cliveb

Tapas are little snacks served with wine (or Jeréz) in Spanish bars. They're not supposed to "complement" another dish - they're simply there for enjoying with a few glasses of fine wine. Camarones al Ajillo ( Shrimp with garlic and butter) Lengua en Salsa (Beef tongue cooked in aromatic broth, with herbs and olive oil, slice thin and served with bread) Champiñones al Ajillo (same as above - with mushrooms) Cordero Horneado con Romero (thin slices of roasted Lamb with olive oil and rosemary) Bolitas de Queso (little balls of deep-fried cheese - usually Manchego) Dátiles Rellenos (Fresh dates stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in a slice of bacon and cooked in the oven till ready (10 minutes) Fiambres con Banderillas (assorted cured meat - jamón Serrano, salami de Jabugo,Lomo embutido, etc. plus a a small plate of pickled caper berries, veg, olives, etc. )

Of course! It was Prince Rainier of Monaco, after his honeymoon

Oh, and btw CraigCamp - I'd be interested to know what you disagree with.

Hear, Hear, Ctzen Kane. A well-thought response. There's nothing wrong in liking Kraft Parmesan. Or CheezWhiz Or Koolaid Or a Big Mac. DAMN! We used to eat fried bread smothered with ketchup for breakfast!!!

In my opinion the way to ruin garlic toast is by applying the garlic butter before toasting. You end up with soggy bread and burnt garlic. I toast my french bread or baguette and immediately spread the pre softened garlic butter. Makes a big difference. Try it. ← My garlic bread is: 450 gms unsalted butter 1 head of garlic, minced 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped fine 1 -2 tsps sea salt Warm the butter till soft and then beat together with the other ingredients. Roll up in greaseproof paper, like a sausage, and refrigerate. Put your oven on broil. Leave it for at least 10 minutes. Cut a baguette or a "canilla" in half, then cut each half lengthwise. Slather with garlic butter, place in the oven for about 3 minutes. Ready.

An hour for a pizza. Why didn't you just jump into your car and go to the place and buy it?

My nuts never get a chance to go off - they're eaten within hours!

I feel that the whole point is lost if we get into semantics. Call it Parmesan , Parmigiano, Parmigiano Reggiano, Kraft Green Box Stuff - it is irrelevant. Surely what IS relevant is the flavour. I've just read annecros posts, where she notes that Parmesan does not have a second taste, where she thinks the second taste is like water. Far be it from me to disagree with Anne's tastebuds! However, the original parmesans I've tasted ( and I stuffed myself with it at a wedding just last week) have multiple layers of flavour. Not one, or two, but many. There is no way on earth I would even dream of "comparing" it to a grated, boxed variety produced in another country, since there is no comparison. They are simply different; not better, not worse, but different. Each of us is entitled to our opinion. I regularly grate piles of Uruguayan Parmesan, or Venezuelan Parmesan on top of my pasta, and complain not a whit! However, when the real thing comes around, I notice the difference. If you'd like a good USA comparison, try Coca-Cola in : England Venezuela China Australia India.

Rocoto peppers are common over here in Venezuela; you can find red, green or yellow varieties. They vary widely in heat. I've had some which have blown my head off, others which barely made me jump. They are also known as "Manzano or, over here " Mongo" peppers. Thick meaty flesh and BLACK seeds. I've made them stuffed with meat sauce.

I love fennel salads with oranges and red onions, marinated in citrus juice for a while. thinly slice fennel also goes well with a Mesclun salad, orange segments, feta cheese, Kalamata olives and a little cucumber, with a honey-citrus dressing.

I buy Chinese peanut oil, which has a pronounced nutty flavour.I often use it with Canola oil ( which has no flavour at all) to stir fry Chinese food or to make Indian Pickles ( Mustard oil would be the natural choice, but it is completely unavailable here).

Santa Teresa is a Rum company from Venezuela. Venezuelan rum is very special because it has to be aged for a minimum of two years before it can be called " rum". The Bodega Especial is a selected rum, formerly set aside for special occasions, and now commercialized. Excellent stuff - I tried some at a wedding a few years ago.

