RICE WITH STUFF - MY TAKE ON PAELLA

Paella is one of our more traditional dishes being cooked in many Spanish households lon Sundays. The dish is originally form the Valencia region, and people from Valencia are quite protective of the original Paella, and get very upset when someone calls "Paella" to rice with stuff that doesn't have the typical ingredients they would use. Remember what happened with Jaimie Oliver and his Paella recipe, just because he added chorizo.

However, Paella is cooked everywhere in Spain, and the majority of us do not follow the original recipe (and everybody that I know adds chorizo too), so I am going to write here the recipe of my take on Paella.

Ingredients:

Olive oil, salt, rice, couple of carrots, 1 pepper, 1 onion, about 200 gr of peas, about 200 gr of prawns, couple of garlic cloves, chorizo (hehe), paprika and meat. Normally paella is made with chicken or rabbit, but I didn't have either so I used pork.

Regarding the prawns, you can use normal ones, king prawns, peeled, with shell, cooked, uncooked, totally up to you.

The color of the pepper up to you too.

If you are lucky enough to have saffron you can use a bit.

Regarding the salt, we will add a bit of salt to taste every time that we add and ingredient to the pan. We will have the heat at médium to high.

First we dice the garlic and the onion. Then we add olive oil into a pan plus the chopped onion a garlic.

  Once the onion is golden, we add the chopped carrots.

Then we add the chopped pepper.

Next, the chopped meat.

Followed by the chopped chorizo.

Then the frozen peas and prawns.

We leave all the ingredients cooking together for around 5 to 10 minutes, then we add the rice. I used 2 cups of rice. The secret about cooking rice is that you need to add exactly double amount of water than rice. So when the rice starts changing the color a bit to translucent we need to add in this case 4 cups of water.

In order to give the rice that special color we are going to use the paprika. If you have yellow food coloring you can use that instead, and you will achieve that vibrant color associated with paella. If you have saffron you can add a bit, but you need to bear in mind that saffron wont give the dish the yellow color the paella is so well known for, so do not add lots and lots, as it has quite an intense flavour.

Once the water starts to boil we leave it to cook for 20 minutes reducing the heat to minimum. If your pan is a lot bigger than your stove you may need to stir the rice every now and again to make sure all the rice is cooked evenly. If that is not the case you do not need to stir the rice.

After the 20 minutes the paella will be ready. Leave it to rest for about 10 minutes before plating.

Now it is time to enjoy! Your Paella will taste even better if you squeeze a bit of lemon juice and if you have nice glass of red wine with it.

I hope you like it!

GAZPACHO

Gazpacho is one of the most traditional Spanish dishes. It is considered a cold soup, although it is not a description I like. Gazpacho is gazpacho, and that is a definition in itself.

And you can find as many gazpacho recipes as households are in Spain. I do not know 2 people that prepare gazpacho in the same way. And, although the main ingredients are tomatoes, the rest can vary. My advise is that you search for a few different recipes, try them and then adjust the recipe to your own personal taste.

So, this is MY gazpacho recipe.

Ingredients for 1.5 litres of gazpacho: 500 gr of beef tomatoes, 1 lemon, half green pepper, salt, 1 clove of garlic, tiny amount of onion, olive oil and water.

As you can see I do not add bread to my gazpacho. If you would like the gazpacho to have a thicker texture then just add more tomatoes instead of bread.

Add to the blender the tomatoes cut in halves or quarters, the half pepper, the garlic, the amount of onion that you would like, the peeled lemon (make sure you take all the seeds out), 1 soup spoon of salt, about 2-3 fingers of olive oil, and cover it with water up to the 1.5 litres mark.

Simply switch on the blender and leave it mixing until all the ingredients become liquid.

A hint, the color has to be orangey, then you will know it is ready.

If you add some ice to it becomes a really refreshing drink. If you add a diced boiled egg and some Spanish ham then you have a main dish.

FALSE ELVERS

Have you ever wanted to try elvers but couldn't because they are so extremely expensive? I have the solution for you: my false elvers recipe!

Ingredients: crab sticks (the more the merrier), garlic (a lot), a pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil and a pinch of cayenne (optional)

For this particular recipe that you see on the pictures I used 16 crab sticks per person and a whole garlic head.

Peel and mince the garlic: dices, slices, ... however you fancy

The "difficulty" of this recipe is that you have to strip each and every one of the crab sticks, and that takes a while. If the sticks are frozen make sure they are completely defrosted, otherwise it will take you twice as long to strip them. Do not try to make the strips by cutting them with a knife, as strip won't be as thin and you will end up stripping them manually anyway.

Once everything is ready, put a base of olive oil in a big enough pan and start frying the garlic. Once the garlic acquires a golden colour add the strips of crab sticks and a pinch of salt (not much because the sticks are already precooked with salt). You can add a touch of cayenne to give the dish a spicy twist.

You will need to stir them constantly until the sticks start taking some colour, but do not overcook them or they will burn quite quickly. The dish will be ready in about 5 minutes.

