Well, after I got home from church this afternoon, Pepita decided to teach me how to make Croquetas. My friend Justine, a fellow americana, came over, as well as Pepita’s friend Pilar for the lesson. Pilar knitted while the rest of us mixed and rolled and dipped the little doughy Croquetas.

The Croquetas turned out quite delicious, and I’ll have to say I’m pretty excited to attempt to make them on my own for my family back in Michigan. I hope they go well with a Christmas turkey!

What a lunch, though – it was a who’s who of Spanish dishes…we really enjoyed ourselves, and I had the opportunity to watch and learn how some of the dishes were made.  Be assured that the pictures don’t do the dishes justice, though.

Preparation of the potatoes for a tortilla española.

The finished tortilla - so good!

Croquetas de jamón - little bites of a fried bechamel covering bits of ham.

The fish that were cooked in the oven in salt; more salt was added to cover the fish completely.

The fish were done when the eyes turned white - cooked perfectly.

Our 4-hour lunch culminated with a tour of the community garden that our friend has a share in…making me want to get our pots that are en route to Spain and start planting things!  I find it pretty interesting that Spaniards really enjoy cooking with parsley – hands down, that herb was the best represented in all of the plots of the community garden.

Our ride home was thankfully quick (the airport tunnel has a huge shoulder and signs for bikes!) – we flew down the hill in a nearly direct route and took almost an hour off of our time getting there!

The more I think about it, the more I consider the croqueta to be the Ruth Lorenzo of the food world (indulge me here…)

Much like the erstwhile X Factor belter, they’re brilliantly cheesy, Spanish and surprisingly hot (literally: I burnt my mouth).

If you’re looking for a decent rendition of Purple Rain you’ll be disappointed though.

Spot the difference

Just as I imagine La Lorenzo to be, the croqueta makes an excellent addition to any party. I made them this weekend for the lovely Ginger & Fennel‘s birthday bash and they went down a storm.

They’re the kind of moreish, fatty treat tipsy party guests fall all over – plus they reheat well, which means you can make them in advance and scoff any leftovers the next day! I’ve even heard talk of breakfast burritos filled with croquetas and beans…

Having talked up their party credentials though, a word of warning: do not reheat when drunk. Such behaviour can lead to burned hands (getting them out of the oven) and mouths (the filling rapidly becomes pea-and-ham LAVA)

This particular version comes courtesy of Allegra McEvedy’s new world tour of a cookbook – Bought, Borrowed & Stolen.

Makes 16 large or 25 small croquetas

Ingredients

For the roux:

40g butter

5 tbsp plain flour

250ml chicken stock

25g Parmesan, finely grated

130g proper Spanish jamón, thickly sliced and cut into small chunks

(if you can’t get hold of jamón use thick cooked British ham – but adjust quantities to 150g ham/180g peas)

200g peas

1 litre (yes, a whole litre) vegetable/other frying oil

For the coating:

Flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten with 2 tbsp water

100g breadcrumbs, in the following order of preference: 1. real homemade 2. Japanese panko 3. scary orange Paxo

Method

Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed pan (you don’t want this to burn) then add the flour and stir for a few minutes on a medium heat. Slowly add the chicken stock, stirring and then whisking to get rid of lumps. It should rapidly turn into a thick, shiny paste.

Take the pan off the heat, mix in the Parmesan and ham and then spread thinly on a tray to cool and solidify the mixture (I popped it in the fridge for half an hour).

While the gooey roux mixture is settling down, get ready to breadcrumb! You’ll need the following on a work surface, in this order: a tray or plate covered in seasoned flour; a wide bowl with the watered egg; another tray/plate covered in breadcrumbs and a big tray for the finished uncooked croquetas.

Blitz the peas in a food processer to break them up, squeeze out any excess water and then mix into the cold, gluey roux.

To turn the slightly manky-looking paste into magnificent croquetas, dampen your hands and get ready to get messy.

I did them in batches of 15 or so, as many as the floured plate could hold. First, roll a small handful/2 tbsp paste between your hands into thick, thumb-sized cylinders. Fill the flour plate/tray with these roux rolls, then make sure they are covered ALL OVER with the flour.

Now the production line cranks up a gear… to get these beauties ready to fry, use your LEFT hand to cover croquetas with egg, and your RIGHT to roll them through the breadcrumbs. This will help stop your fingers rapidly becoming unwieldingly breaded.

Wash your hands, gird your loins and fill a VERY DEEP pan with oil to a depth of 3-4cm leaving enough room for the oil to bubble up. I fried my (small) croquetas in batches of ten, using a slotted spoon to lift them in and out of the oil. You can test if the oil is hot enough by dropping in teeny bits of bread – if the oil bubbles and fizzes around the bread, it’s good to go. Putting too many croquetas in the pan at once will lower the temperature of the oil – not ideal: colder oil will leave them greasy and uncooked.

Pop on kitchen roll to soak up the excess oil and then get stuck in.

Museo del Jamón, as I discovered, occupies that gray area between food store and restaurant. It’s pretty touristy, lowbrow, and mostly located near attractions like the Prado or the Puerta del Sol. I don’t care about that – the ham is delicious and the beer is cold, and even after eighteen years, I’ve never escaped a visit to Madrid without a visit to el museo. Anyway, my husband had never been to Madrid and, after my incessant chatter about ibérico pigs and all that, suggested it for lunch on the way to a Teotihuacan exhibit at the Fundación la Caixa. We made for the plato combinado, an inexpensive but filling lunch offering, and, for good measure, a ración of jamón ibérico de bellota. While we ate, the place filled up with locals, almost all men, in for a quick afternoon beer and bocadillo.

Plato combinado: jamón, huevos, patatas fritas, croquetas de jamón, ensalada. Note the ración of bellota.

Spanish cured ham comes in several forms, in order of quality. First, there’s jamón serrano, your basic dry cured ham. The term “serrano” doesn’t mean anything special in this context – it just connotes a conventional dry-cured ham from the hind legs of the white Landrace pig. Jamón serrano reminds me of conventional prosciutto. Then there’s jamón ibérico, which connotes only dry-cured hams made from the black pata negra pig, fed at least partly on acorns. Although most ibérico comes from farm-raised pigs, fattened on acorns only at the end, the fabled ibérico de bellota comes from pata negra that are allowed to forage among the acorn forests of Extremadura. It tastes like nuts, fatty and sweet, and has a dense, meaty quality rather than the saltier taste and flimsy texture of serrano. Behold the difference:

Side by side: jamón ibérico de bellota vs jamón de serrano.

I was lucky enough to try some fresh cuts of the ibérico de bellota pig earlier this summer at the Fancy Food Show. They were as sweet and rich as the cured ham. Recently, I picked up some of the bellota cheeks, belly, and a shoulder cut, so keep your eye out for future postings. Jamón is far easier to come by, though, so pick up some ibérico de bellota and enjoy with a glass of chilled sherry. Or try making your own plato combinado sometime. It’s easy – french fries, sliced jamón, fried egg, and croquetas.

Croquetas de jamón

I make these croquetas with jamón serrano. I suppose you could make them with ibérico, or if you were filthy rich and kind of nuts, ibérico de bellota, but the fact is that a fried bite like this croqueta isn’t suitable for the bellota – the rich béchamel swamps the delicate, sweet flavor of the acorn-fed pork and its delicious fat. Save the bellota for eating raw, sliced paper-thin, so you really can enjoy it.

I use gelatin in my croquetas so I can use less flour – the result is a lighter croqueta whose filling melts more in the mouth rather than a heavy, pasty item. It is important to chill the filling thoroughly before breading and frying. If you don’t, the filling will be fairly wet and hard to bread. In addition, I call for using stock: in Madrid, the filling often includes the broth of the classic meat-and-chickpea stew called cocido madrileño. You probably don’t have that to hand, but any good meat stock is fine.

