Chef Wayne’s Reflections of Spain

Winemaker’s Dinner July 25, 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:37:31 -0700

Now the time has come for me to put the trip of a lifetime to work in Andaluca. On Friday, July 25th we will be having our first winemakers dinner since my return from Spain. We have joined up with Pepperidge Winery to have a 5-course dinner with wines to match.
The first course is Seared Scallops with a frissee; heirloom tomatoes, feta cheese and pine nuts salad tossed in sherry shallot vinaigrette and the wine with this course will be Amavi Semillon, Columbia Valley 2007.
The second course is our famous Un-Paella with prawn, diced chicken, chorizo, roasted red pepper and peas all surrounded by saffron infused Arborio rice. Paired with Amavi Semillon, Columbia Valley 2006.
Crispy Duck Cakes is course number 3; tender bits of ground duck seasoned with allspice, cumin, coriander, marjoram, pine nuts and parsley; rolled in bulgur wheat and sautéed until crispy and golden brown. Served with cucumber riata and apricot chutney. The wine that goes well with this dish is the Pepper Bridge Merlot, Columbia Valley 2005.
An Andaluca signature dish rounds out the savory items, our Cabrales Crusted Beef Tenderloin with idiazabal-mashed potatoes, grilled pears and marsala demi glace. The Pepper Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley 2004 works wonderfully with the blue cheese and the flavor of that tenderloin of beef.
We could not close out dinner without a bit of chocolate. Closing out the dinner and to put that exclamation mark on it we will finish with the Andaluca Liquid Chocolate Cake…mint gelato, butter caramel and bittersweet chocolate sauce. The Amavi Syrah, Walla Walla 2006.
I am so excited to work with Pepper Bridge Winery on this winemaker’s dinner. I would like to invite each of you down to Andaluca and to join us this Friday for a fabulous dinner.

Thank Goodness for Pintxos/Tapas

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:47:53 -0700

After a few weeks to digest all that went on in Spain it has all come together in the form of many more pintxos added to the Andaluca menu. Pintxos and tapas are interchangeable as they both mean one, two or maybe a three bite morsel of delight. The great thing I love about pintxos is I am in control of my plate and the flavors, I can have a little of this and a little of that. You get my drift.

I was so inspired by the pulpo (octopus), that I purchased one to make lightly sautéed octopus on grilled potato with extra virgin olive oil and pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika). But by time I was ready to prep the octopus my night time lead cook had taken the octopus and made an octopus Ceviche that is out of this world, so we now have that wonderful dish on our pintxo menu. We could not stop there! We sat around and I talked about all the different flavors I had experienced in Spain and the ideas began to flow. Our brainstorming produced some great 2-3 bite morsels such as grilled asparagus with flaky sea salt and an extra virgin olive oil (Luis Herrera) that is produced by the weight of the olive themselves (this is even before the first press). This olive oil is to die for.

Mushrooms ala Greque, which are whole steamed mushrooms tossed in a mixture of finely chopped garlic, lemon juice, oregano, rosemary and olive oil.

Another pintxo that has taken the menu by storm is our Lamb Burger Meatball. We take a soft-boiled egg, peel it, and surround it with ground lamb meat that has been seasoned with garlic, shallots, parsley, dill, cilantro and mint. Once we have the egg wrapped tight, we fry until it is crispy. Then on a plate we pool a small amount of olive aioli, cut the lamb meatball in half and put it on top of the sauce, topping with crumbled feta cheese, fried sweet onion and black lava salt. WOW! Yes, that’s what I said. A couple of other items on the menu, to round things off, are the seared Alaskan Halibut skewer with roasted tomato beurre blanc (butter/wine) sauce, the Potato Croquette with sour cream, Idiazábal cheese and Romesco sauce, Andaluca signature crispy duck cakes are also a part of this new pintxo menu.

If you have not left to get yourself down to Andaluca, now would be a good time to head on down and do a pintxo stroll through our new menu.

