Sunflower oil brightens up couple's kitchen
Face it -- food, wine, beer, even corner store chocolate bars taste better when you're on vacation.
So after honeymooning in Spain last fall, we had hoped to recapture some of those paella-, lomo-, and tortilla de patata-fueled days (and nights) in our own kitchen. But after a few disappointing dates with tapas cookbooks, despair set in.
Could the honeymoon be over this soon?
And then my husband came across 1080 Recipes, described as the Spanish cook's bible. It had the answer to our question, "How do they make it taste so damn good?"
Sunflower oil.
Considered an affordable staple in Spanish kitchens used for everything from sauteeing meats to making salad dressings, the light, almost flavorless oil long has been favored in Latin American, Russian and French kitchens, says Larry Kleingartner, executive director of the North Dakota-based National Sunflower Association.
In the United States, sunflower oil is primarily used to make potato chips, whole grain chips and other snacks, he says.
Its presence is expanding as mainstream supermarkets such as Jewel and Dominick's offer a wider array of cooking oils. Production and use in this country has more than doubled since 2002, the association's statistics show.
Sunflower oil is extracted from a type of sunflower seed, using either a press or the combination of a press and solvent.
While it is an "excellent frying oil," Kleingartner also notes that its combination of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and low saturated fat levels makes it a healthy cooking option.
The best thing about sunflower oil it is that it isn't showy like it's more flavorful cousin, olive oil. It is content to be a conduit, letting the flavors of the food stand out.
A test drive of the Spanish potato omelet recipe below was perfecto. Now if only I could figure out how they made that cafe con leche taste so good.
That might require another trip.