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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.
Important potatoes
Hello!
This time I come again with a vegetarian recipe, but a really good one for winter cold days. It’s a typical spanish recipe original from Palencia, and very economic.
Ingredients (for 1 person):
- 2 potatoes
- 1 onion
- Saffron
- 3 garlic cloves
- A bunch of parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- Paprika
- 1 egg
- Flour
- White wine
- About ½ litre of oil to fry
Let’s start peeling the potatoes and then slicing them, having slices about half centimetre thick. Pass each potato slices first through flour and then through a whisked egg.
Add oil in a pan or pot and wait for it to be hot, fry the potatoes in several batches for about 3 minutes. Then reserve them over paper towels in order to remove oil excess.
Chop an onion and put a bit of olive oil in a pot, then add the onion a bit of salt and 2 bay leaves. Stir from time to time and cook about 6-7 minutes. While cooking the onion put in a mortar 3 garlic cloves, a bit of saffron, a bit of salt and a bunch of parsly grinding them until well mixed.
Add a bit of white wine in the pot, the content of the mortar, one teaspoon of paprika and the already fried potatoes. Add enough water to cover the potatoes passing above like 2 fingers and cook for 20 minutes. Instead of stiring it, just shake the pot in order to avoid break the potatoes.
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.
Cocido montañés
Hello,
Recently on the video explaining quesada pasiega recipe a youtube user (digbychick) suggested me to show how to prepare another typical dish from Cantabria, and based on the description done by him I supposed it was cocido montañés. Fortunately I bring an apron from my holidays last summer in Cantabria on which is printed the recipe. It’s a really nice recipe for cold days, it’s really easy to prepare, perhaps it’s only difficulty will be bring to home all ingredients, so better write down the list before going to market 🙂
Ingredients (4 people):
- 200 gr white beans
- 200 gr fresh bacon
- 1 pig’s trotter
- 1 pig’s ear
- 250 gr pork chop
- 4 blood sausages
- 1 piece of ham bone
- 1 potato
- 1 turnip
- ½ cabbage
- 2 garlic cloves
- Sweet paprika
On a bit pot add one pig’s trotter, one pig’s ear, 200 gr of fresh bacon, a piece of ham bone, 250 gr of pork chop. And 200 gr of white beans, these beans must be in water all the night before, taking in mind they would double their size. Add also some salt and cover all ingredients with cold water. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for 2 hours, take a look from time to time, and if it’s getting short of water add more water, but heat it first otherwise you will break the cook process.
After 2 hours cooking add ½ cabbage, 1 turnip and 1 potato all them cut in small pieces and cook them for 20 minutes, add also the blood sausages.
While vegetables are cooking add a bit of oil in a pan, and add 2 laminated garlic cloves when the oil is still cold. When garlic becomes golden turn off the heat and add 1 or 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika, then mix them. Put the garlic and paprika in a mortar and grind them. Then add this mix to the pot, you can help with the water to get the most of the mix. Now just wait the 20 minutes from vegetables aggregation and your cocido montañés is ready.
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.
Fried milk
Hello,
Fried milk is a very typical dessert in north Spain, it’s tricky to cook until you don’t get the right measures, once you got them it’s quite easy, but it requires some time to prepare.
Ingredients:
- 1 litre milk
- 100 gr corn flour
- 150 gr sugar
- 1 lemon
- Ground cinnamon
- 1 stick cinnamon
- Flour
- 1 egg
- Vegetable oil
Start boiling 850 ml of milk, with a stick of cinnamon and 100 gr of sugar. Move it to dissolve the sugar. Add also some skin of lemon, cut really thin to avoid the white part which is bitter.
While the milk heats up, in a bowl mix 100 gr of corn flour with 150 ml of milk.
Once the milk is boiling be careful to avoid flood over the pot, shut down the fire and remove cinnamon stick and lemon skin. Add the milk mixed with corn flour and move with a wooden spoon for some minutes until it’s well mixed and without grumes.
Turn over a rectangular or square recipient, I’ve used silicon mold for easy unmold. Let rest for 1 hour and half, and 1 hour in the fridge. On a silicon mold the unmold process will be very easy, cut the solidified milk in cubes.
Before frying you will pass them on egg and flour, so beat an egg and pass each cube first on the egg then on flour.
Add vegetable oil in a pot, enough to cover the cubes. When inserting a wooden spoon in the oil bubbles appear the oil temperature is right to fry. Add the cubes and remove in a short time (perhaps little less than a minute), put them on a towel paper and add over a mix of sugar and ground cinnamon (like 50 gr of sugar and 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon). Let cold and it is ready to eat.
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.
Vinaigrette mussels
Hello,
This is a very typical tapa in Spain (in Spanish, mejillones en vinagreta) and it’s a really nice recipe for sumer because you can eat them at a lower temperature and they’re still delicious, furthermore mussels are one of the cheapest seafood you can find (at least in Spain) making this recipe really a winner: rich, healthy, fresh, cheap. What else do you need? Of course it is also easy to prepare.
Ingredients:
- Mussels
- Sherry vinegar
- Spring onion
- Red pepper
- Green pepper
- Olive oil
Let’s start preparing the mussels, we will steam it. If you don’t have a tool to steam you can use just a pot, boil water and put the mussels in a metallic colander on top, cover the pot with a lid and maintain cooking for about 15 minutes. Use a tall pot in order to avoid water get off the pot, and be careful there’s always water in the pot otherwise you will burn it, and it’s not good to burn a pot on each recipe.
