Cooking with Sofia

After a rest Luis led us on a walk to the home of a fantastic chef named Sofia. Over two hours we prepared a veritable feast and drank lots of regional wine. Apologies in advance for not having as many photos as usual — I was too busy cooking and eating.

We began with smoked chorizo grilled on a special dish. Rubbing alcohol in the bottom of the dish was ignited, and the sausage charred till sizzly. Eaten on a slice of bread, it was smoky and delicious. We quickly followed with baked cheese (goat and sheep), first drizzled with a little olive oil, then honey, and baked about 10 minutes at 350. (I ate it before I took a photo of the finished dish!) Simple and so good.

Sofia taught us a technique for peeling mushrooms with our fingernails. You simply grab the outer skin with your nail from inside the cap and pull it right off.

Then we put a bit of salt in the caps and filled them with olive oil before baking till the ‘shrooms were tender. I couldn’t believe how this simple method enhanced the umami!

After slicing boneless chicken breasts into paillards, then into what Sofia called fingers, they were left to marinate in olive oil, thyme, rosemary and garlic. We quartered par-boiled fingerling potatoes and combined them with more rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and oil before mixing them with the chicken. All of this went into a pot with olive oil and cooked on top of the stove.

Peeled and par-boiled carrots were cut on the diagonal, then mixed with minced garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro. A tablespoon of white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil made a nice vinaigrette to finish.

Our salads were rounded out by a mixture of black-eyed peas (soaked and cooked), flaked tuna (in olive oil), minced garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro.

These last two dishes would make a nice light lunch. And I think the mushrooms would be fabulous on pizza.

We rounded out the meal with apples baked in red wine and flavored with cinnamon. Everything we made was simple, with fresh items from Sofia’s garden (except for the chicken). Really clean food!

It was a fun evening, and one of the best cooking classes I’ve ever had — mostly because you don’t even need recipes for most of the dishes.

Contrary to popular habit, we didn’t even have a glass of wine after dinner at the hotel. Long day on the bus tomorrow.