Spanish Flavor Highlights

Mexican cooking and Spanish cooking have a lot in common, it’s true. Spanish cooking, however, missed most of the New World influences so prevalent in Middle America.

Some of the particular flavors found in Spanish cooking come from regional availability of certain plants.

OLIVES
Spanish olives and olive oil are known for their high quality and unique flavors. While the olives generally available in the United States that are commonly known as Spanish olives are most often small, green, and stuffed with pimento. They are also extremely salty. Like the wines of Spain, true Spanish olives are distinctive in flavor and texture to their regions, raging from subtle and floral to robust and nutty.

Olives grown in Spain go through a rigorous grading system, with a larger portion being used for oil pressing. The remainder fall into four color/ripeness groups that then become many of the olives known in Spanish cuisine.

Green olives are harvested for their firmer flesh and smokey flavor. Semi-ripe olives have a mottled, pinkish color, and a vibrant flavor. Ripe olives are dark and robust. Ripe black olives are harvested before they fully ripen, and treated to maintain their color and to remove any bitterness.

WINE
As with any other wine producing country, Spain is known for it’s many regional vintages. Wine if often the drink of choice at meal time and topped off with sparkling water. Spanish wines come from grapes with names like Albariño, Tempranillo and Verdejo, and pair with regional spices like no others.

While I am not a wine drinker by choice, I know where to find the best in my area. I frequent Spec’s and enjoy perusing their selections.

MEATS
Jamon is an air-cured ham. It is a visual fixture in Spain as well as a culinary one. These hams may be found hanging everywhere form restaurants to home kitchens to meat markets. Thinly sliced, it adds a rich flavor to a variety of dishes from tapas to stews.

Chorizo in Spain is quite different from the more familiar chorizo from Mexico. Mexican chorizo is made from fresh pork, whereas the Spanish counterpart is smoked. The Spanish variety imparts is regionally spiced flavor to paella among other dishes. It can also be found sliced very thinly and served with a complimentary selection of cheeses.

SAFFRON
Among all the spices grown in Spain, saffron is the most outstanding of the lot. It’s origins trace back into Asia, but the majority of the world’s saffron in modern times comes from Spain. It takes thousands of Crocus sativus flowers to yield only an ounce of saffron. the spice is collected in “threads” which are ground and added to a variety of dishes. Saffron is also known for imparting a rich golden-yellow hue not only to foods, but to textiles as well. Along with cumin, tarragon, dill, sage, anise, thyme, fennel, mint, cinnamon, cloves, the Spanish have collected spices from around the world and embraced them as their own.

These are but a few of the outstanding ingredients found in Spanish cooking. For your edification, give this recipe a try, or look up one of the many recipes available online.

Fabada Stew
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2-3 hours
Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:
1 large onion, peeled but still whole
1 head garlic, whole
4 cans (15 oz.) beans (cannellini or other large white beans), drained
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 large pinch saffron threads, crushed
1 (1 lb.) meaty  ham hock
½ lb. bacon, unsliced
½ lb. chorizo
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Drain beans and transfer them to a large Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, paprika, crushed saffron, ham hock, bacon and 12 cups cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer the stew, tucking the ham hock under the cooking liquid as necessary, about 1 hour.

Add the chorizo to the bean stew and cook until the meat and beans are tender and the cooking liquid is thick and slightly reduced, about 45 minutes longer.

Discard the onion and garlic and transfer the meat to a bowl. Pull the meat from the ham hock and cut it into large pieces. Cut the bacon and chorizo into pieces. Add the meat back into the beans and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Serve hot. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Enjoy a taste of Spain in your own kitchen!

–Ann Cathey

Eggplant Lasagne

Don’t curl your lip until you hear me out. Seriously.

A friend recently mentioned that eggplant could be used in a lasagne instead of the traditional flat pasta. For me, being diabetic, this concept would be a huge bonus in my enjoyment of Italian cuisine, so I decided to give it a go.

As with any lasagne, this is not an inexpensive project, running between $35-40 before any sides like garlic bread or salad. On the flip side, it will feed a goodly number of people.

I used my crock pot to test this dish, though you are welcome to use a conventional oven, baking at 350F for between 1-2 hours depending on the depth of the baking dish you choose.

Eggplant Lasagne
Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours on High
Servings: 8-12

Ingredients:
2 med eggplant, sliced
salt
1 lb hamburger
12 oz tomato paste
20 oz crushed tomatoes, partially drained
24 oz tomato based spaghetti sauce of choice
2 tsp garlic powder (NOT garlic salt!)
2 tsp onion powder (NOT onion salt!)
2 tsp parsley, dry or fresh
1 tbsp wheat germ (for added fiber)
1/2 oz basil leaves, coarsely chopped
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
15 oz seedless black olives, drained, sliced or crushed
1 lb mozzarella, shredded
1 lb ricotta
8 oz Provolone, sliced or shredded
6 oz Parmesan, shredded or shaved

Eggplant in zipper seal bag layered with salt to pull out moisture.

Clean and slice the eggplant to about 1/8″ thickness, either in rounds or long flat pieces. Place in a zippy bag in layers, sprinkling salt between each layer. Seal and refrigerate overnight. This treatment will not only pull moisture out of the eggplants slices, it will also reduce any potential bitterness.

 

Excess moisture collecting in bag.

Rinsed eggplant.

