SPANISH MEAL

I woke up to the steady pit-pat of rainfall on the rooftop and instantly felt ambitious today, so thought I’d get busy in the kitchen and whip up a Spanish menu for at least 2 meals: same meal, but as there is just {me} instead of {we} now, I will be setting one aside in the freezer until  later on. And I only baked half the cookies, preparing and freezing the other half for future enjoyment also ;-)

This menu comes from my Bon Appetit, February 1985 cooking magazine.

I am posting the recipes in their entirety and you can break it down as you decide – I will be breaking the recipes down into a widow’s portions, as you will see with the picture accompanying the chicken recipe.

As usual, I have tweaked the recipes to fit my needs: instead of whole trussed chickens, I used chosen chicken pieces. Instead of slivered orange peels, I used ground orange peel; I also left out the orange segments as too much citrus is hard on my stomach. Instead of sprinkling slivered almonds on the cookies, which is also hard on my digestive system - I just left them off. And everything turned out fine and tasted great; recipes are guidelines – they are not cooking sacraments ;-)

Spanish Meal. Roast Chicken Seville & Saffron Rice w-Currants. I like trying new recipes, but I always cook 'homestyle'. If I want a fancy restaurant style serving ... I will go to a fancy restaurant and pay a fancy price for an eye-candy plate.

While the chicken and rice cooked, I worked some more on a ripple stitch lapghan that will also be donated to the local hospital for their beneficiary medical foundation; it will probably go to the cancer center.

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SPANISH MENU

Roast Chicken Seville

Saffron Rice w-Currants

Almond Cookies

Roast Chicken Seville ~Serves 6

4 medium Oranges * 2 tablespoons Olive Oil * 2  3-3-1/2-pound chickens * 4 Garlic cloves * 2 Bay leaves, crumbled * 1 teaspoon Salt * ½ teaspoon freshly ground White Pepper * ¼ cup (1/2 stick butter) * 1 cup Chicken Stock * 2 tablespoons Sherry Vinegar * Green onion tops * Orange Segments

Using a vegetable peeler, remove colored part if peel from oranges. Cut peel into slivers. Squeeze juice; strain into a bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Brush large roasting pan with oil. Pat chickens dry. Mix garlic, bay leaves, salt & pepper together; rub chickens inside and out with mixture. Truss chickens. Place on racks in prepared pans. Dot with butter. Roast 30 minutes. Baste with half orange juice; sprinkle with half of slivered peel. Continue roasting chicken until juices run clear when thigh is pierced – about 15 minutes or more.

Roast Chicken Seville: cut significantly down for 2 'widow serving' meals. Thighs ready for oven. If you follow the recipe exactly as typed above, it will, of course, look different being prepared for the oven.

Cover remaining peel with water and simmer 10 minutes. Drain.

Transfer chicken to platter. Stir remaining orange juice into pan, scraping up browned bits. Add blanched peel, stock, and vinegar; boil until sauce is thick and syrupy – about 15 minutes. Spoon sauce over chicken, and garnish with onion tops and orange segments.

Saffron Rice w-Currants ~Serves 6

½ cup Currants * ¼ cup dry Sherry * ¼ cup (1/2 stick) Butter or Olive Oil * 1-1/2 cups long-grain Rice * 2 tablespoons minced Green Onion * 2 Garlic cloves * 2-1/2 cups Chicken Stock * 1/8 teaspoon Saffron threads, crushed * 3 tablespoons Butter * Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Soak currants in Sherry 1 hour.

Meanwhile, melt ¼ cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add rice, onion and garlic and stir until golden – 2 to 3 minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil. Stir several tablespoons into saffron to dissolve – return to skillet. Reduce heat, cover tightly; and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed – about 20 minutes.

Chicken stock mixture

Cooked Saffron Rice ... Currants will be added later.

Drain currants; stir into rice with remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Season with salt & pepper. Serve immediately.

Almond Cookies  ~About 6 dozen

¾ cup (1-1/2 sticks) Butter, room temperature * 6 tablespoons granulated Sugar * ½ teaspoon Almond Extract * 2 cups all-purpose flour * 1/8 teaspoon Salt * 1 Egg White, beaten to blend (glaze) * 1/3 cup minced blanched almonds * 1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon

Cream butter with 4 tablespoons sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy:

Sift together flour and salt; beat into butter mixture …

Gather dough into a ball; flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour:

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to thickness of 1/8-inch. Using a fluted pastry wheel, cut dough into 1x2-inch strips …

Arrange on ungreased baking sheets. Brush with glaze. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, almonds, and cinnamon: sprinkle over strips:

Bake until golden brown around edges – about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on rack.

Baked Almond Cookies. This is a hard type of cookie.