Simple Spanish Food

Easy Pan-grilled Swordfish, pez espada a la plancha, o emperador a la plancha

In Spain, swordfish steaks are often excellent--juicy, tender, delicate in flavor.  They are also common. You will see emperador a la plancha written on chalkboards outside little neighborhood restaurants all over the country.   They are a standard main course of the menú del día. 

There are three secrets to swordfish pan-grilled the Spanish way. The first, of course, is to start with good fresh swordfish. The second is to never overcook it. The third secret--often overlooked--is cutting the steaks thin--at half an inch or less.  Thin steaks allow for quick cooking and perfect texture.

In the U.S. swordfish steaks are almost always cut too thick, often an inch or more.

Even if you start out with top-quality swordfish, even if you carefully avoid overcooking, a steak this thick is bound to come out dry and chewy.  This is why swordfish in the U.S.  is so often served with a fatty, tangy sauce  or butter spiked with strong herbs--to disguise the flaws of poorly prepared fish.

Here in Central Florida, even at the best seafood markets,  swordfish is usually displayed already cut into steaks--all of them way too thick.  You could try to talk the person behind the counter into cutting a thin steak for you, but it's easier to do it yourself.  Just slice the too-thick steak longways with a sharp knife.

The swordfish steaks are now 1/2 inch thick--perfect for emperador a la plancha. 

Cooking the steaks is easy.

Just sprinkle the swordfish steaks with salt and pepper. Rub them with olive oil.

A heavy cast-iron skillet is best for pan grilling. I like to pan grill outside, on a propane burner, to avoid the smoke and splattered oil in the kitchen.

Heat the pan slowly (this helps to prevent sticking) until it is quite hot.   Put in the steaks. It's not necessary to put oil in the pan. The oil on the fish is enough.

Cook the steaks two minutes on one side.

Turn them.

Now cook them two minutes on the other side.

That's four minutes total. Because the steaks are only half an inch thick, this is enough to cook them through. Be careful:  don't overcook the swordfish or it will be dry. 

That's it. The swordfish steaks are ready to serve. No spicy sauce or herbed butter necessary. They're perfect just as they are.

 

 

 

Spanish Mineral Waters, aguas minerales

Spain's foods and wines are finally winning the international acclaim they deserve, but Spain's mineral waters are still relatively little known.

The most famous of Spanish mineral waters (and the easiest to find) is Vichy Catalan, but there are many others. Many of them, like Agua de Mondariz (pictured above) come from Galicia, the region in the northwest of Spain, famous for its hot springs.  Cabreiroá and Sousas are two other famous Galician waters. 

Most mineral waters are said to have some type of healing properties. Andrés, my father-in-law, could talk at length about the special qualities of each.  Mondariz was good for the stomach. Cabreiroá was good for the kidneys.   Vichy Catalan is said to be good for people (like me) with high cholesterol.

The waters can be applied externally too. When we're in Orense, in Galicia, we go to Las Burgas, the local hot spring, the water of which is said to be good for whatever ails you. It comes out of a stone spout steaming. Bathers go to hot pools along the river Miño. The water in these pools is supposed to be good for the skin.  

Many of Galicia's hot springs also feed spas. Here's a pic (taken from Facebook) of the spa at Mondaríz.

Taste-wise, Galician mineral waters tend to have low mineral content. Vichy Catalan is quite high. Almost all of Spanish mineral waters are available sparkling or still.

You could serve a Spanish mineral water with a Spanish meal, much as you would a San Pellegrino with an Italian one.  My favorite time to have a Spanish mineral water is when we're sitting in a cafe in the late afternoon--it's a nice change of pace from a coffee or hot chocolate--or with the cena, late-evening meal.

Vichy Catalan is available at La Tienda. Hopefully some of the Galician mineral waters will be available in the near future.

To read more about Agua de Sousas, check out the Agua de Sousas website. Agua de Sousas' history page has some cool photos of some of the older bottle styles and labels. Agua de Mondaríz also has a good website.

Check out the Mondaríz Spa's website here. It also has a history page with photographs.

 

 

 

 

Olives (aceitunas)

The subject of Spanish olives is so huge that I'll hardly scratch the surface with this post.  Spain produces more olives than any other country (over  twice as much as Italy, and many times more than France or Greece). There are hundreds of varieties of olives in cultivation in Spain. These vary according to the region where they are grown and also how they're prepared. 

Enter just about any tapas bar in Spain and order a drink and it will likely be served with a complimentary plate of olives. What type of olives depends on the bar and where in Spain you are. 

