Rice with Squid

Hello everybody, here I am with a new recipe, this time the main ingrediants are rice and squid and like the previous is very easy and savory. The name of the recipe is Rice with Squid, but in my parent's house we used to call it pink rice, and not because my own name, if not because if you don't remove the skin from the squid, that is the color that the rice turn in. Nowadays you can find the squid clean, and its color is almost white, but you can get the same color in the dish with paprika.

Ingredients:
4 serves

1/2 kg squid
350gr rice
1 onion
1 carrot
1 leek (white part only)
1/2 small green pepper
1/2 small red pepper
2 gloves of garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
4 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
 1 liter water

Chop the vegetables in small pieces, carrot and leek in circles or disks. You have two alternatives, if you want you can do it in the same pot (or pressure cooker) or fry the vegetables with the squid in a frypan, and then finish it in the ordinary pot or pressure cooker.
The squid has to be very tender for this dish, if you want that it will be really good,  for which you must cook it very well first with the vegetables.
Fry the onion in olive oil, once browned, add the squid, stir everything well, add salt and cook for 3-4 minutes, and now go adding the remaining vegetables one by one.
Now add a tablespoon of paprika and a little of water and leave it for 15 minutes over medium heat or 4 minutes in a pressure cooker.
After this you only have to add two garlic cloves, whole with the skin, the rice and the rest of the water. Test the salt and add more if necesary. Close the pressure cooker and leave for 6 minutes or 20 minutes in a tradicional pot.
If you like garlic flavour, you can  peel and crush them, if not, remove the garlic cloves.
Is easy, right?

¡Salud!

Rioja style potatoes

 La Rioja is a small region in Northern Spain with a great History, among many other reasons, because it is located in one of the routes of the Camino de Santiago (Santiago's Way), called Camino Francés (French Way).
The cuisine of this region is highly valued in the rest of Spain, and one of its most famous dishes, "Rioja Style Potatoes", I'm going to devote today's blog entry.
Among their main dishes include stews and slow cook, and are based on the products of the orchard of the Ribera del Ebro (the Ebro is the main river in this area), asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms...all it a very healthy food.
Another reason and perhaps the best known internationally for which this region is known for its excellent wines. La Rioja is a DOCa with certain distinguished wines made in three different zones that produce Riojas wine: Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja y Rioja Alavesa, where wines originating from different features.
These wines are fresh, aromatic, balanced and with excellent bouquet. In my humble opinion, probably one of the best red wines in the world.

Recipe of Patatas a la Riojana

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1kg potatoes

2 chorizos (Spanish sausages)

1 onión

2 cloves of garlic

1 green pepper
2 choricero peppers

2 laurel leaf

1 chilli
1l of water

Paprika to taste

Olive oil
  Salt

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pot, chop the onion and green pepper and fry them until the onion is transparent, then add the garlic (finelly chopped) and bay leaf.

While the rest is frying, cut the chorizos into pieces to your taste, can be thicker or thinner, even you can cut them in half. Add them to the pot.

Now break the potaroes with a knife, don't cut them because if not you lose the starch, and you need it to thicken the sauce. They should make a noise when you break them.

Mix the potatos with the rest and stir around with a wooden spoon, now cover with water and add paprika and chilli to your taste, if you don't like spicy food don't worry the recipe don't change it's flavour if you don't use chilli.
Stir everything carefully and finally add the choricero peppers, leave them in the surface because once the dish is cooked, we will remove the choriceros from the pot and we have to cut them in half and carefully remove the pulp from the skin. Now add the choriceros meat to the pot and stir everything.

You'll need between 25 and 30 minutes in an ordinary pot, and if you use a pressure cooker, you'll only need 5 minute once start to boil.

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

¡SALUD!

Notice: The chorizo pepper is a variety of red pepper, normally air dried in strings to better maintain them. In the kitchen is used only hydrated pulp thereof, being so popular in Spanish cuisine that is easy to find them packed in glass jars ready for use. (Wikipedia)

Roasted peppers and tuna warm salad: a recipe for all the year

Sorry I'm late but I was very busy last week and I had problems with my camera, so I'm going to start right now.
 This is a very simple recipe, tasty and healthy. You only need very little time to prepare it. You can use it as a starter or a main course.
As I suppose some of you know, in Spain we normally do our biggest meal of the day in the afternoon (between 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm approximately), while in most countries dinner is their biggest meal.

