Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

They are smiling in anticipation of one of the best meals they will ever eat.  David and I were invited for dinner at my dear friend and blogging buddy Penny’s home near Asheville.  Her blog, The Comforts of Home embodies all that the name implies.  She and her husband have been creatively turning the home they bought a few years ago into the place we would all like to call home.  You need to visit her blog to appreciate all that they have done.

Penny greeted us at the door with “Hola”.  I knew immediately that we were in for a Spanish inspired meal.  It was a visual delight after entering their beautiful home.  Penny and Mr. Comforts of Home have been working on their backyard to create a French inspired potager and pergola with a fountain and warming firepit area.  The table was so inviting that I had no doubt that we were in for a treat.

The meal began with Manchego cheese, Marcona almonds, Spanish olives and flat bread.  With it we had a cooling gazpacho made from tomatoes from Penny’s garden.

We garnished it with croutons, hard boiled eggs and fresh tomatoes.

Mr. Comforts of Home cooked the paella on the grill in a huge paella pan.  The ingredients were added to the pan in stages.

First the chorizo was sauteed in oil.

Then a sofrito (including onions, garlic, tomatoes and red bell peppers) was sauteed in the pan.

Rice, chicken broth and saffron were then added and it was left to cook.

The seafood was nestled into the rice and cooked briefly.

When the seafood was cooked the sliced chorizo was added back to the pan along with peas and lemon wedges.  As the rice cooked it formed a crust on the bottom called a soccarat.  It was time to dig in.

My plate was a masterpiece of vivid color.  The Spanish wine was a perfect accompaniment to the food.  We were then treated to a Spanish inspired dessert of crema catalana.

 
Crema Catalana is similar to Creme Brulee’ but is softer in texture and has a lovely flavor of cinnamon, vanilla, and essence of orange and lemon.  The carmalized sugar on top was curtesy of Mr. Comforts of Home’s blow torch.  The chef’s torch that Penny had was not working properly so Mr. C did the manly thing and used a tool with power.  Never be afraid to use your power tools while cooking.

Please go over to Penny’s blog to read her take on our lovely meal and get the recipes for gazpacho and crema catalana.  Here is her recipe for Paella.

PENNY’S PAELLA

 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
2 Spanish Chorizo Sausages
2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
1/2 Spanish Onion, Diced
1 Red Bell Pepper, Diced
2 Ripe Tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped

2 Cups short to medium grained rice (I used Risotto)
1 Teaspoon Spanish Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Rosemary
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
Salt and Pepper To Taste

2 Teaspoons Saffron Threads

6 Cups Warm Chicken Stock

2 Lobster Tails, Split
1 Pound Shrimp
1 Dozen Mussels
1 large filet, white flaky fish like Haddock Cut Into 2 inche pieces

1/2 Frozen Sweet Peas, Thawed
Lemon Wedges

Heat oil in paella pan over medium high grill. Add chorizo and cook until done. Then remove from pan, cut into slices and set aside.
Saute garlic, onios, tomatoes and peppers until carmelized. Stir in seasonings.

Steep saffron in 1/4 cup hot water for 5 minutes. Add rice to pan, stirring to coat. Stir in saffron/water.

Add stock and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the panaround so the rice cooks and absorbs evenly – do not stir constantly!

Add sausage back into pan. Add lobster, wait 2 minutes, add shrimp, wait two minutes, add white fish, wait two minutes then add the mussels. Simmer without stirring until rice is al dente and the mussels have opened.

Scatter peas across top and continue to cook until liquid is absorbed and a crust (socarrat) had formed on the bottom.

Let rest 5 mintues off heat. Add lemon wedges and serve.
 
If you would like to make a paella and don’t have a paella pan, La Tienda is a good source for all kinds of Spanish cookware.
 
 
Printable recipe
 

There are numerous recipes for brownies out there.  This just happens to be one of the good ones.  I have joined a new website started by one of my blogging buddies Dave of My Year on the Grill.  His website is erecipecards.com.  You have probably seen the eRecipeCard button on the left of my text.  Here it is.

