Thursday, January 29, 2009

Just Food

Sometimes I feel the necessity to go out and shop, but the real deal is shopping for food, not in the market, not in the grocery store, but in gourmet kind of stores..I just love them, and can´t hold on my wallet for one second if I get the chance to see things I don´t find often..doesn´t matter if with that same amount of money I would have been able to buy a nice pretty shirt, if I can pay for a jar of White Asparagus from Navarra region.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Bocadillos

Bocadillo is a sandwich made with half a baguette, yes, half of it!!!! at first you get to see this huge sandwich and imagine that there is no way you could eat it all, but "yes, you can"!!!The filling is as simple as great, Spanish Ham and green bell peppers. The Ham was specially good, as it was cooked in a pan without any oil a couple of seconds to make it a little bit crispy, and the peppers were softly boil in olive oil until they became soft and almost sweet (which you can prepare in advance and have them store in the fridge for further use). So simple, so real, so healthy and so great. Give it a try, you can´t go wrong.
p.s. the cheese was an extra that I asked for, of course not needed at all, so ended up leaving it on the side, just like it came from the kitchen.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Croquetas




Have you ever heard of the word "Croquetas"?, well, if you`ve been to Spain probably you have. It´s a classic preparation children love, that requires a LOT of work, but for Spanish Grandmothers seems to be the easiest thing in the world to make. They are nice, little fried balls of bechamel sauce flavoured with whatever you want, most of the time Spanish ham, but it can be prepare with boiled eggs and chopped chicken, wild mushrooms and foie grass and nowadays I´ve seen some sweet ones..haven´t tried them yet.

Today we went out to Sokoa bar in center Vitoria, we know this place is famous because of their Croquetas, so we give them a try. Over the bar table is a dish with some of them so you can see what is what you´ll get. Huge, soft, big croqueta, that we enjoy with some "Mosto" (grape juice, served with an olive and lemon, like a little alcohol free martini) and a pice of bread bread. Please notice that this is eaten BEFORE lunch, as a Pintxo (or Tapa), it was so smooth and delicious, perfect to go shopping afterwards.



Recipe for Ham Croquetas (own creation)
1 lt whole milk (with half-half instead you´ll end up with smoother croquetas)
150gr butter
170gr all purpose flour
150gr Spanish Ham chopped (you can use chopped Turkey ham, cooked Chicken, mushrooms)
-pinch of nutmeg, black pepper and salt
3 eggs
2 cups bread crumbs
Heat milk taking care not to boil it. In the meantime prepare a roux, this is, melt butter in a large pot, add flour and let it cook until get`s together like a smooth dough, stirring often. Take it off the heat to add slowly the hot milk, whisking constantly, until you add it all. Change the whisk to a wooden spoon, get back on the heat and stir, stir and stir to prevent from sticking, after 5 minutes add ham and spices, season and cook stirring 10 min more, on low heat. Pour into a flat pan and cover with plastic wrap touching the batter so it won´t make a crust when cooled down. Let it rest in the fridge overnight. The next day lightly beat the eggs in one bowl, in another put the bread crumbs and make bite size balls with your hands (it may stick so use some oil in your hands to avoid this), pass the balls through the eggs and then onto the crumbs, and they are ready to fry, they must be submerge in the oil to become golden and perfect. They can`t be reheated so eat them at once. Good luck!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Three Kings day






In Spain, January 6th is as important as Christmas day, is the day kids receive their gifts that the three magic kings bring. It is amazing how much kids loved them, and wait for them anxiously as many of us do with Santa, but in this case, as there are three, Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar every kid has a favourite. Have you ever think of them? and even choose your favourite? I don´t but maybe I will for next year`s!!!!

What to eat to celebrate the Kings?? Rosco de Reyes, that´s the tradition, round brioche bread scented with Orange-Flower water filled with whipped cream and decorated with sugared fruit, sounds good, but the best part is the hidden secret, yes! it has inside a tiny figure resemble one of the Kings, and the person that gets it in his piece of cake is the one that has to buy the Rosco for next year`s celebration. This year I was the "lucky" one, check it out..