Mango & Jicama Salad

It seems summer has come early this year to Seattle. We will have more rainy days for sure, but we can enjoy this fresh salad for now. Obviously this is not a Spanish recipe but it is always good a pinch of innovation.

Ingredients for 4 people:

-2 Mangoes not too ripe.

-1 Jícama.

-1/2 Red Onion.

-1 Bunch of Cilantro.

-1 Lime or Lemon.

-1 Teaspoon of Chile flakes.

-Spanish Olive Oil.

-A Couple of Pinches of Salt & Pepper.

Dice the red onion and soak it in water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cut the mango and jicama in cubes or sticks, place them in a salad bowl. To prepare the dressing, mince the cilantro (approximately a cup), squeeze the lime/lemon and mix both things with the chile flakes and the Spanish olive oil, add the salt and pepper.

Rinse the onion and put it in the salad bowl along with the mango and jicama. Pour the dressing over the ingredients and serve.

Galician Octopus (Pulpo a Feira o Gallega)

This is a traditional recipe from the North of Spain, easy to find in every bar and restaurant there, as well in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. Even there are fairs and competitions all through Galicia where Pulpo a Feira is the star dish.

Ingredients:

-1 Octopus.

-Water.

-Spanish Olive Oil.

-Sweet/Mild Paprika.

-Sea Salt.

The way to make Pulpo a Feira depends on if the octopus is fresh or frozen. If the octopus is fresh you should hit it against a hard surface to tenderize it. If the octopus is frozen it is not necessary to do this before because the freezing makes the octopus get soft naturally.

To boil the octopus we have to clean it first, empty the head out, remove the mouth and eyes and scrub the tentacles.

Pour water in a pot with no salt and boil it, when it gets to a rapid boil take the octopus by the head and dunk it in and out on the pot 3 times. We call this “asustar” or scare the octopus. After this process we let it boil approximately 30 minutes in the case of an average octopus.

30 mn. later take the octopus out and slice the tentacles when the octopus gets cool. Cut the head too.

In another pot boil chopped potatoes with a little bit of salt.

To present the octopus, in a wood plate place the potatoes with the octopus over them. Sprinkle the Spanish olive oil, the sweet paprika and the sea salt.

Seasoned Carrots Cadiz Style

Here I have a new recipe which I discovered in our last biannual trip to Spain. For many people it will be something known already but for me it was my first try.

It is a pretty easy veggie recipe, very popular as tapa in Cadiz bars.

Ingredients

-500 Gr. (1 Lb.) of Carrots.

-3 Garlic Cloves.

-2 Teaspoons of Dried Oregano

-4 Teaspoons of Cumin Seeds.

-2 Teaspoons of Sweet Paprika.

-Salt.

-1 cup of Sherry vinegar.

-1 cup of water.

Peel the carrots and boil them, first on high heat and when they boil lower the heat and let them cook. They must be firm and not too soft or else they will fall apart.  Drain and let them cool.

When the carrots get cool, cut them in 1 cm (0.4”)  slices. Place them in a bowl along with the smashed cumin seeds, the oregano, paprika, the smashed garlic cloves, salt, vinegar and water. Mix everything well and keep them in the fridge for at least 8 hours. Before serving them drain the liquid and sprinkle olive oil. Add salt to taste.

Pasta Salad with Jamón Serrano

Another highlight of summer, now it is done, the pasta salad. There is a pasta salad for every person who cooks in the world, you can mix the pasta with almost everything and the result always is tasty. So, in this case I'm gonna give a Spanish touch to the Italian pasta.

Ingredients for 4 people:

-400 Gr. (14 Oz.) of pasta (penne or other shapes)

-200 Gr. (7 Oz.) of Jamón Serrano.

-Dried Basil.

-1 Bay Leaf.

-Spanish Extra Olive Oil.

-Salt.

Boil the pasta as is indicated on the box, with a sprinkle of olive oil, salt and the bay leaf. When the pasta is ready, let it cool. The jamón serrano has to be thick, so you can get it in slices and dice them. When the pasta is cool enough, add the jamón, the basil (to your liking), salt and a stream of olive oil and.. 

READY TO ENJOY IT!!

                                                 

Vanilla Ice Cream with Olive Oil

A summer is not a summer if you don't have ice cream and this summer is not done yet. I tried this dessert for the first time here in Seattle, at an Italian restaurant. It is very interesting to join these familiar and opposite flavors in just one totally different dessert, but surprisingly they go pretty well together.

Ingredients:

-Vanilla Ice Cream (Feel free if you want to make it yourself).  

-Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil (It is very important to use a good quality olive oil).

-Sea Salt or other Salt Crystals.

-Ground Cinnamon.

Simply scoop the ice cream into individual bowls, drizzle with the Spanish extra virgin olive oil and scatter a pinch of sea salt in every bowl. 

The trick is to mix everything together to combine perfectly all the individual flavors. Decorate with ground cinnamon. 

DARE TO TRY IT!!

                                                 

Lemon Ensalá

One of my favorites salads in my grandma home, is not a typical salad as many we know, it is a salad that we have to eat with a spoon. This salad comes from the part of Spain where my grandparents were born, Castilla-La Mancha. The cooking of this region of Spain is pretty much inspired by the book of Don Quijote de la Mancha. I grow up with many of these recipes as gachas, migas…

 Ingredients:

-3 Big Lemons.