When you are ready to assemble the dish, rinse the sliced eggplant and pat dry to further reduce additional moisture.

 

In a large bowl, mix dry spices including the parsley, pasta sauce, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, olives, and wheat germ. Slice the black olives, or simply crush them between your fingers for a chunkier texture. Pitted olives have a hole on one end and a cross shaped cut on the other. Putting pressure on the sides of the olive will cause it to split into between 2 and 6 odd shaped chunks.  Cover the bowl and set aside.

 

Building the sauce.

Ground beef.

Crumble hamburger and pre-cook until completely cooked through. Drain off any fluid. For a less fatty dish, rinse the meat and allow to drain thoroughly before adding to sauce.

Slicing basil.

 

Slice mushrooms. Roll and slice basil leaves.

 

 

Set up the crock pot with a liner and/or olive oil spray, as preferred.

Photos by M. Taylor

Spread just enough sauce along the bottom of the crock to ensure other things won’t stick. Lay down first layer of eggplant slices. Add a layer of mushrooms, basil, mozzarella, ricotta, and a little parmesan and provolone. Cover with a layer of sauce.

 

Photos by M. Taylor

Repeat layering, adding the meat in on the next layer, until all ingredients are used up. Make sure that the very top of the dish is covered in cheeses.

Photos by M. Taylor

Push any cheese bits that may fall under the lip of the lid away from the edge enough to ensure that the cheese should not touch the lid during cooking. This will help avoid a later mess that can be difficult to clean off the chrome, rubber, and/or glass of the crock pot lid.

Ready to serve!

Allow to cook on high for 6 hours. A wooden skewer should pass down through the middle of the dish with little to no resistance.

Allow to rest for a few minutes after turning the heat off, about as long as it takes to bake up the garlic bread and toss your salad or other accompaniment. Serve and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Asher

Please drop us a line if you try this one out, and let us know how your version turned out!

— Ann Cathey

Additional photos by M. Tanner and Asher (Thank you!)

 

 

Rendering Spaghetti Squash

A golden hued spaghetti squash cooks up into long strings of delightfully crisp and slightly sweet “spaghetti”. It is a wonderful ingredient for a wide assortment of dishes, though some people find it a tough cookie when it comes to cooking.

As the name implies, the stringy meat can be used in place of traditional spaghetti with sauce, substituted for pasta in casseroles, tossed into stir fry, or just eaten with a little butter and garlic.

 

I’ve been shown a quick and fairly efficient way to render one of these thin skinned, tough to cut while raw, squashes.

 

 

 

Microwave Render

Remove the stem end of the squash first. This end should have a bump in the middle after it pops off.

 

 

Cut the squash into two equal parts. This can be a bit of a chore as the meat is hard in the raw state. If the squash is larger than 2 pounds, you may need to quarter it.

 

 

 

 

Once the squash is opened up, use a hard edged spoon to scrape the seeds and surrounding stringy material out.

Reserve the seeds for regrowing if you are into that. The stringy material is a slightly darker color than the meat, usually, so you can scrape until you hit the lighter, harder flesh.

Give the meat a light spritz or rub of olive oil. You may cook the squash in a conventional oven, or in a microwave. The microwave takes a bit less time.

 

 

If you plan to roast your squash in the oven, lay the halves face down on a foil lined pan, or spray the pan with olive oil. This will prevent sticking. Set the oven to 350F and let the squash cook for a half an hour or until soft.

For microwaving, spray a baking dish with olive oil and lay in the squash face down. You may have to repeat the process with each separate piece of squash depending on the size. Cook on high in five minute increments until the rind of the squash is soft when pressed with a finger. Be careful – it will be hot.

The squash may look a little wilted around the edges when you turn the halves over for inspection after cooking. Not to worry, this is normal.

 

Practice will teach you how long is long enough for your recipe and personal tastes when cooking most squash.

 

Turn once again to your trust hard edged spoon to scrape the meat out of the skin. Set the stringy meat aside in a bowl to reserve it until you are ready to add it to your recipe. It should scrape easily away from the skin.

Once empty, the skin should look something like this.

 

 

Now that you have the process, here’s a quick recipe to let you test your squash with.

Chicken with Spaghetti Squash Bake
Prep time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 med spaghetti squash (about 2 pounds)
1 lb chicken, diced
4-6 oz mushrooms, diced or sliced (Portobello is nice for this)
4 oz black olives, sliced
1 med bell pepper, diced, yellow or orange recommended
16 oz Alfredo sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
4-6 oz mozzarella, shredded
2 oz Provolone, sliced or shredded

Render spaghetti squash and microwave until done. Scoop meat out into a large bow and fold in Alfredo sauce. Cover and set aside.

While the squash is in the microwave, begin the chicken mixture. Add a little olive oil to a large skillet and saute chicken with spices. When the chicken is almost done, add mushrooms, bell pepper, and olives. Continue to cook until chicken is completely done.

Spray an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish with olive oil to prevent sticking. Turn out the chicken mixture into the baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle about half of the mozzarella evenly over the top.

Turn the spaghetti squash and sauce mixture into the dish on top of the chicken and spread evenly. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Provolone cheeses.

Make sure the Provolone is on top as it is a dryer cheese and will melt more slowly than the mozzarella. It will also crust better if you prefer to cook until brown.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until heated through and all cheeses are melted.

Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

–Ann Cathey