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by Silvia Violet
A few weeks ago, I decided to plan a romantic dinner for my husband and me to enjoy for a date at home (aka a civilized dinner eaten after our little one is in bed). I had some chorizo (a spicy Spanish sausage) in the freezer that I wanted to use. So I went online searching for recipes. I chose a Spanish recipe using white beans and decided to go with a tapas* theme for the whole meal. I searched for other recipes and went to a gourmet market where I actually had fun grocery shopping for the first time in ages. *If you are not familiar with tapas, they are small dishes, only a few bites, which can serve as appetizers or several of them can form a meal such as I describe below. In America, one can find tapas restaurants in many cities. These restaurants are typically places where patrons order several tapas dishes and make a meal out of their excursion. In Spain, tapas are more typically eaten at a tapas bar as an appetizer along with a drink before going out to a late dinner. Here is what I served for my tapas meal: Cannellini Beans and Chorizo (recipe below)
1 T olive oil |
1) Sauté onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
2) Cut chorizo into 1/2 inch thick slices, add to pan. Cook until brown all the way through.
3)Rinse beans and add them to the pan. Cook until warm. Season again with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley.
Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts (recipe below)
1 lb fresh spinach, shredded and stems removed
1 small red onion, chopped
2 T pine nuts
1 clove garlic
2 T golden raisins
pinch ground cinnamon
1) Toast pine nuts over medium heat in a dry skillet until browned (about 3 minutes). Remove from pan.
2) Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent.
3)Add spinach, raisins, cinnamon. Sauté until spinach wilts.
Bread, Cheese, and Chutney - I toasted slices from a baguette and used drunken goat cheese, Mahon (a hard Spanish cheese), and eggplant chutney, You could pick any selections you like.
I also added an assortment of olives and a plate of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip the bread in. Then for dessert, I served more of the Mahon cheese and slices of a fig and almond cake I bought at the gourmet market in the cheese section. Some other good dessert options are flan, strawberries soaked in balsamic vinegar over pound cake, or bruschetta with goat cheese and orange marmalade.
We paired this with a bottle of Concha y Toro Carmenere, a very affordable Spanish red.
I assure you this meal can be the beginning for a delightful, romantic, adult evening that can go anywhere you want it to. 
May's Food Porn
Food porn in this instance means cookbooks with pictures of food so sinfully delicious they could give you an orgasm. See the February column for a fuller explanation.
This month's selection is Saveur magazine. I've seen this magazine on the rack at a specialty grocery where I shop occasionally, and I've always been tempted to pick up a copy because the pictures on the front are so sinfully mouthwatering. I finally checked it out this month, and I liked it so much I decided to subscribe. The food pics make you want to sink your teeth right into the page, and the essays are a great read. Here's the link to check out Saveur online: http://www.saveur.com/index.jsp.