Mejillones en escabeche (Mussels in pickled sauce)

1.5 - 2 kg mussels 
1 glass of white wine
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
100 ml virgin olive oil
100 ml white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sweet or spicy paprika
pinch of salt (optional)









For starting clean the mussels very well and put them in a saucepan with a glass of white wine. Cover with a top lid and cook up to medium heat until all mussels are open. When ready drain (and keep the broth aside), remove the shells and reserve the cooked meat.


Low heat in a saucepan the olive oil with the garlic finely chopped. Let it cook until they get brown color. 

Then add the bay leaves chopped, along with the paprika. Stir constantly otherwise you can burn the paprika. Quickly pour the white wine vinegar and the broth from cooking the mussels, stir for couple of minutes and stop the heat.

Try and add a pinch of salt if it is need it, but usually is not necessary. Pour the marinade over the mussels. Let it cool to room temperature.

Potaje rociero

1 kg. / 2 cups chickpeas
2 tomatoes
2 red peppers
1 onion
1 head of garlic
2 bay leaves
3 carrots
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 chorizos
2 black sausages (morcillas)
250g pork meat
200 gr of bacon
2 - 3 slices of hard bread
Salt, olive oil & pepper 
cumin and nutmeg to taste



Leave the chickpeas to soak 24 hours in warm water with a pinch of salt. Change the water twice in that time. 

After 24 hours set the chickpeas in a pot with the peeled and chopped tomatoes. Then add the half of the head of garlic, unpeeled cloves of garlic. Following bay leaves, the sliced carrots, chorizo ​​and morcilla cutted in medium slices. Then we add the pork meat and the diced bacon, olive oil and sweet paprika. Pour water until covering all the ingredients and let it cook for about 60 minutes over low - medium heat. Add salt to taste.  

In a frying pan add the red peppers and onions diced. Lightly fry with olive oil, along with the other half of the head of garlic (peeled this time) Add diced hard bread after 5 minutes. 

Add cumin to taste and blend in a mixer with half a glass of water. Add to soup and let it cook. Once it is cooked add a a pinch of salt if need it, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Let it cool for 10 minutes and serve. 

Chanfaina de Salamanca (Cheap Stew from Salamanca)

1 onion 
200 ml of olive oil 

1 kg lamb (tripe, trotters and cooked blood) 

2 liters of water

A bay leaf 
2 cups rice 

2 cloves of garlic 

1 tsp cumin unmilled 
1 tsp cayenne pepper 
Ground black pepper 
salt 
2 boiled eggs



Wash and chop the lamb tripe and trotters. Boil in water with a bay leaf until they are tender. (30 min - 1 hour) Keep the water (broth) in the pot. 

Meanwhile, toast the cumin in a separate pan and crush in a mortar. 

Finely chop the onion. Sauté in a frying pan over medium to low heat. When the onion is ready, add the boiled tripe and the trotters, also the chopped garlic and cook over medium heat all together. 

After 5 minutes pour two cups of rice. Cut the blood into small cubes and add it to the frying pan along with the roasted cumin, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Saute for 3 minutes, until the rice is transparent and the paprika looks toasted. 

Add 4 cups of broth and season to taste. Let it cook over medium heat. 

When ready, serve in a dish and add cutted boiled eggs on top. 

Spicy Romesco sauce with potatoes (Salsa Romesco con patatas.

5 large chillies
10 roasted almonds
6 roasted hazelnuts 
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 thick slice of country bread
3 tomatoes 
1 clove garlic
parsley
1/2 lemon juice
1 tablespoon of white wine
salt



Remove the seeds and stems from the chillies. Soak in warm water, and after 10 minutes dry them with paper towels. 

In a frypan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the slice of bread on both sides until golden brown. Let it cool and cut it in cubes and set aside.

High heat the pan with 2 tablespoon olive oil and the chiles. Cook for a minute and add the tomatoes chopped. Season and stir constantly until the tomato juices have evaporated.

In a grinder place the almonds, hazelnuts and fried bread. After 1 minute add the peeled garlic clove, grind for 1 minute and add also the tomato mixture from the pan, parsley, lemon juice and white wine. Grind meanwhile adding 1 cup of olive oil until getting an homogeneous mixture.  Season to taste. 

Guiso de pollo y chorizo (Chicken and chorizo stew)

6 large chicken thighs
200 g chorizo
1 onion
2 medium leeks
1 tespoon paprika
a pinch of saffron strands
2 whole heads of garlic
4 sprigs of thyme
200 ml sweet white wine
250 ml chicken stock
800 g boiled white beans
1 bay leaf
olive oil & salt



Heat some the olive oil in a large pot and fry the chicken thighs on both sides until they are crisp and golden, set aside in a plate. Cut the chorizo into 1-2cm chunks and add to the pot. Fry for a minute on each side and remove from the pot, leaving the oil behind. 

Add the onion cut into thin wedges and the leeks chopped into 2-3cm pieces (fry in the chorizo oil.) Reduce the heat, cover and soften the vegetables for 3 – 4 minutes. Check that they don’t catch on the bottom of the pot. 

