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Though posting has been, shall we say, light around here lately, I have been saving links and snippets that looked interesting. Here’s a few of them:
Risotto with roasted butternut squash and leeks
Lately, I’ve been making a lot of risotti, because rice is cheap and filling and, combined with veggies, makes an easy, healthy meal. Risotto definitely works best if it doesn’t resemble a savoury rice pudding, but for those of you whose culinary skills (like mine) are somewhat hit and miss, the good news is that risotto is still perfectly edible and enjoyable even when it does. 
So, you wouldn’t serve it to company! Well, we’re not, are we?
As I have found from my experiments, it freezes and reheats without much deterioration, so I fling together four portions at a time and freeze three.
Now I’m watching for new varieties. Marisa McClellan points to a recipe for Risotto with roasted butternut squash and leeks that she describes as, “… one of those dishes that makes time stop for just a moment, as your taste buds struggle to identify the chorus of delicious flavors before giving up and simply surrendering to the rapture of the moment. It was that good.”
Edible Activism: Eat Low, Use More
This is something I do already, because of the necessity of economy and also because it’s healthier and I prefer not to eat too much meat. It’s also the green thing to do, “Basically this means eating as much as possible lower on the food chain, using a core staple of whole grains, beans and generally less processed food. Grains and beans pack a nutritional wallop — a single serving of cooked beans counts as one, one-ounce serving of lean meat in the USDA Food Pyramid, yet costs only about twenty cents.”
Fast & Easy Dinner: Spanish Grilled Sandwiches
In all my 15+ years in Spain, I’ve never seen this sandwich filling and I could never, ever imagine a mere sandwich being served for dinner (for breakfast, una merienda (afternoon tea) or snack, maybe), but that’s less important than the fact that this appealed to my tastebuds and may also do to yours.
Oh, whilst the “national sandwich” in Spain appears to be cheese and ham, which is often served as breakfast in bars, my favorite is the strangely named, Sandwich Vegetal. Strange, because - vegetarians beware - as well as a whole bunch of salad stuff, it also includes, ham, cheese and tuna.
Once a year, when we go to see the Three Kings parade in the neighbouring town of Garachico, my mum and I order Sandwich Vegetal while we wait for the parade to arrive. The town is so small that the proper restaurants don’t open at night, but this particular bar gives us kids a front line view while we generally make a mess with these wonderfully overstuffed sandwiches.
One thing is certain, sandwiches here are invariably served grilled.
Sizzling Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo)
While we are in Spain, who can resist Sizzling Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo)? Not me, that’s for sure!
I’m only including this because it just crossed my email inbox and whetted my appetite in La Tienda’s email newsletter, but it’s simple, quick and doesn’t cost a lot when you are only buying shrimp for one.
La Tienda say, “The key is very fresh shrimp, not too big, and using a clay cazuela dish for cooking, which maintains an even temperature as you cook.”
Sizzling Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo)
Mexican Quiche
This “Spicy version of classic quiche that uses tortillas in place of a crust” caught my eye because I like spicy Mexican food and I also like quiche, but regular pastry does not keep well, other than it freezes uncooked.
With quiche you generally have to eat it on the day or the next, which means you’d be likely to have waste. This, on the other hand, you could whip up (use a smaller dish and less tortillas for a single portion) from available ingredients as a breakfast or brunch, as suggested, or even as a dinner.
Sponzurz
