In Barcelona and on the east coast of Spain, people eat tapas, but in the Basque country the people congregating in small bars indulge in the consumption of a thing called Pintxos. In essence it is simple food, nothing more than a good bar snack, but what makes it special is the quality of the ingredients used. It can be as plain as a single anchovy on grilled bread. But the bread will be a hearty country loaf, generously slathered with olive oil and sharply grilled and the anchovy will be regionally fished and probably preserved in oil by the publican’s ancient granny. Laid out on the bar (the pintxos, not the granny), you simply ask you trusty waiter to serve you whatever takes your fancy, order a glass of wine and enjoy. The idea is to try as much as you can at a leisurely pace while chatting to your friends and whoever else may be around. We’ll provide the around and you bring some friends for a night of Pintxos at Frangipani, Wednesday 30^th April 2008 from 7pm onwards.

And here’s what’s on the menu for that night:

Ancho chilli prawn cakes with mojo picon sauce
Homemade bacalao with fresh tomatoes on caramelised onion and peppers
Smoked duck breast with lemon herb oil and fresh tomato
Deep fried “Jamon” croquettesBlackened, bittersweet
Patron style green chillies with black salt
Pan seared foie gras with smoked anchovies
Crab mayonnaise with romesco sauce
Smoked fish on spicy mango salsa
Black rice stuffed grilled baby squid
Salpicon of fresh salmon with anchovies and artichokes

The notion of Paris in the spring time is rather more romantic than the reality of unreliable weather and sodden footwear, but one is rewarded by the new abundance of seasonal produce in the market of the Rue d’Aligre. I should probably not be telling you about it, because at the moment it is still very nicely a local market and apart from the occasional tourist (me) thankfully unblemished by camera toting women and (most frighteningly) men in stretch pants. Now before you cry foul, let me state that I use this improbable stereotype to describe an attitude, not a nationality. And what, rightly ask you, may that attitude be?? Is it wrong to view a market as a tourist attraction to be photographed, rather than a commodity to be used? I guess not, but there should be a rule that no one may take a photograph without buying a proverbial pound of something. Not necessarily flesh, of which on another tangent there was none to be seen on the Rue St. Denis. The only tarts on display were those in the windows of Ladurée. Is Paris no longer the city of sin?

But back to the marketing: The first white asparagus have been brought in and that most delectable of all fishy matter, monk fish liver can be seen attractively pale flesh coloured wobbling in the baskets. My friends Barbara and Bertrand kindly let me use their kitchen to make a simple and utterly delicious (though I say so myself) meal of fresh local produce. Bertrand got us some large scallops (and their coral), we pan fried the monk fish liver, poached the scallops in beurre noisette, squeezed a real lemon into the pan and threw the whole thing over young lamb’s lettuce. It really couldn’t be any simpler.

On to the main course: Take two scaled and gutted dorade (aka sea bream), salt and pepper inside and out, stuff with Sorrento lemons preserved in spiced olive oil (you should be so lucky) and whatever herb grabs your fancy. Shove in oven and wait for eyes of fish to be opaque and white and unless your fish was terribly cold, it should be just cooked. While fish cooks dice up some gras salé, which really is nothing but cured green fat and fry over slow fire until crisp lardons appear, throw in a handful of roughly chopped garlic, which will brown almost instantly. Upon taking fish out of oven pour lardons plus all their fat over fish and eat. Remember it’s winter and you need the fat and lardons to give you warmth. Lardons are called lardons because… but that another story.

download free midi ringtones tv theme ringtones 24 ctu free ringtones free verizon cell phone ringtones free cingular mp3 ringtones verizon ringtones free mp3 ringtones converter 24 fox ringtones music real ringtones ringtones cingular free music real ringtones nickelback ringtones info nokia remember ringtones free sprint ringtones send free ringtones to your phone send free ringtones to your phone free ringtones for verizon wireless cell phone free cellular phone ringtones download free cingular ringtones 3g for free ringtones

Returned today from rainy, cold France with a suitcase full of cheese. I just went totally crazy and bought and bought until I ended up with seven kilos of smelly. I was going to give you the whole list of cheeses, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten, especially since I was trying to buy some of the more obscure ones, such as a Saulzais, a Gour Noir and Cabri. The intrepid Mr. Libert searched the cellars and found me some new interpretations of old favourites, such as an amazing little camembert produced by a small farmer (the farm being small, not the farmer) and his wife. Instead of just aging it, they keep in a damp cellar, where it is slowly attacked by a delicious mould. After the whole little cheese is covered with a light natural grey, they gently poke holes into it and beautiful veins of health giving blue streak lightly through the soft pate.

What sounds like a perfect recipe for food poisoning to the uninitiated will set us cheese lovers salivating uncontrollably. Take heart: I HAVE THE CHEESE IN MY CHILLER!! and it will be lined up at the bar on Thursday 17 April, where those who arrive at 8 will have a chance to taste it (for it’s unbelievably expensive, so don’t count on seeing a huge piece of it). Should you miss this, there it still that cheese the name of which escapes me, but that is made by this old lady with the help of the three cows she calls her own. I wonder what happens if one of them suddenly drops dead? Well, I mean if it’s the old lady that drops, then that’s probably the end of the cheese.

Recap: Thursday 17 April,  RM 65++, as much cheese as you can eat, 8pm - 11pm, Frangipani Bar