Gambas al ajillo (Prawns with garlic)

1⁄2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, minced or sliced
1-2 dry red chillies
500 gr./1 lbs prawns, peeled and deveined
salt
fresh ground pepper
4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

Usually served as a Tapa, is so delicious it can be made as a main course!

In a pan or earthenware dish, warm the Olive Oil , add the garlic and sliced chillies.

When garlic starts to change colour, add the shrimps, and sauté quickly for about 2-3 minutes(until shrimps change colour), add salt and groud pepper, and sprinkle the parsley and serve at once in a warmed serving dish.

 If you wish, you can add lemon juice and paprika at the same time as the salt.

WARNINGS:

If you use frozen shrimps, you have to make sure they are dry when you add them to the pan.

Sauteed Guanche rice (Arroz salteado Guanche)

300g long grain rice
2 bananas
1 chicken breast
1 red onion
1 small yellow pepper
8 cherry tomatoes
30 gr / 1 tea cup raisins
Chive
Clove
1 Star anise
Olive oil
Pepper
Salt



Cook the rice in a saucepan with water and salt. (15 - 20 minutes)

Meanwhile we cut the banana into slices. Sauté the slices in a pan and set aside.


Cut the chicken cubes and fry in a pan with a little bit olive oil. When half-cooked, add the red onion cut into strips & the diced peppers. After few minutes add raisins, cherry tomatoes, cloves and anise. Add also clove to taster and a star anise. 

When rice is cooked, drain well and add to the pan with the other ingredients. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Once on the plate, add the bananas and chopped chives.

Burnt or Catalan Cream (Crema Quemada o Catalana)

1 liter and half of whole milk
A cinnamon stick
The peel of a lemon and an orange
A pinch of Vanilla 
10 egg yolks
250 g sugar (cream) + 150 g of sugar (to burn)
120 g of cornstarch






Place the milk in a saucepan over medium heat, when it begins to boil down the temperature and add the cinnamon stick, vanilla, orange peel and lemon (better without much white because it sour milk). Cook over low heat 5 minutes.

Separate the whites from the yolks. Vigorously mix the egg yolks and the 250g of sugar in a bowl until foamy. Then add the cornstarch. If necessary add a little bit hot milk from the saucepan, to help the flour to get mixed with the yolks and the sugar. Beat everything very well.

Strain the contents of the saucepan through a strainer to filter the milk. Keep it in another saucepan. 

Gazpacho Rociero

1 /2 kg of hard bread
2 very ripe large tomatoes
1 tsp of sweet paprika
5 or 6 cloves of garlic
1 large cucumber
2 glass of water
diced green and red pepper

olive oil, salt and white wine vinegar to taste

Wash the tomatoes and the cucumber properly and chop into squares. Set aside. 

Peel the garlic and in a mixer glass add all the ingredients. Once it is well crushed, strain with an strainer and let it cool in the fridge for 2 hours. 

Before serving add olive oil and vinegar to taste. Add diced green and red pepper on top. 

Tips_ You can add oregano on top for extra flavour. 

Origen_ This recipe is used in El Rocio pilgrimage for hidration after long walking days. 

Wine Sausage with sauteed cabbage

12 homemade sausages 
1/2 cabbage 
2 big potatoes 
2 cloves of garlic 
1 glass of white wine 
water 
olive oil 
salt 
parsley 


Peel the potatoes, chop and boil in a saucepan with water and salt. Drain and mash with a fork. Place the puree in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, chopped parsley and 2tbsp of olive oil. Set aside. 

Wash and chop the cabbage into thin strips. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Golden fry with olive oil, add the cabbage and saute. Mix the cabbage with mashed potatoes and reserve. 

Meanwhile, cook the sausages in a pan with olive oil, and after 2 minutes add the white wine and cook for 3-4 minutes. 

Tips
Add manchego cheease go the mash potato mixture and cabagge. Yummy!

Piquillo peppers jam (Mermelada de pimientos de piquillo)

300 gr or 2 1/5 cups of piquillo peppers or red peppers
150 gr or 1/2 cup sugar
80 ml or 5 1/2 wine vinegar
80 ml or 5 1/2 water







Remove seeds from piquillo peppers and cut. Placed in a saucepan with the sugar, water and wine vinegar and let it do a low heat, stirring occasionally.

Let cook for 35 to 40 minutes, watching not to burn . When it has the texture of a jam, remove from heat and store in a jar.

Recommended to be used with any type of cheese. Just great with Manchego cheese. 

