Our ongoing series of tapas photos from our latest food artist discovery: food photographer Steve Homer of Sabor de Almería in the southeast of Spain.
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Food Art: Tomato and Cheese Tartelettes, food photography by SandeeA
SandeeA is the author of our Food Play column. She writes in both English and Spanish, but is a woman of many talents, including food photography and styling. She runs a popular food blog in Spain, La Receta de la Felicidad.
Click here for the recipe.
Related articles
- Food Art: Square deviled eggs, food photography by SandeeA
- Food Art: Puff Pastry Salad, food photography by SandeeA
- Food Art: Vanilla and Oreo ice cream, food photography by SandeeA
- Food News Daily: August 26, 2011
- Food News Daily: September 15, 2011
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How to build a recipe: a video by Grant Achatz, chef of Alinea
I always say to build a recipe you have to know how to think with your tastebuds. Here’s a video with a thorough explanation of the process by one of the best in the world: Grant Achatz, chef at Alinea in Chicago, Illinois, in the U.S. He approaches it in an intuitive, yet logical manner. I strongly advise up-and-coming chefs to watch this. It holds lessons for life.
Click here to watch video.
Image courtesy of Caroline. Grant Achatz in center.
Related articles
- Famous Spanish Restaurant El Bulli Shuts, for Now
- Spanish chef Ferran Adria shuts El Bulli restaurant
- Famed el Bulli eatery closes doors in Spain
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How I got my recipes indexed by Google Recipe Search. A Spanish perspective.
by SandeeA
Para leer en español
How I got my recipes indexed by Google Recipe Search. A Spanish perspective.
The first thing you need to know is that I am no expert on this subject. This article is not intended to be an infallible guide, but rather a summary of the steps I have taken to succeed in getting my recipes included in the search results of Google Recipe Search.
1. What is Google Recipe Search?
Google Recipe Search is a tool Google launched a few months ago, and is already operating in Japan and the U.S. At some point it will undoubtedly be launched for other countries as well, including Spain.
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Food Art: Choux pastry profiteroles with spinach, pine nuts and goat cheese, food photography by Steve Homer
Our ongoing series of tapas photos from our latest food artist discovery: food photographer Steve Homer of Sabor de Almería in the southeast of Spain.
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I’m Spanish, and I DO give a darn about Spanish cucumbers!
by SandeeA
Cucumber crisis and E. coli outbreak in Spain? The Spanish defense
The German health authorities finally recognized their error, albeit a week too late. After confirming the results of two out of the four laboratory tests carried out, it was announced that the variant of the Escherichia coli bacteria, commonly known as E. coli, responsible for the deaths in Germany is not the same as the one found in the Spanish cucumbers originally blamed.
What? The Spanish cucumbers are “no longer” the cause of the infection? After all the jokes that went around about them on Twitter, Facebook, and the like. And that’s not even the end of the story: the same social networks ended up condemning the entire agricultural production of a country, i.e. Spain.
But in a country like Spain, in the midst of a dire economic crisis, declaring its cucumbers and then its produce contaminated is no laughing matter, especially when such allegations are far from being proven. Almost all European countries closed the door on Spanish produce. The E.U. ordered that all imports of cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce coming from Spain be inspected.
How is the Spanish produce industry going to recover these losses? Will it ever be compensated? After a week of being blamed for several deaths due to our cucumbers, boldly proclaimed on the front pages of newspapers around the world, it will be difficult. There is no way to repair the damage, not even the damage done by social networks, where “news” spreads as quickly as unfounded rumors.
The E.U. is now analyzing how to compensate Spanish fruit and vegetable producers for the economic losses caused by this infectious outbreak the Germans attributed to a batch of Spanish cucumbers. The worry is that there are times that nothing can compensate for a loss.
The sad thing is that the innocent Spanish cucumber was never given a chance. German officials hastily proclaimed its guilt before even giving it a fair trial.
