Christmas in Madrid, Spain

Some of my fondest memories of Madrid are during the Christmas season.

A traditional Christmas treat is Turrón, a kind of almond candy.





The link below is for three recipes for egg yoke, hard and soft Turrón. These are the three traditional kinds.

http://www.ctspanish.com/christmas/turron.htm

The first Christmas we were in Madrid we would see people walking around with different colored wigs. They were all different lengths and colors and even children would wear them. I never really understood why they did this but the Spanish people like to celebrate and this was something that seemed to fit their unorthodox way of celebrating a religious season.

Another sight that is worth standing in line for is the “Belén” or the Nativity.
These are elaborate scenes with carved figures that can take up a whole room.

(This is the Nativity scene my mother made)

The children of Spain receive gifts on the feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. The Magi are particularly revered in Spain. It is believed that they travel through the countryside reenacting their journey to Bethlehem every year at this time. Children leave their shoes on the windowsills and fill them with straw, carrots, and barley or the horses of the Wise Men. Their favorite is Balthazar who rides a donkey and is the one believed to leave the gifts.
In Madrid on the evening of January 6th there would be a parade through the center of the city. The Three Magi, or Kings would be on one of the floats throwing candy out to the children lining the streets to see them. They would follow the Magi to the huge public square where they would go onto a huge stage and give gifts out to the children.

Since we never participated in the celebration of Christmas in a Spanish home I do not know how the average Spanish person celebrates.

Although this was not a food tapas for this update I thought since it was the Christmas season you might enjoy some insights as to how the Spanish celebrate this holiday.

Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas!!

Potato Salad and True Friends

I hope that my tapas friends are my true friends. They say true friends can go a long time without connecting but when they do, it is as if they never disconnected. They do not make you feel bad for not calling, and you go on as if time did not exist. Let us pretend that you just finished that last tapas I posted and have just checked back in a week later to do another one.

The one thing you serve first in most Spanish cafes for tapas is potato salad, or “ensaladilla”. This is one of my favorites and while it is a bit filling, it goes well with sardines and a refreshing cold drink, so sangria would be good or a nice cold beer.

Okay, so let us not waste anytime and get on with how to make potato salad. It is easy and quick!

Animo!! Let’s go!

You will need six medium to small potatoes. I use Yukon golden, boiled, peeled and diced.

½ cup of diced cooked carrots, ½ cup cooked green peas, 1 cup of garlic mayonnaise, salt and freshly ground pepper, 1 red and 1 green bee pepper, roasted, peeled and seeded, then cut into strips, parsley springs, for garnish.

In a bowl, mix potatoes, carrot, peas, mayonnaise (I just use already prepared mayonnaise and garlic salt when salting the potatoes), salt and pepper to taste. Top with pepper strips and garnish with parsley. The flavor will be enhanced if left at room temperature.

Serves 6.

Croquetas

Croquetas are mashed potatoes that are filled with a variety of meats or vegetables dipped in egg, milk and breadcrumbs, and then fried. I will be showing you how to do ham and onion croquetas. For a light evening meal, you can serve one or two kinds of croquetas with a green mixed salad, crusty white bread, manchego cheese and wine.



Potato and ham croquetas (croquettes) to serve six.

Cook 3 large potatoes and mash them.

2 tablespoons of butter

2/3 cup minced ham. I use Canadian ham.

1/3 cup of chopped onion (optional)

1 ½ teaspoons of flour.

½ cup + as needed milk.

1 tablespoon parsley (optional, but better if you have it).

Some salt and ground pepper.

Lemon juice.

Flour

2 eggs beaten with a little water

Breadcrumbs

Olive oil for frying.



Cook and mash your potatoes first.

Melt the butter over medium heat and gently heat the ham for a couple of minutes. Then stir in the flour and add ½ cup of milk, parsley and a dash of salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for another minute. Now, stir in mashed potatoes and lemon juice. Be sure the mashed potatoes are not too dry or too liquidity. Once this mixture is finished, store in fridge for at least an hour and a half. You can keep this mixture for 2 days if you are working ahead.



When the mixture has chilled long enough, form the croquettes by forming cylindrical shape 3 inches long and about an inch wide. Do not worry too much about the exact shape or size but once you start, try to maintain the same size for even frying.

