Marina prepares one of the most classic deserts on the Spanish menu – Natillas – a delicious cinnamon custard.
Ingredients
1 litre of Milk (1.7 UK Pints, 2.1 US Liquid Pints)
250 grm of sugar (half a pound)
9 egg yolks
2 or 3 cinnamon sticks
cinnamon powder
Preparation
Put 3/4 of the milk in a saucepan together with half of the sugar and the cinnamon sticks, until it starts simmering. Then turn the hob off and let it cool down for about 1 hour.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar and milk. When this mixture is properly mixed, add the warm mixture slowly through a sieve, little by little, while you mix it gently with a wooden spoon. Pour all the mixture back into the saucepan and set the hob at a medium setting, while you continue to mix it with a wooden spoon every now and again. After about 5 or 6 minutes it will start thickening, at this point keep stirring constantly for another 3 or 4 minutes.
Be careful when you finish, at this point it can separate so you need to pour it very quickly into small bowls – as soon as you take it off the hob.
Let it cool down and keep in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Tips
Tip 1 – Before serving sprinkle some cinnamon powder over each bowl. If you like you can also add a biscuit.
Tip 2 – To ensure that the mixture doesn’t separate, you can cook them in a Bain Marie instead.
There are many variations on this recipe, depending where you have it. Sometimes it has a light green sauce if it is made with parsley, or red if you use paprika, in which case it can be either spicy if you use hot paprika, or mild if you use sweet paprika. Any of these combinations is delicious but I have a particular preference for the mild red one, which is the one described below.
Preparation time: 25 mins
Ingredients
1/2 Kg (1 pound) clams
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 sticks of fresh parsley chopped up in very small pieces
1 tablespoon of flour
1 glass of white wine
3 tablespoon of olive oil
salt
1 teaspoon sweet or hot paprika
Preparation
Firstly wash the clams by placing them to soak in cold water with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes, so that they release any remaining sand. Meanwhile, chop up the onion into 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) squares, peel and crush the garlic cloves, and wash and finely chop the parsley. At this point put the clams in a sieve so you have them ready when you need them.
Select a medium-sized saucepan and pour in 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or until the bottom is completely covered). When the oil starts to smoke add the onion bits and cook for about 5 minutes at medium heat, or until the onion is soft. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute, add a tablespoon of flour and a teaspoon of paprika, and stir it with a wooden spoon so they get coated with the oil and don’t burn. After 30 seconds add a glass of white wine and a pinch of salt, and drop the clams into the mixture and stir them while they open. As soon as they open they are done, but as some take longer than others to open you can take them out and place them on a serving dish as they do so. When all of them are open (remove and discard those that don’t open), pour the sauce over the clams and sprinkle a bit of parsley over the top.
Tip 1 – When you finish eating the clams, soak a bit of bread in the sauce, it’s delicious!
Pimientos del padron
These small green peppers come from Galicia but can be found in markets all around Spain and are delicious to have as a tapa.
There is a Spanish saying which goes "Pimientos del padrón some are hot and some are not†– usually they are not spicy, but every now and again you find a real scorcher that can bring tears to your eyes (or in Marina’s case cause hiccups)!
Preparation time: 6 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 Kg (1 pound) Pimientos del Padrón
2 teaspoons of rock salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Preparation
For this recipe you need to use a big frying pan or divide the peppers in to two lots and cook them separately. Cover the bottom of the frying pan with olive oil, and when it starts to smoke add the peppers. Sprinkle the salt on top and swirl the frying pan as if it was a wok, so the peppers fry evenly all over. Let them cook for about 5 minutes or until they start to wrinkle. Place them onto a serving plate and eat while they are still hot.
The Culinary Podcast Network recently hosted a ’round-table’ discussion on food from all over Spain, with Ben and Marina, Chef Mark from the ReMARKable Palate Podcast, and Ryan from Catavino. There’s a lot of good info on there for the gourmets among you!
The secret of this recipie is the mixture of the crispy chicken skin and roasted garlic.
Ingredients
1.5 Kg (3.3 pounds) of chicken with bone and skin (either a whole chicken cut in to 4 cm/2 inch pieces or thighs and legs chopped separately)
12 garlic cloves
olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
3 bay leaves
a glass of white wine (optional)
Preparation
For this recipie you need to use the biggest frying pan you have, so all the chicken pieces fit in one layer. If you don’t have a big enough frying pan you will need to use two simultaneusly.
Start by peeling the garlic cloves and slicing them roughly, then pour olive oil until the bottom of the frying pan is covered and wait until it starts to smoke. While you wait you can add salt to all the chicken bits. Then add all the garlic pieces and just when they start to brown add the chicken, inserting the bay leaves in between. You will need to cook it for aproximately 30 minutes or until all the pieces are crispy and brown, taking care to turn the pieces over so they get equally brown all over.