They may be simple brined olives.  These range from rich and black to crisp and green, and everything in between. The flavor of brined olives often has a hint of oak, much like an aged wine.

Or you may be served large, meaty, cracked olives, spiced with herbs, garlic, and (sometimes) citrus peel.  These spiced olives seem to be especially popular in the south of the country. We always eat them when we're in Córdoba.

Or the olives may be pitted and stuffed--with anchovy (salt cured or smoked), or with slivers of almond or, yes, even with  pimiento.  But stuffed olives in Spain are much, much, MUCH better than the stuffed olives usually sold in U.S. supermarkets. (Keep reading for more info on the problems with most supermarket olives).

If you're throwing a tapas party, you want to have good olives.  Like bread and wine, olives are very nearly indispensable when it comes to Spanish food.   Whether you choose simple brined olives or cracked, spiced olives or stuffed olives is up to you.  All three can be outstanding--if they're quality olives.  That's an important "if": not all olives labeled "Spanish Olives" are good.

Sadly,  U.S. supermarkets still tend to carry the worst Spanish olives.  The cheap (and sometimes not so cheap)  jars you see labeled "Spanish Olives" taste nothing like the olives eaten in Spain.  I can only imagine that some entrepreneur generations ago realized that anglos didn't know much about olives and got rich selling the worst of the worst.  Supermarket olives are usually way too salty. The texture nor the flavor is what it should be. The "pimento peppers" they're often stuffed with are actually a paste injected by a machine.  It's no wonder that so many people in the U.S. don't like olives. 

Even when I go to a supermarket with a pretty good olive stand, like Whole Foods, I will rarely find Spanish olives. There will be a selection of olives from France, Italy, and Greece--all pretty good--but nothing from Spain.

It is possible  to get high quality Spanish olives on-line.  La Tienda carries a great selection of Spanish olives. They have simple brined olives, cracked and spiced olives, olives stuffed with piquillo peppers. You name it.  Check out La Tienda's olive page for more information.

A new on-line Spanish food store Raposo's Gourmet & Tapas carries Serpis, a good brand of stuffed olives,  including green olives stuffed with smoked anchovies.  Check out Raposo's olive page for more information.

 

 

 

A Simple Spanish Way to Prepare Cockles: berberechos al vapor

Whenever we're in Spain, Ana's mother, Esperanza, prepares cockles (berberechos) for us, and we love them.  

Cockles  are a type of small clam and have a taste and texture similar to (but subtly different from) good littlenecks.   They're beautiful prepared al vapor--lightly steamed, seasoned with nothing but a touch of bay, and, if you like, a squeeze of lemon or even a sprinkle of pimentón at the table.

In Spain fresh cockles are traditionally less expensive than clams and generally considered to be humbler fare.  This does not prevent many Spaniards from preferring cockles to clams, however. Part of the pleasure of cockles is that it's so easy to steam a big platter of them and enjoy them in the simplest way--with good bread, a slightly effervescent ribeiro wine, and conversation.

I have never seen fresh cockles for sale in the U.S.   La Tienda carries top-of-the-line tinned cockles, but they're expensive and, in my opinion, just not worth it.  You could substitute littlenecks, but so long as clams are $4 a dozen or more (as they are here in Central Florida), I save them for almejas a la marinera.

But if you're in Europe, you'll probably have better luck finding cockles. This is a great way to enjoy them.

Esperanza's recipe for berberechos al vapor:

The trouble with cockles is sand.  They tend to have a lot of sand in them, more so than clams, and it's important to encourage them to spit out as much sand as possible before cooking them.

Esperanza dissolves a handful of coarse salt in a large bowl of water. She places the cockles in the salted water and lets them soak for several hours. She may drain the cockles, rinse them, and put them in more salted water several times, depending on how much sand they expel.

She simmers three bay leaves in a large pot of water.  She brings the water to a boil and adds the cockles. Most of the cockles will begin to open very quickly, in a minute or two. As they do, she removes them with a slotted spoon and puts them on a platter.  After the cockles have simmered for four minutes, all of them should be open. Any that haven't opened by this point are thrown away.

You could certainly serve steamed cockles with an albariño; however, to us, the best possible wine for berberechos is a ribeiro. 