You can scoop them using a tiny ice cream scoop or a spoon (the scoop releases the filling without dirtying your hands). If you like, leave them round (as in this recipe). If you prefer the traditional oblong shape, roll them slightly to flatten once you’ve coated them in flour during the dredging process. I’ve depicted the oblong shapes in the eggplant recipe below.

6 tbsp (3 oz) unsalted butter
6 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c ham or pork stock, or any other meat stock
3 sheets gelatin
4 oz jamón serrano, minced
salt
grapeseed or vegetable oil
standard breading station: flour, beaten egg with a little water, breadcrumbs or panko

Start a day in advance: it seems fussy, but it guarantees that your filling will set up. You need to let it set for at least 4 hours.

Make a moderately thick béchamel sauce: place a saucepan over medium heat and, when hot, add the butter. When the butter melts and begins to bubble, add the flour, whisking well, and reduce the heat. Continue to cook, whisking frequently, for about 6 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste. Don’t allow the roux to color.

Add the milk slowly, whisking. Increase the heat and continue whisking until the sauce thickens. Lower the heat and barely simmer for about 6 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to about 115F.

Bloom the gelatin in cool water and squeeze out the excess water. Whisk into the still-hot béchamel and incorporate well. Add the minced ham and distribute. Season to taste. Pour into a shallow pan, like a sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until solid.

Set up a standard breading station of one pan of flour, another with beaten egg (thinned slightly with water), and another of breadcrumbs or panko. Pour about 1/3″ oil in a sauté pan and place over medium high heat. Scoop the filling using a small cookie scoop (about 1 tbsp) and bread. When the oil reaches 350F/177C, fry the croquetas. Drain on paper over a rack. Serve hot.

Homage to the plato combinado: note the serrano, pale cousin to the bellota

Croquetas de berejenas “Parmigiana”

Let’s try something different for a change. Eggplant parmigiana is classically made by frying slices of breaded eggplant, and then baking the fried eggplant with mozzarella cheese, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a light tomato sauce. It’s usually pretty heavy and greasy – other than an incredible version my husband makes that skips the breading and frying step – and I can’t say I usually love it. So how about an croqueta with the flavors of eggplant parm?

Salt the eggplant to remove bitterness (I usually skip this step in favor of microwaving, but that won’t work so well for this recipe). Then roast the eggplant and purée as part of the filling. Breaded and fried, and served alongside a light marinara sauce, these are so much better than the dish that inspired them.

4 tbsp (2 oz) unsalted butter
4 tbsp plus 1 tsp all-purpose flour
1 c whole milk
4 sheets gelatin
3 oz fresh mozzarella, diced or torn into the smallest possible bits
1 1/2 c eggplant purée (below)
salt
grapeseed or vegetable oil
standard breading station: flour plus grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (2:1), beaten egg with a little water, breadcrumbs or panko
minced parsley
Tomato sauce

Eggplant purée:

two medium eggplants or five baby eggplants
olive oil
lemon juice
salt
a little milk if necessary

Oven 400F/204C.

Halve the eggplant lengthwise, score, and season with salt. After about 30 minutes, pat dry, rinse, and pat dry again.

Place on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, and roast cut side-down until tender. Pierce the skins with a fork. Scoop the flesh from the skins and purée with a squeeze of lemon in a blender. If necessary, add a little milk to help it purée. For a really smooth texture, pass through a tamis. Set aside.

Make a stiff béchamel sauce: place a saucepan over medium heat and, when hot, add the butter. When the butter melts and begins to bubble, add the flour, whisking well, and reduce the heat. Continue to cook, whisking frequently, for about 6 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste. Don’t allow the roux to color.

Add the milk slowly, whisking. Increase the heat and continue whisking until the sauce thickens. Lower the heat and just barely simmer for about 6 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to about 115F/46C.

Bloom the gelatin in cool water and squeeze out the excess water. Whisk into the still-hot béchamel and incorporate well. Add the eggplant purée and incorporate well. The mixture should cool substantially. Add the mozzarella cheese and distribute. Pour into a shallow pan, like a sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until solid.

Set up a standard breading station of one pan of flour 2:1 with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, another with beaten egg (thinned slightly with water), and another of breadcrumbs or panko. Pour about 1/3″ oil in a sauté pan and place over medium high heat. Scoop the filling using a small cookie scoop (about 1 tbsp) and bread. When the oil reaches 350F/177C, fry the croquetas. Drain on paper over a rack. Serve hot, garnished with minced parsley, additional grated cheese, and the tomato sauce on the side.

Eggplant parmigiana croquetas, tomato sauce

The weekend started with a traditional Thursday Tigre Tapas night. Mojitos and croquetas and some tortilla española, can’t get much better than that. Seriously, you can’t. It’s perfect. The night ended with a long walk home (drunken navigation skillz+being too stubborn to get a taxi=let’s explore!) after a whole lot of dancing at a local bar/discoteca called “Mañana no salgo” – Tomorrow I don’t go out – false. A beautiful friend from Colby, Leah, came from London to visit for the weekend and she brought the fun when she arrived.

After a lazy Friday, which included some shopping, obviously, and a long, relaxing conversation at a cafe, a few of us went to a cool bar with some pretty great tapas, especially the croquetas. Long story short, I’m slowly transforming into a croqueta. Basically, a croqueta is a ball of deliciousness filled with different types of cheese and sometimes jamón deep fried in breadcrumbs. Heaven. During the week we went to a posh little tapas place on Cava Baja in La Latina (aka my new home, more to discuss later) and had croquetas with spinach and pine nuts and some fancy cheese. Absurd. I digress. Although the point of tapas is to not get too drunk, sometimes it just doesn’t work. After a few cañas (beers), we headed to another bar near Bilbao where we met up with some of our Spanish friends – Juan, Javier, Joaquín, Juan Carlos, to name a few. The J’s. The bars here usually close at around 3, so when it closed we headed over to Juan’s (parent’s) house for a little bit before our next destination.

It was interesting to go to a Spaniard’s house because they usually don’t have people over, which is pretty different from Los Estados. It’s also interesting that they live with their parents until they’re like 30 or so, obviously another cultural difference. Hey parents, I’ll live in our house til I’m 30, don’t mind me.

We headed to a discoteca after where we drank and danced until it closed – at around 6 a.m. My roommate and I took the metro home at around 7:30, I got into my bed at 8 a.m. The sun was rising but my eyes quickly closed and I had a pretty incredible, and much needed, sleep.