In Spain this recipe would be perfect as a starter for lunch or as dinner. After my living experience in England and New Zealand, I would say that for those countries this dish would be a good lunch or a nice starter for dinner. Or even you could use it as a side dish.

The most important thing about this recipe, like most, is that the ingredients must be of excellent quality.

Those ingredients are (serves for 4 people):

• Canned tuna in olive oil, best if it is tuna loins. It takes approximately 100g (drained weight) per person.
• 4 red peppers/capsicums, medium / large size (they must be hard and the skin smooth and firm) or canned peppers roasted and peeled.
• 3 boiled eggs
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Paprika for garnish. 
• Tablespoon of sugar

There are two options for this recipe depends on the time you have available: use roasted canned peppers or roast yourself the peppers. As long as nowadays we can find excellent canned peppers the recipe would not necessarily be affected.

If we use roasted peppers, you can buy already shredded or whole ones. We also need to reserve the liquid containing the jar.

But if we choose to roast the peppers yourself , we should follow these steps:

1. Wash them with water and dry them well with paper towels; then place them on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and salt.   
2. After that put them in the oven at medium heat, 180 º C for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on their size, turning occasionally so that they become equally on all sides. 
3. When the peppers are roasted, you need to peel them and take out the seeds. It is better if you peel the peppers when they are still warm, if not it will be more dificult but be careful and don't burn yourself. Reserve the liquid 'expelled' by the peppers in the baking tray and use it later to caramelize them. 
4. When the peppers are ready, set aside.

 Then peel and chop the garlic into very small pieces and put them in a pan with a little oil, when they begin to brown, take the peppers (cut into strips) and a tablespoon of sugar and stir everything well, leave them on medium-low and gradually add the liquid we reserved from roasting the peppers (or from the can) and let reduce until caramelized.

While peppers caramelize, put 3 eggs to boil. When the eggs are boiled and cold, peel and cut them in very small pieces. You can cut 2 of them and the other one you can cut it into wedges.

To serve, put the peppers in the center of the tray and place around the tuna and decorate with eggs. You also can grate one or two yolks and use it as decoration. Finally sprinkle with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and a little paprika.

This is the traditional recipe but you can combine it with many things as lettuce,  onion,  pasta, sliced boiled potatoes, tomatoes or any other veggies. Also you can make a toast like this

Hope you enjoy this fast and simple recipe.

¡Salud!

Gilda

In my first post I explained how to prepare the main tapa in Spain. In this short post I will describe how to prepare the second main tapa in Basque Country: Gilda.

In Basque Country, a northern region where tapas are called pintxos, going out to have some pintxos with some drinks (beer or wine) is one of the highlights when you visit this region. If visiting Bilbao, San Sebastian or Mundaka it's 'compulsory' to go out and enjoy some pintxos while you have some Riojas (local red wine), zuritos (small portion of beer) or marianitos (vermouth). You will amaze when you go into a bar and see on the bar many kinds of very elaborated pintxos. You will not know which one to choose. One of the traditional and less elaborated pintxos are the GILDAS, a very simple recipe that we normally have before lunch.

Its name was given because of the main character in the movie GILDA, starred by Rita Hayworth in 1946, because this tapa is 'salty, green and a little bit hot'. When in Spanish we say that a person is salty, we mean that is charming. Besides, a green and hot person means that a person is playful and wicked (related to sex). The restaurant Casa Valles (still opened after 65 running the business) was the first place that used this name for this kind of tapa 60 years ago, more or less, after watching that movie.

If you like pickles and anchovies, you will love this small recipe. Its flavour is pretty strong and sour, so it's perfect as appetizer with a glass of wine.

The ingredients for a traditional Gilda are:

- Anchovies

- Olives

- Pickle green chillies

And the elaboration couldn't be easier. You only need to prick those ingredients in a toothpick. The order as you prefer, there is no rules for it. And in few seconds you will have an apperitive for your parties or unexpected visits. In Spain is so common that you can buy them in jugs. So, even faster...

Nowadays, there are many versions of this pintxo: with pickle gherkins, with pickled onions, with a small portion of red pepper, with a dice of canned tuna, with pickle anchovies or with a boiled and peeled quail egg. 

Our gildas from our home made appetizer

Hope you can visit Basque Country and try a gilda but just in case you don't have that choice try and enjoy it at home.

Salud!

Spanish Omelet: the queen of Spanish tapas

As I told in my first post I've chosen this recipe for two reasons: firstly, it's a dish that I love. On the other hand, it is one of the main dishes in the Spanish cooking. It's very traditional and common in our cooking.

