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Noodles pot
Hello,
That’s a recipe my mother cooks nearly perferct. It’s a very typical recipe in Catalonia and the translation I did is a bit free, in Spanish is named fideos a la cazuela.
Ingredients (for 2 people):
- Pasta
- 800 gr tomato
- 2 onions
- 4 garlic cloves
- 400 gr pork ribs
Let’s start chopping 2 onions. You can use canned tomatoes, but at this time of year you can find nice tomatoes on the market so I prefer to peel the tomatoes (about 800 gr), add them on a blender cup with 4 garlic cloves, a teaspoon of sugar and blend them.
On a pot add a bit of olive oil and then the pork ribs cut in pieces large like your longest finger, adding salt and ground pepper. Simmer the pork ribs in the pot for about 50 minutes , stirring frequently and adding a bit of water if they start to stick to the pot. It’s nice if they stick just a bit, as they get a nicer color and caramelize a bit.
After 50 minutes add the 2 chopped onions and stir frequently, simmer the onion for about 15 minutes until it’s not dropping more water. Then add the tomato sauce, move a bit and taste if you need to add salt and sugar (if it tastes too acid a bit of sugar will help). Simmer the tomato for 10 minutes and add the noodles, in this case I added Cellentani which find very nice because it’s curled shape.
Cook until the pasta is soft and check frequently if you need to add some water.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
St John’s coca
Hello,
This dessert very typical in Catalonia on St John’s day, you can find them on each bakery, pastry shop, take away food store, supermarkets. And you can also find a wide range of them, but my favorite one is this one I show you on this recipe, with custard on top. It’s completely amazing, and it’s not me saying it, the same said my family and my colleagues in work (who also had the choice to taste it). The only con, it takes some time to cook it, but no pain no gain 🙂
Ingredients (to cook 2 of them):
- 500 gr flour
- 50 gr butter
- Corn flour
- 1 litre of milk
- 250 gr sugar
- 4 eggs
- Cinnamon
- Lemon zest
- Baker’s yeast (5gr dry, 15 gr if it’s fresh)
- Vanilla extract
- Pine seeds
- Laminated almonds
- Candied cherries
- Anise
Let’s start heating 400 gr of milk, with a stick of cinnamon and lemon (or orange) zest. Simmer until the milk boils, then maintain in the fire for 2 minutes and let cold. When milk is warm, add 100 gr of flour in a bowl, 5 gr of dry baker’s yeast (if it’s fresh use 15 gr dissolved in milk) mix well and add 100 gr of previously heated milk passing it through a colander. Mix well with a spatula or a wooden spoon, cover with transparent film and let rest all night. Prepare also mix of 2 tablespoons of sugar, a bit of anise and water, if the mix seems too wet add some extra sugar.
Next day add 400 gr of flour in the bowl, 100 gr of sugar, 200 grams of the milk heated the day before and half teaspoon of salt. Mix well everything first in the bowl and then knead it to obtain a soft and silky dough. To knead it I lift it with my hands, turn 90 degrees, dash to the table, drag a bit to me and then with a wrist move fold over itself, you need to repeat these movement for quite a long time, perhaps 8 to 15 minutes until the dough looks silky. Now spread the dough and add over 50 gr of butter in small pieces, the butter should be for some hours out of fridge so it will be easier to integrate in the dough. Once the butter is well integrated in the dough we need to knead again in the same way as before, and again for some quite long time. Once you finished kneading keep the dough on the bowl covered with a transparent film and let rest about 4-5 hours.
You can do the custard now, to prepare it add on a bowl half litre of milk, 100 gr of sugar and 3 egg yolks. To keep away the egg yolks, crash the egg and move the egg yolk from each half part of the egg shell. Add also a tablespoon of corn flour and whisk it with energy. You can also add some ground cinnamon and vanilla extract to make it more tasty. Put this mix on a pot and simmer while stiring with a wooden spoon. Take patience as you will need to stir until it reduces and gets consistent, and this could take about 20 minutes. Cover and let cold.
After resting the dough it’s time to take it out of the bowl and knead it a bit, like a minute, divide the dough in 2 pieces and spread it over a baking paper, with your hand or with a rolling pin. And let rest for 3 hours. Don’t worry if you see the dough too thick and fragile, it will grow again.