Roll the cylinders in the flour, dip into beaten eggs and then coat with breadcrumbs. Because the breadcrumbs tend to stick to the potatoes, which then stick to your fingers you, will have to wipe your fingers often. I keep a wet washcloth or wet paper towels nearby.



Heat enough oil to cover the croquettes. When the oil sizzles fry the croquettes, turning them once, until they are a golden brown. Drain and eat immediately.





STAPLES



Some things that you might want to have on hand to make most tapas would be:

Olive oil, the lighter olive oil for frying is best. You can buy inexpensive oils, at most supermarkets.

Fresh garlic is best. Keep it in your fridge if you do not use it fast enough, otherwise, you can use the crushed garlic you buy in a jar. Garlic salt is a no, no.

Tomato sauce.

Bread crumbs.

Potatoes.

Green peppers.

Eggs.

Tomatoes.

Onions.

Paprika, spicy or mild.

If you cannot find paprika, just use any hot sauce.

These are the basic staples for tapas.



In my other blogs I wrote that drinks usually served with tapas are alcoholic. You can choose between red and white wines, beers, Sangria or if you really want to be Spanish, find a dry “fino” or fine Sherry. This is the most recommended drink to go with tapas.

FLASH Tapas



You know those articles you read from cooking blogs that tell you to keep certain things in your cupboards if you do not have time to cook but want something quick and easy? It is the same idea for tapas. If you have 4 to 6 non-perishable items on hand, you can make tapas very easily. So, that is why I called this post, FLASH Tapas.





From the three pictures below, you can see how I put together a series of tapas from bags, jars and cans. You may not have access to the stores that I do but I can find most of these products at Trader Joe’s, World Market and Meijers. The wine and beer I found at Trader Joe’s. Let me know where you found your products!



Chorizo, marinated artichoke salad, and chips



Mediterranean olives, roasted red peppers, and marinated garlic cloves





Green olives, artichoke hearts (with vinaigrette or sautéed in olive oil with bacon or pieces of ham), peanuts







SOMETHING HOT, SOMETHING QUICK AND EASY!!

Garlic shrimp for two. This recipe is from Cantabria, the north-central region of Spain.

Garlic shrimp for two.





Take ½ lb. of small shrimp, frozen or raw and rinse. Make sure the frozen shrimp are thawed out, which can be done by running cold water over them. After rinsing the shrimp, dry on paper towels.

Wash one red fresh chili pepper, cut in half, remove the seeds, and then cut into thin rings. If you are using dry chili peppers crush them.








Slice 3 garlic gloves.

Put 1/3 cup light olive oil into a skillet on medium high heat. Once the olive oil is heated and sizzling quickly put in shrimp and garlic. Do not let garlic burn and do not over cook the shrimp. It will probably take 3 minutes to cook the shrimp. Move shrimp around gently as they cook.

Once the shrimp is cooked turn heat off and put into a small dish.



Use a toothpick to eat with or your fingers.



WHEN EATING TAPAS ALWAYS HAVE NAPKINGS, A FORK, SMALL DISHES AND SLICED BAGUETTE BREAD, WHITE OR WHOLE WHEAT.




Enjoy any tapas with beer, or wine. Sangria is good too!!

Patatas Bravas

¡ADELANTE!

The most important thing in making patatas bravas is finding a potato that fries up fast, so that the potato does not get too brown before they are cooked through.

Some suggestions would be red potatoes, Russet or Yukon golden.

Let’s get started!

Peel and rinse 2-3 or more medium size potatoes. I tried the precooking in the microwave and that worked out pretty well. So, after they are rinsed wrap the potatoes individually in a paper towel and cook in microwave 2 minutes for 2 potatoes and 21/2 minutes or more for 3 potatoes, but don’t overcook. They should be just a little undercooked or they will be mushy when you cut them up.

After they have cooled a bit, cut length-wise

and then in medium size cubes.

As for frying the potatoes, I used a wrought iron

skillet but you can use any kind of skillet as long

as you have enough oil to finish the frying so the potatoes will not burn or stick.

Put enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet and a little more. Heat the oil over medium hot temperature.

Once the oil is hot put your potatoes in the skillet and cook until light to medium dark brown, lower heat if it seems too hot, and cook the potatoes through.

