Marcona almonds, olives, and manchego cheese on hand, they can go on a pretty plate together. Perhaps a nice Spanish red and we'll call that dinner - NICE!
Inspired by all my talk of tapas (see below for Jaleo, Jose Andres, The Sample Room, and cocktails with Kim & Suz), I've been flipping through Chef Andres' Tapas A Taste of Spain in America for a nice Sunday evening menu. The book is chock-full of tempting tasties (I've posted several in the past, including Catalan Pork Sausage with White Beans, Tomato Toast with Manchego, and Artichokes Sauteed with Ham), but these four Spring-ed out at me as appropriate for this finally-sunny, almost-warm day. Don't balk at the chocolate-salt combination, it's a classic, and it's delicious. For proof, lick a small piece of dark chocolate, dip it in a flake or two of sea salt, then pop it in your mouth and let it melt. Sloooowwwwly. Yeeeeaaaah, they're gorgeous together.
Yawn! Stretch! Errrrr, good morning, my friends. A late night last night, hanging with my minxes Kim & Suz, here at the hacienda. We curled up in front of a roaring fire with plates of tuna and egg bruschettas, crispy roasted asparagus (we ate it with our fingers, just like fries, yum), olives, almonds, red grapes, and decadent chocolate macaroons (deadly little mothers, picked them up at Byerly's), while sipping an amazing bottle of red - my birthday present from Stu The Wine Genius and his wife Debbie, thanks guys, we loved it! - and talked and laughed and talked some more until there was naught but embers on the grate, wine stains in the glasses, crumbs on
the platters, and yawns on our lips. Ohhhhh, it was so damn FUN, it was just what the doctor ordered, on so many levels. I've been away so much I've MISSED MY FRIENDS! (Wouldn't you miss them too?) Man, it's damn good to be home. Thanks for a blast of a night, girlfriends!
Ah, I'm back, and so quickly! Ha. Now, dinner with Rudy & Ana and Stu & Debbie at The Sample Room this past Monday night. What a BLAST! I'd not been to The Sample Room before, it's absolutely worth a trip over to NE. Great place for a group, casual, funky, with a very friendly and knowledgeable staff. They're having fun and it's apparent. The "sample" concept makes up half the menu - a tapas-style, small-plate listing of various meat, fish, cheese, and vegetable dishes. The options for putting together large platters for a group or small platters for
individual meals are very clever. I opted for the small platter option - choose any four tapas. Fried walleye, broiled shrimp, steamed green beans with spicy almond butter, and baked camembert cheese. Yum! We shared a couple of roasted vegetable salads for the table. And could have ordered entrees off the other half of the menu - but the sampling concept was too tempting. We also sampled plenty of fabulous wine, thanks to Stu and Rudy, oh my. Did I write any of it down? Hell no, I 
was too busy talking and eating, as usual! The six of us are heading to Napa Valley together soon so we had plenty of chatting to do about the various sights and tastes we're planning to experience. Suffice it to say, it's going to be a beautiful, unforgettable trip; I can't wait. I'm having a bit of an affair with California this spring, eh? It's been heavenly, I love Cali and so far it loves me right back. Rarrr...
Happy April! Ack, I know it's been terribly long since I've posted. Craziness, what can I say? I've not been much in town, in fact, Nathan and I just returned from a spring-break trip to Washington, DC, just the two of us. Such fun! We arrived Thursday, checked into our hotel, and immediately set out for the White House. After a bit of walking around, we made our way back to the hotel, changed for dinner, and walked over to Bistrot D'Oc for a lovely French dinner. Nathan's first taste of escargot was not a disaster - he
didn't much appreciate the snail, but he seriously dug the herb-y, garlicky butter soaked up with lots of baguette slices. Yeah, baby!
through the National Air and Space Museum. Afterward we met up with my aunt Mary and uncle Bruce, in DC visiting their son, my cousin Craig. Mary, Bruce, Craig, Nathan, and I lunched at Union Station before making our way back to our hotels via the Capitol and Supreme Court. We all met up again a couple of hours later, with my cousin Kelly, who also lives in DC, hoping to score dinner at Jaleo. Uh, no dice, a two-hour wait at best at 7 pm on a Saturday night. Darn! Really wanted to sample their famously fabulous tapas but it wasn't meant to be (Chef Jose Andres' book, Tapas A Taste of Spain in America, is one of my very favorites; in honor of the Jaleo meal I didn't have, I've posted a Chef Andres' recipe for Potatoes Rioja-Style with Chorizo in comments, below). Instead, we
stumbled into a lucky table at Zola, where I dug into a lovely papardelle topped with perfectly crispy duck confit and wild cherries. Decadent, delicious.
I’m Stephanie Meyer. If you're looking for fresh, delicious food to share with those you love - welcome! In addition to the recipes you'll find here, I post Tuesday recipes at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly magazine with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients. I also cook and take photos for Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine magazine, post gluten-free recipes at Stuffed Pepper, cook with food photographer Susan Powers for Shooting the Kitchen, and organize the Minnesota Food Bloggers. Let’s eat!
