How would you do this particular tapa?

[helenas]

I don't know about you, but i've read through "Barcelona Dine-A-Thon" in Food Arts Oct 2002 issue several times; so much i liked it.

And there is one dish, that i really want to try, so enticing it sounded. Actually, it sounded pretty boring, it's just the way it was described made me think about it:

"A warm-up tapas at the small and cheerful Santa Maria...A toss of wheat berries, hazelnuts, and vegetables laced with Mimolette cheese is so good we call recklessly for an encore...".

Side note: The participants in this tasting was Gael Greene, author of the article, NY restaurant critic and Suvir's friend; and Jose Andres, chef of Jaleo, Washington, DC and friend of Steve Klc...

Your ideas in recreating the recipe are very welcomed.

[helenas]

If somebody has time and is comfortable in doing so, could you please explain the dead silence with which this post was met?

My only explanation that the dish DOES sound boring, but then how to explain that two jaded foodies asked for encore - there should be something...

[Liza]

I can only offer an explanation for my own silence - I didn't see this thread until now.

Perhaps members are unfamiliar with wheat berries, so I'll clear that up here:

they're whole, unprocessed wheat kernels. They're packed with protein, and requre a good long simmering to become edible. So that's where I'd start to replicate that dish. (I think you can get organic wheatberries at the greenmarket in NYC, by the way).

I wonder what the veggies were...as the wheatberries were probably al dente, and the hazelnuts real solid, I'd wager on some yielding texture, perhaps tomatoes and sauteed zucchini. Just a thought.

[Steve Klc]

I'll take a crack at an explanation, I'm sure it is nothing personal toward you Helena.

Let's see, two very highly respected authorities and eaters really, really like a dish which sounds so simple (but not boring to me). They ask for another helping so it must really be good.

It's also not like we Americans are so knowledgeable about tapas anyway--we've eaten them, a few of us may even have been lucky enough to have a few good ones here in the US or travelled to Spain--but by and large we're not very far along the learning curve of what Spanish cooking and tapas have to teach us. That's why you're reading this article in the most polished most professional food magazine. Even pros have some catching up to do. Jose has just begun to spread the word and food writers have just begun to take note of him and of his mission.

In my case I'd be afraid to offer you advice for fear it would turn out like a healthy ubiquitous underwhelming gourmet crunchy-granola takout veggie salad--enough cooks have written books on that crap. Combining the simple things--simply--is difficult. It seems this dish could have all the textures--it probably starts with a great cheese, aged and in the mouth goes from soft and melting to squishy to firm to hard crunch; balance and depth between the spicy nuttiness of the cheese with the nut and wheatberry; wheatberry toasted in some rustic fat, cooked in a stock indescribably good, the hazelnuts were probably warmed and roasted to dry them and activate their oils; ooh, contrasting colors--I can just imagine the veggies--carrot, zucchini, leek in my imaginary version--all pretty, all perfect all in small dice--but then I come back to reality and sense this place was rustic and hasn't heard of the term brunoise. The "salad" may have been tossed with the cheese a la minute, packed into one of those cool clay rounds and warmed up at the last minute to partially melt the cheese.

The reality for me is...I have no idea what made it so good. But I can imagine.

[helenas]

I'll take a crack at an explanation, I'm sure it is nothing personal toward you Helena.

Thanks, Steve, and i never took it personally, i was just joking!

In my case I'd be afraid to offer you advice for fear it would turn out like a healthy ubiquitous underwhelming gourmet crunchy-granola takout veggie salad--enough cooks have written books on that crap.  

My sentiment exactly! When i was reading the part on this toss, John Thorne's words came to mind (quoting from memory): "Alice Waters,.. Deborah Madison?.. Who cares?"

[helenas]

I decided to bump this thread up: in case somebody who missed it before has any ideas

[fimbul]

You know, I recently ate something almost like this. It was still warm, cooked wheat berries tossed with gruyerre and satueed spinach -- I liked it quite a bit, though it did get overwhelmingly ...wheaty..? several bites in. A tapas sized portion might ameliorate that problem quickly, plus a sharp, nutty taste thrown in might help cut some of that as well.

[Richard Kilgore]

Okay. I have had Tapas --- very good Tapas I would say --- few years ago in Taos, but I still do not know for sure what makes a Tapas a Tapas. Any Tapas books to recommend?

[guajolote]

Tapas - The Little Dishes of Spain by Penelope Casas is a great Tapas cookbook. I've made over 20 recipes from this book and loved them all.

[awbrig]

I love Wheat Berries. I get them @ Trotters to Go quite regularly - I wouldnt know where else to find them...He often serves them mixed with shredded duck confit and usually dried fruits. Its awesome!

His current wheat berry offereing is:

Organic Soft Wheat Berries with Fruit and Roasted Nuts

[Bond Girl]

Not that i know what i'm talking about, but here's my two cents. i would imagine it's a dish composed of various components that has been cooked spearately. Wheat berries, cooked until tender. Carrots cooked with orange juice, cionnamon and glazed with butter and sugar. Zucchnins sauteed with garlic, may be some roasted red peppers. toss the whole thing together with some olive oil and ground hazelnut. Sprinle with grated cheese.

[Belmont3]

Out here in the West wheatberries are used quite a bit, I have qa friend that does a tofu, wheatberry and roasted red pepper scramble along with a few other herbs and spices that is great rolled up in a tortilla

[Suzanne F]

Tapas - The Little Dishes of Spain by Penelope Casas is a great Tapas cookbook. I've made over 20 recipes from this book and loved them all.

I second this one.

I've got a couple of others: Tapas by Ann & Larry Walker, and From Tapas to Meze by Joanne Weir. But Casas's book is the classic. Well-researched, well-written. And delicious!

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks, guajolote and Suzanne. I'll find a copy of the Casas book first.