I thought I would share a Spanish recipe from my cookbook - A Taste of Les Passeroses - The Cookbook 'Recipes from a retreat kitchen' which you can browse or BUY HERE
The ever popular Tortilla or Spanish potato omelette, so well known and loved when you get a tapas on your hols. But what about when you are back home? In my opinion it should be staple dish especially for vegetarians - because it is really easy and only has three ingredients, all of which you are bound to have around all the time. If I were being super strict and traditional about it there would be no onions, but I am not and they do bring a deeper flavour if you having it as a main dish not a tapa. Also controversially, I include pimenton - Spanish smoked paprika - in it, just to perk it up and give a bit of oomph. Not hot oomph, just flavour oomph. So this recipe is really adaptable as you can really bung in what you like or what is available as well. EG chorizo, feta and herbs, Manchego cheese - any cheese really, cooked mushrooms, spinach... well you get the idea! So for a lunch or dinner/supper (delete as appropriate!) that is filling, tasty, cheap and simple, I don't think it can be beaten, Plus of course it will remind you of sunshine, Spanish bars and holidays so what's not to like? Beun provecho! Serves 4ish 4 large waxy potatoes olive oil 2 Spanish onions 8 to 10 large free range or organic eggs salt, pepper teaspoon of pimenton dulce (Spanish smoked paprika) - optional Peel the potatoes and slice to 2mm on a mandolin or carefully by hand. Season well and either - Cook them very slowly in a large non stick frying pan with a lid on turning often, but trying not to break them. Use plenty of olive oil. OR pop into a microwaveable bowl mixing with olive oil with your hands to coat each slice as much as possible. Cover and cook on full power for 10 minutes. Mix again and keep cooking until they are just cooked through. Meanwhile, halve and thinly slice the onions and fry on a medium heat in olive oil until they are soft but not coloured. Add in the pimenton if using and cook for another minute, remove from heat. In a bowl break and fork or whisk the eggs until combined, season. Mix the onions into the potatoes then the eggs into that mix while everything is hot. Heat a deep frying pan (the one you have already used will be fine if it is big enough) and pop the mix in, shaking the pan to get rid of any air pockets. Cook gently with a lid on. This will take several minutes but you don't want to burn the bottom, so you should finish under a hot grill to cook the top, again being careful not to burn, or cook in a medium oven if your pan is suitable. Press firmly to see if it is cooked through - if it squishy at all, cook a litlle longer. You can test with a knife, but it is not always reliable! Allow to cool slightly in the pan before upending onto a serving plate. Serve simply with leaf salad or maybe the Artichoke, preserved lemon and Almond salad from the book! We love to have a very garlicky aioli alongside, it really goes well!
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A trip into the mountains to view a possible yoga venue turned out to be kismet! This is really a circular yoga story, beginning at Finca Los Pinos near Competa three years ago. We were running one of our retreats there in October and the owners were kind enough to do the cooking for us on the last night and brought out an unusual white wine. Now white is not my usual tipple, but I will try anything. They explained that it was stocked by Gordon Ramsey's restaurants and that piqued my interest a bit more! I will give you my thoughts on that very singular wine a little later. After the retreat was over we got a call from the retreat owners to ask if we wanted to go to the Bodega for a meal with wine, well yes we did! It never came off unfortunately, as there were not enough people to make it worth opening for. We had ideas in our heads of a rustic bodega, traditional Spanish food and tasting more interesting wines, so were obviously disappointed. Life went on, however, and it slipped from our minds, not being white wine consumers. Skip forward to 2019 and we found ourselves in Spain for Christmas for the 1st time. We decided - OK I decided! - to do Christmas dinner for our 4 closest friends in Spain. I shall do a post about this and link it HERE, because as you would expect it was Spanish themed. Not doing thing by halves, I started planning food and thinking about wine pairing for our seven courses, which is obviously nearly as important! My mind flickered back to that wine we tried years before as this would fit perfectly with my mojama and fennel based fish course. After lot of mind straining and internet research I finally found out it was Ariyanas wine. Hurray. Now I know we