I had some orange zest and two egg yolks left over from my orange clove cake and knew that I had to take this rare opportunity to make pasta carbonara without having to contend with egg whites glaring malevolently at me every time I opened the fridge door. There was also some chorizo Mum brought back from (of all places) London, so the orange and smoked sausage turned the pasta into something decidedly un-Italian.

To make things slightly less sinful, I seared thick slices of zucchini on the grill and dressed it with a simple vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was something Mum took back from London (yes mums can be slightly eccentric too). If not, I’d just sprinkle a touch of balsamic or wine vinegar over and top with some crumbled sea salt and ground pepper.

Ingredients:
5 slices of skinny chorizo, cut into thin strips
linguine
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp + extra parmesan cheese, grated
1 tbsp yogurt
zest of ½ orange
1 tbsp orange juice

Method:

1. Fry the chorizo in a dry pan over low heat till fat is rendered and chorizo is crisp. Set aside. Also set oily pan aside.
2. Boil the linguine in salted water till al dente.
3. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, cheese, yogurt and orange zest. Stir in the orange juice.
4. When the pasta is just about ready, warm the rendered chorizo oil. Drain the noodles and toss them in the hot oil. Immediately transfer to the eggy mixture and stir, stir, stir till the cheese melts and the sauce thickens and clings to the noodles.
5. Sprinkle over the chorizo bits and extra grated parmesan cheese.
6. Eat immediately.

Serves 1 or 2.

El miércoles pasado cené en el Gauchito y estoy seguro que este lugar salió de la cruza de restaurante argentino con puesto de tacos. El muy mentado “restaurante” estaba en mi lista de “por visitar” desde que fue recomendado por Frech en su blog, así que decidí dejarme de cosas y probar por mí mismo.

Pasé por mi amiga Anel y llegamos al lugar, que es prácticamente una cochera techada con un asador a la entrada, 3 mesas de Coca Cola y platos de melamina, stay with me, la comida es buena.

El menú es bastante sencillo: Carne (Arrachera, Top Sirlon, Churrasco y Chorizo Argentino), Tacos (de Alambre o Arrachera), Empanadas (de Queso Panela con Elote o de Picadillo con huevo duro).

Pedimos de las dos empanadas y un chorizo argentino al centro. Lo curioso fue que el chorizo lo sirvieron con una cebolla asada y tortillas. Créanme que sabe bueniiichimo en tacos.

Chorizo @ El Gauchito

Las empanadas están equis, sobre todo la de elote con panela, ahórrense la pena y váyanse directo a la carne. Si acaso pídanse una de picadillo, por no dejar.

Empanadas @ El Gauchito

Ya casi al final de la cena, Don Conrado nos dio a probar el Top Sirlon que se maneja y la neta estaba muy bueno. De igual modo, nos mostró un Churrasco y viéndome así con ojos de ay-papá-me-cae-que-tu-si-te-acabas-uno-de-estos-solo me dijo: “Mire, el Churrasco, para cuando se le antoje, aquí se lo asamos”.

El chorizo y las empanadas fueron suficiente comida para los dos y por $80 MXP cada quien, salimos muy contentos. Yo quiero regresar a darle una desconocida al Churrasco y probar el chimichurri que me pasó de noche que estaba ahí en la mesa.

Ahora bien, el Gauchito se localiza en Plan de Aguaprieta 2819 en la colonia La República. Yo sé, está escondido y el rumbo no se ve muy amigable, pero si andan por ahí, lleguen, vale la pena. Si vienen por Lázaro Cárdenas toman la lateral de Alfonso Reyes, dan vuelta a la derecha en Camino al Mirador y luego vuelta a la izquierda en Plan de Aguaprieta. El Gauchito está a mediación de cuadra, del lado izquierdo. Si no les quedó claro, les dejo el teléfono (8357-8517) para que les den más santo y seña.

Fun fact: Cuenta la leyenda que Don Conrado Gómez, el mero mero petatero ahí en el Gauchito, trabajó como chef del restaurant “El Gaucho” que de seguro han visto sobre la avenida Garza Sada.

Provecho!

Chorizo-Garbanzo-Leek Soup

As I sit and ponder these notes, the current temperature outside (per weather.com) is 62 degrees.  It’s the third of December!  To quote Andy Bernard from The Office:

Global warming, right?  I bet it was supposed to be really cold today.

It seems odd, then, to be posting on a nice pot of soup, but with the weather fluctuating so…violently lately, it’s a given on my part that my sinuses will get congested and I will be immediately craving something I can curl up with and hopefully open up some of my passages to boot.  The 19th was one of the few seasonably cold days in November, and in an effort to try to think of something to have for dinner, I decided that some chorizo-chickpea soup would be heavenly.

Based off of a Gordan Ramsey recipe for chorizo-fava bean soup in Gordan Ramsey’s Fast Food, we’ve been playing with this recipe from the get-go by substituting chickpeas for fava beans, and have gone from there.  The leeks were a last-minute addition in the hopes of using them up from earlier in the week this time around, but now we can’t imagine this soup without them for their flavor and texture contributions.

The other great thing about making soup for dinner is that usually leftovers are involved, and believe me:  when you nuke this in your office microwave the next day, your coworkers will be drooling.

Chorizo-Garbanzo-Leek Soup

Serves 6 as an appetizer, 2 for an entree with leftovers

• 1 Vidalia onion, finely diced
• 2 leeks, washed, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb chorizo, cubed
• 4 cups chicken stock, warmed (either microwaved for 2-3 minutes on high or simmered on the stove)
• 8 sprigs of thyme, plus a few more for garnish
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat, and then add onions, garlic, thyme and leeks, season with salt and sautee until soft (no more than 5 minutes).

Add the chorizo and cook until some of the orange fat starts rendering out, again, no more than five minutes.  Add the warmed chicken stock, bring to a simmer, and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves, and serve with crusty bread and goat cheese if desired.

There is nothing like a smell to jog the memory. This afternoon, I made something scrumptious that immediately transported me from chilly Stoke Newington to the heat, hustle and bustle of a Mexican market.

We ate like kings everywhere in Mexico. For me, it was the culinary highlight of Latin America, but the undisputed number one spot goes to Oaxaca. This place first popped up on my radar way before I decided to go traveling thanks to Wahaca, a restaurant in London named after the phonetic spelling of Oaxaca. Anyone who lives in London and appreciates good grub, knows that Wahaca serves up some of the best Mexican food going. It is inventive, fresh, flavoursome and in the spirit of the motherland; it is reasonably priced (for London at least).

Restaurante El Naranjo, Oaxaca

But just as we were about the turn on our heels, the chef appeared to introduce himself and to explain the menu. His name was Andrew and he had moved from Connecticut to Oaxaca, to immerse himself in what is often considered to be the capital of the Mexican culinary scene.