Related articles:
“Los pepinos españoles no son los causantes de la epidemia de E.Coli en Alemania”
“ Los agricultores españoles y holandeses sufren el colapso de sus exportaciones”
“La crisis del pepino cuesta a España 200 millones de euros a la semana”
“Son ya 14 los fallecidos por la crisis E.coli en Alemania”
“La crisis del pepino provoca pérdidas cuantiosísimas a la agricultura española”
“Bruselas recuerda que España puede pedir ayuda por el bloqueo de los pepinos”
“Los 27 barajan una reunión extraordinaria en junio sobre la crisis de los pepinos”
“Germany admits Spanish cucumbers are not to blame”
“Spain says Germany must pay for cucumber damage”
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Me importa el pepino
by SandeeA
Una semana después, las autoridades sanitarias alemanas han rectificado. Tras comprobar los resultados de dos análisis (de los cuatro) que se van a realizar, se demuestra que la variante de la bacteria Escherichia coli responsable de las muertes en Alemania no es la misma que la que se encontró en los pepinos inculpados. Vaya hombre, ahora resulta que los pepinos españoles no van a ser los culpables de la infección. Con lo bien que lo estábamos pasando haciendo chistes sobre pepinos españoles en Twitter, Facebook, y demás… sí, esas redes sociales que lo mismo acaban con gobiernos que con las exportaciones hortofrutícolas de un país.
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Cross-Continental Cooking: Slow-Roasted Strawberries
by Tricia Martin and SandeeA
Para leer la versión en español, pinche aquí
My partner SandeeACocina and I partner on a recipe once a month.
This month, we wanted to go with something a little sweeter than usual. Strawberries are in season both in the U.S. and Spain, so it only made sense to use strawberries. Every May I look forward to tasting that perfect jeweled basket of aromatic, sweet strawberries and I couldn’t be more thrilled to find a friend across the Atlantic who revels in some of these same simple pleasures of life. So strawberries it is this month.
We keep the recipes we make each month a “secret” from each other until the very last moment. We don’t see what the other has done until the day before we post. We then swap recipes — Sandee translates into Spanish and I create the photo montages of our pictures — it’s great teamwork!
This month we were both surprised and delighted with the hot/cold aspect of our recipes. The roasted strawberries are hot, messy, and sexy. Sandee’s ice bowl with sangria is cold, composed, and has a lovely surprise finish.
I was inspired to try roasted strawberries when a blog post over at Tricia Martin, by Dimity Jones, popped into my inbox. I was totally seduced by the simplicity of the recipe and the idea of roasting a spring fruit (not even a vegetable) — I tend to save cooking methods like roasting for fall and winter time foods — but am so glad I broke out of that box.
The Balsamic complimented the sweetness of the berries, further intensifying their naturally bright color. The brown sugar did its job of creating the most amazing caramelized strawberry ooze that just begged to be scraped from the pan and licked from the fork.
And the smell — the smell! — of these babies cooking is absolutely intoxicating. My apartment was literally as fragrant as strawberry fields forever as they sizzled on their hot little pan, eeking out beautiful dark red juices and creating one of the best strawberry desserts I’ve had in a long while.
I ate them straight from the pan! I promise I tried to put them on a plate, but alas, the forks in the photo do not lie: I ate this directly from the pan and I would have had all my friends do the same if they had been around, rather like when you share a fondue. The berries would however be smashing over some crumbly short bread, a Southern-style biscuit or with a dollop of crème fraiche.
Recipe
Slow-Roasted Strawberries
Recipe inspired by Tricia Martin
Ingredients
Click here for metric recipe converter
2 pounds strawberries
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1-2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Toss the strawberries, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet and bake for 1.5 hours. You’ll know when they are getting near done, your house will fill with the most amazing smell of strawberries. When finished, take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle with the sea salt, serve warm with an optional scoop of creme fraiche, vanilla ice cream, or chopped dark chocolate. However, they really are fantastic on their own.
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