Recipe of the month
ENSALADA DE ESPINACAS FRESCAS, CHAMPIÑONES, IDIAZÁBAL Y VINAGRETA DE FRUTOS ROJOS
(fresh spinach, mushrooms, pine nuts and Idiazábal cheese salad with red fruits marmalade)

Ingredients (4 serves)

> 800 gr of fresh spinaches
> 8 mushrooms
> 200 gr of smoked beacon
> 50 gr of idiazábal cheese
> 50 gr of pine nuts
> 2 teaspoons of red fruits’ jam
> olive oil
> vinegar
> salt

Method

Clean the spinaches carefully and dry them well. Cut the end of each leave off and waste. Cut the remaining leaves rather thinly.

Brush the sand off the mushrooms and slice them thinly.

Chop the beacon and fry it in a saucepan with hot olive oil until brown. Add the pine nuts and stir. Set aside over a sieve keeping the oil for the vinaigrette.

Cut the cheese in thin slices.

Prepare the vinaigrette with the oil from the pan, the jam, the vinegar and the salt. Add some more oil if necessary and mix well.

Mount the salad over each serving dish by placing a bed of spinach first, followed by the beacon and the pine nuts, then the mushrooms and finally the cheese. Dress the salad with the vinaigrette.


Some other recipe for success

ARROZ NEGRO (black rice)

Ingredients (4 serves)

> 600 gr of squid
> 1 big onion, peeled and chopped
> 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
> 2 tomatoes, peeled and minced
> 6 tablespoons of olive oil
> 400 gr of rice (1 pound / 14 oz)
> 1,1 l of fish stock (4.4 cups)
> 8-10 saffron threats or colouring
> salt

Method

Clean the squid and cut them in rings. Get the ink from their ink bags and set aside.

Heat the oil in the pan and fry the squid rings over medium heat.

Take them out when they begin to curl and then add the onion into the pan. Cook it over medium heat for some minutes. Then add the tomato and fry slightly. After some more minutes, add the chopped garlic and fry over medium heat.

When the tomato starts to burn, stir in the rice and the squid ink and mix well.

In the meanwhile, heat up the stock. Incorporate it into the pan when it boils.
Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for (+/-) 8 minutes, rotating and swirling the pan to distribute the heat evenly. Reduce heat to minimum and cook (+/-) 10 more minutes.

Let it stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

GAZPACHO DE TOMATE Y SANDÍA A LA ALBAHACA CON HELADO DE QUESO
Tomato and watermelon gazpacho flavoured with basil and cheese ice-cream

Ingredients (4 serves)

> 6 tomatoes
> 1/2 of a watermelon
> 2 branches of fresh basil
> 1/2 cup of olive oil
> 1 teaspoon of salt
> 100 ml of cream
> 200 gr of cream cheese
> 75 gr of sugar

Method

Whip the cream in a bowl and mix it with the sugar and cream cheese.

Peel and seed the tomatoes and watermelon. Cut them both in pieces and blend them together until you get a fine cream. Season with oil and salt and let it cool in the fridge for one hour.

Chop the basil leaves finely and mix them with the rest of olive oil. Set aside.

Serve the cold soup over a tablespoon of cheese ice cream and season with the basil oil.

CROQUETAS DE POLLO (chicken croquettes)

Ingredients (4 serves)

> 1 onion, finely chopped
> 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
> 1 tablespoon of lard
> olive oil
> 60 gr of Spanish ham, finely chopped
> 185 gr of leftover chicken, skinned, boned and minced
> 60 gr of butter, softened
> 1 egg, beaten
> 1 egg yolk
> 500 gr of potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed
> breadcrumbs

Method

Fry the onion and garlic in a large saucepan with the lard and a little oil. When they’ve softened stir in the ham and the chicken and fry for 5 minutes over low heat and then set aside.

Mix the butter and the egg yolk into the mashed potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Place in the refrigerators for a while until mouldable.

Shape the potato mixture into small balls and then flat them between your hands.

Place 1 teaspoon of the chicken mixture in the centre of each patty, then close the potatoes around it, cupping each croquette in the palm of your hand and forming it into a cone shape.

Dip them into the beaten eggs, roll in breadcrumbs and fry them in a generous amount of hot oil.

MERLUZA EN SALSA VERDE (hake in green sauce)

Ingredients (4 serves)

> 1 kg of hake, in slices
> 1 onion, peeled and chopped (100 gr aprox)
> 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
> a bunch of parsley, chopped
> 1/2 glass of white wine
> 1 cup of fish stock
> 8 clams
> 4 white asparagus
> 2 boiled eggs
> 100 gr of flour
> olive oil
> salt

Method

Fry the chopped onion and garlic gently in a wide saucepan with hot olive oil. Stir in the parsley and mix.

When the onion starts to brown, add the flour and stir well to avoid lumps. Let it cook for a couple of minutes and stir in the wine.

After two minutes, add the stock. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes.

Add the hake slices (previously salted and coated in flour), the clams, the asparagus and the boiled eggs cut in halves. Cook the fish two minutes on each side.

GAMBAS AL AJILLO (prawns with garlic)

Ingredients (4 serves)

> 500 gr of shrimp, peeled
> 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
> cayenne pepper
> 20 cl of white wine
> parsley, finely chopped
> olive oil
> salt

Method

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan or earthenware casserole.

Fry the garlic slightly over slow heat.

When they start to brown, add the parsley and the cayenne pepper. Then and the white wine and cook over high heat until the alcohol evaporates.

Stir in the shrimp and cook for some minutes. Salt to taste.