It’s about the Gazpacho

Fri, 30 May 2008 08:48:54 -0700

One of the things I noticed about my trip through Spain was that everyone did gazpachos. To me it was just like the paella, everyone has one but not one is the same, all very good but not the same. There was the one with cooked egg and a drizzle of olive oil, then there was the gazpacho with bits of jamon and olive oil, oh then how about the one with a little goat cheese and a pair of hugging shrimp. The list goes on. So what is gazpacho? I found out that what defined gazpacho was not so much the tomato; it is the garlic, stale bread, olive oil, salt and vinegar. So as I returned with this in mind, I felt that it would be really cool (no pun intended), if I did a trio of gazpachos, but each with a different flavor. My thoughts then turned to doing the green gazpacho with crab and julienne of romaine lettuce (Andaluca’s specialty), the Ajo Blanco con Uvas (almond gazpacho with grapes), then round them off with the more “traditional” tomato with a hint of goat cheese and a grilled prawn. Although there are many more culinary treats that I was so lucky to be exposed to, I think this is a great starting point as we revisit Espana with our taste buds. Come enjoy the first of the many tastes of Spain that will be a joy for me to prepare in my kitchen and bring to the tables of Andaluca. Stay tuned as I continue my memories of my travels and bring those flavors to the table at Andaluca.
The Gazpacho Trio is now available on the Andaluca menu throughout the summer.

The Day of the Jamon Iberico

Sat, 3 May 2008 08:08:21 -0700

Now back in Sevilla, today we will take a bus trip about 1½ hours heading east towards Portugal, into the hills, to see where they produce that Jamon that is the rave of Spain. We are up early (according to Spanish time) meeting up with post-grads of the hotel school and loading the bus. After a few introductions, we found our seats on the bus and off we went. The trip up to the processing plant, they do not work with live pigs there, was such a beautiful ride as it took us through many small farms of pigs, horses, goats, cows and we saw bulls as well. There were a couple of small towns also along the way that had small stores to service the people living in the areas.
Finally, we arrived and I think everyone was happy to get off the bus and stretch his or her legs. We took a few photos from outside, then entered the building and were greeted by a gentleman who would guide us on our tour of the plant; fill us in on the history, the production and the process of moving all that ham.
We started in the room where the raw product is delivered. It was explained how tracts built into the ceiling allowed for the ham to be moved quickly from the trucks to the coolers. From there they go to a room where they receive their massage and go through the salting process (salting is a very important part of curing meats). The hams are then stored in salt (1 day per kilo of weight). After that they are sent to another room, where the ham is washed and sometimes reformed and possibly massaged again. The ham will then be place under proper temperature and humidity and allowed to age. During this whole process each ham starts out with a number and a date that will be with that ham even after it has been sold, a tracking system used for quality control.
After this fantastic tour, it was time for us to taste the products, everything from the sausages, chorizo, and cured tenderloin to the Iberian ham itself. Wow! This is why the Spaniards eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The important thing to remember is that it all starts with the farmer, how the pigs are raised always free roaming and eating acorns.
Tomorrow will be a day trip around Sevilla and then back to Madrid.

Paella, Paella, Paella

Fri, 2 May 2008 00:05:31 -0700

Waking up in the resort of Marbella was great, the morning temperatures around 65 degrees, it was sure to hit 90 today at the beach. This was also the day of the rice. We are meeting with who I am told is one of the best rice cookers in Spain, chef Victor Rodriguez. Victor has worked at the resort restaurant for over three years. We arrived at the beach front restaurant at about 12:00pm, early according to the time of the Spaniards, considering lunch was not going to even start until after 1pm. We toured the kitchen and finally chef Enrique and I were told to put on our chefs coats, as it was time to man the rice burners (special burners to heat the center but you also have the ability to control the flame on the outer part of the paellera – paella pan).
We took the first half hour or so to talk about the important aspects of cooking Paella. Chef Victor went over the stock, special oil in the pan for sautéing, he spoke about the freshness of the products and then he held up his index finger and he said, “The most important is the rice”. The best rice according to the chef is calasparra, which is also a beautiful countryside of Spain in Murcia.
Chef Victor and his # 1 paella man Sali showed chef Enrique and myself how it should be done. After that a pan was handed to me to start the next paella and with that Sali says, “You do cook don’t you?” with a laugh and I said “Oh, of course”. The next thing I could remember, after a couple of key pointer from chef Victor, was 6 pans of paella going all at once and the chef calling out for more to be prepared. There were two seafood, the vegetable, the seafood and vegetable and then there were two black paellas (getting their color from the squid ink) and the next thing I heard from the chef was “one lobster -wet”. What? Wet? We had not gone over anything that resembled wet. The chef just laughed and had Sali show me how to start the wet rice. Then chef Victor took over showing me how it should look, smell and taste once it was finished. What a great learning experience. After a dozen or so paellas it was our turn to sit and taste one (well really 2) of chef Victor’s favorite paellas. One was the seafood (prawn with green garlic) and the other was the oxtail. Oh my goodness, the oxtail was out of this world. A nice, cold cerveza with a knock out view of the Mediterranean Sea!!!
Tomorrow we will find out why the ham is so good. We will go to Consorcio de Jabugo, which is one of the largest producers of Iberico Jamon.

