Our time back Up the Mountain seems to be flying past so quickly, but we are managing to catch up with family and friends, but less so on rest and sleep. Oh well, it´s all about the Fiesta this week in our village and we´re making the most of things.
Tonight though we are at home. After almost a week of eating out our bodies need a rest before a little farewell party tomorrow night in a local bar. Fiesta food is heavy on the meat and protein as it´s all cooked over coals as you wait. Delicious grilled fillets of pork sprinkled with a type of salsa verde, pinchitos (little pork kebabs), jamon and cheese, braised goat and some grilled prawns. Of course, on Sunday we had the village paella.
It was time to balance things out and stock up on veggies and our little abandoned vegetable patch came up with the goods. Today I picked about 10 kgs of peppers, both green and red and a few aubergines. Most of the peppers were sliced and frozen or braised with olive oil and then frozen for the coming months. A few though were roasted and turned into a delicious, filling salad dish for a meat free supper.
While the peppers were roasting I picked my Chinese Lantern plants which have gone wild in our absence. Tomorrow I´ll pick the lanterns off the plants and use them to decorate the house later in the year. Very autumnal.
The cases are being packed (yes, I managed to get a whole jamon into one) with things to remind us of home for the next month or so. The dogs have been bathed (Luna) and clipped (Alfi) while they stay with my parents. And we have had time to recharge our batteries. Well, sort of. We are counting our blessings that that we avoided any damage from the terrible rains here in Spain and spare a thought for the less lucky ones. Life is hectic, life is full, life is good.
Ingredients (to serve 2 as a main dish or 4 as a starter or salad)
- 4 large peppers (green and red)
- 2 large aubergines
- 2 small tins of tuna
- 1 medium onion finely sliced
- A large handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
- About 150g of chopped olives
- Olive Oil and Lemon juice
- The grated rind of a lemon
- Salt and Pepper
Roast the peppers and aubergines until charred, leave to cool slightly and then peel. Slice the peppers and scoop the flesh from the aubergines and cut into chunks.
Mix the vegetables with the tuna, olives, onions, mint and grated lemon and dress with olive oil and lemon juice. Taste, season, enjoy.
Chica Andaluza 
“I managed to get a whole jamon into one” – how fantastic!
I bet you’ve had a great time and that salad sounds excellent 😉
I´m a very experienced packer 😉
Life is good indeed, especially with all that fun you’ve had! 🙂
We are very lucky indeed!
Those peppers and the salad look wonderful. One good thing about this time of year is that the summer vegetables like peppers and aubergines are still coming and we also have lettuce, which we don’t have in summer because it’s too hot for it. Being away, I’d missed your coming home and now it seems you’re off again – bon voyage!
It´s so true – the peppers and aubergines will continue to flower and produce fruit for some time yet. Funnily enough, a neighbour gave us two gorgeous lettuces last night – they really do so much better in the spring and autumn don´t they?! Welcome back to you as we head off again 🙂
Only sissies need sleep. Everyone else could manage on that tuna salad. Goodness enough to recharge a really flat battery!
Exactly, we´ll have a catnap on the plane! The salad was just what we needed – today I don´t feel all heavy and weighed down by kilos of pork 😉
An all too brief visit home, but it sounds like you made the most of it!
Salad looks perfect…
Safe Journey, there and back!
Yes, the time as flown by. They say that´s what it does when you´re having fun! Thanks for the good wishes…packing the last bits today 🙂
What a lovely salad! Looks light and satisfying all at the same time!
What a great looking salad! I love that you’re able to prepare and freeze so many veggies- we’re short on freezer space in my apartment, so I’ll be jealous of your bounty come winter 🙂
Yes, we have 2 freezers (not huge ones mind you) as we don´t (can´t) do daily shops and when we get meat or veggies it´s usually in bulk…like a whole goat or sheep or 10kgs of peppers!
The most important matters first: have been watching the cruelty of weather in Spain on TV and am so happy you are one whose home has been safe! The salad is great: have done similar ones in the past, but am bookmarking this one to follow your recipe exactly! Happy travelling 🙂 !
Yes, the rain – so cruel. Poor Spain, it really is going through things at the moment. The salad was fabulous – be heavy handed with the lemon juice and as we ate it I found myself thinking “ooh, a few capers would have been nice in here too”!
Nice dish to escape from the meaty excesses. The little bulbs along the roof of the tent are the nearest thing that they can find to the strip lights in their kitchens at home. Every farmer’s kitchen that I go into, in our area, is lit with strip lights!
It´s true – most of the restaurants here have them too (not that they´re very posh restaurants) and there is no such thing as “soft” lighting 🙂
Wow, your garden has grown while you were away! Your harvest looks amazing 🙂
It´s amazing what a garden will get up to, even when it hasn´t had much love!
