- [Announcer] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by, Aboard Oceania Cruises, we share a journey of culinary discovery, from shore excursions, dedicated to local food traditions, to our hands-on cooking school at sea.

Our master chefs take inspiration from vibrant markets and flavors as they create the international dishes served to guests each evening.

That's the Oceania Cruises epicurean experience.

(bright music) (upbeat music) And by U.S.A.

Rice.

(buoyant music) - Today on "Sara's Weeknight Meals," Spain or France, tapas, jamon, and sangria, or omelets with Bourguignon Champagne.

Hey, you don't have to choose, we got 'em both.

(pair speaks Spanish) - [Sara] In Barcelona, an insider's tapas tour.

Very insider.

Where's the big sign?

- Well, they never had a sign.

- Then from the culinary capital of France, Damien Lacroix from Lyon.

- [Damien] Today we are going to make a (speaks French) - Chicken with vinegar.

- Yeah, your French is good.

- Voila.

And it was manifique!

Plus a cheesy dip called cervelle de canut.

If you have it with a potato- - That would be like an appetizer.

- And if you have it with a toast?

- Cheese course.

- Oh cheese course, oh my favorite thing.

We're not cooking, we're partying.

I love salt.

And the party continues on "Ask Sara," with two viewers questions.

- Can you tell me a little bit about ways to use garlic?

- How much salt?

What type of salt?

When do you salt?

So many salt questions.

- That is a really great question.

It's all coming up today, on "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(upbeat music) Barcelona is all about tapas, small, tasty bites, made for sharing, but it's more than just food, it's how locals connect and unwind.

(bright music) I'm in the seaside neighborhood of La Barceloneta, with Paula Mourenza, a Barcelona native and tour guide with Culinary Backstreets.

When you do a tour, what are you trying to show people?

- Well mostly, the most important thing for us is to show these type of small family-run places, like the one that we are going to visit now.

Oh, fantastic.

(upbeat music) - Okay, here we are, La Cova Fumada.

- [Sara] Where's the big sign?

- Well, they never had a sign.

Let's go.

- [Sara] Our first stop, La Cova Fumada, is an underground gem, made famous as the birthplace of La Bomba, which translates to potato bomb.

(patrons chattering) - [Paula] And it is inside mashed potato with a little bit of meat that has got butter and fried, and on top, we have some aioli and spicy sauce.

- Oh, garlic sauce.

- And it is like a delicious combination, but it became super famous in the city.

They create it here in the fifties, and from that moment, it became one of the most iconic tapas in Barcelona.

- Oh my goodness.

I will never kiss again.

That is so much garlic in there.

Oh, but this is so good.

What makes it spicy?

The paprika?

- Yes, it has some spicy sauce on top.

That is a secret of the house.

- It's a secret.

Okay.

- Secret recipe.

- [Sara] Mm mm.

What else do we have here?

- And here, it's a squid that we have with white beans.

This is grilled with some garlic and parsley, and olive oil on top, just to give it a touch of flavor, and it is delicious.

In my opinion, it is one of the best grilled squids in the city.

- Mm.

- What do you think?

- [Sara] The flavor's wonderful.

And just a quick grilling.

- Yeah.

- Wow.

Well this has been a terrific start.

- Thank you, but leave room.

We have much more to eat.

- We do.

(bright music) Barcelona is so old and beautiful.

I have a feeling like all these stores have been here forever.

- Yeah, and the next shop we're going to be seeing is from 1851.

- No.

Well our next stop isn't a tapas bar.

Casa Gispert is a must see.

It's one of the oldest food stores in Barcelona.

This is amazing.

- It's a beautiful shop.

They have teas, they have coffees.

This is how they started.

(everyone speaks Spanish) - They sell also a lot of spices, but their specialty is actually the nuts.

(bright music) - [Sara] Now what's the aroma I'm smelling?

- It's like a smoky, right?

- Mmhmm.

- This is because I have a firewood oven that is actually one of the oldest firewood ovens in the world.

And today, I think we have some hazelnuts.

This Roman way of roasting, the box and the fire, they're not touching each other, and this smoke became the secret ingredient.

- Ah, yes.

(nuts rattle) Hazelnuts.

Oh, that's great.

- How much do you want?

- Um, I don't know.

A nice sized bag.

That looks perfect.

Yes.

Oh boy.

(bright music) Gracias.

- Perfecto.

Gracias.

(buoyant music) - Our last stop on our tapas tour is Bodega la Palma, a local favorite for almost a century.

- Bodegas is another tapa place where you can get tapas.

In fact, these Bodegas, originally, they were places where they were selling wine in bulk.

