How you liked your eggs?

Runaway Bride is one of my favorite movies. I can see it again, and again and again. I never get tired of it. Great dialogue, good story, very romantic and, as if it were not enough, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Completely just perfect! By the way I am a big fan of Julia Roberts. 
 

Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) has left a line of fiancés at the altar on their wedding day. Homer Graham “Ike” (Richard Gere) writes about her, flattering way (?), not exactly. Then he is invited to write about Maggie in order to clear his reputation. He starts going to meet her friends, family and fiancé Bob. 

On the way Ike fell in love with her and so did she. Maggie and Ike kiss each other.  Bob punches Ike in the face and leaves. Ike proposed to Maggie. She says yes. She leaves Ike standing at the altar. 

I told you, this movie has it all.

My favorite part, there few to choose from, when he says to her “You’re so lost you don’t even know how you like your eggs.” It is a telling metaphor. Maggie’s choice of eggs changes with each fiancé. She is pretends everything in order to please them. Later she tries to discover herself. 

She tries different types of eggs. Eggs Benedict is her choice. 

If you want to know how this movie ends, you should see it.

To conclude, how you liked your eggs?

Sardine

“Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster.” - Ferran Adrià

I could not agree more. What I particularly like about this piece of advice is that anyone can understand without explanation. That is what I call a good and remarkable advice.

In haute cuisine, quality is usually measured by the freshness of the food and not for its price, just like home cuisine. You realize he chose sardine and lobster for greater understanding. He could instead have picked any other combination but he did not. One can see the contrast between a sardine and lobster, easily. That was the point.

Looking for information about sardine recipes, I found “Espeto de sardinas” means sardines on the spit, are a typical Málaga dish. I’ve never been to Spain so I have never tasted but pictures look delicious. 

 

And now I am hungry.

Smells like sauteed garlic

When olive oil and garlic get together in a hot pan it is a sign that something good is coming. It also indicates that my mom started to cook and I would have to run to help her. For me garlic and olive oil in a pan as well as the bread freshly baked, is probably one of the best smells in the entire world.

Furthermore, most people don’t like the smell on their hands after peeling garlic. To me its ok, don’t bother me at all. And that’s why I don’t have a trick for remove garlic’s smell off your hands. Sorry. 

Garlic and onion are the best friends for sure! They are at the base of numerous recipes. When preparing food, perhaps you will wonder “which goes first, the garlic or the onion? 

Set up and ready with a sharp eye and after years of experience-which translate in burning garlic, I can tell you the onions go first and then-almost immediately- the garlic; although my mom used to do it at the opposite too.

We are no better off than before, but with a new enigma!

What is Milho?

Madeira is known for its stunning landscapes, spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks, exquisite wine, and birthplace of the football star Cristiano Ronaldo. 

But you may not be familiar with “Milho Frito”, a typical Madeira dish. “Milho” means corn, “Frito” means fried, but is not fried corn, not literally. It made with cornmeal. It is most often used white cornmeal. But before make milho frito, we must first make is “milho cozido”. To explain this, it is better share with you a story. 

When I was a child, I remembered seeing my mother cooking milho and thought I could never do that. Until only a few days ago, still thought it was a three-headed monster, I was afraid. 

To give you an idea, my mother uses a big pot, one of these enormous pot in which we need to use both hand for mixing. She starts frying the chopped bacon. Then she adds plenty of water and salt to taste. Almost instantly, adds the corn flour, little by little, stirring all the time avoiding lumpy. Then the potatoes (cut into small cubes), the broad beans (semi-cooked previously), and collard greens (finely sliced). In summary, she cares about everything, except for one little thing -stirring constantly; I am in charge of that. 

After a while, the mix turns very thick. 

Loaded with a wooden spoon and my both hands, when I do that, I cannot help thinking that I am a witch, and is when burst into laughs like an evil witch. Whoever said cooking is not fun.

When cooking is finished, we have to serve it immediately, without letting anything in the big pot, even for just two diners. Into a dry glass shallow container we must put the rest of the milho. This step is very important to take. I will explain why. The consistency is hard to describe, is like soft and creamy when still hot but firm when it is getting colder. 

Obviously, too much food for too few people, no problem, that is the whole point. Once the milho is cold, we can fry it in a pan with cooking oil and then it becomes as “milho frito”.  My mom serves as a hot appetizer. But it is in fact a traditional side dish. 

I do not want to over-dramatize, but I felt deceived during all this years. I thought that this recipe was the traditional one, the original one.

Big mistake.

The typical dish has no potatoes, no bacon and no broad beans.

Even so, this is the only way always I know and eat it, for me it is still traditional. 

What another possible way could I eat broad beans? 

Have you also the answer?

The three headed monster becomes in a regular one, so to speak.

Meringue cookies

Today, I said, I would make meringue, am I right...?

Time to make meringue, indeed is meringue cookies to be precise. Also it known as a “suspiro”, which means “sigh”. Why “suspiro” word, I have no idea. But I have a theory. 

As you know, I wanted a challenge, was egg whites whisk by hand. Well, I did. The outcome was that I felt myself super-exhausted, hyper-achy and when I finished, even at the half-way, I was bemoaning with a sigh. So makes sense.

It takes me a long time, about 40 minutes, with very short breaks. I can only say that sacrifice worth it, although I still have a lot to learn. You feel good doing a job well done, even more when you work hard. The bad news is the meringue cookies do not last very long, are eaten quickly.

Before starting, we must bear in mind:

Bowl and utensils must be impeccable clean.

Bring egg whites to room temperature

Do not use a wooden or plastic bowl

Do not use an aluminum bowl

Without further ado, let’s start then.

We only need egg whites and sugar. Put egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed- feel free to use an electric blender-until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, while continuing to mix. The result is a very stiff white cream.

You can use a pastry bag to do the mounds; I used two tablespoons, more rustic style handmade. Bake for about 90 minutes. Make sure the oven low heat.

done!