The dish must be eaten hot, so it is best to have the table already set so you can eat as soon as the food is off the pan. In order to keep the dish warm as long as possible it is a good idea to present it in clay plates.

Absolutely delicious!

STEAK WITH FRENCH FRIES AND FRIED GREEN PEPPERS

Another extremely easy recipe, but just seeing the picture it makes my mouth water!

Ingredients per person: one 8oz beef steak (I have used for this recipe rum steak, but it can be rib eye, sirloin, etc), one large potato or two smaller ones, one or two peppers, olive oil and salt.

Peel the potatoes  and cut them with the typical french fries shape and we salt them. In a big frying pan put a couple of fingers depth of olive oil, enough to cover the potatoes. If needed we can do a couple of batches.

As I have explained in previous posts, the secret for the perfect french fries is to add the potatoes when the oil is still cold.

Once the potatoes are fried, we use the same oil to fry the peppers. We will need to cut them in slices or at least to pierce the peppers so they won’t explode. The peppers will be ready when you see they are soft, but be careful as they can turn brown and therefore overcooked quite quickly. We will add the salt after we fry them.

While the peppers are being fried we will grill the stakes in a different pan. I like my one very very rare. Once the steaks are ready salt them, if possible with coarse salt.

Bon appétit!

COCIDO

First thing that I need to say is that I can’t translate the name of this dish. With Cocido it happens like with Chorizo, there is no word in the English language equivalent to it.

Literally Cocido means boiled, but something boiled it is definitely not a Cocido.

Second, once I tell you that this dish takes about 4 h to be ready you are going to think that I have lost it completely and that there is no way you are going to spend that amount of time in the kitchen. Don’t you worry, actually it doesn’t work like that.

This is another recipe from my mother, and she passed to me as the traditional way that this dish is cooked in Madrid, where we are from. However I have adapted it, bearing in mind that I currently live in the UK and it is very difficult to come across certain ingredients.

Ingredientes: chickpeas, beef, bone (special for Cocido), fat bacon, chicken, chorizo, black pudding, carrots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and salt. But you can add whatever you fancy for example garlic, peppers, cabbage, green beans … And you can as well take out whatever you don’t like or you can’t find.

Regarding the amount of each ingredient, I always play by ear, as it depends how big the potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, etc are. For example, we are 5 in my home, so I use 500 gr of chickpeas, 1 or 2 potatoes per person, 3-4 carrots, 3-4 tomatoes, 1 onion, as much chorizo as you would like, 750 gr of gamon ...

Here in the UK I only use chorizo and gamon as meat, and black pudding if I can find it.

If you live in Spain in big supermarkets such as Mercadona you can normally find already prepare packages with the required meat and the required veggies in the relevant sections of the market. Which will make your life a lot easier.

If you are using dry chickpeas you need to put them in water the day before. But you can as well use can or bottled already cooked chickpeas.

Chickpeas the day before

Chickpeas after the night submerged in water

In a big pot we add the chickpeas and all the meat that we are going to use, except the chorizo and the black pudding. Then we cover it with water and we leave it to boil. You don’t really have to worry about it for an hour or so I would say.

When meat is boiled it normally releases some kind of white foam that needs to be removed before we add any other ingredient.

When the chickpeas and the meat start to be tender  we add everything else: veggies, chorizo and black pudding. If needed remove some of the water and save it for later.

And then we leave it again to cook for about 3 more hours. The stove needs to be at minimum heat. The water will evaporate continuously, therefore we will have to add water all the time, starting for the water that we saved earlier when we added all the ingredients.

Any water that you add must always be HOT, because if you add cold water can make the chickpeas hard.

If you use can/bottled chickpeas it might be easier as you will be sure that chickpeas are soft. In this case you can cooked the meat as explained, but you will add the chickpeas with the rest of the veggies.

Regarding salt, be careful. If you use gamon you don’t really need to add any, as gamon it a very salty meat. If you are adding salt is best to do it each time that you add an ingredient or some water, but always try it first so you don’t over salt the dish.

Once the dish is ready we separate the stock from the meat and veggies, so will have soup as starter and the rest as main. However you can eat altogether if you like.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, as there are few dishes more traditional and typical Spanish than this one.

QUICK LENTILS

Sometimes you cant just be bothered to wait for over an hour to have your food ready, you want now and there!

Well, there is an easy way to cook you lentils in a fraction of the time that will be take to cook them from scratch, and the taste it’s pretty similar.

Ingredients: couple of cans of already cooked lentils, 2 potatoes, 2 carrots, some chorizo, a handful of rice and some salt.

We open the cans of lentils and put them in a pot. Add a couple of glasses of water and on to the stove.

We peel the potatoes and the carrots, cut them in chunks and we add them to the pot. We add as well some slices of chorizo, together with the salt and the handful of rice.

The lentils will be ready as soon as the potatoes are ready, about 15-20 minutes.

Then you can enjoy this very warm and cosy winter meal.

GRANDMA'S POTATOES WITH CHORIZO AND FRIED EGGS

This recipe was considered poor's people food in the past, as it is really cheap. However, today it is quite the delicatessen, mainly for those of us who live far away from Spain.