had seen it at a wine store in the beautiful town of Frigiliana so with a festive gift to pick up there I scheduled a trip around my preparations nearer to the day itself. Bugger! The Frigiliana wine shop was closed and enquiries to other local shops came up with a big fat zero. I knew I didn't have time to visit the bodega, so bought a very dry Rias Baxas from Galicia instead. Despite these 1st world setbacks the meal went really well! Come February 2020 we had made plans to visit a lovely venue that we hoped would be suitable to run more yoga retreats from. The visit went very well apart from getting my car stuck on the corner of their car park! We found out we had loads in common with the owners and that one of them used to live on the next road to me in Manchester. Small world! On the way inland what sign should we pass but that of Bodegas Bentomiz - producer of the now near-mythical (to us at least) Ariyanas wine! We would seek it out on our way back down towards the coast. We were stunned when we got to the end of the lane after taking the turn. Instead of a quaint Spanish bodega with terracotta tiles and rustic touches, we were greeted by stone-clad minimalist oblongs stacked into the terraces. Once we figured out how to get in, we went upstairs, bypassing the lower floors wine making and bottling areas. The dining / events room was enormous with light flooding in from floor to ceiling sliding doors - giving the most spectacular views over the valley and down to the sea in the distance. A small part of the floor is glassed, which gives a view down to the mechanics of the operation - obviously not in use in February! We arrived just in time to be able to tag into lunch with the twelve or so other people who had booked. We opted to share a wine tasting before and have the three course menu - with paired wines of course! Rose led the wine tasting and was wonderful and of course extremely knowledgeable. It was really interesting to hear the tasting notes and read the info. There was no rushing either, but then it is Spain! Our meal was cooked and served by chef and co-owner André. We started with a delicious tartare of avocado and marinated local blue fish, topped with pearls made of seaweed, capers and sauced with ajo blanco (a cold white garlic soup). The dish was paired with the Ariyanas Seco sobre lias finas. Yes, finally we get to the mythical wine! Produced 100% from the Moscatel de Alejandría grape, this wine is unusual because it is left on the 'lees' (that the 'sobre las lias finas' bit) for 8 months when maturing, which imparts really complex background tastes. The most common wines noted for this are French, especially Muscadet-sur-lie. The lees are basically the any bits of the grape that settle to the bottom of the wine and the 'lias finas' specifically are the fine white sediment of the remaining yeast cells. To begin with, this wine has an amazing nose for a white, totally unexpected. Fruity yes, but really complex and fragrant, honey sweet even. In the mouth is a complex explosion of dry flowers, citrus, herbs and really flinty finish, which is typical of grapes grown in this part of the mountainous Malaga region. The taste really lingers too, which makes it perfect for having with complementary food. The fruitiness enhanced the avocado and the dry minerality sets off the cheeky capers burst of acidity. If you get to taste this wine - and I really hope you do - you will want to stick your nose in the glass just as much as drink it. Next were some melt-in-the-mouth 'carrilledas de cerdo', Iberico pigs cheeks, that had been slow cooked, accompanied by some silky sweet potato puree and sautéed mushrooms. The cheeks were cooked in - and paired with - Bentomiz's only dry red, the Petit Verdot. It's a smooth drinking yet spicy, peppery affair, that was just tannic enough to cut through the sweetness on the plate. The whole plate was full of umami too, especially when I ate the mushrooms with the pork, and the wines slightly flowery, fruity notes contrasted really well with it. The chats with Andre were necessarily short but charming and insightful. He presented us with a wonderful chocolate brownie to finish, which was paired with their amazing sweet red from a Merlot grape. Their sweet wines are not fortified - as most are - instead, they allow the grape's natural sugars to develop by sun-drying before pressing. Although the Tinto Dulce is obviously sweet, it is balanced out with a pleasant acidity and light tannins. Despite a short four month ageing in French oak, that flavour is very much in the background, peeking out only with subtle hints of leather. It could be paired with a strong cheese - and I will doubtless try that at some stage - but it certainly went very well with the dark chocolate and fruits.