This thread has really got me thinking about why I really like Kraft parmesan... Real Parmigiano Reggiano has to be aged for at least a year.It is made in Parma, and prepared in the winter months. That probably affects the fat content of the milk - although I'm not an expert on that. I'd be surprised if Kraft parmesan is aged for a whole year. Maybe, maybe not, but I'd have thought it would become commercially unviable to keep cheese in a Warehouse for a year. As for grating it - once cheese is grated, it begins to dry out. As it dries out, it loses flavour. There are chemical "flavour enhancers" available to maintain the "!100% Full Flavor!" but there's nothing like the real thing. Salt, MSG are two good examples. That doesn't mean you cannot like Kraft parm because it's not original. You can like what ever you want! Until I was 15, and was served fresh pasta on a camping holiday, I thought spaghetti came out of a tin and was served on toast!

I don't use the "green can" stuff because 1) it's not fresh 2) it has no flavour 3) it is exceedingly expensive 4) its texture is all wrong We have a huge Italian immigrant population in Venezuela. There are several cheesemakers here who produce acceptable Parmesan cheese. No, it's not the "real" thing, but at least you can buy it fresh, and grate it fresh on to your pasta. If you prefer the boxed stuff, fine - I'd venture to say you're missing out on flavour. Same goes for the pre-grated stuff. It's a question of choice. You don't like cheese on your pasta? That's ok, too. For the two minutes it takes to remove a small piece of cheese from the fridge and grate it on to your pasta, I think the taste is eminently better.

There are thousands, possibly millions of Spanish immigrants here in Venezuela. A "Tasca" is the common local bar, so when you go into one and sit down, you get tapas. They can come in all shapes and forms. Maybe a little "Pulpo al Gallego" - marinated octopus; maybe some " Pimientos de Padrón" - tiny, jalapeño sized peppers cooked gently in olive oil with salt added - and 1 out of 20 is "picante" - spicy! Maybe "Camarones al ajillo", maybe "Champiñones al ajillo", maybe a little cup of spicy broth made with stewed tripe ( called " Mondongo" here); maybe some thinly sliced Beef Tongue in escabeche. Even the simplest ideas are wonderful. Tonight some friends appeared unexpectedly and I made "Banderillas" - a square of fried bread, a slice of Chorizo Vela, a sundried tomato, a pitted green olive with a caperberry inside, all served on a cocktail stick. Never underestimate the simplicity of Tapas.

Pont L'Evecque for me , please. If not, a nice Livarot .Or perhaps a nice piece of Stinking Bishop, washed in perry, and smelling like a bag of old rugby socks. For the blue cheese? Stilton. There's nothing like it. Of course, you could also try and look for some Blue Vinny, although it's a little difficult to find these days. Or a Blue Shropshire, or a blue Cheshire. For a creamy, creamy cheese, you won't do much worse than a slice of Double Gloucester. Down here in Venezuela, I'm cheese-starved. We produce white cheese, white cheese, white cheese, although there are some pretty good ones around. "Dutch" cheese is always immature and bland Gouda or Edam; nothing like the stuff I can get hols of on trips to Aruba and Curaçao. Anyone has any spare bits of delicious fermented curds - Fedex them to me!

The large Brewing companies snap up the smaller ones NOT for the quality of the beer, but for the increase in percentage share of the market. To be honest, I don't think they care a fig about the beer itself; they are only interested in increased profit. bland, tasteless brews are, unfortunately, our daily bread around the world, since the majority of drinkers only want to be refreshed or to get drunk... A similar situation occurred in the UK during the 1970s. the Big Five ( Watneys, Whitbreads, Bass, Courage and Allied, I think), were producing the same pasteurised fizzy muck, cutting out traditional brews and thus killing off traditional ale. Some bright spark started CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale, and the war was on! CAMRA won. You may now find hundreds of different local beers in England Scotland and Ireland, thank goodness. At least I can quaff Harvey's in the south and Theakston's in the north!

The large Brewing companies snap up the smaller ones NOT for the quality of the beer, but for the increase in percentage share of the market. To be honest, I don't think they care a fig about the beer itself; they are only interested in increased profit. bland, tasteless brews are, unfortunately, our daily bread around the world, since the majority of drinkers only want to be refreshed or to get drunk... A similar situation occurred in the UK during the 1970s. the Big Five ( Watneys, Whitbreads, Bass, Courage and Allied, I think), were producing the same pasteurised fizzy muck, cutting out traditional brews and thus killing off traditional ale. Some bright spark started CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale, and the war was on! CAMRA won. You may now find hundreds of different local beers in England Scotland and Ireland, thank goodness. At least I can quaff Harvey's in the south and Theakston's in the north!