Pollo al chilindrón (Chilindrón chicken)

4 chicken legs and 4 thighs 

4 cups diced onions
1 cup diced green peppers
1 cup diced red peppers
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup of Serrano ham or bacon
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 bay leaf
2 cups plain  tomato sauce
2 cups of water
Olive oil & Salt 

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in pot over medium heat. Season the chicken pieces with salt and brown them on all sides. When ready set aside in a plate.

Pollo en pepitoria (Pepitoria Chicken)

1 chicken (chopped)
2 onions
1 carrot
1 green pepper
1 glass of white wine
2 cloves of garlic
8 almonds
3 slices of bread
olive oil & salt
black pepper
1 bay leaf
few strands of saffron
1 - 2 boiled eggs

Add salt and pepper to the chicken pieces and lightly fry in a saucepan with olive oil.

Chop the onions, garlic, carrot and green pepper, put them to fry over low heat in a saucepan with some olive oil and season. When they start to turn brown add the golden chicken, bay leaf, saffron strands, 1 glass of water and wine. Close the pan and cook for 50-60 minutes in low-medium heat.

Toro Bravo (Brave bull)

300 gr of bull or beef
3 onions
4 carrots
1 red pepper
2 ripe tomatoes
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of garlic
black pepper
nutmeg
1 liter of white wine
10 - 12 apples

Place in a saucepan cubed beef with a bit of olive oil and fry 2 minutes. Onions, carrots and tomatoes will go entire. Add also chopped red pepper in little peaces, a bay leaf, peeled and chopped garlic, white wine, a little bit of black pepper and nutmeg. Let cook in a low heat for 1 - 2 hours. Add some water if need it. 

After that time place the carrots, onions and tomatoes in a mixer and grind all. Add the mixture to the saucepan with the other ingredients. Keep cooking for 30 min. Once it is ready, is convenient to break the beef cubes in order to make an homogeneous sauce. 

Fabes con almejas (Beans with Clams)

1/2 kg. of white beans

1/2 kg. clam

1 tomato

1 spring onion

1 carrot

1 leek

1 bay leaf

4 cloves of garlic

extra virgin olive oil

salt & chopped parsley

Traditional dish from Asturias 

Put the beans to soak in a bowl with water 24 hours before cooking.

The next day, put water (about 1 liter) in a pot and add the beans, the leek, carrot, spring onion, 2 cloves of garlic, bay leaf and salt. Cover and cook in a low to medium heat for 60-90 minutes (until the beans are cooked. Depends on the pot, and also if fire is electric or gas). When beans are tender, if they have too much broth, remove a little. Remove the vegetables and keep aside.

Guiso de Rabo de Toro (Bull tail Stew)

1 bull tail (or oxtail)

3 or 4 onions

2 carrots

1 head of garlic

1 cube beef bouillon

1 teaspoon paprika

3 bay leaves

1 glass of red or white wine

cinnamon, nutmeg

6 cloves, peppercorns and salt

Virgin olive oil

4 medium potatoes

Fry the chopped bull tail in a pot with olive oil.
When browned, add the paprika and stir a few seconds (be careful not to burn).
Then add the garlic cloves, finely chopped onions, carrots cut into discs, bay leaf, wine, cinnamon, a little bit of nutmeg, cloves, pepper and crumbled bouillon tablet. Add water to cover the ingredients reach. Let cook for an hour and a half.

Mejillones tigres (Mussels tigers)

1k mussels

1 medium onion

Water for boiling & salt

For the bechamel

milk

Cooking water mussels

flour

nutmeg

pepper

To coat in breadcrumbs

beaten egg

breadcrumbs

Soft olive oil

Despite having many ingredients is easy to prepare, the base will be a bechamel sauce made ​​just right thickness, but that's like everything in the kitchen: a matter of practice.

Garlic Olive Oil

450ml / 17fl olive oil (not virgin)

5 - 7 cloves of garlic

2 bay leaves

black pepper

Pour the olive oil into sterilised, sealable glass bottle using a funnel. Add the peeled cloves of garlic, black pepper and the bay leaves. Seal the bottle.

Gently warm some water in a saucepan. Bain-marie the bottle with the mixture. Heat slowly for about 1 hour.

Keep the bottle in a cool, dark place, shaking the bottles once a week. As time goes on the oil will become redder and hotter.

Empedrado (Paella with beans)

300 g rice
200 grams of white beans
1 bunch of spring onions
2 dried red peppers
1 tomato
Olive oil
water
salt
parsley
saffron
paprika
laurel
(add some salty codfish is optional)



Soak the beans the night before. The next day the beans are put to boil in a pot with bay leaf.

Lightly fry peppers and garlic in a pan, set aside when the are ready.

Tumbet de Mallorca (Mallorca Tumbet)

1 large onion
1 large eggplant
2 green pinientos
1 zucchini
4 potatoes
crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf, salt and brown sugar
Olive oil




In a pot, put garlic to fry in olive oil, pour the tomato puree and cook with 2 bay leaves, salt and sugar to make a homemade tomato sauce. (I sometimes add a carrot chunks in tomato not to add sugar, besides giving you more creaminess to the sauce)

Patatas al ajo cabañil (Cabañil garlic potatoes)

  potatoes

  garlic

  white wine vinegar

  1 bay leaf

  salt

  olive oil

  dried parsley (optional)

Wash, peel and cut the potatoes. We take oil in a pan and when hot add the potatoes, bay leaf and fry over low heat.