Living life on the coast of the Mediterranean

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:50:46 -0700

After spending a day doing the Tapa crawl in Sevilla and Cordoba we are off to Marbella. Marbella is about 3 hours south of Sevilla by car. We will be staying in a beautiful 20-room hotel, Taberna del Adaberdero. The hotel has one restaurant that seats inside and outside on the patio over looking the gardens. There, at the hotel you will find a spa, large pool, as well as banquet facilities able to seat 400 people for sit down dinner. We got in late because our siesta lasted longer than usual I think because of our 4:30 am trip to the market earlier that day. Enrique was very happy to arrive, for this was another property he had worked and there are still staffers (including the chef) working here that were working here when he was, so we are in for a treat. We arrived to the dining room about 11pm (not unusual for Spaniards) and were immediately seated and the dinner began to flow.
The server started by putting three different olive oils on the table and ‘French serving’ each of us petite breads. He explained that each of the oils came from a different region, one fruitier, one grassier and the last a blend of the first two. It was great to have the oils side by side to taste and talk about the different qualities. Next, the first course, Bacalao toast with almond gazpacho. Second course, we had tomato gazpacho with marinated prawns and goat cheese with olive oil drizzle. Third course, the fish course, seared cod with aioli and ratatouille. Course number four, pan-fried beef tenderloin with natural juices and served with almond and raisin cous cous topped with a caramelized cheese. The finale was the dessert, a white chocolate soup surrounding a dark chocolate brownie, which was then topped by a curl of vanilla bean gelato. By now it was time for sleep.

A special hotel with a dream for the kids

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:34:20 -0700

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes! Arriving into Sevilla we will be staying at the Taberna del Alabardero Hotel, which is also owned by the Grupo Lezama. We arrive to the hotel in midtown and it is a beautiful old style building. The hotel has 7 guest rooms, but the amazing thing about this is that in this same building there is a hospitality school. They are training around 300 students on how to work in the kitchens, restaurants, and hotels. As soon as you enter the hotel you realize that the staff is on the young side but very professional. The students can come to the school after they have graduated from high school, so I have seen workers as young as 18 manning the desk or in the kitchen. The hotel has a café/lobby bar, training restaurant where students serve actual customers (their chance to experience real world service), there is patio dining where they like to do banquets and there is a formal dining room where paid chefs and wait staff serve a more discerning clientele. After checking into the room, we met up with chef Enrique (we will be spending a lot of time with him while down south).
Our first experience in Sevilla will be a trip to Cordoba. Besides tapas (which we will get to later) Cordoba is a quaint little city with a ton of history. We visited a mosque built in the 8th century, the Mezquita, Puerta de Santa Catalina. This was a moving experience; high ceilings, beautiful arches made of white and red stone, many chambers to allow for different situations, problems or confessions to be made. There are many tombs of past priest buried in the mosque.

A Day Off? Ha!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:40:49 -0700

Well it is the weekend and I will have a few days to explore Madrid. Friday was a special day as we were invited to have lunch at the Senado this included a tour of the kitchen and a tour of the building. Lunch was muy bien. We started out with a fresh melon, avocado, and strawberries with a light, citrus yogurt dressing, next was a refreshing seafood salad of grilled shrimp, scallops, tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, grilled red onion and asparagus then it was tossed in a light first pressed olive vinaigrette. The one thing that does become a constant in Spain is they use only the best olive oil. You are able to taste the fruity depth of the oils in every dish. The other thing is the use of good sea salt on many of the dishes. The entrée was a Filet mignon served with grilled vegetables (roasted red, yellow and green peppers strips wrapped in an oblong slice of grilled zucchini). The dessert was an orange cake with tangerine sorbet and caramelize sugar.
Now it is Saturday and I have been blessed to get reservation at the world’s oldest restaurant “Botin”. The restaurant began operating in 1725 and has been running since. Right there in the window before entering the restaurant is the official Guinness Book of World Record certificate. As you go into the restaurant it is small maybe 30 seats downstairs and you look right into the tight kitchen. Off to the right of the main kitchen there is a smaller room with a brick oven used for roasting their famous ‘suckling pig’? Then you go upstairs and there is more seating, maybe another 50 or so. The baked hake was good, the tenderloin was prepared as ordered (you just don’t even know how important that is to a chef) and very tasty, but that suckling pig lived up to it’s top billing. The skin of the pig was a beautiful golden brown and very crispy while the meat remained juicy and sweet. Oh, how I could go for a little more of that. I would say while visiting Madrid you must put this one on your list of restaurants to visit for the suckling pig alone.
Monday we will be cruising on the AVE (high speed train) down south through the olive groves to Seville. There I will be hooking up with Chef Enrique. Down in Seville we will explore the wonderful world of tapas and some of the history behind them.