And it is an incredible simple recipe.

Ingredients: potatoes, (two or three per person, depending on how big they are), one or two onions, chorizo (the more the merrier), olive oil and salt.

Peel the potatoes an cut them in chunks, and chop the onions in small dices. We put a base of olive oil in a large pan, about a finger or finger an a half. Add the potatoes and onions when the oil is still cold. We salt the potatoes to your taste. If you have one of those glass lids use it as the potatoes will cook quickly. You will need to moved the potatoes quite often so they would cook evenly

Cut the chorizo in slices about half a finger thick.

When the potates are half cooked add the chorizo and finish fying everything up.

In the meantime we fry the eggs.

We put altogether in the plate and voilá! Yummy, yummy, yummy

CUBAN RICE

This dish is INCREDIBLY easy! And  tasty and yummy and ideal for kids and adults both.

Ingredients: rice, eggs, bananas, fried tomato and olive oil.

First you need to cook the rice as previously explained in another recipe.

Secondly we need to fry the eggs. In a small plan put a generous quantity of olive oil and let get really hot. Then you can fry the eggs, as many per person as you wish.

We cut the bananas in slices about a finger thick. In another pan we put just a base of olive oil, or in the same one but taken out the majority of the oil. It is important you don’t fry the bananas in too much oil or the dish will end up being too greasy.

With regards to the fried tomato, you can cook it yourself, and I will put the recipe in due course. If you are not filling adventurous you can just heat up some fried tomato from the supermarket, such as passata (if you live in UK) or Orlando (if you live in Spain).

And that’s about it.

If you don’t fancy fried bananas that much you can use Frankfurt sausages instead.

SPANISH OMELET - TORTILLA DE PATATAS

Spanish Omelet –Tortilla de patatas -  is probably one of our most famous dishes. It is pretty easy to cook, however it is true that it takes a while to prepare.

The ingredients are very simple: potatoes, eggs, onion, olive oil and salt. However adding onions or not it is up to you.

First of all you need to peel the potatoes. How many? Well, that is a very good question. I normally play by ear and if I have peeled too many then I will just cook more tortillas. But you can take as reference about two potatoes per person.

We need to cut the potatoes in small pieces. If it is easier for you it can small dices or just little chunks.

Cut one or two onions (depending on the amount of potatoes) as well in very small pieces.

Salt the potatoes before you cook them.

In a deep frying pan put enough olive oil to cover the potatoes. It is very important than you don’t preheat the oil, as if you do the potatoes will be overcooked in the outside but raw inside. Therefore we will start the stove once we put the potatoes inside the pan covered in oil.

At the same time that you put the potatoes you can add the onions, however I normally add it just a bit later as the potatoes take a lot longer to cook than the onions. But don’t wait too long or the onion won’t be cooked totally either.

We carefull and keep moving the potatoes and the onion while they fry so they don’t get stick into the pan or between them.

Once the potatoes are fried they will acquire a golden colour. There is no need to put them first on the oven or microwave, they will cook just fine in the pan.

In order to avoid the tortilla to be too oily I always remove the potatoes from the pan once they are finished.

In a separate bowl whisk some eggs. I normally make my tortillas of 4 eggs each, however my sister in law makes 8 eggs tortillas, it is really up to you.

Regarding if you should salt the eggs or not, try the potatoes, and if they are salty enough you don’t really need to add more salt.

Once the eggs are whisked you need to add the potatoes with the onions to the eggs. The quantity will depend, put enough potatoes so they are covered by the eggs, no more or the tortilla will be overstuffed and dry nor less or you will cook something but won’t be tortilla.

Don’t leave the potatoes inside the eggs for too long before cooking as they will be hot and the eggs will start to cook, and we don’t want that.

Choose a pan that it is enough to hold your tortilla, and one that you are sure can be covered by a plate so you can turn the tortilla over later on.

Put  a very small amount of olive oil in the pan, and make sure that all the pan has some oil in it. Switch on the stove and once the oil is hot please get rid of the extra oil.

Put your mixture of eggs, potatoes and onions in the hot pan. As explained in a previous post, make sure that the eggs don’t get stuck in the pan by moving the tortilla, but not with a wooden spoon or anything like that, just move the pan. And with a fork you can make sure the edges of the pan are not stick to the egg.

You will see that the colour of the eggs starts to change, that means that you need to turn the tortilla over.

Take the plate, cover the pan with it and hold the plate with one hand and the handle with the other. Place yourself on top of the sink, just in case. Firmly and quickly turn over the pan, so now the plate is underneath.

Put the pan back in the stove, if needed you can add a bit olive oil so the tortilla doesn’t get stuck to the pan.

Place the tortilla back in the pan, the part already cooked facing up.

You can turn the tortilla over as many times as you need, with your first attempts you might need to do it a couple of times. After a while you get used to the feel of the tortilla and the colour that should have once is cooked, so you won’t need it.

Once the tortilla is cooked just place it in a clean plate and it will be ready to enjoy!