Romesco Sauce with Charred Onions: an Authentic Catalonian Recipe

One of the things I love most about travel is - surprise! - eating, drinking, and tasting a variety of new dishes and flavors. I am especially happy when I get the opportunity to chat with chefs and restaurant owners and, if possible, come away with an authentic recipe or two, as I did with Chef Mike's gnocchi in pumpkin cream in Vienna. 

This recipe for Romesco sauce comes courtesy of Hugo, co-owner of the adorable Gastromaquia in Madrid.

Salmorejo: A Spanish Soup Recipe in Sonnets

If you have not experienced the intense pleasure of perusing Trevor's haiku posts over at Sis Boom Blog I suggest you do so immediately.  They are quite brilliant, and he really outdid himself for National Haiku Day: He even rendered his entire recipe in haiku form.

To add to the fun, he encourages his readers to leave haiku comments. I am usually glad to oblige, but for Haiku Day I decided to do something a bit different and I left my comment as a sonnet. (Per Sherlock: "Of course I'm showing off. I am a show off. That's what we do.")

And so I thought - why keep my sonnets confined to Trevor's comment section, worthy outlet though  it is?  After all, coming up with some clever prose about every dish I make can feel  a bit ... forced sometimes.

And well, there's nothing contrived or forced about a sonnet recipe is there? I thank you in advance for your indulgence.

Bravas Sauce & Leek Tortilla Pinchos, An Altogether Different Sort of BLT

This month's Creative Culinary Crew challenge, hosted as ever by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks, was deceptively simple: Come up with a new version of the classic BLT sandwich. The catch? Participants were forbidden to use bacon, lettuce, or tomato to fulfill the BLT requirement.

Right, then. That's as easy as plugging in any old foodstuff that begins with a B, an L, and a T, yes? Ah, but there's the rub: such a random approach would not only (in my opinion) lead to an uninspired kitchen-sink mess of a sandwich (barnacles, liver, & turmeric, anyone?) it would result in a dish completely lacking in context.