So, where are we? Time is so different here, it’s hard to keep track. Saturday afternoon. We went to a bullfight! Una corrida de toros en La Plaza de Toros here in Madrid, pretty close to mi apartamento. Alright. It’s gonna sound strange, but it was so awesome. Because I didn’t really know what to expect, I was told to go into it with the mindset that it’s an art form. I’m still not sure if it is surprising or not, but I wasn’t really affected by the whole, I just saw 6 bulls get killed sorta thing. I’ll admit, the repetition was a bit much, after the 3rd and 4th bulls were killed I was beginning to feel a little bit sad, butttttt there is just so much to comment on! Firstly, the outfits (of course). So cool. They’re gorgeous, these beautiful colors, golds and turquoises and silvers and light greens with intricate patterns of jewels that emanante against the dull sand and the harsh dark brown and black colors of the bulls. Beautiful juxtaposition. Well, I guess it would be good to write about the process of a bullfight. Basically, a bullfighter (toreo/matador) has a little team with him, some called picadores, others called banderilleros (my favorites). First, a bull runs out into the ring and all the helpers check to see if the bull is worth enough to fight and start to get it riled up. Next, a man on top of a horse (picador) jabs the back of the bull’s neck with a large spear to begin the slow process of killing. Next, the banderilleros, god I love them, show off their athletic prowess by basically running straight at the bull with two small spears (banderillas) in their hands, jump into the air and manage to both spear the bull twice and run away fast enough so as to avoid, oh, you know, the bull killing them. Awesome. They do this all while wearing those beautiful suits (trajes de luces – suit of lights) that are super tight and seem super restricting. So now, the bull is bleeding and has a bunch of spears in its back. The toreo, this time without his team, then does the “dance” in which he shows off his sassy and really artistic moves with his red cape (muleta) and a sword (estoque) [fun fact, the color red doesn't anger the bulls because they're colorblind!] It’s really incredible to see the movements, how swiftly their bodies can move, how close the bull can come to their bodies and they don’t flinch, they don’t move a muscle it seems (maybe they can’t in that coloful suit). It really is an art form, filled with unique movements that are stunning in execution. I can’t even imagine being so close to a bull that wants to kill me, let alone opening up my body, making myself so vulnerable to a 630 kg bull (630 kg = 1386 lbs) as the bull fits so closely into the contours of the toreo’s flexible and fearless body.

So after they dance for a bit, the toreo then jabs the estanque (well, before this, he switches his swords and uses the “estanque de verdad” – the real sword) in between the shoulders so as to hit the heart and ultimately kill it. Most of the time, the bull’s body goes into rigor mortis and is then dragged off my a team of horses. So yeah, I saw this occur 6 times in one day.

Basically, if the audience (the plaza was packed!) thinks the toreo did a good job, they wave white handerchiefs to show their approval. If the performace was deemed good enough, the toreo can recieve the ear of the bull, if it was really awesome, he can get both ears, and if it was out of this world, he can get both ears and the tail. Lucky for us, we saw a good enough performance and one of the two matadores got an ear!

We saw Ivan Fandino and David Mora perform, they each killed three, alternating each round. Fandino got an ear because he somehow managed to kill the bull in the process of being thrown up onto the horns of the bull then trampled. But no worries, he got up, stumbled a bit and was perfectly fine. THAT’S NOT NORMAL. YOU DON’T GET TRAMPLED BY A 630 KG BULL AND WALK IT OFF. We had some real aficionados sitting behind us and one, in between his puffs on his cigarrette, explained to me that bullfighters are a different kind of human, they have different bones, different “carne” that can sustain BEING ATTACKED BY A BULL. Literally incredible. I can’t even think about the pain they feel yet shake it off so effortlessly all in the name of sport. Pretty damn inspiring.

It was such an emotional experience. You sit there, watch these people slowly torture a bull, make it work a little more so as to increase its pain and suffering, then just kill it so forcefully… 6 times in one day. But it’s art, it’s an expression of culture. You sympathize with the bull at times, hoping it gets a little more angry and goes after the toreo. Wait, what? Did I just wish harm on a human being? THAT’S WHAT IS SO WEIRD ABOUT BULLFIGHTING. THE RANGE OF EMOTIONS is absurd. I will be completely honest. There were moments in which I wished that the bull got a little fiesty and went after the matador. THAT’S WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS. No one should ever wish harm on another human being, but can we say the same about animals? Interesting question. You sympathize with the bull, you admire the toreo, you want the bull to seek revenge, you want to see the toreo get roughed up a bit. Such a strange series of emotions. You are relieved when the matador stands up after being trampled, but you’re kinda proud of the bull. WEIRD. But after the 6th time you see a dead bull dragged out of the arena, you’re pretty damn numb.

On a lighter note! On Saturday night we went for tapas, of course, then a relaxing (thank god), early (seriously, thanks god) night at a flamenco bar. Flamenco. Awesome. So awesome. Talk about beauty. The movements, the ways in which they can move their feets so incredibly fast without moving their upper bodies in the slightest, the way they can maintain a rhythm when it isn’t in sync with the music at all, how they can create the most incredible, most in sync rhythm with palmas, ah. Too much. I’ve never seen anything like it. But what struck me most was the passion, the emotions expressed on their faces. Concentration yet a bit of saddness all wrapped up in passion. There is a Spanish word connected to flamenco, duende, that’s not really translatable to English but it encompasses that intense and immense passion and emotion in the oxmoronic control and lack of control in a flamenco dancer’s body. Ah.

I guess both of these cultural events connect very well with one of the biggest “differences” or manners or whatever word fits best I have noticed while here. Expression is so different here. Art as manifested through the relationship between a killer and the killed, flamenco, this sense of saddness and sensuality displayed both singularly and collectively. The movements of the toreo’s cape as the bull almost caresses his body, the movements of a flamenco skirt… both have this sort of dynamism that is almost as hard to articulate as the word duende. It seems that the Spanish are more open, more expressive, more sentimental, more inclined to live their emotions on a large display. They don’t say “goodbye” to end a phone call or a text, they say “besos” – kisses. When they greet each other, they kiss both sides of the cheek. You’re called guapo/a (ah, a language with gender!), they make intimate and lasting eye contact, they kiss so publicly, on the escalators in the metro to in the middle of a sidewalk. There is an openness, more sentimentality. It’s incredible to see love manifested in the little, daily encounters.

It’s such an expressive culture and such an expression language. Maybe there’s a correlation between the two, how a language that has two different verbs to express “to be”, two different ways of talking about the past, and most importantly, a whole different mood, the subjunctive, that expresses subjectivity and emotions. That’s the most valuable thing I’ve learned here so far, the importance of subjectivity and the full, uninhibited expression of sentimentality and emotions.

It’s validating. Most of you reading know that I very often and probably at inappropriate times express my emotions, but it’s not necessarily accepted or welcome so openly in the States. I feel validated here, more open. Again, another reason why I’m gonna live here.

I digress. Obviously. Then Sunday morning we went to one of the world’s biggest flea markets, El Rastro, aka pickpocketer’s heaver, but I didn’t get my wallet stolen! YEAH! It’s in La Latina, aka my future hood.

La Latina encompasses every part of the Spanish culture I have fallen in love with. Simply put, the beautiful, lasting, historic architecture combined with the tapas ambiance (La Latina is well known for its tapas) and that whole stop-and-appreciate-life and the good people and good food and simple pleasures thing happens in La Latina. And they have buildings with galerias, those large windows. Ah.

I think I’m going to save my rant about city vs. suburban living for the next entry, because this is obviously too long. Went to the Museo Nacional del Prado today, awesome. We’re off to Barcelona for the weekend, really excited. What else… I’ve finalized all my travels plans, pretty excited to have an awesome Colby reunion in Gevena, a high school reunion in Paris and a cool getaway with some friends on the program to Morroco. Not bad. Just livin’ the life, man.

Alright… finally,

Besos!

Volver = To return as well as a rather good movie.

Well, the academic year has kicked off, which means I’m back in Spain.  This year may be a little on the light side, blogwise, as I’m going to be doing a Master’s program as well as my teaching assistant job.  So to make up for it, I’m going to kick out a huge mega entry while I’m still on ‘vacation’ – I had to come back early in order to fix up my immigration status.  I do want to learn several things yet, like migas, lentils, and chocos, so I’ll do my best to carve out some time to cook and share.

Spanish food is trendy in magazines and in foodie circles but most people in the US have never had Spanish food or have a mental image limited to tortilla española and paella.  If they had indeed tasted some of the things Spain has to offer, then it was most assuredly not home cooked.  I decided to throw a Spanish food party as my own goodbye to everyone, that promptly grew into two separate food parties.  As you may have seen more than once before here on the blog, these may very well be the only types of parties I know how to put together.  I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not.

