"What's For Dinner?"

In the past 25 years, I've eaten my way through France, Italy and Mexico. In 2004 I discovered the wonderful foods of Spain during a whirlwind trip to Andalusia with friend Suzanne. We ate tapas everywhere, but also wonderful wild mushrooms sauteed with eggs outside Ubeda, shrimp pancakes and octopus salad in Sanlucar, paella in Ronda. We sampled partridge pate, cazuela made from chickpeas, artichokes or thistles, and wonderful fresh cheeses with toasted walnuts and honey. Now I dream in sangria and my early 2005 menus reflect back to the food sensibilities of Spain.

It's easy to put together a Mediterranean feast. The first course has to be olives, probably green olives from a local olive bar. I had some fine green olives recently that were stuffed with tangy pieces of lemon. With a little more trouble, you could chop the olives and mix them very lightly into a log of chevre-or just spoon some chopped olive tapenade into the chevre. Serve with crunchy crackers or toasted baguette.

How about a plump roasted chicken for the main course??? To me, a perfect roast chicken is utterly moist (white meat, too) with crisp skin. This doesn't happen automatically, but I always have good luck with the following recipe:

Clean a large roasting chicken. Pat dry and place in casserole with cover. Rub all over with olive oil. Salt and pepper inside and out, and scatter 20 cloves of unpeeled garlic about. Cover and place in cold oven. Turn oven on to 350 degrees for the first 15 minutes, then increase temperature to 450 degrees for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Chicken is done when skin is starting to crisp.

Since I returned from Spain, I've been throwing big chunks of homemade preserved lemon into the cavity of the chicken and strewing them alongside the garlic before roasting. So yum. It's easy to make your own preserved lemons and a good way to prolong the Meyer lemon bonanza in Berkeley. Serve with a fluffy fast couscous (stir in some sliced scallion), an inexpensive but good Spanish wine from Vino on Solano or The Spanish Table, and ENJOY.

For dessert, may I suggest a simple but very good honey custard???
Beat together: 4 eggs, 1/3 c honey, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 can (1 and 2/3 cup) evaporated milk, and 1 c water. Pour into custard cups. Sprinkle with grated fresh nutmeg. Pour water around custard cups and bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.