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The Barcelona Cookbookby Sasa Mahr-Batuz, Andy Pforzheimer
Price: $29.99
ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-7394-5
ISBN-10: 0-7407-7394-1
Format: Hardcover
Size: 9 x 10 in.
Page Count: 224 pages
“The book is filled with great recipes, but there’s a lot more. Stories about the chefs’ purveyors and inspirations really give you an idea of how passionate these folks are about food, wine, and celebrating life. In fact, one of the most attractive parts of the book is a great little rundown of menus for parties; their mouthwatering entrée recipes make me want to start planning a full-scaled Spanish fiesta.” ––Snooth http://www.snooth.com/articles/wine-and-food/recipes-from-the-barcelona-cookbook/
“It’s tapas with a Mediterranean and Latin twist offering recipes perfect for sharing with friends and family. Along with the interesting sidebars, recipes are nicely paired with wine suggestions, menu and party planning recommendations, and tips for applying restaurant tricks to the home kitchen.” ––Suzy Said http://suzysaid.com/fairfield/index.php?page=stories&family=restaurants&category=Local_Cookbooks&display=10050
“We (my wife and I) collect cookbooks for many reasons, but you know you’ve hit the jackpot when a certain book is simultaneously fun to read with great stories; sprinkled with useful tips and hints throughout; contains photos that make you want to pluck the food off the pages to eat; inspires you; and, oh by the way, is full of delicious recipes that do not require a degree from Le Cordon Bleu or the Culinary Institute of America to prepare.” ––Books, Drinks & Beverages http://drinks-beverages-books.blogspot.com/2010/03/low-price-barcelona-cookbook.html
“When the Barcelona Cookbook came out last Summer, I was incredulous that I could recreate the flavors that emerge from their kitchens. Sure, these recipes don’t come with music and engaging bartenders, but the food tastes great.” ––CT Bites http://www.ctbites.com/home/2010/2/13/chef-talk-barcelonas-gambas-al-ajillo.html
“The Barcelona Cookbook is robust and gutsy, just like the establishment, and is oozing with good things. Alluring aromas, savory flavors, and good times are the main ingredients in this offering. It brings the cosmopolitan soul of Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar home with 110 unbelievable recipes perfect for sharing with friends and family. Along with the interesting sidebars, recipes are nicely paired with wine suggestions, menu and party planning recommendations, and tips for applying restaurant tricks to the home kitchen.” ––Imaginary Kitchen http://bit.ly/17En6u
“Whenever I am in the state of Connecticut, I seek out the Barcelona Restaurants because I know I will always have a meal packed with tons of flavor. Now, we can all create those delicious Spanish dishes at home.”
Bobby Flay
Executive Chef/ Owner
Mesa Grill, Bar Americain and Bobby Flay Steak
Owners Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer welcome you to The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $29.99, July 2009), where they share the delicious dishes and drinks that have made them the biggest Spanish restaurant group in the United States.
With The Barcelona Cookbook in hand, you can re-create in your own kitchen what the restaurants do every night of the week. Inside you will find recipes to create a meal that can be as casual or elaborate as your mood, and your family and friends will love you for it.
Sasa and Andy will introduce you to a style of eating and cooking that might not be familiar but that will invigorate you with its palate of bold, exciting, and satisfying flavors and textures. They have traveled extensively and admire and include many of the world’s cuisines, but tapas are the cooking style they love more than any other. The Barcelona Cookbook includes 115 signature recipes that highlight the simple and clean flavors of their bold hot and cold tapas as well as main dishes, party food, and desserts. A sampling includes Roasted Beets with Cabrales and Toasted Walnuts, Mussels al Diablo, Chorizo with Sweet-and-Sour Figs, Swordfish with Panzanella, Paella Barcelona, and Chocolate Indulgence.
Also inside:
• A Cocktails and Wine chapter with detailed information about Spanish wines and recipes for cocktails from Blood Orange Margarita and Gazpacho Boracho to Effen Awesome and White Peach, Pomegranate, and Agave Martinis
• Menus for tapas parties
• Information about Spanish cheeses and cured meats, as well as tips for choosing olive oil and fresh fish and meat
• A photo essay from an asado, an outdoor party that you will wish you had attended
• Sources for Spanish ingredients and food
Take it from Gerry Dawes, America’s pre-eminent authority on Spanish food, wine and culture, who wrote the foreword for The Barcelona Cookbook: Sasa and Andy’s restaurants are the next-best thing to being in Spain. Now with their cookbook, your home kitchen can boast the same exciting aromas, the same festive atmosphere and sense of camaraderie. If you love to eat and live life with gusto, you’ll love The Barcelona Cookbook.
