Book Review

I'm off to a bad start in my 2007 reading list. But the year is young and there will be outstanding novels to come, I'm sure.

ABSURDISTAN by Gary Shteyngart ½ star
I borrowed this book when I read that it was one of the New York Times 2006 10 best fiction and The Washington Post Bookworld 100 best fiction. Well, I did not like this book at all, and only finished 1/3 of it. The author tried being: funny, witty, serious, political, but failed in all categories, in my opinion. All the characters are as flat as cardboard cutouts, regardless of the main character being grossly obese, if you can imagine a fat person flat as a pancake. Not one sentence or incident induced a smile, or even a smirk from me. I hate this book! It is so close to being one of the worst books I ever read.

LOVE, LIES & LIQUOR by M. C. Beaton 2 stars
I have read almost all the mystery novels written by this author, both the Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin and 2 in her Edwardian series. The last 2 Agatha Raisin books were not as funny and sharp nor different from the previous ones. It's the same old, same old story line and the non-romance with Agatha's ex/future husband James Lacey is just annoying and boring. I wish M. C. Beaton kills this guy off in her next installment in this series. Or she should take a break from writing 3 books a year!

THE BOOK OF DAVE by Will Self 3½ stars
The book is brilliant, actually, but I'm giving it only 3½ stars because it was difficult to read. I am not an expert in reading cockney or mockney (mock cockney) and reading it felt like trudging through the English mire, I had to read the conversation parts twice, especially at the beginning, to familiarize myself with it. It is still highly recommended, though.

Corned Beef Hash

corned beef hash, steamed rice and boiled edamame for dinner tonight

Today's "corned" beef are actually brined or pickled with salt, pink salt and spices, but the word corned (salt as big as corn kernels) stuck so people still call them corned beef. Mine is actually just beef brisket boiled for 2 hours with salt, peppercorns, bay leaf and mustard seeds. I sliced the cooked beef in half lengthwise, then shredded into thick pieces. For the hash, I diced and fried 4 medium potatoes, then sauteed for 3 minutes 1 crushed garlic, 1 sliced medium onion, and 1 chopped tomato, then added the shredded beef, the fried potatoes, and some of the broth. We Filipinos love it not just for dinner but also for breakfast with fried rice and fried eggs. Whether you use the ready brined/pickled corned beef or uncured beef, it will always be superior to the mushy canned corned beef.

Piaya

After several failed attempts, a lot of wasted flour and shortening, and a very messy kitchen counter, I was finally able to make piaya, the ingredients and procedure I got from inq7.net December 2005 archive, which I discovered is already gone from their site. The piaya is flaky but I could not replicate the paper thinness of the store bought. They also did not puff up because they were thicker than they should be. Nevertheless I am very happy with them and ate 2 pieces, yummy.

This is exactly what was in the inq7 article:

Piaya
½ kilo flour
½ C vegetable shortening
½ kilo muscovado sugar

Mix flour and shortening, cut into 10-gm portions, flatten/press into rounds, put 10 gms muscovado, form into balls, flatten balls and bake.

Update: add a few tablespoons of water to the dough to make it more pliable.

Fideuá

My daughter has been into thin spaghetti recently, eating them with everything but tomato sauce. She has eaten them seasoned with just butter, salt and parsley and then with mesquite chicken patties, then she eyed the morcon and its rich sauce and started eating them with the spaghetti. Since then she has paired the pasta with honey ham, hotdogs, chili, chicken inasal (grilled), and corned beef hash. When she is in the mood for something, that's all she eats until she gets sick of it. One time she had PBJ sandwich for lunch everyday for almost 2 weeks! Weird. So I decided to give in and made the Spanish seafood fideuá using angel hair pasta. I was going to make paella but changed my mind because I also want to try this paella-like dish anyway.

Fideua
½ pound Manila clams
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
5 cups water
1 pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded
½ pound medium shrimps, peeled and halved lenghtwise, shells reserved
½ pound monkfish with bones, cut into chunks, reserve the bones
pinch of saffron threads
sea salt
½ cup olive oil
½ lb angel hair pasta, broken into 2-inch lengths
1 clove garlic, minced
1 each small green and red peppers, seeded and cut into narrow strips
½ poundb small squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
1 lemon cut into 4 wedges

• Scrub the clams under cold water. In a large bowl, combine the clams, coarse salt and water to cover and let stand for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours for them to release any sand trapped in their shells
• .In a stockpot. bring the 5 cups of water to a boil, add the mussels, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove the mussels, set aside to cool. Add the shrimp shells and monkfish bones to the stockpot and simmer for 15 minutes. When the mussels are cool enough, remove the meats and discard the shells and any that failed to open. Set the meats aside.
• When the broth is ready, strain through a fine mesh placed over a bowl. Measure 3 - 4 cups, add the saffron and 1 ½ teaspoons salt, set aside.
• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• In a 15 inch pan or paella pan, heat the olive oil, add the pasta, stirring often, for 3 minutes or until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pasta and set aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons oil. Add the garlic and peppers in the pan and stir fry until tender. Add the shrimps, fish and squid, saute for 3 minutes. Add the 3 cups reserved broth and bring to the boil. Distribute the fried pasta evenly in the pan. Drain the clams and place the clams and shelled mussels on top of the pasta. Cook on high heat for 3 minutes. Add more broth if too dry. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10 minutes. The liquid will be absorbed, the pasta will be tender and the clams will have opened. Remove from oven, discard unopened clams and serve with lemon wedges on the side.

This recipe is adapted from The Cuisines of Spain by Teresa Barrenechea. The dish is very very good and will appeal to seafood lovers. The amount of broth that she suggests (4 cups) is too much for the ½ pound of pasta. Add 3 cups first, then add more if the dish appears dry, before transferring to the oven.