Clash of the Titans: Healy vs. Ardolina

One night, Patrick Healy awoke in a cold sweat from a nightmare, a familiar voice ringing in his ears: You have to have the flavor, Patrick.

Well, of course. He’d only heard the phrase 50 times a day for the last few weeks. As chef for the new Pasadena restaurant named Oye! Healy was developing a new Cuban-inspired cuisine he called Nuevo Americano. And whether he was discussing the new menu, making his first stab at ropa vieja or marinating a pork chop, the restaurant’s owner, Xiomara Ardolina, would insist, “You have to have the flavor, Patrick.”

She used the phrase constantly, relentlessly, as if its tireless repetition would actually conjure the vivid tastes she’d loved since childhood.

Healy, it should be noted, came to prominence at some of L.A.’s top French restaurants and has often been called one of the best young chefs in the country. He consults at Xiomara/Oye! in Pasadena and the Buffalo Club in Santa Monica. In other words, he is no slouch at producing startlingly delicious, sophisticated food.

Nevertheless, if he presented the Havana-born Ardolina with a dish she deemed at all lacking, impatience strained her voice. “You have to have the flavor, Patrick.”

OK, OK. But what flavor, exactly, was she talking about?

The signifying flavor of Cuban cooking: the shifting mix of olive oil, cumin, citrus, flagrant amounts of garlic. And don’t forget the ubiquitous, crucial sofrito--fried onion, peppers, garlic and spices--that forms the base of countless Cuban dishes, from black beans to fricase de pollo, its presence as unmistakable and alluring as syncopation in dance music. These are the vivid tastes Ardolina has loved since childhood.

“Patrick and I never had any disagreements over his cooking before we started planning Oye!,” Ardolina says. “But this menu was too important to me.”

Oye! was to open soon. Did Healy’s cooking have the flavor? Not quite. A series of tastings followed. More cumin in the black bean soup. And that ropa vieja tasted suspiciously like boeuf bourguignon.

Back to the drawing board. Soon, however, Ardolina began to relax. She had to admit that Healy’s cooking was acquiring the flavor.

As much flavor as Ardolina’s beloved Cuban food?

Maybe.

Then again, maybe not.

Of course it did.

Well, almost.

Word about Healy’s Cuban-inspired experiments had gotten around. The staff of The Times Test Kitchen asked Healy and Ardolina to stage a Nuevo Americano versus traditional Cuban cook-off. Three courses each. Their choice.

The cook-off was scheduled for a Thursday. The Tuesday before, Ardolina began marinating a 20-pound pork leg in the Xiomara/Oye! kitchen. Wednesday night, when she went to take the pork leg home, she found it covered with shallots.

Shallots! Her lechon asada calls for 16 garlic cloves and two sliced onions, but no shallots. She suspected tampering; her blood began to boil.

The restaurant’s cooks began to busy themselves in the far reaches of the kitchen. One cook discovered another pork leg--Xiomara’s pork leg--marinating in the walk-in refrigerator. The leg covered with shallots, it turned out, was the one Healy was marinating to serve as a weekend special at Oye! Ardolina’s leg was safe all along.

Thursday turned out to be a bright fall day, warm in the sun, chilly in the shade. In the backyard of Ardolina’s La Can~ada home, the swimming pool winked. Frank, the dachshund, and Atlas, the German Shepherd, tussled on the brick patio. In the kitchen, with its cool gray walls, skylight and restaurant-quality equipment, Gloria Estefan, El Cachao and Arturo Sandoval took turns on the sound system, knives stuttered on cutting boards, the food processor crescendoed briefly and the correctly seasoned pork leg--correctly seasoned, that is, according to some parties--was cooking in a slow oven.

Healy pureed shrimp for tamales; Ardolina stirred a colorful sofrito for black beans. “The sofrito goes into hot beans,” she said, as she dumped the sauteed peppers, onion, garlic and cumin into the bean pot. “Then I deglaze the pan with red wine.”

