Pretty terrific apple cake

I've had my eye on this apple cake recipe from Food 52 since it was posted and so finally made it last night.

Though I made several changes, which I recommend, it is definitely a wonderful, addicting cake. The use of oil lends an unbeatable moistness and the large chunks of apple make their flavor prominent as it should. The original recipe calls for: three cups of all-purpose flour and I used two plus one cup of whole wheat pastry flour; 1 cup of raisins which I reduced to ½ cup; 1 cup of chopped walnuts which I made ¾ cup halved and quartered pecans; 2 cups of sugar which I reduced to 1½ cups; and 1½ cups of canola oil which I altered to be 1 cup of canola plus a scant ½ cup of olive oil. A shot of Bourbon or Calvados might be a nice addition in the future. I posted the recipe for my version of this cake under Desserts.

Comfort dinner

The Devil Wears Prada is such a fun movie. I meant to go to bed, and I really do want to (because midday drinking, while such fun, is not something I'm really young enough to do and then perk up from anymore; boo!), but then T turned it on, and... Tonight I cooked such a delicious, comfort-food meal: roast chicken seasoned with star anise, cloves, garlic and bay leaves; gravy and wild rice; and a raw kale salad with sultanas and walnuts. The chicken could not have been more perfectly cooked, tender and moist and full of flavor. Ol, my little sous chef, helped me prepare it and made me swear to save him some. Of course we did, but while I was stripping the carcass, I gave a few little bites to Nutmeg and Percy. It must have been cat-crack chicken because sooner than not, Nutmeg had jumped INTO the trash can after the scraps. I removed him and he jumped back in. Persistent little bugger. And it was a lovely chicken.

Taberna del Alabardero

I got to do the coolest thing today! A dear friend recently celebrated a birthday, and her gift from her very creative and thoughtful husband was a class with her fam and friends at a local Spanish restaurant, Taberna del Alabardero. In the Taberna's kitchen and under the tutelage of its Executive Chef, we spent four hours learning the craft of making authentic paella. In fact, we made three different stocks - vegetable, seafood and chicken - so that we could cook four different paellas! As an additional treat, the restaurant's sommelier, Gustavo, shared a great wine with us, a 2010 tempranillo by Volver. (Update: DC-area folks, this wine is available at MacArthur Beverages on MacArthur Blvd!) The whole experience was fantastic, and I was in heaven.

Chef Romero, born and raised in Madrid, taught us about the varieties of rice best for making paella (he prefers calasparra, a short-grain, super-absorbent Spanish rice, but arborio will do) and about the importance of using an olive oil low in acidity (0.4%) for paella so that the flavor of the oil plays no more than a supporting role. Unsurprisingly, he feels strongly that the quality of the broth used is the best possible, read: homemade. His reduces at a rapid boil for 3-4 hours resulting in a super-flavorful, concentrated stock. You should have seen the color of the chicken broth. I'm using stock and broth interchangeably here, as we tend to do in the States, but for paella, broth is the liquid element while stock is the non-rice, non-liquid base, sort of like a sofrito.

Ultimately, we made an out-of-this-world vegetable paella, one focused on chicken and Spanish sausage, a seafood mix and another with squid ink (though because it's illegal to import squid ink into the U.S., we used cuttlefish ink). We tasted some delicious Spanish oils, and Chef Romero topped things off with a mushroom/manchego paella that was phenomenal: think risotto dates paella plus a little more cream and cheese. Yow!

I loved being in the professional kitchen and getting to noodle around the pots and pans, sniff ingredients, taste everything and ask as many questions as possible. I'm hoping to head back to Taberna del Alabardero for dinner soon.