Some of these recipes I’ve got here are dredged from the internet, but all of them have been altered or influenced by me and my friends here in Spain.  The rest have been jotted down in Spanglish (1 kilo tomato, 1 diente de ajo, trocito de bell pepper) directly from real live Spanish people.  So if it isn’t authentic enough for you…move to a tiny pueblo?

Let’s start with the menu.  I live in Sevilla, so the food I eat and therefore cook is definitely Andaluz (Andalusian, but I hate the way it looks in English).  Several of these dishes you’ll find everywhere in Spain, but regional cuisine varies widely.  Pork dishes reign supreme here in jamón heavy part of the country.  To be politically incorrect but historically accurate, Jews were not really welcome around Seville or the surrounding area.  The Spanish Inquisition kicked off in Seville, and there was a nasty massacre in 1391 that decimated the Jewish quarter.  Other cities followed suit, and the options were scarce: leave, convert, or die.  Even after conversion, these newer Christians were viewed as suspect, lesser, and worthy of persecution.  Why do I bring this up?  Because it explains the pork.  Raising pigs and making pork the basis of your diet was a great way to ‘prove’ that you were not in fact Jewish, and therefore less likely to get robbed by the government, shunned by your neighbors, or watched by the Catholic Church.

Sad?  Absolutely.  Culinarily a boon?  Unfortunately, yes.  And now you’ll see why a pork product is in almost every savory recipe.  History lesson over.  Oh, one more thing.  I generally am not a fan of Spanish sweets because they involve heavy doses of honey and anise flavored things.  They got that from the Arabic influence.  I went with pies because while I may be living in Spain, I still am an American passionate about pies.

Victoria took a few shots for me at the second party.

Spanish Food Parties Menu

Surtido de quesos y chacina – meat and cheese plate, other nibbles.

Ensaladilla de piquillos – Roasted red pepper salad

Solomillo al whiskey – Pork loin in a whiskey sauce

Solomillo al vino dulce – Pork loan in sweet wine

Gazpacho – Cold tomato soup, source of many Red Dwarf references.

Tortilla española – Spanish omelet

Croquetas – We stole the French word, croquette

Berenjenas con miel – Fried eggplant with molasses

Strawberry Rhubarb pie

French Silk pie

Are you ready for all that?  Let’s start off easy.

Surtido de quesos y chacina

I bought two types of cheese – manchego and P’tit Basque cheese.  Both are cured sheep’s milk cheese.  Manchego is the most famous Spanish cheese and is very hard and sharp, with those salty crystals that some cheese develop.  P’tit Basque is technically French, but the País Vasco has its own ideas that don’t follow the UN agreed upon borders, and it was on sale.  Softer, less cured, tasty.  Then there is true Spanish hard cured chorizo (pork alert) and membrillo, the quince paste I’ve talked about before.  The thing in the middle that looks like a cat food tin is actually paté – Spanish paté (pork alert).

Jabugo is one of the best jamón pueblos of Spain, along with Castaño del Robledo, Aracena, and Monesterio.  Northern Andalucía and Extremadura, basically.  Since jamón only uses up the legs of the pigs, the rest of the meat is made into various sausages and cured meats (chorizo, morcón, caña de lomo, morcilla, longaniza, why do I know so many of these?) and paté. This was a gift from my coworkers that I hid from my friends here as a present to my mother.

Besides meat and cheese, there were other nibbles and bits that I also put forth.

Manzanilla olives.  These are indeed Spanish olives, though a very familiar sight to anyone who has ever had a martini or…you know…watched TV. Here they usually are not pitted, but I prefer them this way because I am lazy.

These are altramueces, casually called chochitos.  They are broad beans presesrved in brine and their nickname is…let’s translate it as lady bits. They come in some bars as a free tapa to get you to drink more beer, which is why they are often sold under this name:

L’il salties.  I brought these from Spain for this party, so I don’t know where you can get them here.  I really like them with my beer, but they had a dubious reception.

Picos or literally snacks are Spanish breadsticks served to go with just about anything.  They serve as a great palate cleanser when eating chorizo and cheese. I’ve seen them in several import food stores, like World Market, Whole Foods, and DeLaurenti’s Deli in Pike Place.

You can tell Alida decorated and Victoria took the picture. Actually, Alex put together the cheese plate, so this picture has nothing to do with me at all...

Enough snacks.  Let’s get down to some recipes.

Ensaladilla de piquillos

Piquillo peppers are a Spanish red pepper that usually come in cans or jars preroasted.  Here you can get a can for a euro or two, but when I finally found them in the US they were $12 a can.  I love piquillo peppers, but not enough to make a salad out of them for 20 people at that price.  Sub in any roasted red pepper that tickles your fancy, as I did.

Ingredients:

Roasted red peppers, sliced

Finely diced onion

Tuna

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

This isn’t really a measuring recipe.  It’s basically equal parts of all three main ingredients, with a little extra roasted red pepper thrown in.  Then give it a good swig of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and stir.  Ta da!

Solomillo al Whiskey

Honestly I’m not going to post the recipe for this one.  I was not entirely pleased with the recipe.  I added quite a bit to it at the end and now I couldn’t reproduce it if I tried.  If I find a better recipe for it, I’ll pots it.  Basically it’s pork loin fillets in a sauce made of whiskey, lemon juice, and roasted garlic.  This sauce was too bitter. Moving along.

Solomillo al vino dulce

I don’t have pictures of the preparation of this because it was made for party 2, on day 3 of cooking.  Vino dulce is a product I’ve not seen in the US.  It’s like an intermediary step in between wine and port – a very sweet, raisiny red wine that has yet to get as syrupy and fortified as port.  I brought back a bottle for my sister-in-law and made her this dish twice now – an invention of my roommate, Rosa.  I can’t stand to drink vino dulce (Rosa’s favorite) but I do love this dish.

12 pork loin fillets (cut very, very thin)

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 small to medium onion, diced

1/2 c  vino dulce (feel free to use port, watered down)

Salt and pepper

Water

In a very large frying pan, heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil.  Salt and pepper the pork fillets and brown them.  Don’t cook all the way through, just get a nice color on them. Remove from the pan and set them aside. If needed add a splash more olive oil and add the carrots and onion to the pan.  Let them saute for fifteen minutes or so until the onion begins to turn transparent and the carrots soften.  Pour the vino dulce over the vegetables as well as about 1/4 to 1/2 c water.  Let the sauce reduce and the carrots finish cooking.  Just before the sauce finishes reducing, return the fillets to the pan to finish at the same time and take on the flavor of the vino dulce.  Pour everything into a serving dish and let your guests at it.

Gazpacho

There are as many gazpacho recipes as there are families in Spain.  I have two or three in my own repertoire as several families have adopted me as the lonely American girl.  This recipe is a really good starter gazpacho, from Marina, a professor I worked with last year.  It doesn’t have the bite that some do and doesn’t have any bread in it to confuse beginners.  So I’ll say this now.  If this gazpacho doesn’t sound ‘right’ to you, stuff it.  Gazpacho comes smooth and chunky, with or without cucumbers, with or without bread, in a bowl or in a glass…as long as it is  cold and tomato based and from Spain, you are probably good.  Unless it is salmorejo.  Which we’ll get to another day. I served mine with little chunks of ham and hard boiled egg to stir in, but some people put chopped apple or halved grapes.  Do what you will!

1 kilo tomatoes

1 large clove of garlic

1/2 medium onion

1/4 green bell pepper

Salt

Olive oil

Vinegar

Put everything in a blender.  Give it a good, generous glug of olive oil, then about half as much vinegar.  A few good grinds of salt.  Blend.  Adjust seasoning to taste.  This will serve about four or five people as a main dish, more as a light appetizer. If you want to drink it, add water.