The most important word in that title is “old”.  We have known our friends Bill and Liz since the very beginning of our marriage.  David and Bill worked together at the University and Liz and I raised our families together.  Our Sons were roomates in college and we were present at the marriages of all three of their children, as they were there for Michael’s marriage.  We moved to Lake Lure.  They remained in Greensboro.  So it is a pleasure to get together with them when they are in the area.  They stopped by for lunch on Sunday.

I never worry about what to serve when they are here.  I know their tastes well.  Liz is originally from Australia and over the years has developed tastes similar to mine.  She is a great cook and maintains a huge vegetable garden.  There is always a great variety of food on her table.  I remember being surprised that one of her children’s favorite dishes was artichokes.  They learned at an early age to peel the leaves from the steamed artichokes, dip them in butter and draw the flesh across their teeth.

So anything goes for lunch.  And I am also using the word “old” for the recipes that I am posting today because I have already blogged about them.  You know you are getting old when you start repeating yourself.

I served citrus grilled chicken which I blogged about here.  It is my favorite way to grill chicken breasts.  I love the way the lemon and lime juices play with the brown sugar and mustard to give the chicken a nice glaze and flavor.

With the chicken I served curried couscous, one of Ina Garten’s classic recipes.  Couscous is so fast and easy and I love all of the additions to it.  It is full of tasty bits of carrot, green onion, toasted almonds, dried cranberries and garden fresh parsley.  I blogged about it here.  A huge tossed salad rounded out the lunch and we spent out time talking and catching up on each others’ lives.

Oh, and we had Georgia peach cake and peach ice cream for dessert.  It was a pleasant Sunday with old friends.

A simple buttermilk cake topped with fresh Georgia peaches is what summer is all about in the South.  I remember crossing the border into Georgia for the first time driving down I-85 years ago.  The sight that greeted us was a giant peach looking almost real in it’s fuzzy plumpness. “Welcome to the Peach State” it said.  I thought immediately of Gone With the Wind and the peaches and cream complexions of Scarlett O’Hara and all of the other southern belles.  I declare,  I have looked forward to the Georgia peach crop ever since.

I make a great peach cobbler which is such a tradition in our area.  It goes well with barbecue and is served in many of the barbecue joints in the south.  But I was looking for a more refined peach recipe this time.  I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit for a blackberry buttermilk cake and just knew that I could adapt it to peaches instead of blackberries.

It is an easy cake to put together, but you have to be sure to sift the cake flour and measure before the final sifting with the baking powder, soda and salt.  The results will yield a tender flavorful cake that is delicious in it’s subtle nuances of buttermilk, orange, vanilla and peaches.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Add ice cream or whipped cream if you must, but I like it as is.

There is nothing easier or more forgiving than a frittata.  You can add most anything to it.  It feeds a lot of people and goes together quickly.  This time of year I have been getting tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market, eggs from a farm and herbs from my own herb garden.  Sunday morning is our time to indulge in a big breakfast.  The two of us cannot eat a whole frittata but that doesn’t stop me from making one with eight eggs in a 10″ pan.  We just cut it into wedges and save what is not eaten for another day.  A frittata wedge reheats quickly in the microwave.

I am not bothering to give you a specific recipe because it is so easy.  For this particular frittata I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in my skillet.  Added chopped onion to cook for a few minutes, added chopped basil and chives, chopped tomatoes and stirred.  Then I added 8 beaten eggs.  It is a good idea to pull your spatula from the edges to the center to move the liquid eggs from the edges.  When the frittata begins to set, put it in a 350 degree oven until the eggs are set.

This is the kind of recipes that Mark Bittman offers in his new cookbook Kitchen Express.  I love this book because he offers simple combinations of ingredients using seasonal food just to give you ideas on what you can do.  All the recipes can be made in 20 minutes or less.

Here is one of his frittata recipes.

PANCETTA AND SPINACH FRITTATA

Beat four eggs; add a handful of freshly grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper.  Cut about a quarter pound of pancetta into small pieces and fry in a tablespoon of olive oil; add a couple of chopped shallots and continue cooking until the pancetta begins to brown and the shallots have softened.  Add a bunch of chopped spinach and cook until wilted and beginning to dry.  Pour in the egg mixture and cook slowly until the eggs just set.  Run under the broiler to brown for a minute if necessary if the top remains runny; serve hot, warm or at room temperature. 

There are creative recipes for everything from soup to sandwiches.  I find the book inspiring.