The service, attention to detail, ambience and quality of everything was truly top class, but really personal too. We long to go back in the Autumn, where the doors are open and you can dine on the panoramic terrace. For the moment we wish André, Rose and the whole team the best in getting through a difficult period, along with everybody in the hospitality industry everywhere. For those lucky enough to live in the surrounding area they offer home-made bread and wine deliveries. For those elsewhere a minimum 6 cases can be ordered for delivery in Europe. When I find out about stockists in the UK I will post it here! As I mentioned, I will be writing more about the fascinating Bentomiz story and further wine tastings in the future. You can find more about them now if you want, by visiting their website BODEGAS BENTOMIZ here. If you liked this post please comment below, join our email newsletter, let your friends know and follow me on Twitter @SpainOnOPlate From the sea, from the tree, from the ground. I am not sure that any other dish captures the essence of the southern Mediterranean coast quite as well as this salad originating from the Malaga region. My favourite non-food smell in Spain emanates from orange blossom, the heady aroma of which pervades the air in every village in the south in early Spring, carried on the rising heat which builds during the day. On the face of it, this mixture shouldn't even really work as a dish - fish and fruit? Well personally I am not a great fan of it! However, something magic happens with this super simple salad. It's easy to make, but do take the time to prepare each element properly - especially the fish! - and present it nicely! The acidity and sweetness of the orange cuts through the saltiness of the fish and olives, the olive oil brings it altogether with it's complementary fruitiness, the parsley adds an earthy note and the potatoes bulk it out and - more importantly - take on all the flavours and juices! I will be writing a piece on olive oil soon-ish and when I do I will link it HERE. For any salad recipe I recommend one of two varieties of Spanish extra virgin. Arbequino for its smooth, fruit first taste and smell or the green tinged Picual which has a lovely peppery finish. Any oil with an overly acidic aftertaste will ruin this salad! Taste before you use - or even better taste before you buy, if you can! THE RECIPE
This will feed 4 as a lovely fresh stater or two as a main dish. 400grms of the best salted cod or white fish you can find. 8 medium potatoes, new or salad potatoes are the best - eg Ratte, Yukon Gold, red skinned, Maris Peer 2 large oranges 1 cup full of good black olives, I prefer stoned ones for a salad just for the eating Arbequino or Picual olive oil if possible, or the best rounded tasting one you can get 1 small bunch of flat leafed parsley, roughly chopped Salt and fresh ground black pepper This salad needs a 3 day head start - yep 3 days! The salt cod needs soaking in cold water 5cm above its top, and that water needs changing 2 to 3 times each day for 3 days. This makes the cod finally edible! On the day you want to eat - boil the potatoes until just done and allow to cool, or if in a rush cool under cold water. While they are cooking, bring some water to a simmer in a pan large enough for the fish to sit in one layer and be covered by the water. Skin the fish carefully, be aware of where the bones are, but they are less fuss to remove after cooking. Pop it into the simmering water and cook until it is just done, do not let the water boil. It's impossible to tell you how long, as it will depend entirely on the thickness of the fish! It needs to flake when pressed. Remove from the water, allowing to drain and cool, removing any bones when it has. Remove the skin the cooled potatoes and slice into rounds about 5mm thick. Arrange these to cover the bottom of a large plate with a decent lip or shallow bowl with a flat bottom. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season lightly with salt and well with pepper. Next flake the fish over the potatoes as evenly as possible. Drizzle with olive oil and a little pepper - no salt, Then peel your oranges and carefully remove the segments, scattering them across the fish, more oil, a little pepper and little squeeze of the juice. Finish with the olives and the parsley. A further good smattering of oil across the top just as you serve is necessary, honestly. Don't refrigerate before eating, it needs to be eaten at room temp. Enjoy with crusty bread to help mop up that delicious oily dressing! Welcome to the first in a series of musings on Spain and my love for it’s food. I thought for a while about which subject to begin with, and decided where better to start than with its most popular and most prized protein – the humble pig?
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the pig in the culture and food of Spain. The most well-known breed is the Iberican black footed pig which produces undoubtedly the best ham in the world. But jamón Ibérico, it’s peculiar porcine origins and the Pata Negra’s significance is something which I will be writing about at length in the not too distant future. But this twisty tale concerns Jamón Serrano, the most common cured ham in Spain and one that accounts for over 90% of the county’s production. Only ‘white pigs’ are cured to produce this jamón, the quality of which varies as widely as Spain is long. These pigs are reared on grain and being a different race don’t have the same fat marbling through the meat like it’s venerated cousin. Finding food or drink related trips out from our little place on the Costa Tropical on the southern-most shores of Spain is not difficult. Choosing one is the hard part! I do like driving through the rugged landscapes, so a long drive and potential new gourmet discovery sealed the deal on making this trip. We set off North East to explore the area between the Mediterranean sea and Granada city, where the majestic snow capped Alpujarras mountain range rises, stretching for 80km. The often vertiginous slopes are dotted with towns that are not as famous as the White Villages inland of the Costa Del Sol; the snaking roads there are spectacular and scary in equal measure. Trevélez is the highest constantly inhabited village in Spain at 1476m altitude, perched in the ‘Alpujarras Alto’. Jamón Serrano de Trevélez is of such great quality, that it has been