Tortilla Española

I’ve given a walk through of tortilla here before.  This was one of the main reasons we used 37 eggs on these two parties.

Croquetas

Croquetas are the Spanish comfort food.  There are television ads about married couples threatening to destroy each others favorite possessions unless they admit that their mother’s croquetas are the best.  Rosa’s are the best.  I’ve tried to quantify the ingredient ratios, but really it’s a touch and texture thing.  These came out great, so please try them.  They are basically a little breaded and fried packet of bechamel.  The most common croquetas are bacalao (salted cod), spinach, jamón, and puchero (left over stewing meat, usually chicken and/or pork).   These are ham, of course. These can be made well ahead of time and frozen.  They’ll keep for a month or two easily.   Makes 20 to 30 croquetas.

1 medium to large onion, chopped fine

1/2 c diced ham – saltiest, most cured ham you can find

1 c flour

1/3 c olive oil

2 c milk

For breading:

Flour

Eggs

Breadcrumbs

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil.  Add the onions and saute until they turn transparent and take on a golden color.

Add the flour to the oil little by little until you have a very thick roux. Stir well and cook the roux for a few minutes to get rid of that raw flour flavor.

Add the ham and let cook it into the roux and let it come up to temperature.

This was way too much ham. I've reduced it for this recipe posting, so no worries.

Add the milk little by little, stirring constantly to eliminate lumps.  You want a very thick sauce, not runny at all, so it will hold together.

Pour it into a baking dish or other container and let cool to room temperature before putting into the fridge or freezer to cool.  You don’t want to actually freeze the filling, just make it cold enough to form.  A few hours in the freezer is good, or overnight in the fridge.

What’s that little side dish?  Why…it’s gluten free croqueta filling!

Gluten free croquetas can be made exactly like regular croquetas, subbing in gluten free flour and gluten free bread crumbs.

I only made a few because it was a complete shot in the dark experiement that I am happy to report turned out well.  Alex forgot he had gluten free bread crumbs at home so the breading process was interesting, but flavorwise, they were spot on.

An important note, though, is that you need to cool the roux really, really well.  The gluten free flour mix I used gave off an awful, acrid smell of burning garbanzos.  I kept cooking in the hopes it would work out, and it did.  Just muscle on through.

Now we need to shape and bread.  Set up your station.  Three bowls for breading, then a cookie sheet with high sides lined with parchment paper.

Sorry for the bad lighting - it was getting late.

Take about two tablespoons of chilled filling and roll it into a stubby tube.   Or, another site says to pipe out thick lines of filling and cut them.  Some people make round croquetas.  Look below for what I believe to be the proper croqueta shape.  When they are compact, roll in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs.  Lay them out on the cookie sheet and freeze solid.  They must  be fried frozen or the bechamel will melt and explode-ooze out of its breading.

Croquetas should be deep fried, either in a deep fryer or in a pan.  They only need a few minutes to get golden brown and to heat up their interiors – remember they are made from bechamel so too much cooking will make them lose their shape.

The breadcrumbs are an important breading step, as we learned from the gluten free churros.  Also, it’s an important childhood fact, because when you go to the beach, children (and those of us who revert upon hitting the beach) will splash about in the ocean for awhile then run out to roll in the sand, screaming croqueta! Croqueta!    It’s actually pretty fun.

The gluten free ones weren't quite crunchy enough, but that's the power of breadcrumbs.

This last savory recipe I saved for last because I’ve been promising it for so long.

Berenjenas con miel

I brought the miel de caña back from Spain with me because it’s a little sweet than our molasses.  You are welcome to use our molasses, but avoid the blackstrap.  You can also use regular, bee derived honey or a mix or the two.

1 large eggplant

1 or 2 beers (no need to use a high quality beer here, just whatever you have on hand)

Salt

Semolina (if you don’t want to go buy this especially, it is ok to use regular flour)

Peel the eggplant, cut of the top and bottom.  Slice the eggplant thinly, then cut those slices into quarters.  If you are using small eggplants, you can just slice them.

Pour the beer into a large mixing bowl and add a generous amount of salt – two or three teaspoons.  Soak the eggplant in the beer. This will give a very light touch of flavor to the eggplant, but more importantly, keep it from soaking up too much oil and getting greasy.  Eggplant is like a sponge – if you fill it full of beer, it can’t take on much else.

Coat the soaked eggplant in semolina or regular flour.

Fry in batches for a few minutes on each side until they turn golden brown.  Drain on paper towels. When they are all fried, salt veeeeery lightly and drizzle with molasses or honey.  Serve with extra to get at the lower layers.

So there we have the savory portion.  We’ve put out quite the spread, haven’t we?

Victoria's photo, Alida's table

Ibid. I was really sick of cooking and taking pictures by this point. I was ready to eat, drink, and talk.

OH WAIT!

There’s always pie.  Here is the strawberry rhubarb pie, finally breaking in the new oven.  This was a pie for Gabrielle, Alida, and my grandfather.  Not everyone likes it, though, so for my other pie I chose an easy peasy pie that tastes absolutely luscious.

Chocolate French Silk Pie

This is a pie I make for people who aren’t sure they like pie.  It tastes like you frosted a cookie then completely lost it and just kept frosting. From Ken Haedrich’s Pie.

Graham Cracker Crust

I made this gluten free, so instead of graham crackers, I made my crumbs out of Annie’s Gluten Free Vanilla and Chocolate Bunnies.  It came out awesome.

1 3/4 c graham cracker crumbs (or other hard cookies.  Takes 12 graham crackers)

2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Big pinch of salt

6 Tbsp melted butter

In a food processor, make your cookies into crumbs.  Add in the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and whirl it around again until it’s all mixed up. Pour into a mixing bowl, add melted butter, and stir crumbs with a fork until the butter has coated every crumb.  Pour crumbs into pie shell, and starting from the center and working up the sides, press the crust together.  Place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes, then bake at 350 F for 7 minutes. Let cool.

Filling

3 oz unsweetend chocolate, coarsely chopped

3/4 c butter, softened

1 1/4 c sugar

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped cream for topping.

After chopping up the chocolate, melt slowly over a double boiler until smooth.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a stand mixer, beat the ever living snot out of the butter until it is whipped and creamy.  This will actually take awhile, so be patient.  Patience is the key to this pie.

Add the sugar and beat for another five minutes (clock minutes, not just gut feeling, meh this is enough five minutes). Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure it is mixing uniformly.  Add in the melted chocolate and beat for about 30 seconds, until it is fully incorporated.  Add the eggs one by one, beating for 4 full minutes after the addition of EACH egg, scraping down the sides from time to time.  You need a lot of air to pull off the texture of this pie, so it will melt upon contact with your tongue.  Add in the vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds.

Scrape into the cooled cookie crumb crust, tent loosely with foil and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight.

Alex had the brilliant idea of putting a layer of raspberries on the bottom of the pie but I was so frazzled that I forgot completely about it until the pie was already in the fridge.  So we put them on top.

Well if you made it to the end here, congratulations.  I hope you’ll go out and have your own Spanish dinner nights, though probably on a smaller scale.  Let me know how it goes!

It might be ironic that I write this entry on the wonders of Spanish cuisine while eating peanut butter straight from the jar. How American and un-adventurous of me. What can I say besides the fact that I love peanut butter with a passion. I knew it would not be a fixture in my new Mediterranean diet, so I packed a jar of creamy Skippy in my suitcase. That was one pound of luggage I could definitely not shed, and let me just say it was totally worth it since I can now enjoy a nice dessert of Oreos and peanut butter whenever I please.

