The best damn thing ever.

I recommend you cook this immediately and eat it. I have made it 5 or 6 times in the past two weeks. Recipe: Roasted leeks in broth of yumminess.
Serves 2 for 1st plate (Makes extra broth for making soup with later)

Take one carton of chicken stock. Put it in a pot. Add three coarsely chopped cloves of garlic and a few herbs. A twig or two of rosemary and oregano would be nice. Throw in a healthy splash of two of olive oil for good measure. Set on medium high so it will get a nice rolling boil.

Add three or four leeks ( depends on how hungry you are!) that have the top dark part removed as well as the roots. Don't forget to wash them!

Let them boil in the broth for 5 minutes or so, til they just become a bit tender.
While your doing that set your oven at 350 to preheat. Now comes the roasting!

Carefully cut the leeks in half with out burning yourself. Add them to a pan that's a few inches deep, cut side up. Add 3 or 4 ladles full of the broth and cover the leeks with 3/4 of a stick of melted butter. Salt and pepper as desired. Roast for 35-45 minutes depending upon the reliablity of you oven (mine sucks).

When they look golden brown on top they are done. Carefully transfer the leeks to a bowl. Add the broth that they cooked with in the oven as well as a bit more from the leftover broth on the stove top. But you want them resting in the broth, not swimming in it. Anyway, it's really simple if you just do it and avoid all my commentary. Garnish with some of those oregano or rosemary twigs I talked about before, or just eat it cuz it's good.

Peace. Go eat.

Origens 99,9% and whatever else I feel like.

Before we do anything else I need to talk to you. I've got one thing to tell you and that's: Cacaolat. It's Catalan Yoohoo. That's right, and it's even better than the original. This is me at Park Guell drinking it and giving a thumbs up. If anyone representing Cacaolat is reading this I would like you to be my sponsor. Here's the deal: I will drink Cacaolat like all the time. In return you give me all the free Cacaolat I want. Deal? Good. Now on with our post.






Hola. It's been a while. My bad. Spain is crazy, and I'm crazy busy. I missed my flight to Mallorca today, but I intend on making the best of it and posting about some food experiences in Barcelona. I don't know if anyone who reads this blog will get a chance to visit Barcelona, but just in case this can give you an idea of restaurants to check out. Also, I'll probably throw some recipes on here you can try out.

First, I will start out with my lunch today at Origens 99,9%. In case you are wondering why there's a comma instead of a period it is because that's how they roll in Spain. France too I think. Well, prolly a lot of places.
First off, the menu is sweet it's actually a magazine it talks about where the recipes come from (they are all traditional Catalan recipes, but with a slight modern touch). It gives recipes for a lot of the food. And also it talks about the people who grow the food and how and where and such. They have a great wine list as well. On the inside they sell a lot of the products they cook with at the restaurant.



Now on to the food that was had. The meal was good, but there were a few problems. My food was not as hot as it could have been and Kayla's cauliflower was wayyy to salty. The stuff that was good though, would make me give it a second try. Not everyone can always be perfect. And the waitstaff were nice (for Spainards, that is). O yeah, they have an English menu!

This is a stew of rabbit with pears and turnips and these little purple berry looking things that I don't really know what they were. Here's what Origens saysabout it: "Rabbit with pears and turnips. The turnips from Talltendre in Cerdanya, Capmany in Alt Empordà and the ones from
Banyoles are the most appreciated in Catalonia. To prepare this dish they used pears
for cooking, winter pears, although you can make it with Blanquilla pear or the one
from Puigcerdà."

Next we have the Cannelloni. They say, " The origin of the pasta is still uncertain. It seems that it comes from the Orient and still the argument continues if it has been the Italians or the Arabs who have introduced it in Europe. In Catalonia the canneloni is a festive dish, typical for San Esteban day. It used tobe prepared with roasted left over of chicken or from the meat broth of Christmas." Kayla said ummmmm... This one was a cheesy creamy winner.


This was my spinach and pine nut pastry thingie. It was flaky and good. Not to doughy. If it had been a little warmer it would have been perfect.

The Cauliflower I spoke of before. Too salty, but the other flavors where quite nice. Origens says, "Cauliflower with hazlenuts. Cauliflower boiled and sauteéed with bacon, garlic, hazelnuts and hot pepper. It is a custom in Catalonia to sauté the vegetables once they are boiled. It has
anti-cancerous properties, and a high content of potassium and vitamin C."



This place is worth a visit. I think that the problems we had were not routine, and it was still a good meal despite them. The URL for the restaurant is Origens. Click on one of the locations, then "ver la carte", the click on the picture at the right. This will show you the menu, and you can get some authentic Catalan and tapas recipes to wow your friends with. Anyway, I've got some other restaurants to post soon. And most importantly I have some recipes of my to post on here check it out soon. Peace.

Marche

I know some of you are thinking: wait a minute, isn't Will in Spain? How can he be posting about a restaurant in Nashville. Well, to those people I say: What is Will? And who is Spain?. Anyway on to the good stuff. This is my favorite non-fancy-shmancy restaurant in Nashville. It's extremely cheap for the quality of the food you get, the wait staff are all relaxed and very friendly, but most importantly the food is fantastic and creative. One can not afford to eat at Cafe Margot (the first restaurant by Chef Margot) all the time, but this is a nice alternative to the pricier dinner spot that you can enjoy every Sunday morning for brunch. Or every single day for brunch. You may have to quit your job to be able to go everyday, but it will be worth it at least until you run out of money and can't go there anymore. But now I'm rambling.

It is located in East Nashville in the 5 points district. Here is the website: Marche, so you can check out the address and such.