To cut a long story short, we had a fabulous meal and we were so wooed by Andrew’s delicious Calabaza blossoms stuffed with Oaxacan string cheese that when he mentioned he gave cooking lessons, we signed up without a pause for consideration.

Stall belonging to the spice queen of Oaxaca

First stop was a butchers stall, where Andrew bought some chorizo for our soup. The stall heaved with piles of beef; cut into huge wafer-thin pieces so that they lay on the counter like folded bedsheets and hung from the ceiling like curtains, which had to be parted by the cashier in order to give and receive change.

From here, we dived deep into the heart of Mercado Benito Juarez to buy spices. The stall Andrew took us to was owned by a lady he described as being something of a demigod; worshipped by many a disciple of Mexican cuisine. She presided over the biggest selection of chillies I had ever seen; there must have been close to 40 different types of every imaginable size, shape and strength. Andrew raved about the Mexican vanilla she sold and we duly bought a fistful of pods to smuggle home in our backpacks. (I have just checked online and Waitrose charges £4.29 for 2. We paid about that for 15)

Chapulines, surprisingly tasty fried grasshoppers

The next and final stop was Mercado 20 de Noviembre, where Andrew’s favourite cheese seller had a stall. Oaxaca is famous for its string cheese which tastes like a cross between halloumi and mozzarella and is produced in bandage sized widths and wrapped up into neat bundles the size of bowling balls.

A ball of Oaxacan string cheese

The final thing Andrew demonstrated was a ‘Natilla’ a vanilla custard dessert, before we all sat down in the courtyard to enjoy the feast he had prepared. Needless to say it was magnificent and the crowning glory to a very special afternoon. The cooking lesson was a definite highlight of my time away and quite the finest souvenir money could buy; I learned something, it weighed nothing and it has the power to transport me back to that special afternoon, as soon as the smells begin to fill my kitchen.

It is not my place to share Andrew’s recipes; they have been whispered into his ear, in good faith by the great characters of Oaxaca’s culinary scene. But I have Googled Natilla and there are many recipes that follow the same principles. So click here, have a go yourself and enjoy the flavour of Oaxaca.

While everyone else across the country was ordering pizza on the day before Thanksgiving because they were up to their eyeballs in turkey, stuffing, and pie-making, John and I were enjoying a lovely meal of Smoky Shredded Pork Tacos (TEOCE3) made with Essential Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce (EF6). It’s been awhile since I’ve not cooked for Thanksgiving (I’ll probably do a traditional turkey for New Year’s since I haven’t been able to sell John on Bayless’ Braised Turkey in Red Mole as a substitute) and so we enjoyed our day watching Jack and Scarlett recreate the first Thanksgiving in their school program and then doing a little Mexican cooking.
The recipe was John’s choice and I was concerned because the last go-round with the Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce turned out so spicy. So this time I seeded the chipotles but was still prepared for some serious heat. To our surprise, though, the sauce turned out quite mild. I guess I still haven’t mastered the art of regulating spice. This is really starting to bug me a bit.
Anyway, to the sauce you add cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, raisins and toasted slivered almonds. This is then combined with shredded pork shoulder (which is made by poaching the cubed meat and then shredding) and served in steamed corn tortillas. The result was delicious! The cinnamon, cloves, and raisins gave a nice sweet balance to the smoke and spice of the chipotles. I also really liked the crunchy texture of the almonds. This recipe is a keeper for sure.

Then, last night I broke out the tortilla press to make Oval Masa Cakes with Black Bean Filling or Tlacoyos (TEOCE21). I used masa harina mixed with water as I didn’t have time to head to Pilsen for fresh masa. This was mixed with lard to make a dough which was first divided into balls, and then flattened in the tortilla press. The disks were then wrapped around some mashed black beans to make a little cake (mine were more rectangular than oval). The cakes were first cooked on a dry griddle and then fried in oil. Then you topped them with a tomatillo-serrano salsa (since I’ve made this one several times already I figured it would be ok to purchase the salsa for a quicker weeknight meal), crumbled queso fresco, chorizo, chopped onion, radish slices and cilantro.

These were really good!! The masa and bean base had a nice earthiness to it and the toppings gave the dish a lot of complementing flavors: the tang and spice from both the salsa and the chorizo, the fresh crunch of the onion and radishes, and the creaminess of the queso fresco. This would be a good dish to make if you have leftover beans (I used the ones I had leftover from making the black bean rice). And one of the best parts of the meal was that John did all of the dishes
I’m not sure what I’ll be cooking next, but hopefully I’ll pick something for late in the week or over the weekend. It’s also been awhile since I’ve done a dessert; it might be time for that. In the meantime I’m enjoying the fact that no one in my family is sick for the moment and so I’m back to having my three mornings a week to get things done (like update my blog)!

I regularly read the blog Not Eating Out in New York.  She’s got great tips, good information and of course lovely pictures.  So when I saw that the  Mad Hungry cookbook was up for grabs on Not Eating Out in New York, I decided I should try to submit one of my recent recipes.  I made this about two weeks ago, while I was cleaning up around the house.  I wanted to make something that was spicy, rich and that I didn’t have to keep too close an eye on.  I came up with this recipe for crazy mixed up chili because I made it using  a mixture of different meats I had as well as a variety of seasonings.  While I know there is a lot of debate on whether chili should have beans or not, or whether it should have tomatoes or not and of course, whether it should have any meat other than beef, I think this dish could definitely qualify as a chili since it was chock full of meaty goodness.  The result of all this mixing was a rich and spicy chili that I really liked!  My dad, who usually isn’t into anything spicy, did eat some and said it wasn’t bad.  I’ve yet to try it on my boyfriend, but I’m sure he’d definitely be a fan.  Serve this over a bed of rice for people who aren’t used to all the heat. If you aren’t a fan of all this heat, use fewer habañeros or use a jalapeño pepper instead.  Otherwise, a topping of cheddar cheese and some chips on the side serve as a nice accompaniment.

Crazy Mixed-Up Chili

Yield:  6  to 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dry beans
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 pork chops, center-cut, bone removed and sliced
• 3 or 4 chorizo links, removed from casings
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 can beer, use a light colored beer, like Corona
• 2 or 3 dried habañero peppers, seeds removed and chopped
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1/2 cooked chicken, shredded
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato juice
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
• tortilla chips (optional)

1. In a large pot, add beans and boil until tender, about 30 minutes.  In a large dutch oven, or other heavy-bottomed pot, add 1 tablespoon canola oil. Add sliced pork chops and chorizo, and cook until browned.
2. Add bell pepper, onion, garlic.  Cook until soft, about 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Add beer and use wooden spoon to scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pot.  Add habañero peppers, cumin, chili powder, bay leaf, and garlic paste. Cook until peppers have softened a bit about 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Add chicken, canned tomatoes, and tomato juice.  Cover and allow to simmer for 45 minutes to one hour.  Season with salt and pepper.
5. To serve, ladle into a heated bowl and top with shredded cheddar cheese.  Serve tortilla chips on the side.

