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Artichokes with anchovies
Hello
This recipe come from my father which in fact it’s a little strange because my father doesn’t like cooking at all (cannot say the same about eating). You can use this recipe as a ligth dinner/supper, as a first course or even as an appetizer.
You can find the instructions in the video bellow:
Ingredients:
- ½ lemon
- Artichokes
- Anchovies
- White vinegar
On a bowl with water squeeze half lemon, this will prevent the oxidation of artichokes. Cut the tail of the artichokes, remove the exterior leaves until you see leaves with a tonality between green and yellow and cut the end of the leaves. Cut the artichokes in 4 pieces and with the help of a small knife remove the small hairs in the heart of the artichoke, let rest the artichokes in the water with lemon.
Heat water on a pot and add two bunches of salt. When the water is boiling add the artichokes and cook them for 15 minutes. Drain the artichokes and add above them some drops of white vinegar. Finally mix with the anchovies, of if you want a nicer presentation just cross the anchovies with a toothpick and then cross the artichokes.
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.
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)
Baked vegetables with romesco
Hello!
Romesco is a sauce typical from Catalonia (a region where Barcelona is located), normally is used with vegetables giving those vegetables a superb flavour.
Ingredients (for the romesco sauce):
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 ñoras (dried peppers)
- 12 toasted almonds
- 6 hazelnuts
- White vinegar
- Toasted bread
- 4-5 garlic cloves
For the vegetables use those ones of your favorite choice, I used 2 red onions, one zucchini and one egg plant, but you can also use asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms … Just cut them in pieces of medium size, put in an oven tray, add salt and olive oil and mix. On the oven we will also put 2 tomatoes with 2 incisions in cross shape (so they will be easier to peel later) and 4-5 garlic cloves. Cook on the oven at 350ºF (180º C) for one hour, but retire the tomatoes and garlic cloves after 15 minutes. In a mortar add 12 toasted almonds, 6 hazelnuts and some toasted bread (50-75 gr), grind well for some time. The ñoras (dried peppers) must be on water from the day before, remove the seed, cut in half and separe the pulp from the skin. Peel the tomatoes once out of oven.
Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to the mortar, the garlic cloves, the pulp of peppers and the peeled tomates. Grind them for some time. Add olive oil (like half glass) while moving. In order to grind it better, pass it through a Chinese strainer, put the rests on the Chinese strainer back in the mortar and it will be easier to grind. Finally put the liquid back on the mortar and mix well. You can also mix it together in a blender, it will be faster and easier, but sometimes it is also nice to do manual work :). And now you have a nice vegetables with a gorgeous sauce 🙂
Patatas bravas
This was the recipe used to cook my mother in our bar, and it liked lot of customers. As there are a lot of different ways to prepare “patatas bravas”, this is not “the recipe” but just one of the possible ways to cook them.
Ingredients:
- Potatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Oregano
- White vinegar
- Paprika
We will start cutting the potatoes but instead of using the knife to the end we will break it next to the end. On a pot put oil and let it to get heat, then throw in it the potatoes. Add salt, cover the pot and let them cook about 12 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, lets prepare the sauce. On a mortar put 2 garlic cloves and grind them with the pestle. Add oregano and continue grinding. Also add paprika, white vinegar, water to fill the mortar and mix it.
When you can puncture the potato with the knife they are ready, and you can extract them from the pot.
Now mix the potatoes with the sauce and enjoy!
I hope you like the recipe, see you next time.
Recipes from Spain 