Friday favorites 9/23
A unique take on grilled eggplant, elevated steak sandwiches, fighting food insecurity, and dreaming about fritters
Happy first Friday of fall! The weather is definitely giving autumn vibes in Madrid, which is honestly the biggest marker of a new season here other than changing leaves and sunset falling sooner. As I’ve mentioned before, there’s no fall obsession in Spain—the closest ode to autumn I’ve seen this week is a sandwich board outside of Starbucks advertising Pumpkin Spice Lattes.
Fall is in full-swing in our house, though, at least food-wise. We’ve retired our summery gazpacho and moved on to lentejas and caldo.1 While I’m a fan of cold soup, I’m looking forward to snuggling up with warming purees and stews in the months to come. Of course, a person cannot survive on soup alone (or so they say—I have my doubts), so you can check out some other foods of the week below:
I met a friend for yoga last Sunday and after the class we stopped by Honest Greens for lunch. HG is basically Spain’s answer to Sweet Greens, but on steroids. They offer seasonal salads and bowls, something called Market Plates, which have a protein (animal- or plant-based) paired with a more simple salad, and a continuously rotating selection of guarniciones2 and cosas para compartir3.
Berenjena a la Brasa from Honest Greens I hadn’t been there recently, so I deferred to my friend as far as the seasonal offerings. She immediately suggested the Berenjena a la Brasa (Grilled Eggplant), pictured above. As you can see, this wasn’t just any grilled eggplant, but one that had been smothered in hummus and mashed raspberries, and then topped with dill, Za’atar, pistachios, and a drizzle of olive oil. I appreciated that it was something unique that I probably wouldn’t make myself at home, and it was delicious to boot. Well-deserving of a place on the Friday Favorites list this week.
We’ve apparently been on a bit of a Smitten Kitchen kick in our house lately, what with the muffin recipes from last week and this week’s dinner of steak sandwiches. When I saw Deb’s recipe it reminded me of a sandwich that’s on the menu of Le Petit Prince, the French restaurant that I talked about last week. Naturally, we had to try it.
Smitten Kitchen’s Steak Sandwich, eaten at our coffee table while trying to find something to watch to top The Bear I can’t say enough about how amazing this sandwich was. The key is in the melding of flavors: the sweet caramelized onions on top of savory steak, the bitter bite of arugula, and the pungent yet creamy sauce slathered on the bread. Steak-lovers, add it to your list.
If you’re looking for something to read and a cool way to help out with food insecurity, I really enjoyed The Feminist Kitchen’s article on Little Free Pantries. Similar to the Little Free Library movement, the small pantries offer a place for community members to both give and receive food. As Addie quotes from the LFP website:
“It is designed to be a space free of judgment, stigma or criticism of a person’s situation or health. The pantry model of giving to and receiving from works well because many of us have enough, or more than enough and despite where we live, there are those who don’t have enough. Through this feedback loop of giving and receiving we become stronger and more resilient. Additionally, we believe this happening on a local level makes communities safer and healthier places to live.”
Check out the full article below:
Going along with my picture of apples at the top of today’s post, I can’t stop thinking about Anne Byrn’s post on Apple Cider Fritters, which of course means I’ll probably make them this weekend. I love Anne’s newsletter because she always includes bits of history and interesting facts to go along with her recipes. Join me in learning some doughnut trivia and drooling over her fritters at the link below:
I’d love to hear ways you’re leaning into fall (or paying tribute to the end of summer, if that’s more your season of choice) today, this weekend, and beyond. Comments are open if you’d like to share, and questions are also always welcome.
And we’re out! Wishing everyone a fantastic Friday, and see you back here on Sunday for our Sobremesa!
Ki
Caldo: Chicken stock, which we make from scratch. We eat it with the meat from the chicken used to make the stock, chickpeas, or fideos (a type of pasta). Or sometimes we eat it with all three!
Guarniciones: Add-ons/sides
Cosas para compartir: Things to share
And great newsletter recommendations too!
Another delicious post, Kiki, (that steak sandwich!)