Courtesy of my friend Dominic, an absolutely loony blog about the goings-on inside the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile as it travels the country — really imaginative marketing using new media tools.

I bring it to your attention for several reasons. 1) I find it stunning that the Weinermobile, an icon of 1950s hot-dog branding,  is still alive and kicking. 2)  It summons memories of one of the single greatest days of my life, the day in in 1960 when the Weinermobile visited Grovecenter School in Covina, California.

3) It reminds me of an incident three years ago out in the Jersey burbs. At the time, there was an immigrant family from Northern Mexico in the neighborhood whose 7 year-old son would come over and play with my daughter. One day, he was over when I heard that the Weinermobile was going to be visiting the nearby train station that morning.  I had to go and I had to take the kids.

But first I had to call his Mom, who spoke no English,  for permission.

And that phone call was the unforgettable memory:  In one five-minute phone conversation,  I learned that there is no amount of non-native fluency, no number of years of study and immersion, no amount of  Mexican music and literature to which you can be exposed that prepares you to even approach explaining a Weinermobile in Spanish.  All I remember is saying something about some guy who thought it would be cute to put wheels on a giant chorizo.

I do, though, remember her perfect reaction, which she sort of mumbled across the room to her husband and which she didnt seem to intend for me to hear:

For this we went through years of legal immigration procedures? A giant  chorizo with tires?

This dish probably falls somewhere between a risotto and a paella, and there’s no doubt it has a strong Spanish flair with its use of fiesty chorizo and seafood; whatever you decide to call it, I think you’ll find it a surprisingly easy and forgiving dish to assemble that lends itself to all kinds of mealtimes, from comforting winter lunchtimes to more demure dinner times.

I’ve divided the ingredients list into two parts; firstly the bare bones of the dish (which you’ll absolutely need), which are followed by a few extra garnishes which could be left out if your cupboards are a little bare. And so, without any further ado -

Essential Ingredients

- 2 Cloves Garlic

- Salt

- Olive Oil

- 4 Tomatoes

- 2 Medium Red Onions

- 150g Fresh, King Prawns

- 200g Chorizo

- Freshly ground Black Pepper

- 500g Risotto Rice

- 2 Beef Stock Cubes

- 1 litre boiling water

Serves 4 – 6

Optional Ingredients

- Fresh flat leaf Parsley

- A couple of glugs of White Wine

- A few chunks of hard Italian cheese such as Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano or Parmesan

Method

Start by heating a couple of generous glugs of Olive oil in a large sauce pan, adding a dash of salt (to taste) and gently frying the sliced garlic cloves for a couple of minutes. Coarsely chop the Parsley and add this to the pan along with a splash or two of white wine (to taste). Stir well and allow the contents to simmer for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes whole and covering. Simmer until the skins of the tomatoes soften and fall away (about 10 minutes), then stir everything well to break the tomatoes down.

Next, add the prawns and the chorizo; I tend to use ready sliced Chorizo like you might use in sandwiches and tear it into strips, but if you’re feeling extravagant (like I did this time!) you could buy a whole Chorizo sausage and slice it yourself! Toss in a couple of chunks of hard cheese, grind some black pepper over the dish then recover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Now, at this point turn up the heat and add the risotto rice, stirring well to allow the rice to fry for two minutes – being careful not to let anything burn or stick to the pan. In the meantime, prepare your 1 litre of hot beef stock and after the two minutes, add the first quarter of the liquid to quench the rice. Cover and turn the heat down to simmer, watching carefully – once the risotto begins to dry up, add the next quarter and so on, until the rice is well cooked and the risotto has thickened to a creamy consistency. Serve, garnishing with some chopped parsley if desired and enjoy!

Extra Tip: If you’re lucky enough to have the rind of the cheese, cut it into small 1cm chunks and add with the rice; you’ll find the rind softens in the heat and becomes a wonderful cheesy crouton!

La vedette = le choux! Il s’agit encore une fois d’un billet publié sur l’ancienne version de ce site et remise au goût du jour. Comme je le disais, l’inspiration de cette recette vient du Caldo Verde : mon mari est grand fan de France Inter qu’il écoute régulièrement dans sa voiture. Une des émissions qu’il suit avec plaisir est “Et pourtant elle tourne” avec sa rubrique “Dans les cuisines du monde” de Marie-Pierre Planchon.

Un jour , il m’a donc vanté une recette l’ayant fait saliver: une soupe portuguaise le “Caldo Verde” ou bouillon vert. Bien que le chou de la semaine ne soit pas vert, cette recette se décline très bien avec différents type de choux, donc cette semaine en version “Caldo Branco” qui devient même rojo sous l’effet du chorizo…

Soupe au chou et chorizo / Chorizo and cabbage soup / Caldo (verde) branco

Ingrédients: (pour 6 personnes)

- 250-400g de chou blanc (soit 1/5 d’un chou standard)

- 4 pommes de terre

- 1 gousse d’ail

- 1 oignon

- 1,5 l d’eau

- 1 cc de sucre

- sel, poivre

- 1/2 chorizo coupé en quart de rondelles

Eplucher et émincer la gousse d’ail et l’oignon. Les faire revenir dans une grande casserole. Ajouter le sucre et cuire jusqu’à léger brunissement. Verser l’eau. Ajouter les pommes de terre coupées en morceaux. Porter à ébullition et laisser cuire 30 mn. Mixer l’ensemble ou écraser les pommes de terre dans le bouillon à l’aide d’une fourchette.

Couper le chou en très fine julienne. Ajouter la julienne au bouillon. Ajuster l’assaisonnement avec sel (beaucoup) et poivre (beaucoup aussi). Laisser encore mijoter. Pendant ce temps, couper le chorizo et l’ajouter au bouillon. Laisser cuire environ 15 mn et servir avec des galettes de maïs…

In English here

 Join Todd Coleman, Saveur magazine’s food editor, as he makes this south-of-the-border breakfast classic.

I love sprouts.  We had roast chicken last night and I was wondering how to dress my sprouts up.  I found some chorizo and I knew I had some vacuum packed chestnuts in the cupboard and so this dish came into being. It was very nice; the savoury tang of the sprouts combined with the salty tang of the chorizo and the sweetness of the chestnuts was just right. We will definitely be having this one again.

