No food today (well, I will be eating some of course!), so click away now if you´re not interested in crochet, knitting or sewing.
Now that you´ve received the Up the Mountain “Reader´s Warning”, on with the update…
Winter means cooler weather and I can get out my scraps of wool, find out who is expecting a baby (there are usually quite a few in the family who are “in the family way”) and get knitting and crocheting.
We have a niece expecting twins and one of my best pals Donna is about to become a great aunt. Sshh, I´m not allowed to call her that!
I´ve made baby blankets…
And a funky coat/jacket for one of the babies (we know she´s going to be a girl) when she reaches a few months of age…
Then lined it with some pretty fabric I had, which will also make it stronger and less liable to stretch too much.
I made a pinny for Donna (she´s a lucky girl) who moves house next week from London to Lewes. I thought she could run around with a feather duster looking like a 1950´s housewife in this. Recognise the fabric?!
And of course, the enormous orange blanket which the dogs, Luna and Alfi, are On No Account Allowed To Lie On!
It´s been such a long time since I talked about the garden or the vegetable patch. Naturally, it´s still winter, the soil is resting.
But not quite. It´s been an exceptionally mild winter, and while things could still change, there are signs of life.
My cyclamen, bought before Christmas, continues to stun us with its beauty. I am doubly shocked as I generally manage to kill pot plants within a few days. What do I do next with it? It currently sits inside our sun room, with the door open all day and sun in the afternoon. It seems very happy.
Some of our geranium cuttings are already producing little flowers.
Daffodil and narcissus bulbs planted last year (bought back from the UK) are flowering.
My parsley survived the winter outside, this is the first year this has happened.
Broad beans and onions in their little winter shelter. We open the door and let the sun in during the day and we´ll be eating beans again in a few weeks.
Plenty of garlic for the year ahead. I thought it was only a month away from being ready, but wise old Big Man tells me I need to be much more patient. In the background one of our lemons and our artichoke plants which are already producing baby artichokes.
Our other lemon took a battering in the recent high winds, but still has plenty of lemons and produces new flowers with each new moon.
We don´t tend to grow our produce from seeds as many of Big Man´s family do this on a large scale for a living. We are going to risk some early planting. Nothing to lose, we think. Basil, thyme, chard, spinach, frying peppers, bell peppers, some more lettuce and some salad tomatoes.
Winter has been kind to us this year. Fingers crossed it won´t take us by surprise in the next few weeks.
This is a bit of a “non recipe” recipe, as scrambled eggs are not really so tricky to do. And as for my photos of the end result – well, not so appealing. I know that many of you out there can make them look creamy and gorgeous but it was a case of “snap ´em quick as we don´t want to eat cold, dried out scrambled eggs”. Sorry.
Funnily enough, these are such highly prized dishes here that scrambled eggs (in different variations) often appear on restaurant menus as starters and top chefs demonstrate the art of cooking them on TV cooking programmes. I do find that a little odd, as scrambled eggs was the first thing I was “taught” to cook by Sister Sylvia in my convent school cookery lessons. I had already been baking and making meals at home so was a little insulted when a tiny chain smoking nun who wore high heels and a very elaborate hair do told me off for not getting into the corners of the pan with my wooden spoon.
When I told her that round saucepans don´t have corners (and between us convent girls we all knew she bought cigarettes and sherry with our cookery money) a wary truce was established but, much to my family´s surprise, I loathed cookery lessons at school. I was quite a bratty and opnionated 13 year old as you can see…
So, I digress. Back to a quick and tasty and very Spanish supper dish for two.
Ingredients
About a cup and half of mixed mushrooms (they sell very good bags of mixed frozen mushrooms here which, when defrosted, are perfect for this and other dishes)
A cup of peeled prawns (shrimp) – or keep it vegetarian by leaving these out
One clove of crushed garlic
Four eggs (free range if possible)
A splash of milk
Seasoning
Olive oil or butter for frying (we use oil and I sometimes stir in a knob of butter to the eggs at the end)
A heaped tablespoon of finely chopped parsley,
Beat the eggs, milk and seasoning together and put to one side. Now slowly fry the garlic and mushrooms until the mushrooms have given off their juices and are tender. How long this takes will depend on your mushrooms. Now turn the heat up, add the prawns and stir fry until pink.