Working the Taberna and the Cafe Oriente

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:08:18 -0700

After working a couple of days at the Taberna I will spend the next couple of days at Café de Oriente. While at the Taberna I learned a bit of the classical Basque cooking, a type of cooking from the North of Spain. Slow roasted lamb shanks, cod fish in “pil pil” sauce and grilled Iberian pork tenderloin with tomato compote and brie. Some of the favorite tapas such as jamon croquettes, chorizo sausage and, of course, the Tortilla Espanola (also known as the Spanish omelette).

Café de Oriente is located on the square of the Royal Palace, just two blocks from the Taberna. This kitchen is not so much classical but takes the old world flavors and puts the new culinary twist on its presentation. At the Café I was told they receive fresh fish Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is received whole (head on). So without any delay Chef Roberto threw me into the ice bin and had me cleaning and portioning the fish for the evening dinner rush. Chef Roberto is from the Basque country and really takes pride in the infusions of deep flavors into his food, as well as using his proteins from head to toe.

Another great experience I was able to have while working in this kitchen was learning to clean a leg of Jamon Iberico (the mouth watering ham) and the proper way to shave it to be serviced in the restaurant. One slice for me, one slice for the customer, one slice for me, one more for the customer. One thing I am really going to miss is the daily dose of Jamon. I’ll be working hard to make that a part of Andaluca’s menu.

Café Oriente has a few very special dining areas. There is the King’s room where the King and Queen dine. The Romantic Room (need I say more), Grandma’ s Dining Room (where the Pope has dined) and El Aljibe (the room where ancient Arabic vessels were discovered and preserved under a glass floor).

This kitchen crew and staff really remind me of being home at Andaluca as everyone is helpful, supportive and full of love. As soon as I walked in the pastry chef said “This is your house too”. And Chef Roberto, what can I say, cool as a cucumber. Remind you of anybody?

Tomorrow will be a day off from the kitchen and a tour through the Royal Palace.

Let’s Get Going!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:51:22 -0700

It was a pleasure to meet the General Manager of Grupo Lezama along with the local GM of the Madrid properties and the Events/Party & Marketing Manager of the Madrid establishments (also the son of the owner).
We started our day with fresh churros, café and with lovely jamon and tomato bruschette. What a way to start the day – finish eating with jamon and begin the day eating jamon. The Spaniard’s know how to enjoy good food.
After the light breakfast I had the opportunity to take the grand tour of the kitchens and restaurants, visit with chefs and kitchen staff, each with their own unique style. The chef at the Café de Oriente was proud to show his fresh fish that had just arrived.
Touring one of the most interesting areas we observed through a glass floor ancient Arabic artifacts dating back to the 12th century. I was told this was only found because they were trying to dig deeper to enlarge their food storage area and stumbled upon. When they found this they felt they had to preserve it. I was also told the reason for this being underground is because there was a wall built around Madrid to protect it (like the Great Wall of China). The wall was taken down and portion of the city were rebuilt.
Then I visited the many unique dining rooms where they entertain. There is the King’s room (this is where the King and Queen enjoy their meals when dining at Café de Oriente), The Grandma room (holding tradition of a true Grandmother’s dining room). Pope John Paul II dined in this room.
Time now to find out what they are really doing in these kitchens. So, on with the chefs coat and off to a meeting with the Chef of Taverna. I will now see how the oxtail with potato was made, how the burnt sugar cups are created. I had the pleasure of not only seeing how these wonderful foods were prepared but, also had the opportunity to look at the makings of the lamb shanks slow roasted for 6 hours in 185-190 degree water bath while locked in a vacuum sealed bag. How they clean and prepare the fresh fish. At noon I was invited to join in on the staff meal which is the time of day when the kitchen staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. all gather to enjoy their meal before the lunch crowd comes (between 1-4pm).
After taking the afternoon siesta I returned to the restaurant to enjoy a light meal and then observe the rush of the ‘after the opera’ crowd, which began dining at 10pm.