Sanctuary from The Mad World
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch. - Orson Welles

When I encountered this dish for the first time in a Spanish restaurant, I thought they used a special kind of potatoes as the insides were soft, almost mashed, encased in salty, slightly chewy skin. Apparently, it’s a classic Canarian dish for ordinary new potatoes. It’s very easy to make, too.

I normally serve this potato plain, without the mandatory pepper sauce or Mojo, to accompany grilled or fried fish and meat. 

This recipe is not an original but a result of internet research.

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Servings: for two

This simple salad from NYT is a wonderful accompaniment to grilled fish. Not only the mushroom slices keep the fish flakes firmly in the middle of the fork, the flavours are lemony and fresh. I eliminate the parmesan as I prefer the salad to be light and Mediterranean-like. The combination results in one of the best summer lunches I’ve made. 

For the grilled fish, I picked up a whole "Royal Dorale" as it’s called here. I don’t know what it’s called in English. Googling results in ‘Mediterranean Sea Bass" or "Sea Bream". Not sure. Normally Royal Dorale is served ‘en papilotte’ with cherry tomatoes but I grill the fish using the Indonesian technique of massaging every kind of white meat with lemon juice to get rid of the fishy smell. As we can’t barbecue, I use my oven to grill. It works as well.

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I was waiting for our orders to arrive at Le Cedre, Zurich when I looked around the dining room. Almost every table had a globe artichoke. The diners pulled a petal from this beautiful, lotus-like green flower and scrape it with their teeth. I was jealous but we had ordered enough. I’ve never eaten one presented so beautifully and I want to know how the professionals cook it.

The one served in Le Cedre was, I guess, a steamed artichoke. I’m not sure what dip it was served with or what flavourings were in the artichoke. I decided to bake mine, simply drenched in olive oil. It was a good call as the sweet artichoke was flavoured with the delicate olive and, unlike the microwaved or steamed method, there was a subtle smoky flavour. Eating was also convenient as the petals came off easily when pulled.

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One restless Monday evening, I was craving for something to munch and there was nothing in the pantry. I reached for the freezer and took out Mövenpick’s vanilla ice-cream. After a few half-hearted spoonfuls, I realized I wanted salty snacks and there was none in the house.

Suddenly, I thought, "Why not roast chickpeas?" I love chickpeas and I wonder how they taste roasted. A quick googling brought me to this and this site. Apparently, I wasn’t crazy. There is such thing as roasted chickpeas.

I used dried chickpeas so the snack was available only the next day. Mine didn’t turn out completely crispy: some were still soft in the centre. I’ll just have to play around with the temperatures and dryness to ensure that I get it right (I’ll put the notes later as an afterthought). You should too (and tell me, please…)

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Servings: for four

Once in a while, I find good recipes by Rowley Leigh in the Financial Times. This recipe is actually very easy to make but all the shaving and grating make it a little tedious. The reward is great though. The pasta is softly perfumed by the delicate fragrance of the white asparagus which left me sniffing while draining the pasta and asparagus.

I know it doesn’t look much but it is delicious. The dish is a medley of spiciness from pepper and Parmesan with the softness of the pasta and crunch of asparagus. Do use Tagliatelle which I find to be the most tender of all pasta and thus matches well with the fine asparagus ribbons.

I served this dish as a light dinner with mixed green salad. This time round, accompanied only by plain tap water with a slice of lemon.

Original recipe is here.

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