Keeping the heat at medium, add the eggs and scramble to your liking (don´t forget the corners!). When they are a few seconds away from being done, stir in the parsley and serve with crusty bread or toast and a glass of something gorgeous.
Yes, after what seems to be a very long wait, we crushed our olives this weekend. It was actually 14 months since we last crushed as we had very little rain in the autumn of 2011 (as opposed to lots in the autumn of 2010) so we left the olives on the trees for as long as possible to let them fatten up. Of course, you lose some, but we like that it acts as fertiliser for the soil in our little olive grove. We´d rather have a few litres less oil but of a higher quality.
So, first you pick by knocking the olives to the ground into the waiting nets. I was excused this backbreaking duty but Big Man asked me to tell you all that it´s hard, hard work on the arms and your back. I do feel sorry for him, his poor muscles are still aching.
Load the olives into trailers and marvel at the variety of beautiful colours.
Now head off to a small local mill where they still stone crush (as opposed to using stainless steel crushers) and cold press (not heating to remove impurities) and don´t filter. We want the pure stuff in our house, and our olives have only been “treated” with rainwater and chicken poo (ok, we won´t dwell too much on that).
Tip them into the hopper.
Then up the ramp they travel and into the blower which removes leaves and twigs. They are weighed after this when “clean”. We had 964kg this year, about 20kg more than last year which surprised us.
Now the fun bit – into the press where they are squashed between the enormous old stones. The smell at this point inside the mill is heady and intoxicating – freshly crushed olives coming at you from all directions. It´s enough to make you sneeze.
Then into a tank for a little rest and finally out and into your waiting containers. This year we got an amazing 235 litres of liquid gold which we split with the couple who help us pick them – 55 litres more than last year and an amazingly high ratio of oil to olives (a yield of about 24% when most people round here are currently getting 18 or 19%). So, it was worth the wait, and a good year for our olives.
Much of it will be consumed at home – we use it for everything in the kitchen. Some will be given away, and some will be carried over for another year when the yield is lower.
Of course, the most important thing, what did it taste like? Amazing! It´s still cloudy and green and tastes peppery and fresh with no acidity. This is how I like it best. Over the next few months the oil will gradually settle and turn a golden colour and take on a softer taste. I´d love to send you all a little sample to dip some fresh crusty bread into, but if you´re ever round these parts, we´ll make sure to give you a taste.
The best things in life are free, so they say. On the whole I´m inclined to agree. Love, friendship, laughter…oh, and blog awards. They are all marvellous aren´t they? Linda from Savoring Every Bite very kindly passed The (Red) Educational Shoe award onto me.
I can fully understand why she was awarded it in the first place, do pop on over to learn so much about Italian family, culture, food and generally about making every little moment in life into a special memory. When Linda passed the award on, she mentioned some of the “travels” she had been on via my blog, so today we´re going travelling. To just outside the beautiful City of Cordoba to be precise. But before you pack your toothbrush I want to do the time honoured thing and pass this award on to a new blogging find.
JPWaldron has a fantastic blog which he calls “A free guide to foraging for all”. See, I told you the best things in life are free. If you live in the country, or aspire to or even just dream about it, I promise you´ll love what you find over there. And you´ll certainly learn a lot. I´m sure he won´t mind being sent a red high heeled shoe…I think it´s a metaphorical shoe after all!
So, Cordoba. I have a very soft spot for this beautiful city as Big Man and I had our first “date” there way back in September 2005. Can you date when you´re a grown up? I like to think so. Anyway, we go back there as often as we can and spent a fantastic weekend there at the end of January to celebrate my birthday. I´ll show you some photos of this amazing city another day.
Today we´re heading about 10km out of town to an amazing archaeological site, The Medina Azahara or Madinat al-Zahra. We´ve visited before, some 5 years ago and since our first visit an amazing vistor´s centre has been built and much more of this amazing abandoned city uncovered and restored. Unbelievably, it´s free to go in, if you are ever lucky enough to be in the area, make it a priority. It´s an incredible experience that you´ll always remember.
The city is considered to be one of the most important mediaeval archaeological sites in Spain. It covers 112 hectares and was the political and administrative capital of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) for a large part of the 10th Century.
There is something very special about this place, it never feels crowded and it´s easy to imagine the Caliph and his city doing business, receiving guests from around the world, and the thousands of servants keeping the city running.
There were several mosques, one of which can be seen clearly.
Stunning archways, this one they believe was the Prime Minister´s house.
Beautiful gardens…you can almost hear the trickle of water which flowed around the city.
So, do linger a while and soak up the peaceful atmosphere, and before you leave, take a final look back over the site and the city of Cordoba in the distance.
Driving home from an appointment yesterday, everything looked so beautiful We had some amazing views of La Maroma, the highest peak in the province of Malaga. No skiing there, you have to go to the Sierra Nevada for that, but it certainly looks beautiful when it is dusted with snow.
The day was bright and sunny, and luckily I had my camera with me to take a few snaps.
Where we had stopped to take the photos, we had the mountain to our right, and to our left beautiful almond tress in blossom. It´s a funny old winter here.
The Spanish love sweet things. I don´t think I´m making too much of a generalization with that statement. Not that they´re greedy, but a little cake or biscuit is always most welcomed with a strong cup of coffee at the end of a meal, or a big bowl of milky coffee if it´s the start of the day.
Dealing with preparations for our unexpected lunch for 12, I was lucky that I had already made some of Spree´s gorgeous Mexican Wedding Cookies for an earlier family meal. The recipe makes plenty, and they were hugely popular. The only change I made to these, as I was in a rush, was to grind all the nuts (I used almonds and walnuts) and not chop half of them. Lovely, lovely little biscuits and I´ll definitely be making them again.
Another quick recipe which came to mind was for Chocolate Refrigerator cake. I made this the night before our lunch party and cut the cake into small squares the next morning. These went down well too, and it´s a good recipe to make with little children as you only need a (supervised) heat source for melting.
Here´s the way I made it, although you can chop and change (or even omit) the fruit/nut filling.
250g crushed digestive biscuits (graham crackers)
100g butter
2 tablespoons of golden syrup or honey
3 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
About half a cup of “filling” – I used the last of my drained boozy fruits and added the grated zest of one lemon and one orange
Melt the butter with the golden syrup and cocoa then add to the crushed biscuits and filling. Mix well until everything is well coated. If you leave some large chunks of biscuit/cracker, you will have some pretty speckles in the finished “cake”.
Pour into a tin lined with cling film, flatten and press it with your finger tips then cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight until firm.
Cut into squares – it´s very rich so I tend to do “bite sized”. And that´s it. Doesn´t get much quicker or easier does it?!
Ok, I know this is going to sound quite off putting for many people. Tripe is a scary old thing. But fear not, although the word “Callos” translates as tripe, I don´t actually put any into this dish (although you could). Confused eh?
Well, let me explain. The first time I ever ate this dish was at a Feria in a nearby hamlet. It´s tiny, probably only a dozen houses, but it belongs to our “Municipio” and puts on an amazing fiesta every year. One of the first of the summer in fact. They always seem to attract a good flamenco singer, they do a fantastic paella at lunchtime, and they always have plenty of good food apart from the usual pinchitos (kebabs) and montaditos (fillets of pork on bread). Hundreds of people attend, it´s a great event apart from the winds which whip down the mountain and make hairstyles, skirts, old people and small children blow all over the place.
So, Big Man ordered me a portion of Callos which was essentially a chick pea stew with tiny chunks of meat, chorizo and morcilla in it. I loved it and looked up the word when I got home and though “oh lord, I´ve been eating tripe”! During the almost six years I´ve lived here, I´ve only eaten it a couple of times a year as not many people make it anymore – it´s not complicated to make, but it takes time.
Of course, I recently decided that I wasn´t prepared to wait until next summer for my fix, I´d make my own. This is where the fun started. I asked the butcher to prepare me whatever I needed for this dish (meat wise) and that´s when I found out that her version would not include tripe.
Strange, I thought, but let´s crack on. She (yes, we have two butchers locally, and one is a woman who looks exactly like a lady butcher should look – big and jolly with fingers like sausages) got things ready. The goodie bag included (per four person serving):
Two pigs trotters split down the middle
Some finely chopped pork tongue
A finely chopped pigs ear
Some chopped pancetta or pork belly
Some finely chopped cooked pigs blood
See – not so scary after all (well, maybe apart from the blood)! I also had to buy some chorizo and morcilla and chick peas. I´m not giving measurements here as it´s a kind of “make it up as you go along” dish. I then asked about 20 different people how they made Callos. Half had never made it so were of no help at al. The others gave me 10 different ways of making it, each with their own little “twist”.
This is what I eventually came up with, and I have to say it tasted as good as the Fiesta version, and Big Man thought it was better…modesty prevented me from saying that myself of course!
Soak the chick peas overnight and the next day cook slowly for a couple of hours with a few bay leaves, 4 cloves, and a dried chilli until completely tender. Don´t rush this, you´ll have plenty to be getting on with while they cook.
In a separate pot blanch the all the pork products, drain and put into fresh water. Now cook slowly for a couple of hours until really tender and drain again. Get those kitchen gloves on and pull all the tender meat off the trotters and discard the bones (or give them to your dog who will love you forever). Now add the chunks of meat to the cooked chick peas (still in their water). Add about 5 or 6 whole cloves of raw or roasted garlic, some saffron dissolved in water, ½ a teaspoon of sweet or hot pimentón, the whole chorizo and morcilla (which you will slice before serving) and cook for about 30 minutes. Leave to stand for at least 15 minutes before serving (but it´s even better prepared the day before) and remove the cloves, bay leaves and dried chilli.
Make sure you have a table full of very hungry people, don´t tell them what´s in it if they´re a bit squeamish, and enjoy. Now go for a lie down…you´ll need it!
Well, who´da thunk it?! The lovely Betsy from Bits & Breadcrumbs passed this fabulous award on to me. In true Blogging style I have to answer a few questions and pass the baton on. Thanks Betsy, I´d be honoured!
1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?
It was two things. First of all my lovely crafty friend Florence over at Florence and Freddie started blogging on WordPress and encouraged me to go for it. Secondly, I had just finished writing City Slicka to Spanish Chica and wanted to try it out on a wider audience. Still unpublished, but oh what fun to write. And now I can say I have written a book, so I´m quite proud of that even though it needs a good edit. Anyone know any editors….?
2. Who is your foodie inspiration?
Lots of people, but I guess it started at home. My beloved grandmother was the queen of cakes and taught me how to bake. My mum was a 19 year old English girl who married an Italian and had to learn pretty damn quick. My parents still laugh that the first meal she made him when he visited his future in laws was severely over cooked Spaghetti with tomato ketchup on it. Fortunately she´s an amazing cook now and even ran her own catering company for many years. Chef wise I love Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and finally I am now inspired daily by my fellow food bloggers.
My beautiful grandmother aged 26
3. Your greasiest, batter – splattered food/drink book is?
It´s not a book, it´s a folder filled with recipes torn out of magazines, scribbled notes, print outs of recipes. I love it, but maybe I should get myself a new folder (ideally wipe clean) as it´s falling apart.
4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?
Oh, that´s hard, I´ve travelled a lot and eaten some amazing (and some revolting) meals. Freshly grilled fish on the beach in Bali, a papaya for breakfast in the Cook Islands, an amazing Seafood Feast in Watson´s Bay Australia, my auntie´s pasta in Calabria, an incredible Japanese meal at Nobu in Paris, fresh bread out of the village oven in Morocco….sorry, can´t make my mind up on that one.
Beautiful Bali
5. Another food bloggers table you’d like to eat at is?
Can I go to a few please? How about something amazing and vegetarian with Natalie over at Cook Eat Live Vegetarian, of course, cocktails with Greg & Katherine at Rufus Food & Spirits Guide, a long night of pasta and cards with Chgo John From the Bartolini Kitchens, tea, scones and a walk round the Farmy with Celi from the Kitchens Garden, a visit to pick supper from Claire´s allotment over at Promenade Plantings and shopping at Mad Dog´s butcher followed by dinner. Oh dear, I seem to have taken myself off round the world again!