 

 

 

 

Fresh Pimientos de Padrón Are Now Available at La Tienda

Pimientos de Padrón are one of my favorite tapas. Nothing could be easier to prepare.  You just quick fry them in olive oil and sprinkle them with coarse salt.  They taste amazing--like no other pepper--and they're also a lot of fun to eat. See my post on Pimientos de Padrón for more information about this fabulous pepper.

If you live outside of Spain and you want pimientos de Padrón, it's normally necessary to grow them yourself. (I also give some tips about growing pimientos de Padrón in my post.)

But now the Spanish on-line food store La Tienda has fresh pimientos de Padrón for sale.    Click here for more information about purchasing fresh pimientos de Padrón.

These peppers are available only during the season, so enjoy them while they last.

 

The Little-known Whites of Spain: Distinctive Wines at Bargain Prices

Albariños and Verdejos have won international reputations as fine wines, and Ribeiros and Bierzos are on their way, but there are many, many more Spanish white wines out there to choose from. Many of these wines are almost completely unknown outside of Spain, and sometimes even outside of the regions that produce them.   This usually means they can be bought for very low prices. 

The wine in the picture above, for instance, is a Cabaña el Abad. It's made from 100% albillo--a traditional grape variety little known outside of Spain. It's from the D.O. of Tierra de Castilla y León.  It's smooth, with low acidity, no fruit (a pleasant surprise), and a delicate perfume.  The neighborhood wine bar we frequent in Madrid charges a little under  two euros a glass for it.  It was a perfect match for tapas of smoked fish.

 

I have not seen Cabaña de Abad in the U.S., but many other little-known white wines from Spain are becoming increasingly available here. Last summer we tried René Barbier, a bargain white  from Catalunya.  It's 40% Xarel-lo, 30% Macabeo, 30% Parellada.  These are the grapes traditionally used in sparkling Cava.  But don't worry: it doesn't taste like flat cava.  Catalunya was making simple white wines from these grapes long before Cordoníu developed cava in the nineteenth century, so it is, in a way, a traditional  wine. The taste, I admit, is more "mainstream": the flavor reminds you of flowers and even some fruit, but the fruit is very light. 

The cost? Less than $5 a bottle.

Last year I wrote about Protocolo White, a Vino de la Tierra de Castilla. Like many whites from that D.O, it's made with a large percentage of arién.  It's smooth, with low acidity, a simple note of green melon.  Again, the fruit is discreet--in direct contrast to the heavy, overwhelming fruit-punch flavors that are so popular in the inexpensive white wine market now. The price? We find Protocolo for less than $8 in Orlando.

Just a few weeks ago in a local wine shop here in Central Florida we came across an inexpensive Spanish white with a silly name, "Beso de Vino."  It's made from 100% Macabeo. This, again, is one of the three grapes traditionally used in sparkling cava. Macabeo is also a synonym for Viura--the grape usually used for white rioja.

Beso de Vino is from the D.O. of Cariñena, in Aragón--a region with a reputation for producing rough, heavy, strong wines.  But Cariñenas are said to be improving, and it only cost $6 or something, so we gave it a shot.

It was completely different from any white rioja we have tried, even though it's made from the same grape. As you can see in the photo above it has a very deep gold color.   This is by no means  fine wine, but it was fun wine.  It has some acidity, but not where you expect it. It has fruit, but once again the fruit is restrained by today's cheap white wine standards.  Doing some research just now, I find that Robert Parker gives Beso de Vino 88 points, in case you care about such things. 

Basically, Beso de Vino is a pleasant and unsual table wine,  and when so many inexpensive (and often not so inexpensive) whites taste so much alike, it is a pleasure to find something a little different. Would I serve it with clams? No. But it would be perfect with many of the simple Spanish vegetarian dishes I write about on this blog--a summer squash paella, an ensaladilla rusa, or just a  few roasted chestnuts.

Ana's uncle Rafael recommended that we try some of the new-style whites from Montilla-Moriles, a region known for sherry-type wines. When we were in Spain in May, we picked up a bottle of Viñaverde (not to be confused with the Portuguese Vinho Verde). From Córdoba, it's a blend of torrontés, moscatel, and verdejo.  Although the label says "afrutado," it means fruity by Spanish standards or, better yet, cordobés standards, which is to say, this wine is light, clean, refreshing, and quite dry, with a taste more of minerals than fruit. This is another one that probably hasn't made it yet to the U.S. But keep an eye out. You never know. Want to guess how much a bottle of Viñaverde costs in Spain? Three euros and a half.

My advice, for what it's worth, is this:  if you come across an inexpensive Spanish white wine you've never heard of, give it a try.