Poach the beans in boiling water until just tender. Do not add salt. Cube some exquisite ham . Chop a good amount of fresh parsley, and add a few fresh thyme leaves. Mince 3 or 4 cloves of garlic. Finely dice a small red onion. Mix all these ingredients in a large bowl, together with sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and how ever much you like of GOOD extra virgin olive oil. The recipe is Spanish, but I can't find the original!

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; what a shame I didn't discover this site earlier! The origin of all whiskies, and only 9 replies... I hope you visited Islay. I went there for 3 days back in 2001, and visited Bowmore, and Laphroaig. I tried every single malt available; Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Bunnahaiban, Caol Ila, Port Ellen, Lagavullin... there is a splendid hotel, just round the corner from the Bowmore distillery, which stocks over 400 single malts. SOME of these cost over $1,800... per shot!!!! I wonder whether you managed to visit a Highland, a Lowland, a Speyside, an Islay and a Skye distillery. That would have really given you a good idea about how whisky is made.

Well I make chutneys, salsas, pickles, hot sauces, preserves, jams, jellies and antipasti for a living. Everything goes into a bottle. The latest was an onion confiture with raw cane sugar - that goes down well here in Grilling country. Then there was a bottle or 10 of tiny cherry tomatoes I preserved in a sweet-sour vinegar, which are deliciously zingy with a good strong cheese. I now have more than 30 products in the local market, so if anyone wants to share thoughts, I'd be delighted.

"How do I cut a mango? Is the skin edible (I'm thinking no, it looks tough?) It's soft, about the stage I'd eat a peach or plum at, so I'm guessing it's ripe." The instructions given for cutting the mango are great. I don't bother to cut the little squares off - just stick it in my mouth and let the juice dribble down my chin!! I understand that it can cause allergic reactions; this generally happens here when (a) chopping off mango branches from the tree or (b) when the mango is eaten straight from the tree. Personally, it's never happened to me, but that doesn't mean it couldnt. To test for ripeness, I squeeze the mango in the middle with thumb and forefinger. It should give very slightly; that way the fruit inside will be barely ripe and you'll experience the deliciously tart/sweet fruit at its best. It may also depend on the type of mango, however; we have a small, orange-skinned mango here known as "Mango Criollo", which is a little more "stringy" in texture than the big, hybrid varieties, but honey-sweet inside and bright orange. Can you eat the skin? Well yes, but I prefer it pickled, in the Indian style. Lime juice, salt, ginger, spices, hot pepper and oil. Not for those who dislike "hot!" food, but glorious for those who do!

There's an Indian cooking technique for smoking which works very well with veg. I've done it with cauliflower, - and I've also done it with shrimp. Not sure if it would work with larger pieces of meat, but anyway. You need a wok with a lid. When your veg/beans/shrimp are almost cooked, you place an onion skin in the middle of the wok, drizzle some melted ghee ( or melted butter ) into the middle, and drop a RED HOT coal ( charcoal) into the onion "cup" - then put the lid on quickly. Leave for about 3 minutes. It works!!

Generally speaking, I pre-measure my liquor into a separate vessel (small dish, ramekin) and then when I go to add the liquor, move the pan off of the flame, add the liquor from the dish and return it to the flame straight away. If you are flambe-ing the dish, tilt the pan slightly until the liquor ignites. ←

This post may be a little late, but I feel it's important to give some first-hand information on "Arepa" flour, directly from it's source - Venezuela! The pre-cooked corn flour used to make arepas here is called " Harina PAN", after it's brand name. Even if you buy another brand, you ask for Harina PAN! Arepas are simple to make - just add water to the flour. When you have a thickish dough, you form it into a ball then flatten it a little, until you have a thick "flying saucer" shape. Grease a hot plate ( called a "budare" here) and slap the arepa on it. After a few minutes it will brown on one side. Turn it over and brown on the other side. If you're making a large quantity, you can pop the cooked arepas in a warm oven until all are ready. Of course, if you make them a little smaller, you can also deep-fry them. Traditionally, the arepa is split almost in half then stuffed with: Ham and white cheese Fresh farmer's cheese "Carne Mechada" ( spiced pulled skirt of beef) "Reina Pepiada" (Grilled, spiced chicken with slices of avocado) "Dominó" ( black beans and grated white cheese) Baby shark, cooked together with "sofrito" - onion, bell pepper, sweet chile, celery, garlic, annato. Harina PAN is not the same as Masa Harina. As someone pointed out, the use of slaked lime to remove the corn husks makes a huge difference in flavour. If you can find Harina PAN, it's worth acquiring some and then cooking the arepas and inventing new fillings.