It’s hard to give quantities for this recipe, I used as much as we were likely to want to eat of each item.

sprouts
chorizo, diced
vacuum packed peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped

Method

Peel the top layer off each sprout and slice off the very bottom.  I don’t feel the need to put a cross in the bottom of the sprouts as life is too short and they cook just as well without it.  Put the sprouts in a pan and put in enough water to just cover them.  Bring them to the boil and simmer for about 7-8 mins until tender (or you could steam them until tender).  Drain the sprouts and leave to one side.  Fry the chorizo in a large pan for a few minutes over a medium heat until it begins to leech its golden oil.  Add the sprouts and the chestnuts and cook for a few minutes more, stirring gently,  until everything is piping hot and covered in the chorizo oil.  Serve immediately as a side dish.

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Cazuela de Lentejas är riktig rödvinsmat och passar bra en grå november fredag då matfantasin tryter och man bara inte orkar laga något piffigt och nytt…Nu är det något mättande och varmt som gäller.

Jag lagar grytan på Dövestad kryddiga korvar , som jag skrev om igår, men du kan förstås också ta en god, riktigt het chorizo från ett fabrikat du litar på. Jag brukar skiva ner Änglamarks chorizo eller Wurstmasters lammkabanoss.

De här behövs till 4-5 portioner: 4 dl gröna linser (torra), 1 burk hela tomater, 1 stor gul lök, 1 röd paprika, 3 vitlöksklyftor, 3 msk olivolja, 1 lagerblad, 1 tsk salt, 1 tsk hel spiskummin, 2 tsk paprikapulver, 1 krm svartpeppar, 2 potatisar, 200 g kryddig korv

• Gör så här. Skölj linserna noga i flera vatten, blötlägg dem gärna någon timme eller mer om du har tid. Koktiden förkortas då mycket.
• Koka upp linserna i vatten som precis täcker. Koka under lock och späd med mer vatten om det kokar torrt. Beräkna ca 40 minuter om linserna inte är blötlagda annars tar det allt från 15 till 25 minuter. 
• Hetta upp oljan i en stekpanna. Fräs strimlad lök och paprika, skivad vitlök i ett par minuter.
• Tillsätt spadet från tomaterna, kryddorna och häll fräset i linsgrytan när det är ungefär 15-20 kvar på koktiden.
• Skala potatisen och skär i klyftor. Lägg dem, grovt skuren korv och tomaterna i linsgrytan. 
• Sjud tills linserna och potatisen är riktigt mjuka.
• Smaka av med salt och peppar.
• Strö över rejält med haclad persilja och servera med ett gott,  gärna surdegsjäst bröd, citronklyftor att pressa över och en Rioja med mycket smak. 

One of the great things about getting down to our beach house at Lorne for the weekend is the opportunity to cook up a feast for our family and friends.

The other is to make use of the fine seafood, vegetables and smallgoods available at the local stores.

For a party of six or more, a paella is the perfect dish to conquer both of the above.

The paella is a rice based dish, originating from Spain. It is thought the first paellas came from the Valencian region, typically using rabbit or chicken, snails and beans. Nowadays, the many paella variations now found in restaurants will likely bare little resemblance to the first dishes from 19th century Spain. The classical “Western” paella consists usually of seafood (often prawns, mussels and fish) and perhaps a surf-and-turf inclusion of chorizo and/or chicken.

While a traditional Spaniard may scoff at some of these new age interpretations, my opinion is that even a more Western paella, when executed in accordance with some basic paella principles, can still capture the spirit of the original dishes.

These principles are:

Rice

The rice is the star of the dish, everything else plays second fiddle. Therefore, the correct rice selection is crucial to a great paella outcome.

Short grain is strictly only acceptable, and preferably either Calasparra or Bomba rice. If the only thing you have is Arborio, then this is a one-time-only acceptable substitution. Jasmine or basmati are a definite no-no.

My preference is calasparra, I think the texture is perfect. It is also relatively easy to find at local markets and delis. Yes, it is worth the search.

Sofrito

The sofrito is a rich and jammy sauce, that provides the rice with some additional flavour and liquid. The sofrito I made was a combination primarily of capsicum and tomatoes, as well as bay leaves and garlic.

My version below was based on the Movida recipe I followed. I imagine that you could use a variant of these flavours to taste.

Stock

You really need a great stock for a paella. I wanted to make a great fish stock for my paella but I had trouble tracking down fish heads at short notice (a trip to South Melbourne market, Victoria Street in Richmond and even the fish co-op at Lorne brought no joy). This meant I had to purchase 1.5 litres of fancy stuff from Lorne Greens. ($24?!).

Make (or purchase) the best stock you can. It makes a big difference to the flavour of the rice once it all comes together.

Paellera

A paellera is a large, shallow pan for cooking paella. If you can’t obtain one of these, use a large frying pan.

Socarrat – optional(!)

The socarrat of paella is the burnt and slightly caramelised crust that forms on the bottom of the paella pan.

This crust of burnt rice is achieved by not stirring the rice for the duration of the cooking/absorption process.

Unfortunately, I think the heat was not quite strong enough during my cooking to achieve the much admired socarrat. I’ll mark this as an optional outcome from a paella, as you can certainly get a great tasting dish without the socarrat making an appearance.

The recipe I used was based on the Movida cookbook, by Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish. Frank being the chef from the famous Melbourne restaurant by the same name. For my adaption, I excluded the rabbit, fish and periwinkles. I added squid, mussels and chorizo instead!

Making the Sofrito…

Here are the ingredients!

EVOO, Capsicums, Tomatoes, Bay Leaves, Onions and Garlic

Fry up some diced onion, garlic and bay leaves for around 10 minutes.

In the meantime, dice up the capsicum. (This sends you a little crazy after four of them…)

Loads of diced capsicum...

Add the capsicum to the onions. Keep stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick. It takes over an hour for it to really come together.

After an hour or so, it starts to go quite jammy...

...now jammy!

Making the Paella…

Here are the ingredients!

Peas, sofrito, squid, raw tiger prawns, white wine, fish stock, lemon, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, parsley, garlic, safron, chorizo, calasparra rice and mussels. Phew!

Firstly, take out your paella pan and fry up some olive oil, the saffron, rosemary, thyme and garlic. At this stage, you can also fry your chorizos. On a large barbeque, it was useful to be able to do this side by side with the paella underway…

Paella pan with chorizo cooking away...

Frying up the herbs and spices

Next step is to add the rice. Warm it through for a minute or two, then add the sofrito to stir through. Great colour!

Rice goes in...

In goes the sofrito...