-2 Carrots. (this is a variation of my grandma,  in the original recipe it used to be an orange or boiled eggs).

-3 Medium Scallions.

-4 Green Onions.

-A teaspoon of Cumin seeds.

-½ Cup of Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

-2 teaspoons of Sweet Paprika.

-Salt.

-Cold Water.

Chop the scallions and the green onions fine and place them in a bowl. Peel the lemons and squeeze them (remove the seeds if necessary) over the scallions and the green onions. Cut the lemons in bite sizes, peel and slice the carrots too and add both of them to the bowl.

In a mortar, pour a teaspoon of cumin seeds and a pinch of salt and mush them up, add the paprika and mix and last the Olive oil and stir them up. Pour the mix in the bowl along with the water (the water is to your taste, depends on if you want the salad more liquid or not). Add salt if it is necessary.

This salad is going to be a CLASSIC OF THE SUMMER!!



                                                       

Salmorejo

A very fresh cream/sauce for the summer as typical as the gazpacho but with even fewer ingredients. You will enjoy having it as a soup or dunking bread in it, you are going to need a lot of bread though.

-1 kg. (½ Lb.) of Ripe Tomatoes.
-200 gr. (0,7 Lb.) Day old bread.
-1 Garlic Clove.
-0,25 litres (8,5 fl.oz.) Spanish Extra Olive Oil.
-Salt.
-Vinegar.
-Jamón Serrano.
-1 Egg.

Put the tomatoes in a bowl full of water and boil them for a short period of time. You will notice the skin of tomatoes breaks, so take them out and let them get cold. Chop the bread and place it on a big plate and pour the olive oil, a little stream of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Peel the tomatoes when they are cool enough to handle chop and put them on top of the bread. Let the bread soak for a while and put all the mix in a blender. Blend till it becomes a fine cream (Depending on if you want it more liquid or thick add more olive oil or more bread). Boil an egg and mince it along with a slice of serrano ham. Present in individual bowls and decorate with a pinch of the minced boiled egg and the serrano ham and a stream of olive oil.

REFRESH YOURSELF!!!


                                                   

Zucchini and Carrot Salad

Continuing with the salad recipes, the summer just began, trying to get away from the monotonous salad recipes and doing something different like today's recipe. A colorful, refreshing, economic, healthy salad. This salad is good as a one dish meal or a side, and allows for multiple additions, like cilantro, sesame seeds, oranges, but I just added a fistful of pistachios.

Ingredients:

-1 Zucchini.

-2 Carrots not too big.

-Pistachios.

-Salt.

-Pepper.

-Spanish Extra Olive Oil.

-Lemon

Wash the zucchini and peel the carrots. Cut both of them in thin layers using the peeler (you can discard the center of the zucchini if you don't want the seeds). Place in a bowl or a plate and dress with the salt & pepper, the juice of the lemon and the olive oil. Scatter the pistachios and DONE!

                                          

Broccoli Salad with Apple, Blue Cheese and Pistachios.

As everybody knows,  salads are the perfect plate in summer for every occasion due to its easy and quick elaboration . The salad recipes are infinite as far as we use fresh ingredients, we always can try new combinations with veggies, fruit, pasta, seafood…

Ingredients:

-Tiny Broccoli Florets.

-¼ Onion.

-½ Cup of Crumbled Blue Cheese.

-1 Cup of toasted Pistachios.

-2 Apples

-½ Cup of Raisin.

-Wine Vinegar.

-Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

-Salt.

-Ground Black Pepper.

Boil the Broccoli in a pot with salted water, cook until tender and then pour the broccoli in cold water. Set aside to get cold (if you don't have spare time you can place it in the fridge.)

Caramelize the onion in a pan with a little bit of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan), cook it at low heat till the onion is tender,  at this point turn off the heat add a couple of spoons of water, 4 spoons of wine vinegar, the salt and the black pepper and remove it.

Dice the apples.

Present the salad placing the broccoli florets into a bowl, add the crumbled blue cheese, the diced apples, the chopped pistachios, the raisins and the onion vinaigrette….DELICIOUS!! 

An essential song.

                                                 

Mango Salad

Well, as you can probably guess, Mango is not an easy ingredient to find in the Spanish gastronomy, although maybe in some kind of dish coming from the Canary Islands where these tropical fruits are produced. Anyway, mango is a delicious fruit to use in a salad and it is always a wise thing to be innovative and try new things.

-2 Ripe Mangoes.

-2 Medium Tomatoes.

-¼ Red Onion.

-Fresh Mint.

For the Seasoning:

-¼ Cup Mango Juice.

-Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

-Lemon Juice.

-Fresh Cilantro

-Powdered Cloves.

-Pepper.

-Salt.

Peel and dice the mangoes, chop the onion and dice the tomatoes. Place everything in a bowl and add two tablespoons of fresh minced mint and one of fresh minced cilantro.

For the seasoning, mix the mango juice, one tablespoon of lemon juice, four tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of fresh ground pepper and a teaspoon of clove.

Dress the salad ingredients with the seasoning and imagine you are in an idyllic island with this TROPICAL SALAD!!!