- Oh, like in casks?

- Yes, exactly.

In fact, this place Bodega la Palma, it is from the 19 and 35, and it was also a place where the artists used to hang out.

- Oh, very cool.

(buoyant music) (patrons chattering) (buoyant music) - What we have here is a mojama, a cured tuna that we cured in salt.

You know, it's like the ham of the sea.

Okay, do you remember the hazelnuts that we saw before?

Here we have them.

- Where?

I don't see them.

How do you put 'em on there?

- So what we can do is always ratan them.

- A micro-plane.

- Yeah, and it's very nice.

- That's brilliant.

- Very elegant, and it is a great way to give a touch- - [Sara] And here I thought that was sea salt.

That's hazelnuts.

- And I want to introduce you, a couple of pintxos.

One Gilda and one Berta.

Pintxos are not tapas, it's a different thing.

They came originally from the Basques.

What gives the name is this kind of tooth pick that we are going to use to assemble, no, to put together all the different ingredients.

The idea is to create a bite that maybe we can eat in one, two bites, that they must have like a lot of flavor inside, and that's it, and then we finish it with a drink.

- Okay, let's see what I can do here.

Okay, olive first.

- Now you need a (speaks Spanish) You need to to (indistinct) It's a kind of green chili, also from the Basque country, from (indistinct) There is a little bit spicy.

As you can see, you can change a little bit, no?

If you prefer to change one ingredient with another one, if you like the colors in a different way, you can do it too.

- [Sara] So why is it called the Gilda?

- It is because the movie of Rita Hayward.

I know you've heard about it, this movie from the forties.

When this movie was arrived to Spain, it was a whole sensation in the country, and the pintxos, it was salted and spicy.

- Just like Rita Hayworth in "Gilda."

- Exactly, and arrived to Barcelona because it's a perfect pairing with the vermouth.

- Thank you so much for my lovely day, eating tapas in Barcelona.

Oh boy.

- My pleasure, Sara.

(patrons chattering) (buoyant music) (bright music) - I love it when you send me your culinary questions, and I get to answer them on "Ask Sara."

And today I have a really good question, from Adrian Stern, from Los Angeles, California.

So tell me, what do you do?

- I'm a certified public accountant, CPA, and I'm a professor at USC.

- And what is your question today?

- (sighs) Salt.

It is a feud in our family.

How much salt, what type of salt?

When do you salt?

So many salt questions.

- That is a really great question, 'cause salt is the most important ingredient, used in cooking.

Right here, I have the three main kinds of salt we have in the kitchen.

First we have table salt, and look at right here, you can see how fine it is.

I use it often for baking, 'cause it's so fine, it dissolves well.

- Okay.

- Here we have kosher salt.

And chefs love it, because it's larger crystals, it's easy to pick up, it's easy to drop, it's easy to measure, and it's affordable.

Where we really get into flavor is when we get into sea salts.

And here I have two, this is Malden salt from England.

It's like little, crunchy, salty croutons.

- Ah, okay.

- And here we have a red salt from Hawaii that gets its color from the volcanic ash.

Now I've made a mess.

I'm gonna do my Julia child thing and sweep it all on the floor.

Okay, what does salt do?

It tamps down the bitterness.

It counterbalances both acid and sugar.

It pulls out moisture, and also puts in moisture.

Think of a brine turkey.

- Okay.

- And also, most important, it makes tomatoes taste more tomatoey, steak tastes more steaky, everything tastes more like itself.

So here I have two tomatoes.

These are not salted at all.

These were salt 20 minutes ago.

I would like you to take a taste of each one.

- Okay.

- Mmhmm.

So that's unsalted.

Tastes like a tomato.

- It tastes like, yeah.

- Try these guys.

What do you think?

- It's kind of a no brainer.

The salter ones clearly have that second note to them.

- Yeah, it just really makes it be like, whoa, I'm a tomato!

And now we're onto steak.

I've got three different steaks that I salted at different times, and I want you to try this one first, which I haven't salted yet.

I'm gonna just sprinkle a little on and have you take a tiny taste.

We've made it easy for you.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- It's really salty.

- Oh, okay.

- That's pretty tasty.

- Okay, how about this one?

- I think you nailed it.

- I'm not surprised You like it.

This one was salted an hour ago, and then cooked.

This one was salted right before it went in the pan, and this one was salted after it came out of the pan.

And generally this is like steak and salt, it doesn't become ones.

- Oh, now here's another question.

Both sides?

- Yes.

- Why?

- Because it penetrates better.

One last thing I forgot to tell you, for every teaspoon of table salt, you need one and a half to two teaspoons of kosher salt, 'cause kosher is coarser.