Its origin is unknown although it's thought that it dates from the “Carlistas” wars in the 19^th century because it was a 'cheap' recipe. So the Army could feed their troops with very little money.

If you travel nowadays to Spain, you will find it in most of the bar-restaurants. It's the queen of the tapas. No doubt. Even there are bar-restaurants specialized in tortillas, I mean, they only cook Spanish tortillas with a great variety of types.

Tapa de tortilla

The common way to have it in a bar-restaurant is as a tapa o pincho de tortilla, that is a portion of tortilla with a couple of slices of bread. You can find it almost anytime in the bars: for breakfast, for brunch, for lunch or in the evening. Though it's also possible to have a whole tortilla with some friends and some drinks at midday or in the evening, times when Spanish people normally go out to have some drinks with tapas with your colleagues or friends. Even when you get home at night after several drinks having a piece of omelet is great!!!!

But it's not only the queen of the tapas but also a very common recipe at Spanish homes, especially for dinner, and in the picnic baskets.

In summer in many villages and towns you can find championships in the Festivals events. Even there are regional and a national championships every year.

The most common Spanish tortilla, whose recipe you can find below, is with potatoes, eggs and onion but it's not the only one. Nowadays you can find lots of types of tortilla but the base is always the same. So, once you learn to do the traditional one you'll be able to try new ways of tortilla with for example:

   Cheese and ham
   Chorizo
   Veggies 'n chorizo (Tortilla Paisana)
   Mushrooms
   Red or green peppers
   Tuna (canned tuna) and mayonnaise
   Tomato and lettuce
   Spinachs and cheese
   Smoked ham
   Anything you wanna use to fill it

Other way to have the Spanish omelet is a BOCADILLO DE TORTILLA. This is a sandwich (with French bread) filled with some portions of tortilla. I don't know how many bocatas (it's the short word for bocadillo in Spanish) de tortilla I've had in my life. Hundres, thousands...probably. 
 

Yummy bocata of tortilla

  
 RECIPE 

INGREDIENTS

4 or 5 potatoes medium side (1 kg aprox)

1 onion (if you don't like it, you can avoid it).

6 eggs (if free range, much better)

Olive oil (not extra virgin). You can use other lind of oil as sunflower or canola oil

Salt

COOKWARE

A non stick frying pan

A fork

A potato peeler

A knife

A spatula

A bowl

A flat plate or the lid of a pot

A cutting board

ELABORATION

Peel and wash the potatoes, then cut into fairly thin sheets. Set aside.

Put the olive oil in the frying pan and heat it while you add salt to the potatoes. When the olive oil is hot, place the potatoes in the frying pan.

While the potatoes are frying, peel and chop the onion into small pieces, and add to the pan with the potatoes. (Note that potatoes takes longer to fry than onion, so it is convenient to place the potatoes a little before).

Leave the potatoes until golden brown (but not too much, they must be between crunchy and fluffy).

Meanwhile in a bowl beat the eggs firmly and quickly.

When the potatoes and onion are ready you have to drain them very well, probably this is the most important step in the whole process, because if the tortilla is greasy, will not be tasty, and it may to be indigestible. If you notice, you'll have almost the same amount of olive oil when you started frying them (potatoes and onion)

Mix the eggs with the potatoes carefully, (don't break the potatoes), try it and add a pinch of salt if necessary.

Now in the same frying pan but without oil (don't wash the frying pan, just pour the oil in a container) put the entire mixture in the frying pan and heat to medium-high and leave for a little over a minute. This always depends if you like the tortilla very curd, then you should leave a little more. If instead you like the tortilla little curd, a minute or minute and a half on each side will be enough.

Once the tortilla is cooked on one side, you have to help yourself with a flat plate or a lid of a pot to lip it. This is perhaps the hardest part of the whole process. You have to put the plate on top the pan, and turn it until the tortilla is on the plate. Be careful, do not burn yourself!!!

Then put the pan back on the fire and helping with a spatula toss again carefully the tortilla in the pan, so that will not come apart and hold a round shape.

Put the flat plate over the frying pan (now if you want, you can change the plate by one in which you want to serve at the table) and flip back, so now leave it on the plate and serve.

Here you can find some tricks to prepare it:

1) Quantity of olive oil in the frying pan:

We have to take a fair amount of olive oil, otherwise the potatoes will absorb much of it and will be very greasy. I can not to tell you the exact amount of oil because it will depend on the size of the frying pan. But it is important the potatoes are covered by oil, which must be a high temperature at first to lower it when they take a few minutes and go little by little and not too browned, otherwise the potatoes won't mix with the eggs correctly.

