Simple Spanish Food

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #3: Hot Spiced Wine (vino caliente)

In Spain, as in much of Europe, there is a long tradition of blending wine with fruits and spices. The most famous example is sangría.  There's also the spiced wine punch Hippocras (Hipocrás, o garrapiñado).  But both sangría and hipocrás are chilled and best for the warm months. Late fall and winter, especially during the holidays, is time for a Spanish hot spiced wine, vino caliente. 

It goes very well with roasted chestnuts.

Spanish-style hot spiced wine is easy. It takes just a few minutes to make. You'll need only an inexpensive red table wine--nothing fancy. It's the perfect holiday drink for a casual get-together of family or friends.  

See my my post on hot spiced wine (vino caliente) for the recipe.

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays # 2: Roasted Chestnuts (castañas asadas)

Tomorrow, November 11,  is the magosto, a festival in which roasted chestnuts play a major part  (see my recent post about how the magosto is celebrated) so it seems appropriate that the second entry in this series, "Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays," should be chestnuts. 

Roasted chestnuts are not  just a holiday food in Spain. They're enjoyed throughout late autumn and winter in much of the country. And, yes, they are roasted over open fires (though many Spaniards roast them at home in the oven, too).   American that I am (and a big Nat King Cole fan to boot) I always associate roasted chestnuts with Christmas.  

Roasting chestnuts is one of my favorite Spanish ways to enjoy the holidays.  See my post on roasting chestnuts (castañas asadas)  for more information.

 

 

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #1: Christmas Cookies (mantecados y polvorones)

Today I'm beginning a series of posts on Spanish ways to enjoy the holidays. Number one on the list (and one of Ana's favorites) is Christmas cookies.

Spanish Christmas cookies  include polvorones, mantecados, roscos de vino, and alfajores, to name a few.  These and other types of cookies are enjoyed throughout the holiday season. Usually a combination of different sorts of cookies are served on a platter, so each guest can choose the cookies he or she likes.  In texture, most of them resemble an extra crumbly shortbread. The cookies are often flavored with almonds, citrus zest, cognac, or cinnamon.

Polvorones translates as "dusties." They're named for their texture because they're extremely crumbly--so much so that in Spain they are individually wrapped to protect each cookie.

Mantecados are traditionally made with a high quality lard (manteca means lard in Spanish), but they don't have to be. I have made them with coconut oil, which gives the cookies the same crumbly texture along with a coconut flavor.

For a recipe, see my post on easy Spanish coconut Christmas cookies (mantecados de coco).

I also have a recipe for Sevilla-style Christmas cookies (polvorones sevillanos).

 

The on-line Spanish food store La Tienda also carries polvorones and mantecados, along with many other types of cookies. Check out La Tienda's Christmas cookie page for more information.

Salpicón de Mariscos: a Spanish Seafood Salad

In my last post, Esperanza Cooks Bogavante, I wrote about the Spanish way to boil lobster. Today I'll focus on salpicón, a salad-like mixture that's great combined with boiled lobster, as well as many other types of fish and shellfish.  

Once again, this recipe is from my mother-in-law, Esperanza.  Her salpicón is a mixture of chopped boiled egg, parsley, onion, olives, and pimentos, dressed with olive oil and vinegar.  It is then combined in various ways with the lobster, or whatever type of fish or shellfish is being served:  salpicón is also great with crab (nécoras o cangrejo), poached hake (merluza), or even just boiled potatoes.

Here's Esperanza's recipe for salpicón:

Ingredients:

2 flame roasted red peppers, cut in small slivers  (piquillos are wonderful, or see my post on flame roasting peppers)

one small onion, chopped

pitted olives, quartered

3 chopped boiled eggs

a small bunch of Italian parsley, chopped

1/2 cup (or more) virgin olive oil

white wine vinegar to taste

a dash of water if the mixture is too thick

salt to taste (the olives are often salt enough)

Toss the above ingredients together.

Serve the salpicón with boiled lobster or other seafood.

Presentation varies. If the lobsters or other shellfish are served in the shell, then use the salpicón as a side dish, or better yet just pass around the bowl.  The guests can combine their lobster and salpicón as they like.

If you are serving the lobster shelled, you can spoon the salpicón on top as you would a sauce or a garnish, or you can mix it all together to make a salad, salpicón de mariscos.  

Salpicón and lobster on toast makes a fantastic tapa.

 

Esperanza Cooks Bogavante (Lobster)

In Spain shellfish are extremely popular during the holidays, especially on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's, but they may be served on any special occasion.   Langostinos (similar to jumbo shrimp or prawns), langostas (a type of large, spiny lobster), or, today's post, bogavantes (very similar to Maine lobster) are boiled and served with homemade olive oil mayonnaise (see my post on easy Spanish mayo) or a salpicón, which I will write about in the near future. 

Esperanza always starts with live lobsters, either wild-caught from Galicia or farm-raised.

Don't take the bands off the claws, or they will pinch you.

How to kill live lobsters?

Esperanza "drowns" them in fresh water. She just fills up a dishpan or large bowl with  tap water and puts them in. She leaves them in about 20 minutes.

Esperanza fills her largest pot with water, adds coarse salt, and three bay leaves per lobster.  She brings the water to a rolling boil, and drops the lobsters in.

 It is extremely important not to overcook the lobster, or it will be tough and dry.  Here's a time table from the Maine Lobster Council: check out the site for all sorts of info on buying and preparing lobster.

For timing, use the weight of individual lobsters, not total weight of all lobsters being cooked.

If the lobster weighs:	Boil:
1 pound	8 minutes
1 1/4 pounds	9-10 minutes
1 1/2 pounds	11-12 minutes
1 3/4 pounds	12-13 minutes
2 pounds	15 minutes
2 1/2 pounds	20 minutes
3 pounds	25 minutes
5 pounds	35-40 minutes

Pay attention to the note at the top of the chart.  These times apply no matter how many lobsters you are boiling.  A  one-pound lobster needs ten minutes. Three, one-pound lobsters need just the same:  ten minutes. A larger lobster needs more time. For this reason, if you're cooking more than one lobster at a time, it is important that they are all the same weight.

Also, use a large pot and plenty of boiling water, or else the water will cool off too much when you put the lobsters in and prevent accurate cooking. 

Esperanza cuts her lobsters longways with heavy shears. It's convenient because in Spain the chest meat, tomalley (the green stuff) and eggs, if there are any, are usually eaten. In fact these are considered by many to be the best part of the lobster.

The lobster can be served hot or chilled. Once you've cooked it, it keeps well in the fridge for a day. Esperanza keeps cooked lobster wrapped in a clean damp cloth.

The wine? Nothing is better with boiled lobster than an albariño.