Add the white wine and the fish stock. Now, from the point on, you should no longer stir the dish, in order to create the socarrat crust on the bottom (theoretically!).

Looks like too much liquid. Never fear!

The next 20 to 30 minutes is done by look and feel. Keep the heat as even as possible on the bottom of the pan. As you can image above, on a barbeque the heat in uneven. We continually rotated the pan at achieve an even heat.

Over the next little while, the rice will begin to absorb the liquid. Don’t stir, it’s not risotto!

Almost there. Adding the seafood...

You’ll see it get to a stage where it’s almost ready. It’s probably best now to add seafood at this point, as it needs the least cooking. A handy hint from my recipe was to place the prawns over little air bubbles in the rice, where steam was escaping.

Once you’re happy with it, cover with foil to rest.

While resting, fry up some garlic, a bit more of the wine and steam the mussels in a pan. Give them a shake after five minutes and throw out any that don’t open.

Place the best mussels on top of the paella. Garnish with lemon and parsley.

Voilà!

Sofrito

125ml olive oil
2 white onions, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 bay leaves
4 large red capsicums, seeded and diced
4 ripe tomatoes (alternatively, ~300g canned tomatoes)

• Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan over low-med heat
• Saute the onion, garlic and bay leaves for around 10 minutes to soften
• Add the capsicum. Cook for around 30 minutes.
• Add the tomato and continue to cook at a low heat for another 1 to 1.5 hours
• Makes around 450g (or two cups)

Paella

100ml olive oil
pinch of saffron
2 tbsp of thyme leaves
2 tsp of rosemary leaves
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
800g calasparra rice
sea salt
500g sofrito
1 chorizo sausage, sliced and grilled
250ml white wine
1.5 litres of fish stock
extra hot water on hand
1 squid tube, sliced into strips
small bag of mussels, debearded
12-15 small raw prawns
handful of frozen peas
2 tbsp of flat leaf parsley for garnish
1 lemon, sliced for garnish

• Heat the oil in your paella pan.
• Add the saffron, thyme, rosemary and garlic. Stir for a minute or so.
• Add the rice, with perhaps a few pinches of salt. Stir for a minute to coat the rice in the herbs and oil.
• Outside of the pan at this time, fry up your chorizo.
• Add the wine, and then fish stock, and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high to bring to boil.
• From now on, do not stir the dish.
• After 15-20 minutes, the rice will have made it’s way towards the surface. If you’re short on liquid, add more hot water if required. Don’t add more than necessary. Better to have to little than too much.
• Add the chorizo, dotted around the rice.
• Once the rice has almost absorbed all liquid, place the prawns and squid around the rice. Add the peas.
• Continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so until rice is done and no liquid remains.
• Remove from the heat and cover with foil, rest for 10 minutes.
• While the rice is resting, fry up a little extra garlic with wine and olive oil. Add the mussels and steam for 5 minutes. Discard unopened mussels.
• To garnish, add mussels to the top of the rice. Cover with the chopped parsley and sliced lemon.
• Serves six people very generously

I know it is the middle of the week and is early to be discussing weekend breakfast, but this is the first time in a while, I have had chance to post. However I made this omelette/frittata a couple of weeks ago and have been wanted to share it with you since.

I love getting up early sometimes on Sunday morning to have the house myself, have a cup of coffee, watch TV, do a little housework perhaps and enjoy breakfast in peace by myself. The other Sunday, peace and tranquilly was achieved and I was able to make my favourite omelette/frittata (not quite sure which one it is, please decide for yourself after reading the recipe.)

Spicy Sunday Morning Omelette/Frittata

Ingredients

• Half an onion, chopped finely
• 1 medium sized chili, chopped finely (with or with seeds, it depends on how hot you like it!)
• 2 eggs
• Ham, chopped into squares
• Chorizo slices (I just used the ones from the supermarket – they are OK for this and pizza toppings – not much else)
• Garlic and Herb cheese, broken up into rough chunks (I used Boursin but it’s up to you)
• Cheddar Cheese, grated (my favourite is Cathedral City- however I have a sample of Kerry Low Low Cheese to try now so expect a post about this soon)
• Salt and Pepper
• Dried mixed herbs (any you like really. I used Italian mixed herbs)
• Olive Oil

Method

1. In a frying pan, put in a glug of olive oil and fry the onion, chili and a small pinch of salt until softened.
2. Meanwhile, break the eggs into a jug or small bowl, whisk lightly and add the dried herbs and some salt and pepper.
3. Pour into the frying pan with the onion and chili and turn heat down to the lowest setting. Allow to cook until the eggs are set on the bottom
4. Add your toppings. Chorizo and ham first, garlic and herb cheese and top with grated cheddar.
5. Put under a preheated grill until cheese has melted and bubbling. I enjoy leaving the garlic and herb cheese in chunks, as it doesn’t melt completely then as it can be quite thin and runny once melted. Then serve and enjoy with a glass of orange juice.

That’s it for now. Short post this time but I will be back with another post soon, either involving cheese or a joint post with my friend Marie about cooking for a crowd.

Happy Cooking!

Today’s recipe is a bit of an experiement. It’s currently bubbling on the stove so the taste test will have to wait.

I wanted to use up the chorizo from yesterdays recipe and I also had some mushrooms that were starting to get wrinkly that I wanted to use up. So, I threw it all together along with some minced turkey, garlic, some herbs and a bottled tomato sauce.

Chorizo, Turkey and Mushroom Meat Sauce

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

60g chorizo

250g turkey mince

6 medium buttom mushrooms

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 jar tomato sauce

1. Prepare the ingredients: Remove the skin of the chorizo and dice roughly, chop up the mushrooms and mince the garlic (I used a garlic press).

2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add in the diced chorizo, cook for 5 minutes or until the oils are released and the chorizo is browned.

3. Throw in the mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring for a few minutes or until garlic is fragrant. Shake in the dried herbs.

4. Add the turkey mince and stir, making sure it’s browning evenly. About 10 minutes.

5. Pour in the tomato sauce and stir, lifting up anything stuck to the bottom of the pan. Fill the jar halfway with water and shake getting any excess sauce of the sides of the jar. Pour this into the sauce mixture.

6. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat back to a simmer. Cover with a lid and leave for 45 minutes, stirring every now and then.

7. Serve with your pasta of choice and a sprinkling of parmesan.

Final Verdict:

Delicious! The chorizo added some nice spice while the turkey and mushroom melted in with the tomato sauce.

Pollo Asado a la Mingo

… También conocido, como “Pollo asado a la Sidra”. En realidad es una receta gallega, pero el toque de sidra le da un sabor muy característico, así que en la versión que yo hago le cederemos el protagonismo a los asturianos.