Serving Idea: Great to have it with fries.
Tip: If you want to have a bit of sauce, towards the end of the cooking lower the heat to minimum, remove the excess oil from the frying pan and add a glass of white wine. Cook for another 5 minutes and serve.
The Catavino crew come round for some serious grilling (that’s Barbequing to us Brits 😉 ), while we chat about grilling culture in Spain and abroad, fine Spanish wines, why Spanish ingredients are so good, and Marina tells us about two great summer salads. This podcast goes hand in hand with the almost simultaneously recorded podcast over at Catavino radio, where we do some serious wine tasting before the food chat here gets underway.
Ben chats to Ryan from Catavino.net about Spanish wines, and discovers that it isn’t all just Rioja, Rioja, Rioja… Ryan recommends La Venencia if you are ever after a glass of sherry (Fino) in Madrid, and you can find out all about the Madrid wine dinners here, and check out his podcasts here.
Comment on/discuss this podcast in the forums.
Thanks to Ryan for the photo, Budbreak.
Another summer classic: Ensalada Campera (country salad), just like the abuela (granny) used to make it.
Ingredients (for four people)
1 Kg (2.2 pounds) potatoes (medium size)
1 cucumber
1 italian green pepper
1/2 small onion
2 tomatoes
2 hard boiled eggs
Salt
2 tablespoons of vinager
5 tablespoons of olive oil
Optional
1 tin of tuna
Preparation
Start by washing the potatoes and boiling them for about 20 minutes, or until tender. At the same time place the egg in cold water in a separate saucepan and count 10 minutes from the moment it starts boiling. While you let both the potatoes and the egg cool down you can chop up the cucumber, green pepper, and tomatoes into cubes, and then chop the onion very thinly. If you wish to use tuna it can be added at this point, using a fork to break it into smaller pieces while taking it out of the tin. When the egg and potatoes are cold enough to handle, peel them, chop up the egg white into small cubes and slice the potatoes into 1/2 cm (quarter inch) wide slices. Place all the ingredients in a largish dish and sprinkle with salt. Place the dish in the fridge for at least an hour so the salad is cold. Just before serving prepare the dressing: crumble the egg yolk into a bowl, add the vinager and finally add the olive oil slowly while mixing it with a small whisk. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss it.
As the temperatures rise in Madrid, Marina decides it’s time for that summer classic, Gazpacho!
Ingredients (4 people)
1 Kg of Ripe Tomatoes
1 Italian Green Pepper
1 Cucumber
1 Medium Onion
1 Medium Garlic Clove
1 Slice of bread
1 Small glass of water (Wine size)
1 Teaspoon of salt
2 Dessert spoons of Vinegar
6 Dessert spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Preparation
Place all the tomatoes (except one), cut into quarters, in the blender, with a slice about 5 cm wide of green pepper, a slice about 5 cm wide of peeled cucumber, half of the onion and the garlic. Then blend for 5 minutes or until the mixture is completely smooth. Then add the water and salt and mix again. Taste to check that the salt is ok, then add the vinegar and mix again. Finally when the vinegar level is ok, add the olive oil and mix in at a slow setting until it mixes in completely.
Let it cool in the fridge for a few hours before serving. It can be served either as a drink in a glass or as a starter in a bowl with garnish or "pispirrisâ€. To prepare the pispirris cut the tomato, the remaining green pepper and cucumber, half an onion and a slice of bread into very small cubes then place each in a separate bowl. Take these bowls to the table in a tray and let each person choose what they want to add to their own Gazpacho.
1 litre of milk (full fat)
100 gr sugar
100 gr icing sugar
1 cinnamon stick (about 6 cm / 2.5 inches long)
Peel of 1 lemon
4 egg whites
Cinnamon powder
A few drops of lemon juice
A very small pinch of salt
Preparation
Pour the milk into a saucepan together with the cinnamon stick, lemon peel and normal sugar. Turn the hob on and let it simmer for 5 minutes while you stir it with a wodden spoon to disolve the sugar. Then pour it in a bowl and let it cool down.
When the milk is at room temperature remove the lemon peel and the cinnamon stick and place the bowl in the freezer until the mixture is very cold but not frozen.
Now place the egg whites in a bowl with a few drops of lemon juice and a very small pinch of salt (both of the last ingredients help the egg whites to rise), then mix them until they are snowy (punto de nieve). Then add the icing sugar little by little while continuing to mix.
Take out the mixture from the freezer and add the merangue little by little, gently folding it into the milk to get the appropriate consitency. Now keep it in the fridge, and put it in the freezer 15 to 20 minutes before serving to improve the consistency even further. If you keep it in the freezer until it freezes, then you will need to put it through the blender before serving.
Serve it in tall cocktail glasses with plenty of cinnamon powder sprinkled on top.
Note that if you have an ice cream machine you can also use this recipie to make Leche Merengada ice cream.
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 