Sasa Mahr-Batuz is a native of Argentina, but has lived all over the world. He brings his exposure to cooking and flavoring from a number of different cultures to the Barcelona restaurants. Sasa has been in the restaurant business since 1993, and the food business since 1989. He is in charge of design and concept for all the Barcelona restaurants.
Andy Pforzheimer has worked as a chef, consultant, and restaurateur in France, California, and New York City alongside such chefs as Jeremiah Tower, Anne Rosenzweig, and Martha Stewart, before opening the Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar. He is in charge of the menu selection for all the Barcelona restaurants.
Since 1996, co-owners Sasa and Andy have been entertaining people at their wine and tapas bars—warm, welcoming places with great wine lists and small plates of tantalizing food that can be eaten as easily at the bar as at a table. Their guests know they will laugh, have great conversation, and enjoy terrific food and drink.
Today there are six locations in Connecticut: South Norwalk, Greenwich, Stamford, Fairfield, West Hartford, and New Haven. Andy and Sasa search for the best ingredients at the local markets and from nearby farms, as well as rely on imported Spanish spices, olive oils, vinegars, cheeses, olives, and cured meats. All of this bounty is used in dishes that are cooked simply so that the flavors burst into life. See www.barcelonawinebar.com.
From The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life by Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer
Serves 6
This is a great dish to make ahead for parties as it keeps for as long as four days, although we admit it tastes best on the day it is made. It’s flavorful, inexpensive, and exotic. When done right and allowed to sit at room temperature, the goat cheese softens so that it can be spread on toasted baguettes or crackers. After that, the brilliant green of the mojo verde starts to fade. It still tastes good the next day.
Goat Cheese Logs
6 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
¼ bunch fresh chives
Two 8-ounce logs goat cheese
¼ pound cream cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mojo Verde
1 green bell pepper, seeded, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice
¼ medium red onion, cut into ¼-inch dice (about ¼ cup)
¼ bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed and leaves thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, cut into ¼-inch dice (for less heat, scrape out the seeds and membranes first)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ lime
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Baguette slices, flat bread, or endive spears, for serving
1. To make the goat cheese logs: Strip the leaves from the thyme, parsley, and rosemary sprigs, discard the stems, and mince the leaves and the chives.
From The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life by Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer
Serves 4
This is Sasa’s dish, borrowed from a restaurant he worked in and—like many of our best-selling dishes—Italian through and through. This dish follows the Barcelona precept: simple preparation and big, striking flavors. We serve a large crouton with it, but people will typically go through an additional basket of bread to finish the broth.
40 Prince Edward Island mussels or other high-quality mussels
1 cup olive oil
¼ baguette, sliced on the diagonal into eight ¼-inch-thick pieces
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 cups canned tomatoes with their juice, crushed
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1 cup dry white wine
½ bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, stems removed and leaves slivered, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
From The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life by Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer
We go through about 30,000 pounds of fresh calamari a year. Squid is, unfortunately, very seasonal, and there are times of the year it’s hard to find. Still, we serve this dish only when we have fresh calamari, because the frozen product contains too much water and never really caramelizes the right way. Don’t be shy with the seasonings; this is not supposed to be a subtle dish.
Serves 4
1 pound cleaned fresh calamari, cut into 1- to 1½-inch-thick rings, and tentacles, if included with the squid
Kosher salt
¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic (3 to 5 cloves)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1⁄8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt, for garnish
4 lemon wedges, for garnish
1. Put 2 large sauté pans (cast iron if possible) over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until very hot.
From The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life by Sasa Mahr-Batuz and Andy Pforzheimer
This is one of our signature dishes. Chef Bill Rosenberg’s wife is Sicilian, and one day she came in for lunch with her mother. Bill threw together some chunks of chicken, hot cherry peppers, and lemon and served them over pasta. Andy tried some and remembers asking, “What is that?” “Oh, that’s some Chicken Scarpiello for my Sicilian mother-in-law,” Bill answered. Andy asked if he could run it as a special, minus the pasta, and it hasn’t been off the menu since.
Hundreds of customers come in just for this chicken—some of them have it for dinner three or four times a week. It isn’t a difficult recipe, but be sure to use high-quality chicken, such as Bell & Evans or a free-range or organic bird, and be careful not to overcook it.
Serves 4
Two 3 ½-pound chickens
1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
3 russet potatoes, unpeeled, cut into sixteen 1⁄3-inch-thick slices
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
4 cherry peppers, cored, halved, and seeded
2 cups chicken stock
¾ cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste
¼ cup unsalted butter
1. On a cutting board, turn a chicken upside down and, using a sharp knife, remove the legs where they meet the thighs. Reserve the legs for another use. Cut the wings at the second joint, leaving the third of the wing closest to the body intact. Reserve the wing tips.