But now onto the meaty stuff (literally).

Having been a temporary vegetarian during Lent for each of the past 4 years, I know a few things about meatless diets. That being said, it would be nearly impossible to be a vegetarian in Spain due to the sheer amount and variety of meats, poultry, fish, and seafood available to Spaniards in every province of the country. Thankfully, I am currently a definite omnivore, and I’m fortunate enough to have a host mom who is one of the best cooks I have ever encountered. That’s saying something considering my grandparents on both sides of the family and my mom have never cooked me a bad meal.

During my first week at Rosa’s house, I not only had to adjust to typical Spanish cuisine, but I also had to deal with the illogical timing of meals here. Breakfast is at the same time as usual, but it is much lighter than your average American plate of eggs and bacon. In Spain, the drink is the centerpiece of the breakfast, usually cafe con leche, chocolate, or zumo (juice), and is accompanied by galletas (graham-cracker-esque cookies), croissants and assorted bread products, or yogurt. While I enjoy all of the aformentioned day-starting foods, I am usually hungry less than 2 hours after breakfast. This is the hard part. Lunch, or la comida, is the big meal of the day in Spain, and it’s usually not served until at least 2 p.m. La comida is such a big deal that the Spanish workday is structured so that people can go home to eat la comida with their families and take a leisurely siesta afterwards. I’m a big fan of the siestas since they’re basically official food comas, but I am still not used to eating lunch so late. If lunch wasn’t hard enough to get used to, dinner (la cena) is actually the worst. The food is amazing, but eating a huge meal at 10 or 11 p.m. leaves me feeling uncomfortably full before going to bed or going out. I still struggle with this issue and I’ve already been here two weeks…

Alright, no more complaining about the structure of the Spanish day. Time to talk about food.

In the months leading up to my arrival in Spain, I eagerly anticipated all the good wine and tasty tapas I’d be eating all the time. Soon after arriving at Rosa’s apartment, I realized her kitchen did not actually double as a tapas bar as I had hoped. The good news is that the first meal she cooked for me was a delicious paella with calamari and shrimp. Nomz. That first week I had more fish and seafood than I’ve ever had in a week: tuna cooked several different ways, fried calamari, and salads with crabmeat and other assorted sea creatures. This week has been notably fish-free, but the seafood group of my diet has been replaced with meat. I’ve had filetes de ternera (veal), pork in a tomato-pepper sauce, spaghetti with veal sauce, lentil soup with chorizo, meatball soup, and some sort of tasty ham slices.

But last night’s dinner was unexpectedly amazing. Let me first preface this culinary revelation with the fact that Rosa takes pride in her ability to cook and her love for doing so, but she takes praise like she’s never received it before. I tell her every meal that I love her food (and I’m not lying one bit), especially because she usually cooks with a distinctly Spanish flair. Last night was different. She made me fried chicken with a side of broccoli topped with a homemade cheesy sauce. That may not sound like a remarkably delicious meal, but the broccoli alone was enough to get me excited since I haven’t been able to continue my broccoli two-a-days while in Spain. And as for the chicken, I am fully aware that fried chicken is generally associated with KFC and Americans, but Rosa’s was honestly the best fried chicken I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. It was ever so slightly fried, just enough to make the skin too delectable to pass up. The chicken itself was as juicy as I’ve ever tasted, and Rosa and I were both licking our fingers by the end of the meal. This is one situation of many where I wish that Rosa would break her rule of not repeating any recipes in a given month.

My other favorite Rosa specialty happens to be a Spanish staple, la tortilla española. You might be pondering how a simple circle of flour and lard could be so great, but the Spanish tortilla is actually a potato omelet that can be modified a million different ways by adding various ingredients. Rosa’s best tortilla included the standard potatoes with some onions and zucchini, and it was legitimately at least 2 inches thick. I could easily eat tortillas españolas every day. Rosa told me she would teach me how to make a tortilla, so there’s a good chance I actually will eat tortillas every day when I have to cook for myself in my off-campus townhouse senior year.

I could go on and on about Rosa’s culinary prowess, but I will briefly mention the delicious food I have sampled in a few Spanish restaurants. During my first weekend in Madrid, we went to a hole-in-the-wall tapas place that was featured in my Spain guidebook. Despite getting lost while trying to find the place, it was totally worth it for the delectable croquetas (fried dumpling-ish balls of potatoes and minced meat) and chorizo (Spanish sausage) on crusty French bread. In Valencia this past weekend, we sampled two different kinds of paella, the famous Spanish rice dish that basically originated in Valencia.

Colin, Mary Kate, and Mike can't wait to dig into their seafood paella (and I don't blame them).

The paella valenciana featured chicken, rabbit, and vegetables, and we also tried a paella with calamari and shrimp. I felt slightly apprehensive about eating the rabbit, but I took the plunge and discovered that rabbit has a distinct, meaty flavor and extremely tender texture. I might even venture to say it’s my new favorite meat, believe it or not. Both paellas were so good that we practically licked the huge pans clean.

Me, Jenny, Katie, and Anna are ready to eat our paella valenciana -- even if that means getting past the fact that we're eating rabbit.

No paella survivors.

The final culinary experience I must share with you involves my breakfast at a cafe in Valencia’s touristy area. After being generally unimpressed with Spanish breakfast, I was not expecting much from this commercial-looking, yellow-awninged eatery, but I was definitely surprised when I bit into my chocolate croissant and immediately felt like I had tasted heaven in a breakfast pastry. The croissant/pastry part was perfectly flaky and moist, and it was covered with sugar on the outside and filled with creamy chocolate deliciousness on the inside. My glass of Valencian orange juice complemented the pastry perfectly, and needless to say, I was riding a sugar high for most of the day afterwards.

The breakfast of champions.

I didn’t expect to write 1400 words on two weeks’ worth of food, but then again I love food more than almost anything in the world (it’s up there with music, books, and specifically cheese). More foodie blog entries to come in the future! Perhaps my next one will discuss the merits of the Bavarian diet since I’ll be in Munich for Oktoberfest this weekend…. That means beer, brats, pretzels, and cheese. Sounds like the most delicious heart attack ever!

One final thought: chocolate con churros is the best snack ever. Thank you to whoever made the Nesquik syrup-like drink and perfectly fried churro for me that day at the mercadillo.

Leah, Elise, Krystal and I enjoying our midmorning snack of chocolate con churros. ¡Qué fancy!

Strawberry Montadito -

Baby greens salad with Manchego cheese and honey vinaigrette

Garlic Shrimp Montadito

]]> http://conexaomadri.com/2011/06/30/mercado-de-san-anton/ Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:42:37 +0000 conexaomadri http://conexaomadri.com/2011/06/30/mercado-de-san-anton/ Durante o dia, a melhor idéia é passear e comer pelos mercados, como por exemplo, o Mercado de San Antón, no bairro de Chueca.

O interessante deste mercado é que além dos visitantes dele (uma maioria de turistas e estrangeiros), a comida também é cosmopolita:    frutas de todos os cantos do mundo, queijos nacionais e internacionais, mariscos e bom peixe da costa espanhola, croquetas de vários sabores, comida japonesa, italiana, árabe, etc…

Vá com muita fome e vontade de provar todas essas delícias.

Frutas de todos os países na entrada do mercado.

3 andares gourmet.

Comida caseira espanhola para levar ou comer nos balcões do mercado.

Na cobertura, prove o menu ou peça um cocktail, principalmente no verão: a sensação e vistas são impressionantes.

Comida cosmopolita do começo ao fim.

Anyway, let’s go to the food! We started the night with appetizers, of course! We had four different appetizers.