Do not be afraid to use a lot of oil, fried foods trick is to have a good amount of oil and it is at the right temperature.

2) Spanish Omelet for lazy people:

If you're in a hurry or you don't like to much cooking, you'll be able to cook a omelet very quickly. Instead of peeling and frying the potatoes and onion you can open a pack of chips (fries) and mix them with the eggs, following the rest of steps of the traditional recipe. I tried it and...well, I prefer the normal one but...it's another way to get it.

Here you can have a look a video where the chef Karlos Argiñano cooks it. Sorry because it's in Spanish.

3) Tortilla filled with other ingredients: tuna, mushrooms, crab, mayonnaise, etc.

Some of them (i.e. cheese and ham) you will be able to cook them just mixing the other ingredients with the fried potatoes, fried onion and beaten eggs. Mix all the ingredients and continue with the rest of steps of the recipe. But you will need to cook other ingredients before mixing (i.e. peppers/capsicums/mushrooms/etc.) but then continue as in the regular recipe.

There some other products (i.e. mayonnaise or a mixture of mayonnaise with sticks of crab) that you cannot mix will the eggs and potatoes and cook all together. In this case, the way to get the omelet filled with those products is making a 'sandwich' with two Spanish Omelettes and filled with the rest of ingredients. So, you need to cook two thinner Spanish omelets. Place on in the base, then put the filling, and on the top the other Spanish Omelete. And ready, you have a filled Spanish Omelette.

4) Viradeira:

This is not a trick but a tool. It has not been very common in Spain but nowadays its presence is increasing at Spanish homes. You can use instead of the flat plate or the top of the pot. It's specific just for Spanish tortillas. Probably you will not find them in your country but if you try to do the tortilla and you're interested on a viradeira, please contact me and we can try manage to send you one. 

Well, I hope you liked my first recipe and  you try to do it.

Good luck and enjoy it!

¡Salud!

Welcome to The Spanish Omelette

Hi and welcome everybody to The Spanish Omelette, a blog where I would like to 'spread' among the non Spanish speakers the Spanish food, recipes, tricks and other things beyond the 'paella and sangría'.

My name is Rosa and I'm from Northern Spain, from an area called Galicia, not sunny and hot as many people think that Spain is, but cold and rainy. Though I'm not a proffesional cook nor a chef, all my life has been surronded by pots, pans and food, much food. At home my mother and my sisters loved (and love) cooking, so I inherited that passion for it. As I told before I don't have any professional education in cooking, actually I am a PR, but it is such a love for cooking that few years ago I tried to change my life and I started with some friends an small catering company in Madrid. And before I had another 'affair' with the 'cooking world' when I went to UK to improve my English and I finished working as a Silver Service waitress in a nice restaurant called Gaudís in Midhurst (England).

Tapas menú

The main reason I decided to write this blog is because in my stages living in England or New Zealand some people asked me about Spanish food. Many of them had heard about 'El Bulli' or knew Spanish food from the TV programs or because they had been in Spain before. They remembered some recipes or dishes that they had had in those trips but they didn't  know how to prepare them. Furthermore, some of them had a limited knowledge about it and only knew paella, gazpacho and sangría. So, it made me to think about it start this blog. It's an idea that I have had in my head for many months but I didn't give the first step to start it until today.


With the blog I'll try to give you some recipes, some clues (as we say 'Grandma's tricks') and of course many Spanish Tapas in order to be able to eat healthier and tastier. I'll start with the 'Tortilla Española' or Spanish Omelette. Maybe you never heard about it, maybe yes. I love it and for that reason I have chosen it for my blog's name.  I'll try to start with easy recipes at the beginning and in a near future continue with a more elaborated dishes.

The Queen of the Tapas

I would love that this blog were an interactive blog, so everybody could learn those recipes and tricks that any person could bring to the blog. Just send me a message and I will be very pleased to publish your recipes in The Spanish Omelette. And, of course, I would be very glad if you could ask me for anything, or give me some ideas to improve any recipe or to create new dishes.

This is my first posts as a blogger and it's not in my mother tongue, so I hope you can patient with the language and with the time between posts. I'm sure it will be very difficult to finish each post. I'll try to publish at least one post-recipe every week. Finger crossed!!!!

Welcome everybody and looking forward to publishing the next post. Remember: an Spanish Omelette, the queen among the Spanish Tapas.

See ya!