Drain potatoes on a paper towel, then put in a dish, and put a lid on them to keep them warm or put in an oven safe plate or bowel to keep warm until the sauce is ready.

Making the tomato sauce for the potatoes:

Chop one small onion or ¼ of a medium size onion. Crush one clove of garlic or use ¼ tsp. of already crushed garlic that comes in a jar.

Put 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a small saucepan and heat over med. to low heat but do not let it smoke. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is transparent, but do not let garlic burn, as it will become very strong, so lower heat if needed.

Once the onion is cooked, add 1/8 cup white wine and 1 small can of tomato sauce.

If you want spicy sauce, which is what the Spanish like, you can add ½ tsp. or more of any hot sauce. Some suggestions would be hot paprika, jalapeno pepper hot sauce, and Cholula hot sauce. Lower heat and let sauce simmer for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.

When the sauce is ready put over the potatoes using a spoon.

The potatoes should not be smothered in the sauce. You can always add more as you eat them.

Enjoy with red or white wine or beer.

¡¡BUEN PROVECHO!!

If you want to make the traditional Spanish sauce here is the recipe:

*1 onion finely chopped

*1 clove of garlic also finely chopped

*6 ripe tomatoes chopped - about 600g

*1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)

*3 dried chilies

*1 or 2 teaspoon of hot paprika - depends on how spicy you like your food

*1 level soup spoon of plain flour
*approx. 200ml of water

*1 teaspoon of sherry vinegar or wine vinegar

*salt

*freshly ground black pepper

For the bravas sauce, fry the onion, garlic and the dried chilies gently in some olive oil until the onions turn transparent - this should take about 10 minutes. Then remove from the heat, add the paprika and stir this in. Add the chopped tomatoes and the sugar, return the mix to the heat and simmer gently for about 5 minutes. The sugar is added to take any bitterness out of the tomatoes Mix the flour with some water and then stir this into the sauce, add the 200 ml of water and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes to reduce the sauce.

Now you should blend the mix either in a food blender or using a hand held blender. Once you've done this pass the mix through a sieve to remove the tomato skin and seeds. You should then end up with a nice thick bravas sauce.

Time for Tapas

Getting started

This is not something that orginated with me. While on a recent visit to my third son who lives in Madrid, Spain, he came up with the idea that his Madre needed to do something creative through a blog. Because he thinks I am a great cook, frankly, I just cook, I don't think I am that great, but that is neither here nor there, he thought I should post something on a blog with a video. So, what I am doing right now, January 25th, 2010, at 5h57 p.m. is entering my first blog. As for the rest, " a ver", which means, "we'll see" in Spanish.

Let me just give a short background on what "tapas" are. The word “tapas” is derived from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover”. According to The Joy of Cooking, the original tapas were the slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in Andalusian taverns used to cover their glasses between sips. This was a practical measure meant to prevent fruit flies from hovering over the sweet sherry. The meat used to cover the sherry was normally ham or chorizo, which are both very salty and activate thirst. Because of this, bartenders and restaurant owners began creating a variety of snacks to serve with sherry, thus increasing their alcohol sales. The tapas eventually became as important as the sherry.

Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as puntillitas, which are battered, fried baby squid).

The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them. Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas.

Americans have progressively abandoned their kitchens in recent years to eat in mostly mediocre restaurants paying for food, that is expensive and tip giving has sky rocketed to the point where you are laying down almost as much as you paid for the menu. What happened to the days of having "people over for a meal"? Okay, it does take time and effort, so why not take less effort but more time with your friends? Tapas are not expensive, for the most part, and you can make a fairly easy meal out of 3 or 4 tapas, where for many you can prepare in advance or partically prepare in advance. You can stand around and talk as you do the finished touches. You don't even need to set a fancy table. In fact, if you have a coffee table you can use that to set your little dishes on. For the most part you only need small plates, napkins, a good bottle of wine or Sangria and many of the tapas can be eaten with the fingers or one untensil, a fork.

My first demonstration of tapas is going to be "patatas bravas". Patatas Bravas get their name from their area of origin: the Brava coast of Catalonia. The most typical example of Spanish tapa, they can be found in pretty much any tapas bar worth its salt in the nation. This is one of my favorites and I think, the first one I made when I lived in Madrid. There are several recipes but I will show you how I make mine and how I invented my own tomato sauce to put on top.