While the mussels steam we will prepare the vinaigrette, you need to chop more or less the same amount of spring onion, red pepper and green pepper, obtaining very smalll pieces. Then put all together in a bowl and add salt, sherry vinegar and olive oil (using 2 times more olive oil than vinegar). Mix well, if there is too much oil and vinegar you can reuse them later to dress a salad.
Discard those mussels not opened, remove half of shell, let cold and just add a coffespoon of vinaigrette over each mussel.
Music used in the video (Airport Lounge) and it’s rights belong to Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) who distributes it under CC-BY license.
Gazpacho
Hello!
Perhaps Gazpacho is most representative recipe of Andalucia, it is a kind of soup with tomato as star ingredient. It’s fresh, it’s healthy and it’s absolutely delicious, what else can you expect from a recipe? Ok, and I forgot, it’s easy to prepare!
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of tomatoes
- 1-2 green pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 cucumber
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- White vinegar
- Olive oil
We will start cutting the ingredients, even we will process them on a blender if you cut them they will fit in the blender cup. Cut an onion in 6 to 8 pieces. Remove the seeds of 2 green peppers, and cut them in small pieces. Remove the ends of a cucumber and peel it, left some skin as it will prevent its repetition. Finally cut 1 kg of tomatoes in about 8 pieces, you’d better choose mature tomatoes because they will be more tasty. You can reserve a bit of those ingredients and chop them in order to serve together with gazpacho, it’s usually served this way so people can choose which vegetable they would like to add.
Add all the ingredients in the blender cup. Furthermore add 2 o 3 garlic cloves, but first cut them in half and remove the central part which will prevent from repeating. Add also 1 coffee spoon of salt, a quarter of glass of white vinegar. Mix with the blender for some minutes until it becomes liquid, after mixing taste it to check if you need more salt, or if it is too dense add water and mix again for a while. You can also add some ground pepper or ice in the blender.
Normally is served with picatostes (toasted bread cut in small cubes) and a bit of vegetables chopped.
Music in the video (Airport Lounge) is composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com)
Torrijas
- Bread
- Milk
- Red Winde
- Egg
- Sugar
- Ground cinnamon
Tuna escabeche
Hello!
On our Spanish blog a reader suggested us to publish some recipe using escabeche. Escabeche is a technique to cook food in order to preserve them, it is very typical to find canned sea food or fish preserved in escabeche, in Spain perhaps the most easy to find are the muscles. I liked very much the result of this recipe, it is really superb on a sandwich bit some cheese.
Ingredients:
- 1 Kg tuna without skin and without spines
- ½ lt olive oil
- ¼ lt white vinegar
- ¼ lt white wine
- 3 garlic cloves
- 20 peppercorns
- Some bay leaves
- 1 sweet paprika tablespoon
Add in a pot ½ litre of olive oil, ¼ litre of white vinegar, ¼ litre of white wine, about 20 peppercorns, some bay leaves, 3 garlic cloves and a tablespoon of sweet paprika, mix it until well combined. Add the tuna without skin and with out spines, and make sure it is well submerged.
Set the fire on at minimum level, and cook for 20 minutes. In 20 minutes it will be cooked rare, cook about 30 minutes if you prefer more done. Let rest for some hours until getting ambient temperature, then put in the fridge like one night. Take off the fridge 15 minutes before eating, it is really great in a sandwich with cheese. You can have it in the fridge for some days, the escabeche sauce will preserve the tuna.
Music on the video (Airport Lounge) is composed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Cider chorizos
Hello!
This is a a very typical recipe from Asturias (north Spain) , it is really easy todo, perhaps the hardest part will be getting the ingredients. It is normally served as a tapa, something you should taste if ever visit Asturias 🙂
Ingredients
- Tender chorizos
- Natural cider
You must choose tender chorizos and natural cider (no gas). Add the chorizos in a pot and make little punctures with a knive. Cover them with cider and turn on the fire. Once starts to boil cook for 15-20 minutes and the recipe is ready. Enjoy them with a good bread just after cooked.
Eels with pasta
Hello!
A reader of our spanish blog suggested us to do a recipe with eels and pasta. Well ok, her suggestion was about a substitute of this fish, most famous on Spain is Gula del norte, which made a surimi like small noodes very similar in aspect to eels. As far as eels are really expensive (can cost about 1.000 USD x kilo) I better use this substitute 🙂
Ingredients (for 2 people)
- Eels (or substitute, 150 gr)
- 5-6 cherry tomatoes
- 3 garlic cloves
- Laminated mushrooms (about 200 gr)
- 1 red pepper
- Pasta (your favorite choice)
Start cutting one red pepper in half, remove the threads and cut on to stripes. Cut the stripes on half. Add the red pepper on an oven tray, add salt and cook in the oven at 350ºF (180º C) for ½ hour. The original idea was to use the liquid drop by the pepper while cooking on the oven for preparing remaining steps, but this pepper didn’t drop enough liquid.
Once the pepper is cooked have a pot with boiling water and add olive oil in a pan. When oil is hot add laminated and clean mushrooms in the pan, add salt and stir. Then add salt and the pasta in the pot. Stir the mushrooms frequently and add more oil if the pan gets dry.
After 5 minutes add 3 garlic cloves sliced, 5 – 6 cherry tomatoes cut in half and the eels and mix all. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the red pepper mix well and drain the pasta. Add drained pasta on the pan mix well and you’re done.
The music included in this video is performed by Löshtana David. Song: Delirante planet. Album: The Very Best of Le Moins Pire. You can listen to it at http://www.jamendo.com/es/album/102547
Recipes from Spain 