Cabeza de Cerdo (PHP445)

This is spicy sisig made from suckling pig. It wasn’t your usual sisig. This was crispy. This actually reminded me of adobo flakes. It was nothing extraordinary. It was served in a traditional Spanish plates called Cazuelas. These brown plates are more often that not made of terra cotta. Tapas or Spanish appetizers are usually served on these plates.

Hojaldre (PHP245)

These are phyllo triangles made of spinach and blue cheese. I actually liked this. The wrapper was light. It was flaky and buttery at the same time. I actually wanted to eat more but I was too shy to get again. :p

Croquetas (PHP245)

These were good! But I still think Carla’s mom makes the best croquetas. These were jamon Serrano and chicken filled bechamel croquettes. Still yummy!

Gambas al Ajillo (PHP365)

For this type of dish, I actually prefer smaller shrimp. These were prawns cooked in olive oil, chili and of course, garlic. It was ordinary. I don’t actually look for gambas much. I mean, if it’s right in front of me, I’d eat it but it isn’t something I would crave for. However, for you shrimp lovers, you should try this.

Filetto di Pesce con Capperi e Limone (PHP565)

This dish consisted of a pan fried fillet of apahap, asparagus, capers, lemon buerre blanc, and pappardelle al burro. I liked the idea of freshly made pasta. This was delicious but certainly not their specialty. Eating it once is good enough for me. I wouldn’t go looking for it.

Slow Roasted U.S Beef Belly (PHP875)

Slow Roasted U.S Beef Belly with portobella mushrooms-YUM (sorry for the weird lighting)

OMG. This was so yummy. This had garlic and black pepper crusted beef belly, portobella mushrooms, and balsamic shallots. I’ve talked about other dishes in my past entries that melt in your mouth. Well, this dish REALLY melts in your mouth. The meat was just so soft and delicious. The fat didn’t taste deadly at all. I love slow roasted meats! They have so much flavor and they’re so soft! The portobella mushrooms were also really good. I just looooove this dish. I’m thinking of going back just to eat this! This is definitely a MUST TRY!

We also had paella but I wasn’t able to take a picture of it. Oh well.

Carla with her two awesome cakes!

Happy birthday again Carla! Thanks for having me.

I give this place an 8/10!

‘Til next time!

May 31 – June 4, 2011

Agnes Scott provided dos meals a day in Madrid, el desayuno at the hotel and either el almuerzo or la cena. The comida were tasty but, I had (and have) to get used to some things, though:

1.)  Meals are looonnnngggg.

We would spend hours at meals. Seriously, even when we were touring multiple sites in Toledo with no time to waste, we spent much more than a hour eating lunch and conversing. Sure, I like leisurely meals, but being the perky workaholic that I am, it was a bit of an adjustment.

Con mis amigas a la Restaurante Los Galayos.

2.)  ¡Vino! ¡Sangria! ¡Alcohol!

Imagine my shock when the first non-agua beverage I was ever served was sangria. I know that Europe is casual when it comes to alcohol, but it was still surprising.

¡Mi primero sangria en España a Taberna Toscana!

Needless to say, I’m getting used to it. First, sangria, even though it was initially invented to make bad red wine drinkable, is freaking awesome and refreshing. Second, we were served vinos rojos y blancos at Restaurante Los Galayos in the Plaza Mayor. My wine lessons with my uncles have really paid off; I may not know too much but I can tell a good red when I drink it (not too dry. . .)

3.)  ¡Mucha comida!

Why are there so many courses? Traditionally, desayuno is very small, but with a breakfast buffet at the hotel, I stuffed myself with pan, café, chocolate, frutas y queso cada día.

More traditionally, I had three courses at all the meals in the restaurant. Most of the time, the options were pretty similar:  gazpacho, paella, ensalada, croquetas, etc., for the first course, pollo, ternera, pasta, o pescado  for the second, and scads of things for dessert, mostly fruit, pastries, and helado.

I got very full.

Then, there were tapas. . .when mis amigas and I ate tapas at nearby La Terraza de Suchil, estaban muy deliciosas y pequeñas pero había muchos platos.

Las croquetas de jamón y patatas fritas en La Terraza de Suchil.

Patatas aioli a La Terraza de Suchil.

3.  ¿Patatas?

I did not realize españoles liked potatoes so much. I had them with nearly every primary course and with huevos in tortilla española. I like potatoes, too, thankfully, or I would have been tired of the patatas fritas.

Las chicas felices a la Restaurante Los Galayos.

Mi restaurante favorita? I loved the Restaurante Los Galayos best because it was just so delish and fancy compared to other places at which we ate. I also liked the Italian Restaurante Nabucco where I had lasagna, eggplant, agua con gas, and the most glorious tiramisu.

Now, más comida y bebidas!

¡Pan! A staple. This one was shaped like a doughnut. Taberna Toscana.

Estoy comiendo gazpacho. Taberna Toscana.

Lasagna. Restaurante Nabucco.

Now, for dessert!

If your mouth isn't watering when you're looking at this tiramisu, I don't think we can be friends. For serious. Restaurante Nabucco.

Feel like you ate a little too much? I can’t find a for-sure description on the Internet, but mi amiga Sarah said that these . . .shots at the Taberna Toscana were for indigestion. Can anyone enlighten us?

NOT the shots you're thinking. I don't know what was in it: Licorice? Cough syrup? Alcohol? All those flavors were in there.

Normally I turn sightseeing into a wild race of of museums, monuments and “local treasures” (meaning every tourist flocks to it). This usually leaves little time to visit cafés, restaurants and bars – hunger comes second hand. Not so when you’re travelling with an Italian. Pitstops for espressos and a walking pace that makes your grandma look like a marathon champ, are what you have to get used to. At first, I nearly broke down in a moment of stress (how were we supposed to see Guernica AND Las Meninas!?), but then I took a deep breath and realised – there was more time for eating.

So, apart from seeing nice buildings,

getting rid of my Victorian pale skin look in the park,

and cheering on Real Madrid, Madrid offered a smörgåsbord of culinary highlights.

We had lunch at the indoor food market San Miguel, which is a colourful space crammed with fresh fruit, croquetas, baking delights and enticing seafood.  I couldn’t get enough of the dill-cured cod on toast.

Meson 5J (an indicator of the quality of Iberico ham) is an expanding chain of restaurants, specialising in tender and nutty-tasting pata negra. We dined in the Salamanca district, which sadly, is one of those areas you know you’ll never be able to afford unless you’re on a Gordon Gekko salary. I would definitely avoid Plaza del Sol and go here for a stroll, just to admire the architecture and to avoid the tourist crowds with fanny packs.

After watching El Clásico on Saturday night, we were starving. Sure, I’d nearly finished a bag of roasted corn, but proper dinner had not passed my lips. So at 12 o clock at night, we headed up north to Meson Txistu, a traditional Spanish restaurants that is not afraid to show off. Show off photos of celebrities that is. David Beckham, Tom Cruise and Cristiano Ronaldo have eaten here, and I wonder if they too had the pimientos de Padrón, they were a knock-out. Not a soul was there when we turned up, but as we left at 2am, the place was heaving. Txistu is excellent  for stodgy, Spanish food and I mean that in the most positive sense. Don’t expect anyone to speak English however.

Madrid exceeded my expectations by far and I would return with an empty stomach, detoxed liver and bigger wallet. And maybe, just maybe – next time Guernica will be on the itinerary.

———

“If you are not good at fashion it stresses you out and is complete torture for you, it shouldn’t be torture, just get an all-black wardrobe and call it a day.” 

-Steven Cojocaru, fashion correspondent (what the heck is that? Am I one? )

Constanza Pascolato with another woman whose name I don't know. But they are looking stunning in all-black!