They have some excellent cocktails there. For instance this is a Bloody Mary that uses Sake instead of Vodka. It sounds weird I know, but it works. Also, the have a blood orange mimosa that's great. Cocktails are $6. For those to prudish to drink at breakfast they have and array of coffee drinks and fantastic hot chocolate.


This is a little appetizer thingie that I got at Marche. It is currant toast with cambert cheese, pears, and a honey balsamic sauce. WOW! Only 4$. Next, we have the crepe of the day. This one has fontina cheese and bruscola(sp?), a cured beef, and...something else. It comes with an herb cream sauce. I got a side of bacon, too.

They have a crepe and quiche of the day, and it's different most everyday. I think crepes are 6 and quiche is 7$.

This is really cool. It is two eggs poached in a tomato sauce. Yes, poached in tomato sauce. Badass I know. It is served on top of some cheesy grits.



Another thing not to be missed is the French toast made out of croissants. It's yum. Alas, I have no picture of the yum, but trust me it's there.

Now I must leave you. I have more of Spain to eat.

And drink.

And party in.

And I really need to learn Spanish.

And I'm going to Paris next weekend.

AH!!!!! I'm going to Paris next weekend. Let me know if you guys want to come with.

Ciao!

Spanish Stuff

This isn't so much a blog entry as it is a place for me to show off some cool food pictures. Enjoy!

Spain and Food

Well, sorry I haven't been able to update this since I have been here. I've been having computer problems, and it has made getting on here difficult. The computer at my house has a Belgian keyboard, which is unpleasant to type with. Anyway, back to food. Food here is fan-freakin'-tastic! I bought saffron for 2 Euro and truffles for 2 euro! 2 frakin' Euro. I haven't been out to eat much since I have been here, but I have had some wonderful things. The ham here is excellent and I have been just getting some bagette and throwing ham of that on with cheese and veggies and such. I made paella with some friends and some sangria. I will post recipes for those two things on here sometime tomorrow. Well, actually I'll just tell you how we made sangria now, paella later though.

Sangria

2 bottles red wine. Dry is good. Rioja is good for it. I can be cheap wine too, which is why Sangria is nice. Throw in 12 oz. of orange soda. Fanta works fine. 1/2 of a cup of brandy. 1/4 cup sugar. You can change up the fruit but we added 2 lemons, 1 orange, and 1 apple. There you go. It's something that can be altered and changed infinitely. If you find some good additions, please post them here.

Yesterday I had some Catalan ( the name of this region of Spain) food out in this town that makes tons of Cava (Spanish champagne)! We went to two vineyards (more on Cava sometime later) and to a nice little restaurant there. We had some kind of Catalan pasta with clams and scallops. You cover it in aoli and it rocks! Also we had a chicken that appeared to be roasted in a mixture of pineapple, garlic, mushrooms, and I'm not quite sure what else... You'll just have to take my word for it. Anyway, I'm about to explore Chinese food in Barcelona so I must go my loyal readers. I promise to bring you lots of pitcures and recipes as soon as I work out my technical difficulties (soon I hope...).

Adios!

-William

Pesto

It seems that some of you are buying pesto at the grocery store. That is a bunch of crap, and I don't want to see anymore of it. With my help, and the tiniest amount of effort on your part, we can stop this packaged pesto hold that Classico and those other pasta sauce losers have over America. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but when you make this yourself you will see that it's necessary. Also, it's 1:30 in the morning, and I feel like the world should exist in extremes. Therefore, I am extremely excited about homemade pesto, and I am determined to thwart the plans of more pedestrian pestos. ( I think the sleepier I am the more I am amused by alliteration, but this is not an alliteration blog. It is a food blog. But I digest.) ( Okay I realize that was a bad pun, but I could not help it. Now I really have digressed.)

It begins here. What is all the crap in the picture you may ask? Pesto, my friend. This is pesto. You can of course click on the picture to enlarge if you'd like to check it out up close. We have parmigiano reggiano cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, and...BASIL (!!). That's it. Don't you feel lazy for buying the packaged store bought kind. Well, I shall continue to guilt trip you until I'm sure you understand.




Speaking of basil. Look at what I got.

I know I've been extolling the joys of K&S World Market since I started this blog, but this time it's actually important. This basil was excellent, and it was super fresh all the way through. The crazy thing though is the price tag. You know those little packages at Krogers? This could fill at least 6 of those. Those things cost 2 bucks a piece, or $12 altogether. This basil however was $2.37 for the whole huge package! This was a steal. Anyway, so now that you know what's in Pesto, and where to get the stuff ( If you aren't familiar with Pine Nuts look for them around other Mediterranean ingredients in the grocery.) we shall proceed with how to make it.


Get a food processor. If you don't have one, then steal one. Just don't steal my food processor. Put in 2 cups of loosely packed basil leaves, 4 garlic cloves, 1/3 cup of pine nuts, and 3/4 cup of grated parmigiano reggiano. Turn on the food processor. Add 2/3 cup of olive oil while processing. You want it to be saucy, but have some substance, i.e. if you put some on a spoon and turn the spoon upside down it shouldn't all drip off. Rather if you were to hold it that way for a minute or so it would slide off.


Put it in a jar or Tupperware. It will stay good (I think.) for up to weeks.



Of course it's best to just go ahead and throw it on some al dente pasta right then and get to eatin'.

Well, there you go. You have the tools. Go forth and make pesto!

-William

P.S. If you want to get crazy throw a handle full of sun dried tomatoes in with the mix. Add a bit more olive oil to compensate.

Trencherman- my new favorite word

I like this word very much. Check out the link to see it's meaning.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/trencherman

-W