Los platos al horno son MUY sencillos, y aquí el único truco es utilizar un buen chorizo para el relleno y asar el pollo lentamente, para que esté tierno y sabroso.

Esta receta se la dedico a todos los que a pesar de no tener Thermomix entraron el el blog y me dejaron su comentario, ¡gracias, me hizo mucha ilusión!

Ingredientes:

- Un pollo de kilo y medio.
- Dos chorizos para guisar, de los que se utilizan tradicionalmente para elaborar a la sidra.
- Un limón.
- Hierbas aromáticas.
- Pimentón (dulce o picante).
- 3 patatas.
- 1 Cebolla.
- Sal  y pimienta.
- Un botellín de sidra.
- Aceite de oliva.

Dificultad: Muy fácil

Tiempo: Preparación, 15 minutos. Asado: Al menos 2 horas.

Coste: 9€

Preparación:

Se corta el chorizo en rodajas bastante gruesas (si está muy blando se introduce entero, pinchándolo un par de veces con un tenedor). A continuación se exprime medio limón en el interior de la carcasa, se sala, y se introduce el chorizo y el medio limón ya exprimido. Para nota un manojo de hierbas aromáticas (yo suelo poner albahaca, romero y un poquito de comino). Para los adictos al Avecrem, también va perfectamente una pastillita en el interior del pollo.

Después se sala la piel, se le añade el pimentón, y se riega con aceite de oliva… y de ahí, al horno. Yo le doy un primer golpe de calor con el horno fuerte para que suelte grasita, y mientras frío las patatas. Las pelamos y cortamos en rodajas gruesas, y freímos con la cebolla (picada) a fuego bajo, hasta que se ponga un poco transparente.

Entonces sacamos el pollo del horno, colocamos a su alrededor las patatas y regamos todo con la sidra. De vuelta al horno, esta vez a 180º, y lo dejamos estar por lo menos una hora y media. De vez en cuando es bueno regar el pollo con la salsa que se forma, así no se queda seco.

Cuando veamos que el pollo está doradito, lo sacamos del horno, emplatamos, ¡y a comer!

Chorizo 2

Serves:Nutritional info for entire recipe.

Divide by number of servings you get.,10

CarbsPerServing:Per serving: 638

Calories (kcal); 44g Total

Fat; (62% calories from fat);

52g Protein;

8g Carbohydrate;

4g fiber;

165mg Cholesterol;

1356mg Sodium

Effort:Easy

Ingredients:

1 pound lean pork shoulder — or tenderloin

1 tablespoon hot chili powder — or mild

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground oregano

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

How to Prepare:

Roughly chop pork then process in pulses in a food processor until very fine. Add remaining ingredients and pulse to blend thoroughly. You want almost a pate/paste consistancy. Refrigerate covered overnight to allow flavors to blend. Form into patties or crumbles and fry until cooked through. Cook thoroughly.

For my first dish I’ve chosen Arroz Con Pollo or Rice with Chicken. I’ve taken the recipe from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Gourmet Magazine. I’ve further modified it by removing the beer and adding extra stock, I blended the tomatoes and added in a green capsicum.

When I lived in London a few years ago I went over to spain for a weeks travel on a bus tour. I fell in love with the food and the atmosphere. The tapas! The sangria! The siestas! It was the first place I’d tried olives, and I had the most amazing vegetable paella. I would love to try to cook a paella one day but thought I best start with something slightly easier.

This dish is a one pot dish that consists of chopping up all the ingredients and then adding them a few at a time, putting a lid on and once finished revealing a soft and flavoursome bowl of comfort.

Arroz Con Pollo

Serves 4

Prep Time: 1 hour (including the time for marinating and chopping up the vegetables)

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Chicken Marinade:

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 Tablespoon coarse salt

1 Tablespoon of white vinegar

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

4 chicken pieces (I used 2 thighs and 2 breasts)

For the rest:

1 Tablespoon Oil

3 cloves garlic

1 Teaspoon smoked paprika

1 Teaspoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Teaspoon salt

1 bay leaf

50g spanish chorizo

1 medium spanish onion

1 red capsicum

1 green capsicum

1 1/2 cups of long grain rice

2 1/2 cups of low-salt chicken stock

2 tomatoes

Method:

1. Using a pestle and mortar smash the salt, garlic and oregano together. Once it looks like a paste, add the vinegar and mix.

2. Throw over the chicken pieces making sure each bit of chicken has a bit of marinade on it.

3. Marinate for at least 30 minutes up to 2 hours.

For the rest:

1. I like to have all my ingredient ready to go before I start cooking. Thinly slice the capsicums, dice the onion and chorizo and mince the garlic. I used a food processor for my tomatoes as I hate big chunks of tomato, however, if you don’t mind them just roughly chop the tomatoes. Measure out the rice and wash it in a colander (this gets rid of excess starch).

2. Add the oil to a large saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Add the chorizo and cook for about 5 minutes while the oils from the chorizo are released and its fragrant.

3. Throw in the capsicum strips, onion and garlic and cook, stirring for about 10 minutes or until soft.

4. Add the paprika, cumin, oregano, bay leaf and salt and cook until fragrant, approximately 1 minute.

5. Time to put in the marinate chicken. I moved all the vegetables that were in the pot to the side and added the chicken, then covered the chicken with the vegetables. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes making sure to turn the chicken on all sides.

6. Move the chicken and vegetables to the side and throw in the washed rice. Pour in the chicken stock and the tomatoes and mix it all together, making sure that everything is covered in the liquid.

7. Turn up the heat and bring the pot to the boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and cover the pot with some baking paper (mine almost caught on fire so make sure the paper is the right size for the pot) and pop the lid back on. Set your timer to 20 minutes and don’t peak!

8. Serve with finely chopped continental parsley and inhale (while forgetting to take a final photo).

The Verdict:

The rice was perfectly cooked and flavoured by the chorizo, vegetables and stock. Next time I’ll be adding some more paprika as I felt I wanted more of a kick. The boyfriend enjoyed 2 plates full, and I have left overs for tomorrows lunch. Will definitely be cooking this again.

In return for the fabulous Sri Lankan Feast, Gabrielle and I invited Michelle and her sister Andrea over for dinner, as well as our friend Brianna (I say our friend, but really these are Gabrielle’s friends who I have slowly usurped).  I knew it would be difficult to compete, but I was also excited because Michelle and Andrea are meat eaters (Gabrielle and Brianna not so much), so I decided to make up what I’ve been wanting to eat myself: garbanzos.

Tasty face!