“Red wine?” Healy asked. “Isn’t that cheating?”

“I have my own tricks,” Xiomara replied.

The black beans are a standard accompaniment to her entree, the pork leg. She prepared another side dish, fufu, or mashed plantain, with chicharrones. For her appetizer, Ardolina made okra soup (sopa de quimbombo). It also starts with a sofrito, this one flavored with slices of Spanish-style chorizo, a smoked garlicky sausage.

The okra was washed and thoroughly dried with towels. To prevent it from becoming slimy as Ardolina cut it, she wiped the knife blade after slicing each pod.

Meanwhile, Healy filled corn husks with a mixture of pureed shrimp, corn, cornmeal, shallots, garlic and cream. “I generally hate cooking at home,” he muttered. “There are no people to wash dishes. Everything accumulates. I have to stop and clean up, and I get cranky.”

The good smells emanating from Ardolina’s oven and sauce pots weren’t doing much to cheer him up. He finished filling the corn husks, set the tamales aside and stole a taste of the okra soup. “You’re winning,” he hissed to Ardolina.

Meanwhile, everyone sneaked tastes of chicharrones and mashed plantain. Ardolina asked her housekeeper, Magdalena, to fry yuca spears for a snack. Healy tried the first fry. “These are all wrong,” he announced. “They’re very dry.” But he’s a lousy liar. In fact, the yuca fries were crunchy and creamy, fabulous when dunked into garlic and citrus juice mojo, a classic Cuban marinade.

Healy disappeared briefly into the backyard and returned with a banana leaf shaped like an enormous green feather. He washed it and cut it into about 10 9x3-inch rectangles to wrap around his entree, a sea bass filet topped with shrimp and crab mousse.

The tamales steamed. The aroma of shrimp mingled with that of pork. The dogs sneaked indoors and tumbled underfoot. Ardolina’s two daughters, Melissa, 22, and Alexia, 9, came home; her sister, Marlene, arrived with two of her own children. Healy--allegedly by accident--turned the heat under Ardolina’s soup on high, causing some of the fufu balls to dissolve. But somehow the dueling cooks kept working.

Ardolina’s classic Cuban pork leg, okra soup, black beans, rice and fufu lend themselves naturally to a buffet. Healy’s beautifully composed Nuevo Americano starter, entree and dessert are more small dinner party fare; they were presented as individual servings, singular works of art.

Ardolina sighed, “He has me beat.”

Really, it’s apples and oranges, people murmured.

Or was it?

About 4 in the afternoon, the hour of reckoning arrived. We were all starving. We filled our plates, carried them to tables by the pool and fell to. For a while there was nothing but the clink of cutlery and stray hum of pleasure. Everything, at first taste, was unequivocally, insanely flavorful. The food was so good, we forgot who made what.

“Those guys are good cooks,” I said, and everyone burst into loud laughter.

“Nothing like stating the obvious,” one taster commented.

Later, after we had dessert, as people sat idly chatting and scraping up the last drops of tres leches, Healy came into the kitchen. “I’m hungry,” he said.

I pointed to a tray. “There are a couple of your tamales left. And some sea bass.”

He shook his head impatiently and filled a bowl with rice. He added a scoop of Ardolina’s black beans. “Xiomara?” he hollered. “Where’d you put the fufu?”

* Oye! Restaurant is at 69 N. Raymond, Pasadena. (818) 796-3286

SHRIMP, CRAB AND SEA BASS STEAMED IN BANANA LEAVES

This is another eye-catching dish of Healy’s that’s shamefully easy to make.

1/4 pound shelled, deveined shrimp

1 egg white

6 tablespoons whipping cream

Salt

Freshly ground pepper, preferably white pepper

Pinch cayenne

2 green onions, minced, plus 2 left whole for garnish

1/2 pound lump crab meat

1 large banana leaf

2 pounds Mexican sea bass

1 green plantain, peeled, sliced very thinly lengthwise in long strips (optional)

Oil (optional)

Passion Fruit Sauce (optional)

Grind shrimp in food processor until smooth. Add egg white and continue processing 30 seconds. With motor running, add cream in slow but steady stream. Stop processor as soon as cream is incorporated. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper, cayenne and minced green onions to shrimp mixture. Fold in crab meat.

