Today’s recipe does not come from Zabalo and wouldn’t be recognized in Safor. It’s from a young Chef, Kyle Bailey, who currently works as Executive Chef at two Washington DC eateries: Birch and Barley and ChurchKey, a beer bar upstairs from the restaurant (1337 14th St. N.W. Tel: 201 567-2576) . Kyle Bailey graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY and then worked in resort hotels in the Caribbean and in Florida before moving to the Capital. There’s no hint of any Spanish cooking in his background but who cares? The dish he dreamed up for Food and Wine uses Spanish Marcona almonds (you can substitute slivered almonds if you don’t have access to Marconas) and dried “datil”, the Spanish word for dates. The Date or “El Datil” has long been cultivated in Spain and was likely brought there from North Africa and before that from the Middle East. The pasta, in this case thick pappardelle noodles, may be Italian and the base for the sauce is a classic French mirepoix doused with Portuguese Madeira, and the garnish returns to Spain in the form shaved Manchego cheese. If fusion can be Asian, apparently what Chef Bailey makes can only be described as a European Middle Eastern fusion. Call it what you will, this is a luscious, complex dish. I served it twice in a relatively short space of time to great applause. A couple of helpful hints. By all means, use only bone-in thighs for this dish. The temptation to substitute boneless chicken to save time will not give you the results you want. The bones add flavor and body to the sauce. If you don’t have Madeira, you can use Marsala. And if you don’t have pappardelle you can substitute tagliatelle which is what Chef Bailey used in the original. Here is the recipe: