I adore aubergines, so when my first two aubergines were ripe for picking, I decided to treat them with the love that they deserved.
My two little purple beauties
It was a very simple dish, especially if you already have some tomato sauce made. If not, fry up a little garlic, add some chopped tomatoes, a slug of red wine and some basil then season and simmer.
I sliced my aubergines (eggplant) and grilled them on the barbecue until smoky and tender. Then I put them on an oven tray and layered them with pesto, cheese, tomato sauce and basil leaves.
Then I popped it all into a hot oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese had softened (it was a very hard goat´s cheese, so it didn´t really melt!).
Finally I drizzled some basil oil over, poured myself a glass of rosé and sat back to pay homage to my first little purple beauties of the summer.
I can´t believe that I´ve been picking veggies and not bragging about it!
Today we finally picked our first red tomatoes…hurrah! We were late planting, but now that they´ve kicked in, there will be no stopping us for quite a few months now. Am planning salads, sauces, sun dried tomatoes and goodness knows what else. My plum tomatoes (or roma) are getting huge, but still frustratingly refuse to turn red.
Please do the decent thing and turn red soon!
We planted 18 runner bean plants this year (as opposed to the totally ridiculous 60 last year) and have been picking them almost daily for about 3 weeks now. We´ve still got a way to go with them, but thanks to my nifty runner bean slicer, we´re enjoying beans and freezing them too for later.
The aubergines are ripening and I´ve started to pick them quite small. Later I´ll leave them to get a little larger, but I couldn´t hold back.
Our long thin green peppers which are great for gazpacho are now being picked every couple of days. They´re also wonderful deep fried (stuffed or not) in olive oil and just sprinkled with salt. Our bell peppers are growing well, but need some more time to get bigger and then red.
The dwarf beans we planted a couple of weeks ago are all in flower, so it won´t be long now until they´re producing little bobby beans for us. I´m quite excited as I´ve planted two varieties, one green and one yellow. I´m sure they´ll taste pretty much the same but they´ll look extra pretty!
Our little bobby beans...
Our Spanish radishes, which are long as opposed to round, are doing great. We pick a couple each day and they have a good bite to them. We´ll probably plant a few more as they come up from seed so quickly.
And our little Spanish cucumbers are doing well. We grew them from seeds from a cucumber we saved last year. The cucumber had come from plants that our neighbour Diego gave us from seeds of his own – so these are several generations old. It´s good to have a little bit of history in the garden!
Our chard flourishes, I keep giving bunches of it away, but will do something this week with it for us. And our celery is slowly but surely getting bigger.
Very Happy Chard
We have other things going on in the vegetable patch, and I´ll take some pics as the become ready. I do have to mention our little vines. Big Man is very rightly proud of our muscat grapes which are now trained over the kitchen window. They look amazing, we had to remove some as we had so many bunches but they would never have all ripened. Am looking forward to grapes in September and drying some for Christmas too.
Gorgeous Grapes
I love summer…but I´m off to water the garden soon as it´s very hot here during the day and the plants are thirsty. ¡Hasta luego!
I love Indian food. If I had to choose a favourite cuisine, I think Indian would be it. We do have a few Indian restaurants not too far away from us (i.e. about half an hour´s drive) but I usually get my curry fix when I go to London. I was lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood that was predominantly Indian and African, so I was spoilt for choice in wonderful ethnic restaurants.
Sometimes, however, my cravings get the better of me and I have to make curry at home. Big Man hasn´t ever really “had” the full curry experience, so doesn´t really understand my need for curry, but on the occasions I´ve made something “currified”, he´s enjoyed it.
We currently have a lot of chard growing and usually eat it wilted with oil and lemon juice but I decided to substitute the spinach in a Saag Aloo (that´s a Spinach and Potato curry) for chard, and see how it worked. Fortunately it was a perfect substitution and Big Man adored it. I think he´s starting to become a curry monster like me!
Freshly picked but not yet cleaned
I lay no claims to the authenticity of the spices I use in relation to a real Indian Saag Aloo, but the combination worked well and had good spicy (but not too hot) flavour.
Ingredients used:
Smells wonderful even before cooking
3 teaspoons of Garam Masala mix (you can buy ready made or make your own). I used a mix bought over by a friend which a chef friend of hers makes up and I then grind as I need it. I don´t know the exact mix but I picked out coriander seeds, curry leaves, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cinnamon and coriander.
1 or 2 teaspoons of hot chili powder (or use mild) according to taste
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
Half a teaspoon of mustard seeds
Two medium potatoes (mine were ready cooked as it´s what I had in the fridge but you can use raw) cubed
About 3 cups of uncooked (or just wilted in its own steam), chopped spinach or chard, otherwise you can use frozen
About half a cup of chopped tomatoes
3 cloves of crushed garlic
Oil for frying (something with little flavour, not olive oil)
Salt
Lemon
Start by frying the potatoes until lightly browned then remove them from the pan and drain off most of the oil.
Fry your potatoes
Fry the spices until they start to release the most wonderful smells and then add the garlic and fry until it softens.
Breathe deeply and enjoy the wonderful spicy scents
Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes then add your spinach or chard.
Add your spinach or chard to the tomato
Put a lid on the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes or so then add the potatoes.
Add salt, Indian food can take (and usually needs) a heavy hand with the salt, but use low sodium if you can´t use regular.
Simmer, uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated but all of the vegetables are coated in the tomato and spice sauce.
I like this served with a generous squeeze of lemon juice.
Can be served as a side dish or a main (vegetarian) dish with plain boiled basmati rice. Now, where are my popadoms?!
In Andalucia we don´t eat tomatoes...we drink them!
So, now we come to the Gazpacho most people are familiar with – the iced tomato and vegetable soup famed the world over (well, almost!).
It is served both as a soup here and as a drink. In most homes it comes in a glass. In fact there is a wonderful advert for my favourite Spanish beer, Cruzcampo, which celebrates all things Andalúz. One line in the voice over says something along the lines of “In Andalucía we don´t eat tomatoes, we drink them!” (If you have time to watch it, it´s worth it, even if you don´t understand Spanish, just to see a few snippets of summer life in Andalucía).
Every housewife will give you a slightly different recipe, adding her own little tweaks (more of this, less of that). Some use stale bread, some don´t. I tend not to unless I want to serve it a little thicker as a soup which can then be garnished with little chopped cubes of the same vegetables that go into it.
So, without further ado, here´s how I make mine.
Peeled Tomatoes, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Onion (optional) Peeled Cucumber, Salt, Water, Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar.
It´s difficult to give quantities. If my tomatoes are lovely and red, I use less red pepper. Sometimes I don´t use onion. But the green pepper and the cucumber do give it that distinctive fresh taste, so try not to leave them out.
A few simple ingredients
Today I used 4 large plum tomatoes, one thin green pepper, a small amount of red pepper and a small chunk of onion and half a small peeled Spanish cucumber.
Put all the vegetables into a jug or the food processor.
Put into your jug or blender
Start with one level teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and about half a litre of water.
Add water, vingegar, oil and salt
Now it´s time to start blending. Add more seasoning, vinegar and water as you go along if you want to. Today I added another tablespoon of vinegar (you remember they like it “alegre” or lively here right?!) and about another 250ml of water to thin it a little.
...and blend!
Then chill until you need it. If you have put onion in it´s fine on the day you made it but I find it starts to “ferment” a little if you have any left over. Also, while standing in the fridge it may start to separate a little with the water at the bottom and the vegetables on top – just give it a stir before serving and it will be fine.
Big Man gets arty with the vegetables
Now, go and put on a straw hat, a paso doble on the cd and lie back in a shady spot and sip on your ice cold Gazpacho. Or ga-pacho, as they tend to say here! These Andaluces and their habit of dropping the “s” sound….most confusing!
Yes, the planting is starting to deliver! Great excitement this week with my two best friends visiting, with lots of talking, laughing eating and drinking going on.
The vegetable patch gave us its first little crop of runner beans this week, and a second picking a few days later. Big Man, despite being the largest of the family group this week, was given the honour of squeezing in between the bean canes and picking those precious runners, making sure not to knock any of the delicate flowers (or future beans) off.
When I was last in the UK I bought a little gadget for cutting runner beans. You snip the ends off with a little blade then run them through a hole with several blades. Result? Long thin strings of spaghetti like bean strips. This means you can cook them quickly and still retain colour and flavour.
I won´t say it´s quicker than doing it the old fashioned way with a sharp knife, but you can see how pretty they look with this simple bowl of boiled beans lurking behind some barbecued hake with alioli. We served them just warm with olive oil and lemon juice.
Pretty Beans
Inspired by a delicious recipe over at Fati´s Recipes, I also cooked some up later in the week with mushrooms and a simple tomato sauce.
I lightly fried some sliced mushrooms.
Stir fry in a little olive oil
Then I added some blanched beans (which I had chopped into little squares this time).
Add blanched beans
Finally I poured over some home made tomato sauce, a little water, seasoning and simmered until ready.
Am I allowed to say “bottoms” or will I be censored?! I had to say it because the hearts didn´t really make it into this dish.
Big Man came home the other day with about a dozen artichokes that a pal had given him. Unfortunately they had been sitting in his truck, with daytime temperatures reaching 34 degrees Celsius for two days. They were rather sad and dry looking.
I peeled away all the leaves and took out the “choke”, the hairy bit in the middle and then cooked them in water (with a good few spoonfuls of white wine vinegar to stop them going black) until they were almost tender.
I was just going to use them in a salad, but then decided that as they´d had a miserable few days in the heat, I would give them a more dramatic exit!
For the stuffing I used (for 12 artichokes)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
6 medium mushrooms and stalks, finely chopped and fried in olive oil with the garlic until soft
3 heaped tablespoons of cream cheese
3 level tablespoons of grated cheese (I used a mature goat´s cheese)
Some finely chopped parsley
I mixed all these ingredients together, seasoned with salt and pepper and then spooned the mixture onto the artichoke bottoms which I then placed in a lightly oiled baking dish.
I sprinkled them all with fresh white breadcrumbs and finished with a drizzle of olive oil.
These then went into a hot oven for about 15 minutes (until the breadcrumbs were browned) and I served them with my Spicy Tomato Sauce. I think they were happy with their finale.
Before I start this quick post, I have to tell you that I´m having a giggle. The word cateto or cateta translates perhaps more literally as “Peasant”, but not in an offensive way. Before I started typing I just thought I´d do a quick translation check to see if there was another word I could use and all the on line translation tools, bizarrely come up with the word “leg”! Not quite sure what is going on there…but I decided to call it Country Salad.
It´s another celebration of that most Andalucían of fruits, the orange. Again, typically a poor person´s salad it was originally made with salt cod as it was cheap and you didn´t need to use much. A few other bits of country produce like potatoes, peppers and olives, a good soak in olive oil and you were done.
Of course, nowadays you can get all sorts of glorified versions, but the one I´m giving you here is the one you´ll find in all my local bars and homes around here. It´s served as tapas in bars, and as a light meal at home. Of course, some people make their own little tweaks, and why shouldn´t they? They might leave out the peppers and add tomatoes. Some people like tomatoes or onions in it, others don´t. And complete heathens, like me, sprinkle chopped fresh chili all over it to the amazement of their other halves….each to his own I say!
A delicious serving of “Leg” Salad!!
This is what you´ll need (approximately) per person as a light main dish servng size
1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped
2 medium potatoes (boiled in their skin) peeled then chopped into chunks
1 small tin of tuna (I use tuna in brine and drain it, but use your favourite)
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
2 medium oranges (bitter if possible) peeled and cut into chunks
About 2 tablespoons of pitted olives sliced (or use ones with stones, your choice!)
Optional – chopped onion, chopped tomato, small flakes of salt cod (or use whatever you have available)
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
White wine Vinegar (optional) but I like to use it
All you need to do it combine everything in a bowl, season and dress it and leave it for at least half an hour in the fridge so that the potatoes can soak up some of the lovely olive oil.
Good to serve at a party or buffet as it can be prepared ahead and does not suffer from being forgotten in the fridge for several hours. Hope you enjoy it!
I can´t believe I´ve done so many posts without doing one on the famous Spanish Paella! Paella traditionally comes from Valencia, up towards the north of Spain, and very good it is too. People think of prawns and mussels when they talk of paella (which here is pronounced along the lines of pie-eh-ya) but there are meat versions and mixed meat and seafood versions, although not many vegetarian ones.
If you can buy proper paella rice, it does make all the difference. Use long grain and it won´t be able to soak up all the flavours. Use risotto rice and it will go creamy. Paella rice plumps up, absorbs the flavour but the grains stay separate.
In Andalucía they tend to make more Arroz or Arroz Caldoso, which translates as Rice or Brothy Rice. This is exactly the same as a paella, but with more stock, giving a more soupy dish. Whether you make Arroz or Paella, the technique is the same, it´s just the quantity of liquid that varies.
And now, allow me to let you into a little secret. The beautiful colour of a Paella? Saffron? Well, sometimes, but most housewives here use artificial colouring. I was shocked when I found out – perhaps even more than when I realised how expensive saffron is, but I´m just letting you know. I try not to use anything artificial in my cooking, and have been known to slip a little turmeric in, which doesn´t really affect the taste but gives a good golden colour. You can also use paella spice sachets which contain salt, garlic, paprika, saffron and ground cloves….oh, and a little colouring too. There´s no getting away from it. I leave it to you…make your own mix with a few strands of saffron, or use a mix. I won´t judge you!
So, here´s how I made this paella. I can´t claim my version today is typically Andaluz, it was a ”what have we got in the fridge?” kind of day. The beauty of this is that you can make it however you fancy.
A cup of cooked chicken
A quarter cup of diced jamon
Two cloves of crushed garlic
One small onion, finely chopped
One long thin green pepper, finely chopped
A stick of celery finely chopped
A cup of chopped tomatoes
About 3 cups of chicken stock
One and a half cups of rice
Seasoning
Olive oil
2 teaspoons of hot pimentón (optional)
Paella spices
Lemons to serve
You can make this in a large frying pan if you don´t have a paella pan, or a saucepan if you want to make arroz. The paella pan in the photo is meant to serve four (!). We ate about two thirds of it between the two of us and there was enough left over for a few tapas portions the next day.
Soften your onion, celery and pepper in olive oil and then add the crushed garlic. When the garlic has softened, add your pimentón (or chilli powder) and spices and stir in. Now add your tomatoes and cook gently for a minute or two then put your chicken, jamon and stock in and allow to boil. I find that for a paella I use double the quantity of liquid to rice, 3 times for arroz.
When the liquid is boiling, add the rice and some seasoning, stir it all around and reduce the heat. I often partly cover the dish with a large lid. You don´t need to stir it like a risotto, some will stick on the bottom, but in my house we fight for those bits! I can´t be more precise about quantities as a lot will depend on how much liquid your rice absorbs. Have a pot of boiling water or stock on the side and if you feel it´s cooking too quickly add a little more.
When the rice is almost cooked, but not quite there, turn it off and cover it. Use tin foil or a lid. These last few minutes “resting” are important. Here they say that arroz can be “mal cocinado, pero bien reposado” which means badly cooked but well rested. Hopefully yours will be both bien cocindao and bien reposado!
Laid back and rested rice
And that´s it, serve with plenty of lemons to squeeze over and a glass of your favourite wine.
I´ll do a seafood version soon – my two best girlfriends in the world are coming to stay tomorrow, so no doubt we´ll have plenty of cooking, eating and wine drinking sessions together that I can share with you all!
I realised tonight that a month had flown past since we planted our vegetable “plugs” this year. We´re catching up as we´ve has plenty of rain followed by sunshine and a few misty evenings, which the plants seem to love!
Our herbs are doing well, apart from my parsley and cilantro (coriander) which are still looking a bit sad.
I´ve let the sage flower as I think it looks so pretty. I sometimes deep fry the large leaves in very hot olive oil for a few seconds and sprinkle with coarse sea salt as a little nibble with almonds and olive…and wine, of course!
Sage flowers
The mint is going crazy…these were the stragglers which I had to pull up later.
Rampaging Mint
I´ve also let the chives go to seed as the flowers are also lovely in salads.
Delicious chives...great for potato salad
The basil is almost ready for the first batch of pesto.
Fragrant Basil
We´ve got plum tomatoes.
A Future Sun Dried Tomato
We´ve got a “wild” tomato which has sprung up from a leftover seed from a squashed tomato from last year. It has such a desire to live, we´ve let it do its own thing!
Born to be wild....!
We have some (very) bitter salad leaves and the delicious chard. The celery tucked in there is slow to get going, but we´ll let it take its time.
Green Leaves and Bitter Leaves
Tomatoes, beans and the little muscat vines.
View down to my kitchen window
We´ve got rocket seedlings (must plant some more though)
Aaah....less than a week old
The first of the runner beans should be ready to pick in a few days
Teeny, tiny beans
The onions are doing well too
Onions in neat rows!
We´ve got long thin green peppers and large bell peppers – but we can´t remember which are which. We´ll soon find out!
Which one are you then?
Cucumber flowers
Grown from last year´s seeds
The aubergine flowers are so pretty – wish they´d hurry up as I love aubergines (eggplant!)
Hurry Up! Hurry Up!
Dwarf French beans (yellow and green) which we only planted a week ago
Not quite Jack & The Beanstalk, but working on it!
And finally, radish seedlings…not long now!
Peppery and Pretty!
As I said, we´re a little behind this year because of the very wet spring that we had, but we´re happy with progress so far and already dreaming of grilled vegetables, salads and bunches of grapes. Happy growing to you all!
Now, I´m not laying claim to this being the most authentic of Spanish tortillas. For a start, the most famous is the potato one, sometimes with onions added. Secondly, the potato is cooked from raw in a fairly significant amount of olive oil, very slowly until tender. It´s wonderful, but when I´m at home I try to cut out a few calories and this is how I make my tortilla. To be honest, no one seems to have noticed the lack of oil!
For a Spanish tortilla to be successful, i.e. to be able to turn it over half way through cooking without ending up with an eggy mess all over the kitchen floor there are a couple of things which I have found help in the process:
A large quantity of filling in relation to egg – the egg just binds the ingredients together
A deep high sided pan (you´ll see from the photos that mine is very old and battered but it´s perfect for making a one person/two egg tortilla and I won´t throw it away!)
A very, very low heat
A lid to put over the tortilla in the first stage of cooking
Slow cooking, it takes patience, this is not a speedy French omelette
So, for one person, this is what I use, just multiply the ingredients for more people and of course, use a bigger pan! This makes a tortilla large enough for a decent supper or light lunch, served with salad, bread and of course a glass of wine.
Two eggs
Cold cooked, peeled potatoes
Any other vegetable, cooked, that you want to use in your tortilla
Salt and Pepper
About a tablespoon of olive oil
A tablespoon of milk
Start by putting the oil into the frying pan and then chopping your potato into small chunks. Also add the vegetables if using. You want the potatoes and vegetables to fill the pan almost to the top.
Warm them through turning them over gently so that they are all covered in the oil for a few minutes.
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In a bowl beat the eggs, seasoning and milk with a fork then add the potato mix to the eggs and mix it all in gently with a spoon.
You should have a little oil left in the pan, but if not a tiny splash extra will be sufficient.
Pour the egg and potato mixture into the pan, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, put the lid on the pan and then leave the bottom half to cook slowly. Depending on how large your tortilla is, this could take a while. The two egg tortilla takes about 10 minutes.
Every so often, press gently on the sides with a wooden spoon or spatula to see if it is browning underneath. When it is a lovely golden brown and the top is set, it´s time to flip it over!
You can use a plate, or two plates (tip out onto one plate, invert onto another and then back into the pan). I have a plastic tortilla “flipper” which has a small handle underneath. You turn the tortilla onto it then slide it back into the pan. A flat saucepan lid would work just as well.
Now turn the heat up a little, leave the lid off and cook for about another 4-5 minutes until the bottom has turned the same lovely golden brown. Leave it to stand for a minute or two once it is cooked, then turn it out onto your plate and enjoy.
Thanks go out to JamieAnne at A Dash of Domestic for her wonderful tutorial on how to insert a slide show!
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 