I’m completely out of sherry vinegar.

I must render to His Lordship all the credit for the paella cakes, since the idea might have been mine but the flawless execution was all his. While he was mixing and frying these golden, crusty, priceless patties, I was mixing the salad and pureeing half a watermelon for the agua fresca/granita variations I’ll be putting up shortly.

Paella Cakes with Jersey Corn and Tomato Salad
Serves 4-5

3 cups leftover paella
1 1/2 cups shredded Manchego or similar cheese
2 large eggs
Salt and pepper
Olive oil (not extra-virgin) for pan-frying

4 ears of corn, microwaved or steamed until cooked but still crisp
2 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons mixed dried herbs (Penzeys Parisien Blend)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together thoroughly the paella, cheese and eggs, plus additional salt and pepper as desired. Using two large soup spoons, form spoonfuls of the mixture into ten large oval patties.

Cover the bottom of a skillet or frying pan generously with oil and set over medium heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add five (or as many as will fit without crowding) of the patties and fry until dark golden, 3-5 minutes on each side. Remove to a baking sheet lined with paper towels or brown paper bags and sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat with remaining patties.

Strip kernels from corn cobs and place in a large bowl. Core the tomatoes and cut into large dice, adding to the corn. Toss the corn and tomatoes with the oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper until well-coated. Taste and correct with more vinegar and seasonings as appropriate.

To serve, build a bed of the salad in a shallow bowl and place two paella cakes on top of each mound of corn and tomatoes.

Notes:

If I’d had fresh herbs, the salad would have been that much better.

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Another Legitimate Thirty Minute Meal: Southwestern Lentil Salad

Since I’m trying to get back into the swing of cooking, despite still not having as much time for it as I’d like, tonight’s experimental dinner was particularly gratifying. When I got home, all I had decided was that I wanted to do something with lentils, but by the time I was finished adding components, I had a dinner that was easy, quick, nutritious, and most importantly, really delicious. The richness of the lentils and the avocado, the crunch of the cucumber and green onion, the sweetness of the tomatoes, the tang of the lemon, and the sharpness of the spices and cilantro all combined beautifully into a simple but flavorful southwest-ish whole. In addition to making a very satisfactory dinner, I think this will be a great addition to the summer barbecue season.

Southwestern Lentil Salad
Serves 4 as a main dish, and at least six as a side dish

1 cup black lentils
2 garlic cloves
1/2 an English cucumber, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of one large lemon
Salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, diced

Place the lentils and garlic in a small saucepan, and cover generously with water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer vigorously until the lentils are tender, but not mushy.

In the meantime, combine the cucumber, tomatoes, scallions, oil, lemon juice, paprika, cumin, and salt and pepper in a large bowl, and leave to marinate until the lentils are cooked. Once the lentils are ready, drain thoroughly and add to the bowl, tossing to combine. Taste and correct the seasonings as necessary, then add the diced avocado, stirring gently to avoid mashing it.

Notes: You could use any kind of lentil here, but I favor the black or green varieties over ordinary brown lentils when I’m making salads, because they keep their shape much better. If you would like to make it ahead, it should keep very well in the refrigerator for quite some time, but I would not add the avocado until the last minute, since it begins to brown very quickly after being cut open.

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