Cut 6 (9x3-inch) rectangles from banana leaf, avoiding stem pieces.

Cut sea bass into 6 equal-sized pieces and lightly season with salt and pepper. Spread about 1/4 cup shrimp-crab mixture on each filet and wrap in banana leaf sheets.

Steam on rack over simmering water until shrimp-crab mixture is firm, 8 to 10 minutes.

For optional garnish, fry thin strips of plantain in hot oil, stirring until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Strips should look like curly ribbons.

Serve sea bass with Passion Fruit Sauce and garnish with remaining green onions and plantain ribbons.

Makes 6 servings.

Each serving, without fried plantains or sauce, contains about:

213 calories; 376 mg sodium; 159 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 31 grams protein; 0.02 gram fiber.

SHRIMP TAMALE WITH SHRIMP CREAM

These are very easy tamales. When Healy serves them at Oye!, he garnishes them with sauteed chanterelles and baby arugula.

SHRIMP TAMALE

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 small clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tablespoon butter

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, shells reserved

1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels

1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/4 cups whipping cream

1 pinch sugar

1 tablespoon chopped chives

Salt, pepper

12 to 18 corn husks, washed and softened in water

SHRIMP CREAM

2 tablespoons oil

Reserved shells from shrimp, coarsely chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped tomato

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1 quart whipping cream

SHRIMP TAMALE

Cook shallots and garlic in butter over low heat until soft. Do not brown.

Puree 1/2 of shrimp in food processor until very smooth. Add corn, cornmeal, olive oil and shallot-garlic mixture and puree until fairly smooth. With machine running, add cream in slow but steady stream.

Chop remaining shrimp and stir by hand into corn mixture. Add sugar and chives and season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill mixture until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

Place about 1/4 cup mixture on each corn husk. Fold into little packets. Steam on rack over 2 inches boiling water until firm, about 45 minutes.

SHRIMP CREAM

Heat oil in large skillet until very hot. Add shrimp shells and cook over medium-high heat until shells are very dry, about 5 minutes. Add shallots and garlic and cook quickly without browning. Add tomato and white wine and reduce by 1/2. Add cream, reduce heat and cook slowly until sauce is thick. Strain and keep warm until ready to serve. Makes 2 cups.

Makes 20 tamales.

Each tamale, with 1 tablespoon sauce, contains about:

291 calories; 70 mg sodium; 113 mg cholesterol; 26 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.16 gram fiber.

PASSION FRUIT SAUCE

Although restaurant supply houses sell passion fruit puree in bulk, The Times Test Kitchen couldn’t find it. We made a workable facsimile of this sauce by melting passion fruit sorbet, adding salt, pepper and a squeeze of fresh lime.

1 cup passion fruit puree

Juice of 1/2 lime

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Salt, pepper

Water

1/4 cup olive oil

Combine puree, lime and lemon juice. Warm over low heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon cold water and puree mixture in blender, adding olive oil slowly, until mixture emulsifies.

Makes 3/4 cup.

Each 1-tablespoon serving contains about:

48 calories; 27 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.78 gram fiber.

MASHED PLANTAIN (Fufu de Platano con Chicharrones)

Slightly sweet, with a satisfying heft, fufu de platano is sort of the mashed potato of Cuba. Chicharrones can be bought in many supermarkets and in most Latino grocery stores.

3 semi-ripe (yellow) plantains

1 small clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup cooked chicharrones, in large crumbles

Cut plantains in 2-inch pieces, leaving skin on. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain, peel and mash plantains, or put through ricer.