Hopping back and forth over the channel! Jetsetters the pair of you 😉
I know…luckily no jet leg with these distances 😉
🙂 At least you have had your Spanish fill for a bit and can settle back down into all of that hard work fortified with scrumptious U.K. beef! Its a hard life, but someone has to do it! Give the doggies a pat from Australia 🙂
Yay – fiesta! Really glad you managed to stay safe in the rains. I remember 15 years ago when something similar happened and a boulder the size of a car landed within 1 inch of our kitchen wall. The fun of living up a mountain! Scary stuff! x
Crikey – that is scary 😦 The closest I have come to anything like that was when a neighbour´s floor (my ceiling) fell into my kitchen while I was in there. Just a few bumps and bruises….I was younger and tougher then!
Hi T, Great to hear you are enjoying you flying visit. Where do you get the energy! Have fun.
Regards Florence x
I think the wine helps!
That week must have flown by, Tanya, with so much to do and so many people to see. I love that you put a whole jambon in your suitcase. What? No vongole? 🙂
Safe travels.
That jamon was going to go in even if I had to leave my heated rollers behind! No vongole but we can get some decent ones from the fishmonger near us in Bexhill! Thanks for the good wishes 🙂
I know that you have enjoyed all the wonderful food and celebrations. Your salad sounds like a great way to give yourself a little reprieve. You will have to guard your suitcase well.
Yes, what if the sniffer dogs get a whiff of the jamon in my case?!
A gadabout .. thats what you are missy! (laughter!) Excellent. My internet connection is such bollocks that your pictures would not load however your food sounds divine.. and you are having a grand time so that is even better. You will be going back to your House renovations to have a wee break! Love to the big fella! c
It´s good to gad…we were also “filthy stopouts” (as my granny used to say)! All good fun but also good to be back in the UK with the pups 🙂
great that you get to spend time at the village fiesta.
Perfectly timed trip!
Seems you are having a lot of fun and eating great food! those chiles look womderful!!
Grazie Ambrosiana – it was a very hectic week, but amazing fun!
Love the colors of that healthy salad…I’m sure it must have curative powers. I’ve missed so much! I left town again for 5 days and missed that you were back in Spain. Must catch up on my reading. So glad the return home has been so much fun.
It was just what we needed – I could feel the veggies doing their job and pumping me full of vitamins!
¡Qué rico Tanya! Me encanta, porque es una mezcla de verano y otoño perfecta, a ver si así recuperamos un poco del calor, pero sólo un poco, eh? 😉
Espero que hayáis llegado bien a vuestro destino.
Hola Giovanna – si, una mezcla de los dos estaciones! Estamos aquí en Inglaterra y ya está lloviendo 😦
I’ve just started a new diet (not!!) and it’s this: I only eat foods that I find YUMMY! So thank you Tanya, for the latest in a long line of recipes that are Yummy.
That sounds like a perfectly sensible diet to me – I think we should recommend it to everyone!
Whoa, look at those peppers… so nice! Fab looking salad as well Chica! Village paella – haha, your village sounds so much fun.. would love to live in a place with such a sense of community as that 🙂
Hi Charles – yes, we´re lucky t olive somewhere that still values coming together as a community. Mind you, there are still the odd clashes as there are everywhere else!
I’ve never seen those lantern plants before and I’m a complete sucker for a natural decoration!! Please put up photos when you can, they sound so lovely. Are you here or there now? Have a lovely weekend wherever you are, it’s the Romeria this weekend here so another excuse for a fiesta! x
Hi Natalie – yes I bought one small Chinese lantern plant in the UK a couple of years ago in the UK for a pound and they just spread and look amazing. Am back in the UK now but when I am back in Spain in a couple of months, I could send you some seeds from the lanterns if you like? Enjoy the Romeria, I am sure the weather is great 🙂
It’s always a feast for the eyes and heart when I come here. I didn’t know about the rains but am so glad you were spared! I, too, enjoy meatless meals after a week of rich dinners. What fun your paella will be!!
Ah, thank you Barbara! And yes, the paella was great fun 🙂
Life *is* good – I have the t-shirt to prove it! 🙂 Mmmmm… tuna and olives and mint – oh my!
We´re so lucky, aren´t we!
You can pack me for my next trip 🙂
😉
I am really glad you were unharmed by the recent rain. I love the salad Tanya, a totally new combination to me that sounds really tempting
All was well apart from a few mud slides in local roads. Thanks for your kind thoughts Sawsan!
I do love your village. Glad you’ve escaped damage.
Yes, it has a very special place in my heart now!
I can imagine why. It’s so beautiful and everyone seems jolly nice.
Good to hear you are safe and sound, the damage from the rains sounded appalling.
and a dish a post party salads is the way to go – I bet those peppers were full of flavour!
Oh and you’ve reminded me that I really should grow some of those chinese lanterns – thank you 🙂
I should have bought you back some seeds! We really enjoyed this salad – I think our kidneys thanked us too for a night off from partying 😉