awarded an IGP ‘protected geographical indication’ which means no jamón imposters allowed. Arriving out of the mountain roads after a nearly 2 hour wheel-twirling journey, Trevélez at first appears exactly like any other tiny mountain village in southern Spain. Certainly, the old Alpujarran houses are still whitewashed and still piled, higgledy-piggledy, between narrow steep lanes, yet differ architecturally with their rendered flat roofs and lack of terracotta. They are, in fact, more reminiscent of buildings of Morocco due the influence of the Moors, an influence which permeates the entire region of Granada more than any other in Spain. Notably there were some very large buildings that seemed to have unglazed windows. These of course turned out to be the huge drying houses, where you can just make out hundreds of hams through the fine net covering the openings, protecting the precious meat from insects. Visiting in mid November as we did, finds a quiet time for Trevélez with but a few tourists making the trip up so high. A smattering of ‘jamón and tutt’ shops remained open and we browsed, vaguely tempted by some really quite nice, tightly-knotted rag-rugs, apparently made all over the area. Jamón was available in every shop, unsurprisingly, but we decided to go to a producer. Of course - as always - we had not taken the hour into account, so looked in vain for one of their shops open during siesta time. We eventually find a ‘tienda de jamón’ open just up from the main plaza where we had parked, so had a good look around the tiny salesroom, packed with ham and other foodstuffs. Popping some tasters into our mouths, we finally understood what the fuss was about. This really was the best serrano we had tasted in our several years visiting Spain. Sweet and tender, juicy and pale, we noticed immediately that it was much less salty than usual. The ‘secret’ to this is in the very geography of the place. At this altitude, in the entrance to the valley where the town sits - magic happens! OK so not really magic, more a lucky geographical happenstance! The air purity, humidity level and mountain breeze are such that the jamóns dried here needs much less salt than other serranos. They also use no nitrates and only pure sea salt for the cure. Sliced jamón, a pepper encrusted cured pork loin ‘lomo de cerdo’, locally air-dried pimentos and a chunk of something else cured and piggy made it’s way into our clutches, for devouring at a later date. You can find out loads more about the jamón on the official Trevélez WEBSITE I had - as always – researched the best place to eat lunch! I had setted upon Meson Haraicel as having the best combination of traditional food and being open! We don’t mind rustico when rustico is expected and the tiny, unassuming place could be in literally any town anywhere in Spain. Greetings were typically cheery and we decided to risk eating outside given that the sun was shining. Even though we had taken a 9 degree temp drop from the coast (!) - it was pleasant on the small deck area and I adjusted the blinds hanging off the pergola to ensure full sun coverage as we perused the menu over a small beer. We shared a 'remojon granadino' to start. This Granadian salad of oranges, salt cod flakes, onion and olives, is a not very distant cousin of the salad Malageuña. Hubby chose a large beef chop - chutela de tenera for his main course. To my mind it would have been rude not to eat pork in Trevélez, so I ordered a succulent piece of pressa Iberica which, like the beef, was cooked on a typical charcoal grill or brasa. As usual, both were served simply with some fried potatoes and vegetables. Reader - both meats were delicious. I would regard Spanish beef - or at least beef sold in Spain - as some of the best in the world. Far superior to French beef, a lot to do with how long it is hung - which is not at all long enough in France! But back to the pork. Pressa is a Spanish cut, not really equivalent to any UK cut, from deep inside the shoulder. I can guarantee that Iberico pressa is the finest, most succulent and melt in the mouth pork you will ever eat. The fat marbling rivals the best beef and the taste is unique, made all the more delicious by the smokey crispiness from being over the coals. Keep an eye out for more blogs from me in the future, where I shall wax even more lyrical and at length over this buttery, rich and nutty delight. Bellies full, we explored the small town further and were surprised and delighted to find a door maker in one of the tiny streets. Not just any old doors, but huge solid entrance doors, adorned not only with ornamental black forged rivets, but also with the Islamic motifs so associated with Granada and the Moors. Some must have been destined for churches or grand Haciendas, but their designs gave us plenty of idea for our small refurbishment project. We walked a bit more lunch off around the old town and its seemingly uninhabited houses, their own doors quite plain or hidden as is usual with sun-faded and wind-whipped curtains. Our porky booty safely stowed, we decided to drive back on the only other road out of the mountains. This would take us west via the main villages of Pitres and Pampaneira, to the main town of Orgiva, finally meandering back to the autovia of the coast. The scenery is literally breathtaking up here, you seem to be on top of the world in a seemingly endless valley, where the narrow road clings barely to its rocky sides. We wound round for tens of kilometers behind a bus finally finding room to overtake. Sometime later, we came to a stupendous view and stopped to get some photos. I said we ought to get going again before the bus catches us up the very moment it trundled into view and once again took our lead. Anyway, the view was worth it, even if the photos didn't come out too well as I was shooting into the sun. I consoled myself further with the thought of the following day when we would get to tuck into our porcine prizes. We arrived back the coast happy and tired from the high, clear mountain air, and decided we must go back to Trevélez when we move permanently to Spain. That way we can keep a whole leg of best quality serrano ham in the kitchen and consider ourselves just a little bit Spanish. |
AuthorAlex Gonnord-Luty, chef, aspiring good blog writer, Hispanophile, lives currently in France & Spain. Archives
September 2020
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