Last steps! Paint the surface with a whisked egg and then cover with custard, well in the video I did upside down, as it is easier to paint first. Spread over also the sugar mixed with anise and water, pine seeds, laminated almonds and some candied cherries. Bake them at 400ºF 15 minutes and let cold before eating.
If you try it, you will love this recipe!
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Esqueixada
Hello,
Esqueixada is a very typical recipe from Catalonia, it’s quite easy to prepare and it’s an extraordinary choice for summer because you eat it at ambient temperature, even a bit cold.
Ingredients:
- Cod
- Tomato
- Onion
- Green pepper
- Black olives
- Vinegar
If you bough the cod preserved in salt, you must desalt previously. To do so put the cod under the tap with cold water and remove the salt surrounding the pieces. Place in a recipient with water in the fridge for 3 days replacing the water each 12 hours.
Once the cod is desalted remove the skin and crumble the cod with your hands leaving them on a bowl.
Add also on the bowl a green pepper cut in small pieces, two onions cut into strips (I’ve used red onion, but perhaps it’s better to use spring onions), and three tomatoes cut in small pieces with the peduncle removed and optionally peeled, it takes some time to peel the tomatoes but then it is very pleasant when you don’t find their skin when eating.
Finally add some black olives, salt, olive oil and vinegar, mix well everything and let rest in the fridge one night. You must remove it from fridge about 20 minutes before serving.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Chicken marinated in whiskey
Hello,
Recently was my birthday and one of the presents I’ve get was 2 bottles of whiskey, while one of them was fine for me I didn’t like too much the other one so I’ve started to think about recipes to use this whiskey, and tried this one. Easy and full of taste, and as a bonus a good choice for carry on a tupper. Nice!
Ingredients:
- Chicken
- Whiskey
- Soy sauce
- Lemon
- Garlic
- Thyme
- Rosemary
Place the chicken pieces on a tray suitable for oven and make some incisions with a knife on the chicken. This will allow all the juices penetrate inside the chicken making it more tasty. Then add salt and ground pepper on each side of chicken pieces. Add also some soy sauce, rosemary, thyme, about 5 garlic cloves previously broken with some hand bangs, the juice of half lemon a bit of olive oil and finally some whiskey.
If you want some garnish, you can also add onion, potatoes, pepper, your favorite choice. Let rest one night on the fridge.
Next day take your oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and cook the chicken for one hour. I placed the chicken on a grill tray and under the chicken the tray with all the juices, you can flip the chicken pieces several times and carefully irrigate the chicken with the sauce.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Tocino de cielo
Hello,
Tocino de cielo is a very typical dessert in Andalucia (region at south of Spain), it seems it was invented by nuns long time ago when they received a lot of egg yolks discarded from the wine clarification process (done with egg white) in Jerez de la Frontera (widely known for it’s Xerez wine). It’s very similar to creme caramel but with a stronger taste. A really delicious and easy dessert to cook.
Ingredients (for 3 people):
- 6 eggs
- 150 gr of sugar
- 200 gr of water
First step is to prepare the syrup, on a sauce pan add 200 gr of sugar and 150 gr of water, move in order to dissolve the sugar on the water, once the water starts to boil maintain with low fire for about 12 to 15 minutes. Move some times carefully. Once the syrup is prepared, let it cold.
While the syrup reduces its temperature separate the egg yolk from the egg white, to do so break the eggs and pass the egg yolk from half egg shell to other half until you get only with the egg yolk, add the egg yolks on a bowl and whisk them.
When the syrup it’s warm add it slowly to the whisked egg yolks while whisking.
Now let’s prepare the caramel, putting on a pan 2 tablespoons of sugar and half tablespoon of water, start stiring when the water boils and maintain in the fire until turns to toasted colour. Then without wasting a second (otherwise the caramel will solidify and become useless) add a bit of caramel in each mold, and with the help of a cloth make the caramel stain a bit the walls of the mold. Then add the mix of egg yolk and syrup on each mold. Cover the molds with tin foil, to prevent them being filled with water, cause we will cook them on bain marie.
On a pot place the molds and add water until more than half height of the molds, cover the pot with a lid and cook for half hour once the water starts to boil. Once cooked keep on the fridge for at least one night and delight yourself with this dessert.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Recipes from Spain 