6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?
Well, Christmas is long gone but ready for December 2012 I´d like to ask for something quite simple….an immersion blender. I have a knack of breaking things and this is probably one of the gadgets I use most in my kitchen. I´ve been in Spain 6 years and I think this is blender number 7 or 8 and is held together with Big Man´s electrical tape. Mind you, we now don´t have a handle on the fridge door and the oven doesn´t work well and I´ve always fancied a wine fridge….
7. Who taught you how to cook?
I´d love to say my mum and grandmother, and I suppose they did teach me the basics, but I am very much self taught. As soon as I left home I was off and experimenting (my poor friends) but I had great fun and built up my confidence to a point that I even taught a cookery class for a while.
My mum teaching Big Man how to cook a suckling pig...
8. I’m coming to you for dinner what’s your signature dish?
Oh, that´s tough too. I guess it would depend on what time of year you came as I´d try to use as much of our own produce from the vegetable garden, our own eggs, perhaps our own chickens. Ok, as we´re in Spain I´ll do a lovely seafood platter to start, a chicken paella cooked outdoors, you can digest, take a walk or a dip then we´ll have whatever fresh fruit is in season with honey and almond ice cream, little cups of coffee and some of my cantuccini biscuits.
9. What is your guilty food pleasure?
Now that one is easy. Walkers Cheese & Onion Crisps. And no, if you buy me some, I won´t share!
10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
I´m a trained and practising Psychometric Profiler as well as a (sort of ex) Human Resources Consultant. I think I used to scare people off (especially potential suitors) as they thought I was analyzing their every word or gesture. And I probably was a lot of the time! Finally…tag 5 other food bloggers with these questions…like a hot baked potato…pass it on.
I think many of the people I have already mentioned have already been tagged, but I´d like to mention a few new (to me) discoveries, the lovely blogs over at Ang Sarap, IamSimplyTia, FrugalFeeding, PeasePudding and SimpleSpeedySnacks. They should all feel free to join in or not….but I do enjoy reading their blogs and hopefully you will too.
Now that it´s all over and presents have been unwrapped and are being enjoyed, I can show you some of the things I made for friends and family without spoiling the surprise.
First up was a simple apron…I know Ria my best friend will be reading this, but I know she won´t mind me sharing (and learning) the fact that the fabric came from a pillow case I found in a shop that seemed to have come loose from its partner and was being sold in the bargain bin. I unpicked it, washed and ironed it. It´s amazing how much fabric is used in a simple pillow case. I just loved the fabric and thought “I can do something with that”. So I did!
I roughly copied the shape of an apron I have and added a pocket. You can´t have an apron without a pocket, can you? Then I ran a matching bias binding round the outside and also used it to make the ties.
I had enough fabric to also make a matching oven glove – here´s how I did it.
I cut out two outer shapes (from my existing oven glove) and two the same in white fabric for the inside, plus two pieces of wadding so that it can be used by a left or right handed person (that´s for when I visit her!).
Then I machined round each 3 layer “sandwich” and zig zagged round the edges.
I added bias binding round the wrist edge and a tag to hang it up. I realised after I had finished I should have put the tag so that it stuck into the reversed glove so that it would be outside when it needs to be hung up. Oh well, we learn by our little mistakes.
Then I joined the 2 “sandwiches” together and then turned the glove the right way out. Next time I´ll remember about the tag and perhaps put a double layer of wadding.
Ria´s final gift was something she had mentioned to me that she had thought about buying – fabric bunting. As, like mostly anyone who sews, I have a stash of fabric remnants at home, I decided I´d give this a go. And what fun it was!
I found this incredible tutorial on how to make bunting…if you want to give bunting making a go, I can highly recommend it. There´s lots of other really great stuff on there too!
OK, more updates to come soon on things I have made, but in the meantime I´m off to make soup…
So in 2016 I turned 50. I was in Italy for my 21st, 30th and 40th. To keep this birthday tradition going I always knew I'd be in Italy for my 50! This blog starts with my 5 week adventure in Puglia but my love affair with Italy continues.....
Chica Andaluza 