Green Beans with Saffron & Cumin Seed

Espana. One of my favorite places in the world. From the awe inspiring architecture of Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia to the natural beauty of Madrid’s Royal Botanical Gardens and the revered Museo del Prado to the rousing and sensual flamenco of the Andalusia region, Spain is steeped in a culture that is gracefully yet fiercely passionate and rich in tradition. And the food… oh, the food! For me, the siren call of Spanish cuisine lies in the use of saffron, the cornerstone seasoning of many traditional Spanish dishes like paella. Adding a pinch of saffron to your food imparts a gorgeous yellow color and a very distinct taste, kind of like sweet honey with a metallic edge. Saffron is quite pricey but it’s well worth the investment because you use only a small bit each time and the flavor pay-off is huge. Buy only a small amount at a time and store in a tightly covered container in a dark, dry place.

In this recipe, saffron, cumin seeds, shallots and a small splash of sherry vinegar dress sauteed green beans with the characteristic flavors of Spain. These green beans pair well with Smoky Orange Grilled Chicken or Citrus Roasted Pork Shoulder. Vegetarians can make a whole meal by adding a couple cups of cooked chickpeas after the green beans are finished cooking. Increase the cumin seed and vinegar to 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons each, depending on your taste.

GREEN BEANS with SAFFRON & CUMIN SEED

1 pound of green beans, cleaned and trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 big pinch of saffron
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (if you can’t find the seeds then substitute ground cumin)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

Add shallots and cumin seeds. Saute for a few minutes until the shallots soften. (Be careful because a couple of the cumin seeds might pop out of the pan as they heat up.)

Add the green beans and stir to coat the beans completely with the oil and cumin seeds. Saute for a few minutes.

Crumble the saffron over the green beans. Sprinkle with the salt.

Add the water.

Cover and steam until the green beans are crisp-tender, about five minutes.

Uncover and allow any water still in the pan to evaporate over the heat.

Remove from heat. Sprinkle the vinegar over the green beans and mix well.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Smoky Orange Grilled Chicken

Grilling season is upon us once more! When the warm spring weather finally rolls in after months of snow and dreary skies, we grill almost every night so I’m always on the lookout for new ingredients to spice up our usual grilled chicken dishes. Chicken seasoned with Spanish smoked paprika, olive oil and garlic is a family favorite but even our favorites can get a little boring if we eat them too often. So I went on a supermarket mission to find something different to add to the smoked paprika marinade that I usually make. In the international food aisle, a bottle of Goya Bitter Orange caught my eye so I brought it home and added a big splash to the smoked paprika marinade. All I can say is WOW! Bitter Orange + smoked paprika = YUM! Don’t be fooled by the bitter designation because the flavor isn’t truly bitter, but rather a really strong orange flavor without the sweetness inherent in the orange juice that you drink for breakfast. You wouldn’t drink bitter orange juice on its own but it’s awesome in marinades and I imagine you could make a mean cocktail with it.

If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on some fresh sour oranges or bitter oranges, then by all means juice those babies and use the fresh juice instead of the bottled stuff. Sour or bitter oranges aren’t stocked at my local supermarket but I wonder if they’re available at the Latino market in the next town over. Field trip!

SMOKY ORANGE GRILLED CHICKEN

4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup bitter orange juice
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 large bay leaf, crumbled

Whisk together all of the ingredients, except the chicken.

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl or in an extra-large ziplock bag. Pour the marinade over the chicken and turn the pieces until they are coated in the marinade. If using a bowl, cover with a lid or plastic wrap. If using a ziplock bag, gently press out the extra air before closing the top.

Refrigerate the chicken for 6-8 hours. For best results, turn the chicken in the marinade after a few hours.

Let the chicken rest in the marinade at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.

Heat grill to medium high.

Gently shake off any excess marinade from the chicken pieces before placing on the grill. Grill for approximately 10 minutes per side for large pieces, such as the breast or thigh. Smaller pieces like the wing will cook much faster so turn them after 5 or 6 minutes. The chicken is done when the juices run clear when pricked with a fork or small knife.

Serves 4.

Pollo al Pimientos

This is definitely one of the best chicken dishes I have ever tasted. Truly, I would not lie to you- it’s that amazing. Unfortunately, I can’t claim the credit for creating Pollo al Pimientos because it’s on the dinner menu at Barcelona, my favorite Spanish restaurant in Connecticut, but I will accept your congratulations for figuring out the recipe so that all of us can cook it at home. Breaking down the recipe and getting it just right took a couple of tries but the effort paid off immensely once I mastered the silky, luxurious white wine and butter sauce that bathes the chicken. The sauce is the key to the dish because without it you just have a boring piece of chicken sitting on your plate. The quality of the sauce really depends on the quality of wine so please use a good wine and not that bottled cooking wine from the supermarket. I used a mid-priced bottle of Albarino, Spain’s premier white wine from the Galicia region of Northwest Spain (which is the ancestral home of my husband’s maternal relatives so it was a fitting choice for my family), but you can use whatever white wine you especially enjoy as long as it isn’t too sweet. Albarino has a bright, tart flavor with notes of almond and citrus so look for a wine with those qualities if you want to try something different.

The restaurant serves the chicken very simply with only pan roasted potato slices. In my recipe, I’ve also added in some spinach sauteed with garlic and cumin because the mother in me believes that every dinner should include a vegetable. I used spinach because that’s what I had on hand but you can use whatever green vegetable you prefer, like steamed green beans or asparagus.

Be forewarned: this dish is not for people with sensitive palates because it’s not merely spicy, it’s hella spicy due to the hot cherry peppers. You will feel the burn, but in a good way, I promise. This recipe serves two because I cooked it just for me and my husband when I was experimenting with the recipe but you can easily double or triple the ingredients. But use a little restraint with the hot cherry peppers if you’re tripling the recipe because they can be insanely spicy in large quantities. If you’re making a triple recipe, use only a double shot of the peppers.

POLLA AL PIMIENTOS

For the chicken and potatoes:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large boneless, skin-on chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
4-6 small hot cherry peppers, stemmed and seeded but left whole
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons cold butter
2 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise in 1/4″ thick slices
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

For the spinach:

1/2 pound spinach, tough stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Season the chicken on all sides with the salt and pepper.

Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

Add the potato slices in one layer. Saute for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to remove the potatoes to a plate. Set aside until you’re ready to plate the chicken.

Lower the heat under the saute pan to medium-low. Add the chicken, skin side down, and saute for about 8 minutes or until beautifully browned. Turn over and brown the other side for another 8 minutes. Feel free to adjust the heat even more if pan seems too hot or not hot enough. Remove the chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm. If the chicken breasts are really thick, they might not be cooked through but that’s okay because they’re going back into the pan later.

Add the garlic, broth, wine and lemon juice to the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and reduce the liquid by almost half, about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan, skin side up. Add the hot cherry peppers. Cover the pan. Lower heat to medium low and simmer for another 8 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, heat the oil for the spinach in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about one minute. Add the spinach and pour over the broth. Sprinkle the cumin over the spinach and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the spinach is just wilted, which takes a couple of minutes. Uncover and allow the extra liquid to cook off. Turn off the heat and let rest until you’re ready to plate the chicken.

Arrange the potato slices in a fan pattern on your serving dishes. Place a small mound of spinach on the plate at the base of the fan. Place a chicken breast on top of each mound of spinach.

Swirl the cold butter into the sauce until melted and fully incorporated. Spoon the sauce and hot cherry peppers over the chicken and potatoes. Garnish with the parsley.

Serves 2.