Readily available ingredients coupled with easy techniques can give classic dishes an international twist, as restaurateur and five-time James Beard Award nominee Katie Button (Curate Bar de Tapas, Asheville, N.C.) shows in the enticing Spanish Accent: American Home Recipes with a Spanish Touch.
Button, with food journalist Kate Heddings, assembles an inviting array of recipes ramped up with Spanish verve and all accompanied by striking photographs. Most of these uncomplicated dishes will likely become part of a home cook's repertoire. They require just a few ingredients, mostly found at local supermarkets. For those available only at gourmet stores, Button includes suggested substitutions.
Garlicky creamed corn gets a boost with piment d'Espelette (Button recommends sweet pimentón if you want to avoid heat, or a pinch or two of cayenne pepper if piment isn't handy). "Knock-Your-Socks-Off Meatloaf" transforms the timeless dish by cooking garlic and onions in white wine, then adding pine nuts, Dijon mustard, and anchovy paste when assembling. Puddings (called natillas in Spain) "are the perfect blank slate"; a saffron version combines earthiness and floral notes.
Spanish Accent adds the perfect flair to home-cooked meals. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer