SAFFRON SEASON This picture which appears in FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS shows the production of saffron in La Mancha. (Photos courtesy of DOP Azafrán de la Mancha.)The saffron harvest has begun! From the end of October through the first of November is the season of the saffron harvest in La Mancha (central Spain). Saffron is a star ingredient in my new cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of
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A CHAT WITH THE FOOD ENTHUSIAST ABOUT FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS  So, what is al-Andalus? I wrote a whole chapter in Flavors of al-Andalus to explain just that. But when Dara Bunjon asked me the question during our video chat, I was hard-pressed to reply. I needed to condense 800 years of Spanish history into a soundbite in order to set the scene for the recipes that I have collected for this book.If you would like to listen in to our talk, here is the
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THESE CAROB BROWNIES ARE GLUTEN-FREE  Brownies with carob flour as well as chocolate are gluten-free.Instead of brownies, shall we call them “morenitos,” in honor of their Spanish ingredients? I made them with a new-to-me product, gluten-free carob flour. The carob, also known as locust bean or St. John’s bread—algarrobo in Spanish—is the seed-bearing pod or bean of a tree native to Mediterranean lands. Carob is used as a
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LETTUCE HEARTS ARE A THING  Wedges of lettuce hearts are dressed with fried asparagus, garlic, and ham. I was putting the finishing touches on dinner when Ben, returning from a sunset hike up the mountain, presented me with a bunch of freshly-picked wild asparagus. Autumn rains have brought forth this forager’s delight. I sat down to watch the news headlines before dinner. From the kitchen I heard some
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IN SEARCH OF THE FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS  (See below for where to order.)My new cookbook, Flavors of al-Andalus, traces the roots of many traditional dishes of Spanish cuisine back to al-Andalus, medieval Spain. They are dishes that people still cook and eat today, the food you might find in a tapas bar in Sevilla, at a village fiesta, or on the dinner table in a pueblo home.How did I choose which recipes to include? Going through
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