With Spain’s growing reputation as the new centre of innovative cuisine in Europe, author and chef Jane Lawson’s latest delicacy, Cocina Nueva: The New Spanish Kitchen, is a timely tome. In it she pays homage to her experiences on a recent gastronomic tour of that country and what she describes as “incredible, artistic, technically perfect, fascinating dishes that tasted of focused raw passion.” From tapas plates to authentic, rustic meals, Lawson ingeniously transforms the classics with a modern flair but keeping the traditional colours, flavours and textures. Each chapter – divided into Tasca (tapas), Cocina (main meals) and Postres (desserts), the way the Spaniards like to eat – offers a variety of simple-to-prepare dishes backed up by fabulous photography. Enjoy spiced sidra over a variety of tapas dishes like garlic prawns with chorizo or chicken albondigas with saffron almond sauce. Or spoil friends with sherry-poached veal with potato and anchovy gratin, crisp cumin chicken with red capsicum jam, or the txangurro (baked spider crab) ravioli. As a sweeteners, nothing like the sweet bunuelos with orange curd or café con leche jelly to top a great meal. Now if only I could manage to put it all together on a plate.
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