- Ah.

- I mean that was a really good question, and I hope no more fighting at home.

- Thank you for inviting me.

- Yeah, thanks for coming.

(bright music) - I have Cenia Gilbert here.

Cenia is from South Carolina.

Tell me, what are you doing these days?

- I love to travel.

In fact, I was blessed to be able to go on an around the world cruise last year.

- Wow, and we had more time, I'd ask you your favorite place, but I know you have a question.

- Yes, can you tell me a little bit about ways to use garlic?

- Yeah, that's an excellent question.

So let's start with a whole head of garlic, right?

You can roast it, right?

You cut off the top, you wrap it in foil, you sprinkle it with olive oil and a little salt, and you put it in a 400 degree oven for at least an hour, or until it's very tender, and it gets very soft, and very sweet, and very spreadable.

Will you'll have some on toast?

- [Cenia] Yes, definitely.

- This is a messy operation.

Look at that.

That's so beautiful.

We're both gonna smell like garlic.

That's okay, we'll just hang out together.

I'm gonna put it all down here.

So you just spread it on the bread and have a little taste.

- Thank you.

- And I'll keep going.

Hands down, the best way to peel garlic is to smash it.

And then you just take off all the parts.

So let me just cut off the end, peel this.

Another way to use a whole clove, you don't have to peel it, is just cut it in half, and when I toast or grill bread, I like to run a cut clove of garlic over the top and it gives it a little bit of a zing.

So this is a little strong.

This is how I make my garlic bread.

And then I also, a little sprinkle of salt.

Now we move on to whole peeled.

These you can add to roasts.

The longer you cook it, the more sweet it becomes, and very soft.

So that's another way to use it.

Or you can peel these guys and slice them very thin, which we've done right here.

And again, we're gonna put in some oil over here.

We're gonna bring this up to temperature, and cook them until they're golden.

We start in cold oil and watch them like a hawk, and they turn into garlic chips.

Have one.

- Thank you.

- These are so yummy.

They're crispy, and you can put 'em in soups, stews, as a garnish, or in a salad.

Never had this before.

It's very good.

- Isn't it good?

I can eat 'em straight up.

Okay, now we're on to the monster.

The monster is raw, minced.

This is the strongest way, strongest garlic flavor.

Of course you can saute this and it gets very gentle and nice.

That's another way to cook it.

But raw garlic, there's no kissing, it's over, okay?

Two ways to mince garlic, well, one is with a knife obviously, which is what I usually do.

You can use a garlic press and that's fine.

- I use a micro plane.

Is that okay to do?

- That is superb.

That is really a very good way.

I know you're supposed to have this up in the air, but I like doing it like a washboard.

Look at that, that's beautiful.

- Perfect.

- Okay.

How do you pick garlic?

Here, feel this?

- [Cenia] Yeah, well how do you know that it's fresh?

- You just go in and you squeeze the garlic, and you hope nobody's noticing that you're manhandling it, but you wanna make sure there's no dark cloves, and it's not soft, okay?

- Okay.

- How do you store garlic?

We put it right in here.

Boop, in cool, dark place, away from the potatoes.

Room temperature, not in the refrigerator.

- What should I be aware of to avoid when I use garlic?

Don't burn it, okay?

That's a simple one, 'cause garlic, the more you cook it and you get it dark, it's like, ew, terrible.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Cenia, for joining me.

Good question.

And now we have to go hose down, right?

(Cenia laughs) Okay.

Please send me your questions.

You can send them to me to the website, saramoulton.com.

I'd love to put you on, "Ask Sara," like Cenia here.

Damien Lacroix has worked in hotels throughout the world since he was 16 years old.

He started as a chef and used that background to teach at a catering school for orphans in Vietnam.

Along the way, he pivoted to the front office and is now the general manager of a cruise ship.

He met his wife, Jackie, on the job, and is passing his culinary knowledge on to their two children, Elise and Eric.

We love that he's from Lyon, the undisputed gastronomic capital of France, and that's saying something.

(bright music) And here I am with Damien Lacroix from Lyon.

I love Lyon.

The husband wants to move to Lyon.

He'll be so excited you're teaching me a couple of dishes from there.

- Great.

- So what are we making to begin with?

- So today we are going to make a (speaks French) - Chicken with vinegar.

- Yeah, your French is good.

- Oh, well (indistinct) thank you.

Well I worked there a million years ago in Chartres.

So where do we start?

- So let's start with the burner, in order to cook the chicken.

- I'll get the poulet.

- Super.

- Viola.

- All right, so a little bit of butter here.