I’m not talking hummus, or the icky pickled garbanzos that you get in cheap salad bars, but Spanish garbanzos; hearty, homey comfort food.  Onions, chicken stock, chorizo… It is something that I ate in my homestay in the winter and warmed me up just enough to get  me to walk that forty minutes to class in the very brief but intense rainy season of Sevilla.  I have a weird relationship with garbanzos, because it was the first dish I loved in Spain, but it was also the dish I ate just before falling prey to traveller’s food poisoning (at the Fine Arts Museum.  In class.  Not pretty).  Luckily, enough time has passed that when I finally took a bite of my very own garbanzos, all I felt was intense nostalgia, nix on the nausea.  I’m relieved, to say the least.

It has taken me absolutely forever to get around to making these.  First, because a friend of mine in Spain was perpetually bragging about his mother’s garbanzos, full of chorizo, blood sausage, pork, and assorted other flavors he seemed unable to name.  I asked after the recipe, he said sure.  A month passed.  I asked again, he said oh, yeah… another month passed and a sent him a picture of me keying his car.  I still don’t have that recipe.  But I am a resourceful girl, and instead of hiring someone via Spanish craigslist to make good on my threat, I rummaged through a cookbook I got at a flea market for six euro and picked the recipe that most sounded like what I had eaten.

Curious side fact: these garbanzos are a good example of a staple of Spanish cuisine that threw me for quite awhile: food of the spoon.  I think it was my third day with my host family when they asked me this question: Do Americans eat much food with spoons?  I was momentarily speechless, then opted to apologize and show my confusion.  Yes, we have spoons in America?   We use them to eat with as well…  Apologetic confusion: good gambit.  Eventually it was explained to me that a food that is ‘de cuchara’ is a food eaten with a spoon, and it’s linguistically a little like the English term finger food: it’s an important culinary genre.  I thought my family was screwing with my head (I totally want to do that if I get an exchange student), but then my conversation partner also asked me how often I ate ‘de cuchara’ and I resigned myself to eating and loving food of the spoon, especially for lunch, the largest and most important meal of the day.

I apologize for the long, recipe-free lead in, but I need to tack on one more explanatory note, for there is one more recipe down there at the bottom of the page somewhere: la tortilla española.  We ate it because again, my apartment is rife with vegetarians and chorizo is not so veggie-friendly.  I blog it because I promised my friend Kat that I would take lots of pictures of how to make it.

Not the prettiest tortilla, but among the tastiest!

These are not Mexican tortillas, but a slab of egg filled with potatoes and onions.  Kat was a vegetarian in Spain – something terribly difficult.   I think that she ate more tortilla in our four months there than most Spaniards do in ten years.  It was often the only meat alternative on the menu of most restaurants, and she ate it frequently for lunch, handily portable tucked into a fresh baguette.

Tortilla was also my saving grace many times.  My host family once went away for the weekend and left food in the fridge for me: a store-bought tortilla and a frozen tuna pizza.  I had tortilla on toast with dijon mustard for breakfast and lunch two days in a row.  And when we went on a road trip to Portugal, the mystery of kitchen facilities was solved once again by pre-made store tortillas, eaten on the beach.

I learned to make tortilla first when I heard the sound of oil frying from my room in my homestay and ran out to see what was going on (the kitchen was a place that I was not encouraged to hang out in, especially since there was really only room for one at a time in there), and my host mother said, oh, yes, tortilla, and then lifted the lid on a frying pan to show a seething mass of olive oil and potatoes frying ecstatically.  I was excited.  Later I lucked onto some physical instructions from a cooking class in Palma de Mallorca.

NOTE: The recipe for tortilla has an icky picture of half-cooked eggs that I’m posting because I think it’s necessary to explain one of the steps of a decent tortilla.  I’m sorry, but it’s for Kat’s sake.  Everybody else just suck it up.

So yes.  Enough with the blah blah blah.  On to the food.

Garbanzos con chorizo

Translated and adapted down from El Gran Libro de Cocina

Doña Margarita knows best.

First, a note from Doña Margarita on preparing garbanzos:

One should soak dried garbanzos for at least 12 hours before cooking them, in cold water with a little salt and a leveled tablespoon of baking soda for every 100 grams of garbanzos. (Handy metric calculator here)  Before cooking the garbanzos, wash them well so the flavor of baking soda doesn’t remain.  Put them in the pressure cooker when the water is hot, but before it boils.  The garbanzos require 30 minutes of cooking time in the pressure cooker.  Calculate 75-100 grams of uncooked garbanzos per person and 150 grams if they are cooked.

Soaking, chillaxing. Apparently garbanzos are named after the fact they look like little rams' heads. Kind of.

Note from me on Doña  Margarita’s note: I don’t have my pressure cooker with me, so I just boiled them for about 45 minutes to an hour in a regular old pot. Also, her portions are preeeeetty hefty.  I made enough for three to four persons and I think it ended up closer to six generous servings.  Also, there’s a word in Spanish, comensal, which means companion at the table!  How great is that?  Finally, the garbanzos will spookily foam up a bit as they boil.  Go ahead and skim that off about every fifteen minutes.

I don't know what it is, but I know I don't want it.

The garbanzos boil up tender in a little under an hour, but just fish one or two out from time to time and bite in.  You want them to be cooked through – no crunchiness, but you should take them off before they lose any structural integrity;  I like mine toothsome instead of mushy. And remember, you’ll be tossing them into a soup, so the texture will be a plus.

We are pretty and like to fog up camera lenses with our steamy irresistability.

Go ahead and used canned garbanzos if you’d like, but just rinse them VERY VERY well.  The liquid they come in is just nasty.  I wanted to start from scratch and avoid any of that flavor after I ruined a dish of Indian garbanzos because of it.  So yes.  Rinsing.  Integral.

We are finally ready to prep the actual dish.

Let it be known: I’m posting the halved recipe here because I figure more people are going to want to serve 4-6 persons (or less) than 8-10 ‘companions of the table’.

300 g of garbanzos (about 3 cups, dried, 4 cups boiled.  Weight is better than volume, if possible)

1 medium onion

75 g chorizo (more would definitely not go amiss)

1 clove of garlic (ditto)

1 1/2 tomatoes (smaller hot house tomatoes, not 1 1/2 beefsteak guys), blanched*, peeled, seeded, and chopped

25 g toasted almonds

parsley to taste (I liked about 2/3 as much as my almonds, visually, after chopping)

3/4 liter of stock (chicken is best)

Oil (about 2 tablespoons – and make it olive!)

Salt

Yes, you could easily make this dish vegan by using vegetable stock, but if you do that, PLEASE don’t cut out the chorizo entirely, but instead use soyrizo.  It’s the backbone of the entire flavor profile, and truthfully I don’t know how much you would enjoy it without that smoky, subtly spicy base.