Cook garlic in olive oil until soft but not brown. Add mashed plantains and cook until brown and crusty. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chicharrones just before serving.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Each of 8 servings contains about:

122 calories; 37 mg sodium; 2 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.34 gram fiber.

BAKED PORK LEG (Lechon Asada)

This whole pork leg is a great party entree. As it cooks, it fills the house with a wonderful aroma and when done, the leg makes an impressive showpiece on any buffet. Carve it in thin slices and give everyone a little bit of the skin, which will have caramelized into dark, sticky essence of well-seasoned pork.

1 (18- to 20-pound) leg of pork, skin left on

16 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 bay leaves, crushed

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 onions, finely sliced

2 to 4 haban~ero chiles, minced (optional)

2 cups lime juice

2 cups orange juice

2 cups oil

Pierce skin of pork leg, making several incisions on both sides.

Mix garlic, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper, cumin, onions, chiles, lime juice, orange juice and oil in mixing bowl and pour over pork leg, pressing herbs and garlic into pork incisions.

Marinate in refrigerator, tightly covered, 24 to 48 hours, basting and turning twice a day.

Cook leg at 300 degrees until meat thermometer inserted in meaty part of leg registers 150 degrees, about 5 hours. Baste with marinade every 30 minutes and turn at least 3 times to brown all over.

Set aside 30 minutes before slicing.

Makes 24 to 30 dinner-sized servings.

Each of 30 servings contains about:

397 calories; 335 mg sodium; 108 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 30 grams protein; 0.10 gram fiber.

TRES LECHES CAKE (Caramel Tres Leches)

This recipe is for the traditional ring-shaped version of this very sweet Cuban soaked cake. Patrick Healy bakes tres leches cakes in individual portions and tops them with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and toasted almonds, serving homemade caramel ice cream on the side. A simplified version of Healy’s sophisticated presentation would be to bake in individual souffle molds and top with chocolate sauce and cream.

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch salt

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (4 1/2-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Sift flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Beat eggs and 1/2 cup sugar in electric mixer until mixture doubles in volume. Add vanilla. Reduce speed and fold in dry ingredients.

Pour into buttered 9-inch ring mold and bake at 350 degrees until blade of knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook remaining 1 cup sugar over medium heat to dark brown caramel stage but do not burn. Carefully whisk in cream drop by drop; beware of hot spatters. Cool and beat in condensed and evaporated milks.

Pierce cake all over with fork and pour milk and caramel mixture over top until absorbed. Chill well before serving, at least 4 to 6 hours.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each of 10 servings contains about:

514 calories; 501 mg sodium; 214 mg cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 63 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 0.04 gram fiber.

OKRA SOUP (Sopa de Quimbombo con Bolas de Platanos)

1 pound fresh okra

1/3 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 Spanish chorizo, sliced

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded, cored and chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cup tomato sauce

1 quart chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 plantains

Many people recoil from okra because of its sliminess, but if you dry the pods carefully after washing them, then wipe the knife between slicing each pod, slime will not appear in this wildly delicious soup.

Spanish chorizo can be purchased at El Caney on Harvard Boulevard in Hollywood, El Camaguey on Venice Boulevard near Overland Avenue in Culver City, and at Food Bag (also known as El Cubano) at Victory Boulevard near Tujunga Boulevard in North Hollywood.

Rinse okra in cold water, dry well and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside.

Heat 1/3 cup olive oil over medium heat in Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add chorizo and cook until lightly browned. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add okra and cook 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, wine, vinegar, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook until okra is tender, about 40 minutes.

Cut plantains in 2-inch pieces, leaving skin on. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain, peel and mash plantains, or put through ricer. Stir in just enough of remaining olive oil for puree to stick together.

Form boiled, mashed plantain into marble-sized balls by rolling between both hands. Drop plantain balls into soup just before serving, and simmer just until warmed through, 3 to 4 minutes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Each of 8 servings contains about:

262 calories; 970 mg sodium; 7 mg cholesterol; 14 grams fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 1.08 grams fiber.