Oil.

- So that's one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of vegetable oil.

- And let's start the searing of the chicken.

- So you're putting it in skin side down.

- Skin side down.

That's the first side that I want to be nicely brown.

- Right.

While that's browning, tell me about Lyon, the capital of gastronomy en France.

- It's really in an area that is in the middle of different roads of exchange.

So is north of Italy, it's south of the north of France.

Is east from Germany.

It's really a platform where you have a lot of exchange in regard the different ingredient that you can find.

- Different influences.

- Sara please, could you smash the garlic for me?

- I'd love to.

Okay.

And we're just putting it in whole?

We're not chopping it?

- That is correct.

- Okay.

- [Damien] Time to turnover.

- And we have, it looks like two leg thighs and two breasts, - But the chicken cut in half pieces, and we are going to add the onion.

- Okay, and the garlic.

- And the garlic.

- And this looks like about a half a cup of chopped onion, and one garlic clove.

- Dump it inside.

- [Sara] Okay, I'm just gonna dump.

There we go.

You gave me permission.

- Oh yes.

And here we go.

And we are going to stir it a little bit.

- It smells great already.

We've barely done anything.

Why butter and oil?

- So butter and oil is two different temperature of cooking.

So like this, you can have a nice coloration with the butter, and the oil, you can cook a little bit higher temperature with the oil without the worry of burning your butter only.

- Oh well that's like Lyon, oil and butter, right?

- Oil and butter.

- Oil from the South, butter from the North.

- That's right.

And we are going to put the flour.

- [Sara] That's about a tablespoon of flour.

- [Damien] Is to give a consistency to the liquid we are going to add afterwards.

- So it gives it a thickened texture.

- [Damien] That's right.

And now we're going to add the vinegar, an apple cider vinegar.

Exactly five ounces.

So we are going to add wine.

- [Sara] Oh, that's interesting to me though, both cider and wine.

- Right.

- Two acids.

- Same quantity.

- Oh really, okay.

- Let's not forget the cooker here.

- A little bit for us.

- A little bit for us here, you know?

- Yes.

- So, and we always say, you know, use a good wine in France because there is always part for the cooker inside.

- And also, bad wine would taste bad on there.

- That's right.

- All right, well thank you very much, that's lovely.

- Shall we have a toast?

- Yes, yeah.

We're not cooking, we're partying.

(Damian speaks French) - Yeah, okay.

Mm, here we go.

- [Damien] And I'm going to add vegetable stock.

- [Sara] Vegetable stock.

Why not chicken stock?

- We could do chicken stock as well.

It's all up to you.

It doesn't really matter.

You know, in France, we're using a lot of this bullion cube- - It's a good way to salt.

- When you start to have, you know, people in general, you know, they come back from work and they want a quick recipe to do, so we use the ingredient like this, so- - Well home cooks are happy about that.

- That's right.

- Yeah.

- Oh, I forget the- - Crushed tomato.

- Okay.

- Okay, that looks like a third of a cup or so.

- Yeah, a third of a cup, I think it is.

And now we are going to leave it simmer for about 30, 40 minutes.

- Or until, what are we- - Until you finish whatever you have on the side to do.

- What are we making now?

- So we are going to make the cervelle de canut.

- Wait a second, are we making, cervelle means brains.

Are we making brains?

- Actually it come from a very traditional recipe from the canut, the worker of silk, and because they were very poor, they were not actually using the real brain from the veal, or from the lamb, they were using cheese.

or from the lamb, they were using cheese.

- Oh, okay.

- So you're safe.

- Okay, do you want me to mince this guy?

- If you don't mind, can you chop some shallots, some garlic, and I will chop some spring onion myself.

Perfect.

- [Sara] All right, so we're gonna be adding this to what kind of cheese?

- So originally it's (speaks French) that's a- - Say that again?

(pair speaks French) - So it's a fresh (speaks French) that we have.

So you're not going to find it very easily in the U.S.

So you could use cottage cheese.

- Oh, cottage cheese.

- Like there.

We are going to add a little bit of cream cheese.

Normally will be the creme fresh in France.

- Salted cream cheese.

- Yes.

So we're going to add this one.

So green onions, I'm going to put three table spoon.

- [Sara] And here we have our shallot.

Okay, I'm gonna say the garlic is about a teaspoon.

And how many of the shallots?

- The shallots, a couple of tablespoon, and for shallot, three quarter of a shallot.

- [Sara] Here we go.

- Now I'm going to start with the chives.

If you don't mind starting as well some parsley.

But some people like to add tarragon to it.

My wife doesn't like it, so I'm not even using it.