Canning Tips

Bollo Maimon from Salamanca (Bollo Maimón de Salamanca)

4 eggs
100 grams of sugar
1 tablespoon aguardiente
150 grams starch flour
1 grated lemon zest
olive oil
icing sugar for decoration







Break the eggs into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Add the aguardiente and grated lemon rind. The mixture should have a white color. 

Then add the flour starch little by litte with a spoon, and mixing well to combine until the flour is well mixed. 

Strawberries with cheese & fresh mint icecream (Fresas con helado de queso y menta)

400 g / 2 cups of strawberries 
25 g / 2 tbsp of icing sugar 
4 tbsp condensed milk
2 tbsp creamy cheese  
2 cookies 
fresh mint 







Mix the creamy cheese with the condensed milk and some chopped mint leaves. Let cool a couple of hours in the freezer. 

Wash the strawberries, remove the tail and grind in a mixer. Add the icing sugar and mix until dissolved. 

Fill ¾ of a glass. With 2 spoons, make a ball and add it on top. Crush the biscuits with a fork or in a bag and add on top.


Tips_ Add some honey on top before serving for extraflavour. 

Andalusian pestiños (Pestiños andaluces)

1 cup sherry wine 
1 cup olive oil 
3/4 of wheat flour 
1 tablespoon aniseed 
1/2 teaspoon sesame 
1/2 lemon zest
pinch of salt 
1 packet of yeast 
honey 
icing sugar 
cinnamon 
1/2 liter of oil for frying





In a frying pan heat 1 cup of olive oil over low heat. Lightly fry the sesame seeds, anise seeds and lemon peel. When the olive oil cool down strain and reserve the seeds.

In a large bowl, place the flour (as a volcano). Add inside the volcano the sherry wine, a pinch of salt, and gradually the 1 cup of the fried olive oil with the seeds but without the lemon peel. Finally add the packet of yeast, mix all the ingredients and let the dough rest for an hour. 

Cod Fritters (Buñuelos de Bacalao)

250 gr of desalted cod 
1/2 green pepper 
1 clove of garlic 
200 g flour 
10 g yeast 
1 egg 
50 g butter 
200 ml milk 
vinegar 
olive oil 
salt 




Melt the butter and put in a bowl. Add the flour, yeast, milk, egg, butter and a pinch of salt. Blend with a stick and left to ferment a couple of hours. 

Finely chop the green pepper and 1 clove of garlic and lightly fry in a pan with a little oil. Crumble the cod and add to the pan. Saute briefly and add the dough. Mix softly. Set aside and let it cool. 

Set plenty of olive oil in a saucepan and cook over high heat. When hot pour small amounts of dough with a spoon. Remove the fritters when they are golden brown and let them drain on kitchen paper.


Tips_ Dip Buñuelos in Alioli as we do traditionaly in Spain. You can add a bunch of parsley
1/2 teaspoon of cumin to the alioli before mixing for extra flavour. 

Asparagus Wrapped in Jamón Serrano (Espárragos Envueltos en Jamón Serrano)

1 bunch fresh asparagus spears
12 long, thin slices of jamón serrano
Juice of 1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
1 rosemary stem
black ground pepper









Dip the fresh asparagus in hot water and boil for 2 minutes. Drain well.

Mix the lemon, olive oil and finely chopped rosemary stem. With a brush spread the mixture on the asparagus.

Wrap sliced of serrano ham around a 1 - 2 asparagus, depending on the size. You can use an stick to close it well. 

Cook in a flat pan or BBQ. cool. Season with black pepper to taste.

Clams with Artichokes (Almejas con Alcachofas)

20 preserved artichokes
2 garlic cloves
3 - 4 tbsp olive oil
1 glass of water + artichokes liquid
1 tbsp flour
1/2 glass of white wine
24 clean clams
pinenuts or chopped almonds
salt and pepper





Drain the artichoke and set the liquid aside. 

Chop the garlics and brown them in frypan with hot olive oil. When almost ready add few pinenuts or chopped almonds for extraflavour. 

In a mixer wisk the flour, white wine and the 1 cup of remaining liquid from artichokes plus some water until filling up 1 glass. Pour in the frypan. 

Add the clams and cook until they are open. Then add the artichoke cutted in half and cook for a few minutes before serving. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Stuffed eggs with artichokes and spinach (Huevos rellenos de alcachofas y espinacas)

4 large eggs 
40 g of spinach 
40 g of artichokes 
1 tablespoon sultanas
3 tablespoon olive oil 
lemon juice
Salt and pepper
mayonnaise 


Cook the eggs and let cool. 