I'm a lucky girl that doesn't need to convert, because Alida bought me a scaaaale...

Heat a little oil in a very deep saucepan (I have no clue what a vasito actually ends up being, volumewise, because it translates as something like little cup – you don’t need a cup of oil, just a tablespoon or two). Saute – ‘fry lightly’ – the garlic and chopped onion with the chorizo, sliced (I then halved the pieces to spread out the chorizo treasure in the resulting stew).  When the garlic and onion are golden, add the tomato. Season with salt.  I also used pimentón agridulce, or bittersweet Spanish paprika because it happened to be at hand and adds smoky depth and warmth that compliments the chorizo.

Soup base, just after adding the tomatoes

Cook on low heat for five minutes.  Meanwhile, mash the almonds and chopped parsley with a mortar and pestle, or a food processors, or lacking those use a good sharp knife and chop them until your arm falls off, like I did.  Add to the pan with the stock (or pour the whole mess into a large pot with preheated stock), the garbanzos, the almond- parsley mixture, and the chorizo.  Heat on low to medium heat until it just comes to a boil.  Dish and serve.  My family ate this with a lashing of table vinegar, but I have yet to find a vinegar here as mild and flavorful; instead, I use Frank’s Red Hot or another vinegar based hot sauce.

How can you say no?

*Note: to blanch a tomato, just dunk it in almost boiling water for thirty seconds or less and then pull off the loosened skin with a paring knife.  You don’t want to cook the tomato, just warm it up enough to denude it.

Tortilla española, or Tortilla de patatas

Repeat warning: Nasty but necessary picture of uncooked eggs follows!

An amalgam of a translation of my cooking class recipe, verbal notes from my host mother, and my opinion popping up here and there. The traditional tortilla is made with just potatoes, but I MUCH prefer to use onion as well: use about half and half onion to potato or 2/3 potato to 1/3 onion.

4 eggs

1/2 kilo of potatoes

Olive oil, a cup or about 1/4 liter.

Salt

8 inch diameter pan, preferably nice and deep.

Part 1: Wash and cut the potatoes into thin slices, or little chunks.   I peel mine, but if you are using something like Yukon golds or baby reds, it’s not  necessary.  Once you have put the oil on to heat, add the potatoes, adding a little salt, and fry them over medium high heat.

I don’t actually measure exactly how much potato or onion I end up using.  I start with two potatoes, peel and chop them, then add them straight to my tortilla pan.  When it’s about half to two thirds full, I chop up onion until the pan is full of ingredients – be sure to interpret this ‘full’ as a leveled off pan – if you mound up the potatoes, there will be too much filling and you won’t have a cohesive tortilla; the egg won’t be able to bind it together well enough and it will crumble apart depressingly on your plate.  Then I add enough oil to come almost to the top of my filling:

Look closely at the oil level - don't skimp!

Either way, fry the potatos in the oil until they fall apart when you stick a fork in them (when they unmake themselves, according to my host mother).  They’ll have taken on a nice golden hue from the olive oil, as well as a lot of flavor.  Drain the potatoes, either in a colander or on a plate covered in paper towels.  Let them cool a for a few minutes; the longer you let them sit, the more oil has time to escape.  You can do this part ahead of time if you are having people over.

Don’t wipe all the oil out of the pan; you’ll need a little bit to keep the tortilla from sticking.  Beat the eggs with a little salt (I habitually undersalt my tortilla, I’d say a half teaspoon or a little more is getting close to a more appetizing tortilla), then add the cooled potatoes (and onions if you so chose) to the egg mixture, then pour into the oiled pan over medium heat.

Now: go ahead and start pulling the cooking eggs up from the bottom as if you were just making scrambled eggs, letting the raw eggs seep down and hit the hot pan.  Until it looks like this:

Not nice. But hard to describe, no?

At this point, I’d say your eggs are about 1/3 cooked.  Now just let it sit.  Stop poking at it. It’s time for it to make the leap from scrambled eggs to tortilla.  Let it cook for about 3-5 minutes until you can feel that it has taken on the shape of the pan and is one coherent mass.

The fun part!  Take a plate and put it upside down over the top of the pan.  Place a palm on top of the plate (see photo) and flip the tortilla onto the plate.  Replace the pan on the burner and slide the tortilla off the plate and back into the pan so the uncooked part is now sizzling happily.

All ready to flip!

If you can, run the edge of your plate along the pan to shape the tortilla; my pan is too small and my plate to big, but see what I mean here (that was the cooking class in Palma)

This makes a much more presentable tortilla. Foto courtesy of Kat

Let this side cook for another few minutes, flipping it as many times as you need to to get that beautiful golden color.  Just don’t cook it too long – overcooked eggs are rubbery and unappetizing.  My host mother is more of a purist and insists that you should only have to flip it once.  But she’s been cooking them for years and has a bizarre sixth tortilla sense.

Slice wedges and eat with salad, alone, on bread, for breakfast, for lunch, for 3 AM drunk food…

You can make tortillas out of anything.  Leftover vegetables, slices of chorizo: whatever you want, tortilla will be happy to convert it into a fancier dinner that is a little slice of Spanish sunshine on your plate.

Hearty dinner, vegetarian friendly... what's not to like?

Oh, and we had a pie, of course.

Filling was meh, but the crust... Well, you can see for yourself.

My first go at this was made up from one of our secret suppers’ leftovers – the rich juices of roasted peppers, a handful of olive stones and half a pack of pot barley – but it’s just as easy with a few simple ingredients and can be made in one pot.

Preheat the oven to 150. Gently heat your cuts of good quality chorizo in a steel-bottomed pot until the edges curl and darken and have released some of their red oil into the pan. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add to a glug of olive oil a finely diced onion, a bay leaf, half a very finely diced carrot, half a sliced red chilli and 2 or 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Stir and soften until translucent over a medium heat and then pour in a large glass of red wine and a few branches of fresh thyme. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Roughly chop a couple of red and yellow peppers* and add to the pot with a tin of plum tomatoes, which are best strained and pummeled through the hands to release their flavour. Small cherry tomatoes or pitted black olives are good added here too. Return the chorizo to the pot and stir in a couple of handfuls of pot barley, making sure it’s stirred well and submerged in liquid. Cover and place on the middle shelf of the oven for up to an hour, making sure the barley has swollen to plump kernels.

Serve with a crumbling of feta and the rest of the bottle of red.

*Alternatively, roast the peppers beforehand in the oven and conserve the roasting tin juices for the pot – the longer they cook, the more juice or stock you’ll have. I also went through the slightly fussy but experimentally exciting process of boiling off the clinging flesh of black olives from their stones in the hope of adding more flavour. You needn’t do this but I was out of olives because they went to our guests.

Ellie