Txakoli? – excuse me?

Txakoli is the light white wine found in the Basque Country that goes ever so well with the bite size morsels we call “pintxos”.  As we prepare for our September 12, 2009 Basque in the Glory Tour, an interesting article about this wine just came out in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Enjoy!

Agur,

Alex

09 Sep 2009 in Basque, News, Recipes | No Comments

Tortilla española – how to make it at home

Spanish omelette- or tortilla española- is a staple here.  Everyone has their favourite way of making it and, once you have the basics mastered, you can experiment with the recipe to achieve something like the best you have had.  For me that is Pilar’s in O Cebreiro.

The main ingredients of tortilla are eggs and potatoes.  Start with three medium-sized potatoes.  If you have read my post on Tarta de Santiago, you will know that I am not big on measurements!  Peel the potatoes and slice them finely.  Carmen likes to slice them superfine which gives you a dense, homgeneous mass of tortilla.  I like Pilar’s which has slightly  chunkier pieces of potato.  It’s a good idea to salt the potatoes before you start cooking.

Heat a deep pan with enough olive oil in it to cover the potatoes and put them to cook.  You are not frying them.  You don’t want them crispy like chips but cooked- Keith Floyd says it’s more like slow boiling them in oil.  When they are done you put them to one side in a bowl.

At this point you may like to think of other ingredients.  I like onion in my tortilla.  I grate and add it straight to the mix.  Some people chop red peppers into little cubes and others like ham.  When you have all of your chosen ingredients together you crack three or four eggs and mix them well with the potatoes so you  have a gloopy mess.

Decant the oil from the pan into pot.  This pot is a standard of the Spanish kitchen.  It looks a bit like a metal teapot and sits conveniently on the side next to the cooker for all those occasions you need cooking oil.  We have one with a strainer on the top that takes all the bits out.

You add the mix to the pan and cook it on a low heat.  This is tricky.  You don’t want a high flame that will cook the outside too fast.  When the bottom is done, which is easily verifiable by lifting the tortilla with a fork, you take a large plate and place it over the pan.  Lift the whole thing and- oop la!- transfer the tortilla to the plate.  Then slide it back into the pan straight away so it doesn’t stick there.

Another couple of minutes and you are done.

The advantage of the tortilla is it can be eaten hot or cold.  It’s great with a green salad and if you are a Spaniard you will almost always have some kind of ham or sausage to go with it: chorizo, salchichón, lomo.

The meats will be another story, but I’m on the Camino right now in Palas de Rei and all this talk of food is making me hungry.  Anyone for tortilla?

Jason

09 Jun 2009 in Miscellaneous, Recipes | No Comments

Tarta de Santiago: how to make it at home.

I love Tarta de Santiago.  Every bar and restaurant along the Camino in Galicia serves it and I think Alex will vouch for the fact that I have tried most of them.  When I got back to Avilés after the last tour I was suffering from what the Spanish call Morriña- that is a special kind of homesickness that people get when they have been away from Galicia for too long.  The only remedy was to find a recipe and cook a Tarta de Santiago.

It is surprisingly easy.  I’m going to give you the measurements in the easy manner that I like to approach cooking:

3 cups of ground almonds; 3/4 cup of flour; a cup of sugar; 4 eggs; half a pack of butter; a ploff of baking powder; some water; lemon rind.  You can put icing sugar on the top but I think that makes it too sweet.

You start off mixing the butter and sugar until it makes a creamy paste and then you blend in the eggs and beat the mixture.  Add the water, flour and bakng powder and give it  whizz with an electric hand mixer.  Stir the almonds in.  You can use a mixture of ground almonds and almonds you grind yourself- the rougher almonds in there give it a good crunch!  Stir in the lemon rind.  Use the zest of the whole lemon because it really zips up the taste.

Put the mixture in a 10 inch sprung cake tin, well greased beforehand and bake in the oven at about 180ºc for 45 minutes or so.  If a knife comes out clean it is done, and remember it is a question of taste: if you like your tarta with a slightly moister texture like me, you won’t want to overcook it.

This worked a dream for me and I already have the ingredients ready for the next one.  The only problem is that there are four of us at home and they all want some!

Jason

07 May 2009 in Camino de Santiago, Miscellaneous, Recipes | 1 Comment