In another saucepan boil the chopped artichokes with few drops of lemon juice to avoid oxidation, and salt. After 10 minutes add the spinach. Drain the water and grind in a blender. When it is done, add the sultanas and the olive oil. (those do not have to be grind) 

Fill up the egg with the mixture. Season to taste. 

Mayonnaise can be used for decoration, along with the yolks. Break the yolks in a bowl with a fork or in mortar, place it on top.

Tips_ Make spicy by adding paprika powder to the mayonnaise.

Mussels and avocado spread (Paté de mejillones y aguacate)

1 can of pickled mussels (or 10 - 12 boiled mussels with a bay leaf) 
1 large avocado
A few drops of lemon
¼ sweet onion or fresh chives
2 tablespoon of thick mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of white wine



Drain the mussels well.
Peel the avocado and remove the bone.

Put in the glass of the mixer mussels, chopped avocado, few drops of lemon (important to avoid mixture oxidation), the chopped onion and mayonnaise and the white wine.

Putting the cool spread in a bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the entire surface of the pate, to prevent it from rusting.

Asparagus cannelloni with Red Pepper Sauce (Canelones de Espárragos con salsa de pimientos)

6 slices of cooked ham
12 white asparagus canned
mayonnaise
Manchego cheese
Piquillo pepper sauce

Spread the asparagus on paper towels to absorb the excess of water.

Roll the slices of ham on a plate, add a teaspoon of mayonnaise and spread all over the slice. Add two asparagus in the center and roll up.

Place in heatproof dish. Add grated manchego cheese on top, and heated with a burner or au gratin in oven.

Pour some sauce over the cannelloni and serve.

Wine Strawberry jam sandwich

20 slices of hand made bread
1/2 cup strawberry jam 
2 tablespoons of Rioja red wine 
10 slices of baked ham
10 slices of Manchego aged cheese
olive oil or unsalted butter








Heat the grilled. Mix the strawberry jam with the Rioja red wine. Spread the mixture on 10 of the handmade bread slices. 

Top with the ham and the manchego aged cheese, and close the sandwiches. Lightly butter the outside of the sandwiches, and cook over medium heat until toasted. If you don´t like butter, you can also toast the bread and add a bit of olive oil on top of the toasted bread.  This way you´ll be adding an amazing extra flavour. Cut in half and serve right away.

Almond and Honey Turrón (Turrón de miel y almendras)

400 gr roasted almond slivers (preferably soaked and dehydrated)
300 ml raw honey
3 egg whites

Roast the almonds at 200ºC for 10 minutes mixing them every 2 minutes.

Place the honey in a medium sized saucepan and slow cook over medium heat. Once it starts to boil, off the heat and set aside.

Whip the egg whites until getting a thick glossy meringue. Carefully, mix the meringue with the honey.

Coles de Bruselas con Jamón (Brussels Sprouts with Serrano Ham)

600 gr brussels sprouts
4 slices of Serrano Ham or Bacon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs. syrupy balsamic vinegar 
salt
black ground pepper


Preheat the oven to 200°C. 

Place the brussels sprouts on a baking sheet. Cut the Serrano Ham into dice and add to the pan. Add the olive oil, salt and black ground pepper. Mix all, and spread out the mixture in a single layer.

Roast in the ove until they’re tender and nicely browned. It should be cooked in 20 - 30 minutes. Toss while are in the oven, at least once. 

Sidra de granada (Promegranate cider)

2 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup fresh, unfiltered apple cider
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1 clove
2½ slices of ginger
2 shots dark rum or whiskey


In a saucepan, mix all ingredients except the ones with alcohol. Turn the heat to medium-low and let the mixture come to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, until it’s fragrant.

Fill up two warm mugs, and add a shot of rum to each mug. Serve immediately.

Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa
2 cup water
2 large leaves of kale
2 cup cranberries
2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp honey
2 TBS orange zest, grated
6 medium oranges
1/4 cup mixed nuts
1/4 cup pomegranate arils
1/4 cup mint, fresh, chopped





Rinse quinoa with water. Bring to boil with 2 cups of the water and add rinsed quinoa and return to boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low and continue cooking until the water is gone and quinoa is cooked, about 12-15 minutes.

Wash and break the kale leaves from the stalk, and trim away the tough centre stalk. Wash, then shred or chop.