- Oh, I love tarragon.

Your wife doesn't like tarragon.

Is your wife French?

- She's American.

- Oh, of course, that's the problem.

She probably thinks it tastes like licorice a little.

Who cooks in your house?

You have two kids?

- Guess who.

- You.

- When I'm not working and when my wife is alone, she does the cooking, but in general, I'm the one doing the cooking at home.

- Oh, isn't that nice?

- But she's a great cook now.

- I want a chef for a husband.

He does dishes though.

- So I'm adding the chives.

- [Sara] Mmhmm, couple of tablespoons do you think?

- A couple of tablespoon, I think, and parsley would be about the same.

- [Sara] Okay.

All right.

- That's perfect.

So let me mix it.

And we are going to add some salt and pepper.

The salt.

- Now this is really simple.

- Very simple.

- [Sara] So where does this fall in a meal?

Is it an appetizer?

- So you can do both.

You can do as an appetizer, depending on what you serve it with.

Sometime you serve it with a warm little potato, or with a sliced baguette.

We're going to add a little bit of vinegar.

- And what do you think that was?

- I think two tablespoon.

- Okay.

All righty, you want me to put this in here while you finish the chicken?

- Here we go.

So actually, you're talking about the chicken.

I think we're done with the chicken.

- [Sara] Before you do that, is there anything else we need to do to this?

- [Damien] You could just maybe put a dash of olive oil on the top.

- Oh, I like that.

Oh, just a tiny drizzle, huh?

- Mmhmm.

Perfect.

- Really good olive oil makes everything taste better.

- We are going to finish the chicken.

We are going to take two tablespoon whole grain mustard.

- [Sara] Do you like that because you just like the textures?

- I like the texture.

There is a little bite to it.

I'm going to use- - Cream.

And then three ounces, I think.

- Three ounces.

And corn starch.

- Oh, that's interesting.

So you had flour beforehand- - Flour before, and the corn starch, it give a good consistency to the sauce.

You don't have to wait so much.

- Yeah, yeah, you don't have to go cook it again so much.

Yes.

- Yeah, so... And we're going to add it to our chicken.

- [Sara] Oh yes.

Do you need the whisk anymore?

- No, I'm fine.

- Okay.

That looks very pretty, but I know you're gonna mix it in anyway.

It's a great weeknight meal, but it'd be great for entertaining too.

Oh my goodness, that gets an A+.

Should I chop a little more parsley to go on top, do you think?

- We can put a little bit of parsley just for the decoration here.

It doesn't hurt anything.

- Yeah, just sort of brings it alive a little.

- [Damien] All right, and we are going to add some salt and pepper.

(bright music) - Geez, I think we're ready.

And let's go to (speaks French) Isn't that what you say?

Is that what you say?

(pair speaks French) - [Damien] You█re taking the cervelle de canuts I take the chicken, and let's go.

(gentle music) (cork pops) (gentle music) - So where do we start with all this yummy food?

- So let's start with the cervelle de canuts.

- Okay.

- So we can have it two different ways, either with a nice piece of toast, right there, or we can have it with a nice potato that you put in your plates, like this, and you put some on the top.

- If you have it with a potato, it's a appetizer?

- That will be like an appetizer.

- And if you have it with the toast?

- Cheese course.

- Oh cheese course.

Oh, my favorite thing.

- You like the breast or you like the the leg?

- I like both.

- You like both.

I like to give you a nice piece.

And of course, the good part of it is the sauce goes with it.

- I'm a sauce girl.

- I am too, but I'm not a girl.

I'm a sauce man.

- Sauce guy.

- A sauce guy.

(laughs) - [Sara] Now we have to try the chicken.

- Let's try the chicken.

- Mm, delicious.

- There's little sting to it because of the vinegar.

- [Sara] I like the sharpness of it.

- So me, I like it like this.

You see a little bit of potato.

- Mm.

Mm mm, so good.

- And if you like it more flavorful on garlic, you put a little bit more garlic.

It's all about food the way you like it, right?

- I would add tarragon, if your wife wasn't there.

All right, Damien Lacroix thank you so much for coming and bringing these wonderful dishes that are so perfect for a weeknight meal.

I really appreciate it.

- Cheers.

(bright music) - All right, so do your kids cook?

- My boy love to cook with me.

- [Sara] For recipes, videos and more, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

"Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Announcer] A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Guests can explore local treasures and epicurean traditions.

Staff and crew are dedicated to guest interests, relaxation and entertainment.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines, and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruises small ship experience.

(upbeat music) And by U.S.A.

Rice.

(twinkling music) (bright music) (gentle music)