 REAL QUOTES from kids I adore:

“Always wear an undershirt.” -Ben, age 10, check out his fashion style here.

“Wear shorts under pants in case you get hot”.

 -Calvin, (Ben’s friend), age 10

 ”Comfort. ” Charissa and Elsie, ages 11 and 7 respectively, on the most important thing about making fashion decisions. 

In order from L-R, Charissa, Calvin, Ben and Elsie. The Fabulous Four. They don't care what they wear or what they look like.

TATTOOS.Well, just one really.

THAT is a tattoo.

CROQUETAS. Or croquettes but that doesn’t sound as nice.

Had these last night at Europa, located in Shockoe Slip in dowtown Richmond, Va. So perfect and so good, I have been daydreaming, literally daydreaming about them all day. Pathetic. Fantasizing about food. In my defense they are one of the things I strongly associate with my childhood and biting into a perfect croquette takes me back to days of living on ugly militar bases in Madrid, Spain back when life was all purple sweatsuitish, Disney princesses, and airshows.  I’ve enlisted a friend to make some by hand and we are going to even try a gluten-free version. Until then, I’ll be drooling. Here’s a potential recipe.

Croquetas. Imagine this with fresh paella and a lovely beverage. See? Yum.

Shredded beef braised in beer could be your dinner too.

With the former president traveling in Cuba this week take some time to prepare a Cuban dish or three to help enjoy today’s news:

The Meal

Entree

Picadillo – Ground beef and veggies served over rice or beans or both.
Guisado De Pollo – Chicken, green bean and olive stew.
Ropa Vieja – Slow cooked beef served shredded (pictured above)

Side Dish

Congri – Red beans and rice.
Empanada de Queso – Cheese turnovers.
Croquetas – Ham croquettes.

Dessert

Islas Flotantes - Meringue islands floating on custard drizzled with caramel.
Polvorones con Canela – Cuban cinnamon sugar cookies.

The View

A Photo Tour of Cuba (JewishCuba.org) – 22 collections, arranged by photographer, of the sites and people of Cuba.
Travel for Passion –  Sets of pictures of available tours in each of the regions of Cuba.

The Chatter

With an American government contractor recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for work done with the Cuban Jewish community there is hope that Carter can negotiate a release and help ease the relations between Cuba and the US.  The 3 day trip is half over, but here are some places to learn about the now and the past relationship between Carter and Castro:

Carter visits Cuba amid tension over U.S. contractor (CNN)
The only U.S. president I have known – 2009 essay by Fidel Castro on his opinion and interactions with several presidents.
President Carter’s Cuba Trip Report – Account of Carter’s 2002 trip, in his own words.

(Shredded Steak with Peppers, Onions and Tomatoes (Ropa Vieja) photo is the work of Alana Kelly and is licensed under Creative Commons)

Seville orange trees

As Roxie told you, I spent my spring break in Spain this past week, visiting my boyfriend, Brett, who is studying abroad in Seville. I spent most of my time in Seville, but also managed to get to Cadiz and Cordoba for short trips. And basically, I ate. A lot. Thankfully the tapas culture allowed me to do this, because we could have lunch at one, a tapas at four, a couple more at nine… etc. But at least I had the excuse of having to report back on all the varied dishes for you readers!
So this is my attempt to put down the best things I had. In some cases, there were really good restaurants where everything was just amazing. In others, there are local dishes that I’m sure would be excellent no matter where you get them.
Let’s start with the most prevalent dish around: Iberican ham (jamon Iberico). Legs of this cured meat are hanging in absolutely every restaurant in Seville, as well as almost any place you can buy food. The carving of the ham off the leg is apparently a prized art form, and is pretty engrossing to watch. The trick is to get pieces with a good ratio of fat and meat. The ham is delicious, but I have to admit that combined with the many chorizo, prosciutto, and other cured-meat dishes and sandwiches I had, I had basically filled my salty-meat quotient by day three and had to move on to other things.

Lots and lots of ham at a market in Triana

Another big Spanish dish is bacalao, or dried and salted cod. Both times I had this it was battered and fried, and reminded me somewhat of fish sticks… but with an amazing actual-fishy, salty, taste. The balance of flavors was perfect for me, and I couldn’t imagine getting sick of it.

Lots of bacalao at the market

...And fried to perfection

 
As for other dishes, croquetas are on almost every menu. I most frequently saw spinach ones and ones with various meat fillings… basically the filling is mixed with herbs and lots of delicious things, then shaped into oblong rolls, covered in breadcrumbs and fried in olive oil. The spinach ones at Taberna Coloniales (below) were great, but Brett said he had never had any as good as the ones his host mother makes. I was lucky enough to try these when she invited me over for dinner, and they were absolutely outstanding. She explained to Brett for about five minutes what was in them, but the gist I got was: lots of delicious things, including about three types of meat. I still haven’t figured out how they get so soft and creamy, but hopefully Brett will get the recipe from her some day.

Mama's croquetas

She also served us an amazing Spanish tortilla, basically a huge omelet filled with potatoes, but she had also made some delicious garlic-y sauce that oozed out of it. We tried another Spanish tortilla just outside the mosque at Cordoba when we were a bit peckish– we got a huge slice for one euro, but it couldn’t quite live up to Mama’s.

Spanish tortilla in the courtyard of the Cordoba mosque/cathedral

We also noticed signs all around Cordoba for snails, which I hadn’t expected in Spain. Brett is apparently a big snails fan, and so when we passed a sign with a picture of a very happy snail saying “Our snails are cute and fat,” he had to go inside. He ordered the snails in a green salsa, and they were indeed the fattest ones I have ever seen. I don’t like snails quite as much as him, so I only had a couple, because honestly the size kind of freaked me out (not like the tiny snails we had in Greece, that you see as the background to this page). I will not deny that they were delicious, though.

Super fat snail

In addition to these dishes, there were two restaurants we went to in Seville that really stood out to me: Taberna Coloniales and Madraza. We went to Coloniales my first night there, which turned out to be excellent timing… I was tired and hungry, so we got there super early for Spain (around 8:30, I believe). This meant we were seated right away, and actually had to wait ten minutes for the kitchen to open before we could order. I say this is good, because by the time we left there was a huge line waiting to eat… it is clearly a very popular spot, and you can see why, because the food was excellent. Other than the Spinach croquetas mentioned above, my favorite dish was the Pechuga de Pollo con Salsa de Almendras, or chicken breast in a creamy almond sauce. We ordered a medium (rather than tapas) portion because we were sharing with a bunch of people, and it was huge and delicious. The Secreto Iberico was basically a steak of cured, salty, pork, and was also very tasty, but I kept going back to mop up that almond sauce with the french fries that come with everything in Spain.
The other stand-out restaurant we went to was on my last night. Madraza has many of the standard Spanish dishes, but also featured some Middle Eastern-inspired dishes, which was a nice change. My favorite was definitely the pollo al jerez, or chicken in a sherry sauce with pine nuts and super-juicy raisins. Again, the sauce was completely addictive. The chicken with coconut curry, while unexpected, was also seriously good. Madraza also demonstrated one of the tricky things about tapas– most of the tapas were around 4 euro, which may seem a little steep when the typical price of a tapas is in the 2-euro range. However, tapas portion sizes can vary hugely– here, they were enormous, and we each ordered one and shared them. This meant I had an extremely filling meal and tasted many different dishes for exactly 4 euro. I don’t know if I’ll be able to face the over-priced tapas places in Washington again.
So basically, all of the food was incredible, and I may attempt to re-create some of the best dishes in the next few months. But for now, look out for a post on desserts and drinks in Spain, coming soon!