Simple Spanish Food

Esperanza's Albóndigas: a Simple Spanish Recipe for Meatballs with Saffron Sauce

Albóndigas--meatballs--are one of the first things  Esperanza, my mother-in-law, taught me how to cook.  She always uses equal parts ground pork and ground ternera (veal, which in Spain is simply meat from a young cow).  Here in the States I use straight ground venison or ground bison or ground grass-fed beef.  

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground meat of your choice

1 egg

3/4 cup bread crumbs

a handful of chopped parsley

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon of thyme

1 glass of dry white wine (drinkable, but nothing special)

3/4 cup flour (for dusting)

1/2 cup olive oil

4 cups of water, or chicken stock if you prefer

a pinch of saffron

salt

In a large bowl, combine the meat, egg, parsley, garlic, thyme, breadcrumbs, and a pinch of salt.  Mix well. Let the mixture sit in the fridge at least half an hour.

Now shape the meatballs, about 1 inch or a little less in diameter.

Roll the meatballs in flour until they are well coated.

Heat up a large pot. Working in batches, quickly brown the meatballs on all sides in the olive oil, and set them aside. 

When you have browned all of the meatballs, add the wine, the water or broth, and the  saffron to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add salt (about a teaspoon if you have used water, little or none if you're using broth).

Add the meatballs and, if necessary, more water so that they are covered with liquid.

Simmer for 25 minutes, and they're ready. Serve the albóndigas with the sauce sauce spooned over them.   

Esperanza always serves albóndigas with patatas fritas--french fries, a green salad, and of course good bread for mopping up the sauce.

Simple Spanish Subs #3: bocadillo de lomo curado

Bocadillo de lomo curado is another super simple--and delicious--Spanish sandwich. As with bocadillo de queso manchego and bocadillo de jamón, it has only two ingredients:  good bread, usually a Spanish-style baguette or pan de barra, and thinly sliced, dry-cured pork loin, lomo curado.

Put them together and you have a fantastic sandwich. The lomo curado is so flavorful that nothing else is necessary. In fact it would be a shame to detract from the lomo with unnecessary additions. The point of this sandwich is to showcase the taste of lomo curado. There's really nothing quite like it. 

While shopping for lomo curado you will see lomo curado ibérico, made from the loin of a special Spanish  heirloom hog, and less expensive lomo curado serrano, the more ordinary sort.  My father-in-law Andrés always thought that regular serrano pork was just fine for sandwiches and indeed most tapas, while  pricey ibérico pork is best reserved for special occasions.  I agree. Both types are outstanding, just different.

La Tienda should have lomo curado serrano  for 2012 any day now.  So keep an eye on their lomo and chorizo page.

Pincho Moruno: A Spanish Shish Kebab

Pincho Moruno, a sort of Spanish shish kabob, is another tapa that can be found in tapas bars all over Spain, though it can also be enjoyed as a main course (as in the picture above).  Basically a pincho moruno is a lomo adobado that has been cut into bite-sized pieces, stuck on a skewer, and grilled.  So this is an easy way to create variety with the same meat and marinade. You can roast some of the lomo adobado for dinner, and use the rest to make pincho moruno another day.

Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:

One boneless pork loin, or use pork tenderloins

One batch of adobo marinade (click here to see recipe)

Cut  the pork into bite-sized pieces.  Put the pork  in the adobo and let it marinade for several hours, and up to several days.

Preheat the grill to 425.   Put the pieces of pork on skewers.

Put the skewers on the grill.

Pork loin is lean, so the key is to avoid overcooking.  You're aiming for an internal temperature of 145 degrees.  The meat should have a faint rose color at the center. I cooked these pinchos morunos a little less than 2 minutes per side, about 3  1/2 minutes total.

 

Put the pinchos morunos on a warmed plate and let them rest for a few minutes. Serve with a slice of good bread as a tapa, or as a main course.

Pork Loin in Adobo: Lomo Adobado

 

If you've spent any time in a Spanish home you've probably had lomo en adobo--pork loin that has been prepared with a pimentón-based marinade.   In Spain, butcher shops, carnicerías, and (more often nowadays) supermarkets sell the pork loins already packaged in the adobo. All you have to do is open the package, put the pork loin in a pan, add a little white wine and olive oil, and stick it in the oven. 

Here in the U.S. it's usually necessary to make the adobo, but it's not hard. The adobo recipe here is the same I used for venison in my first post on adobo. Again this adobo is based on a recipe from Janet Mendel's excellent book, Cooking from the Heart of Spain: Food of La Mancha.  

Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:

a boneless pork loin, or a pork tenderloin (I used the latter for this post)

olive oil

white wine

For the marinade (for 2 to 3 lbs of pork)

6-7 garlic cloves, peeled and minced.

2 tablespoons pimentón de La Vera  (I like picante).

2 teaspoons thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon kosher  salt

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of virgin olive oil

a few whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

First mix the ingredients for the marinade in a large glass or ceramic bowl.

Put  the pork in the marinade and turn it over a few times until it's well-coated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the pork marinade for at least a  few hours, and up to five days.  Every day, give the meat a turn.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Place the pork loin in a cazuela or a casserole. Pour a glass of white wine over it, along with about 1/3 cup of olive oil.

How long to cook the pork loin depends on its size.  (I cooked this small tenderloin a little less than 20 minutes).   You should aim for an internal temperature of 145 degrees, no more, or the meat will dry out.  The meat should have a faint rose color near the center. 

Slice the pork loin and serve with its sauce. 

Esperanza, my mother-in-law, almost always serves lomo adobado with patatas fritas, French fries.

Simple Spanish Subs #1: bocadillo de jamón

Today I begin a series of posts on easy Spanish-style sandwiches.

As I mentioned in my post on bocadillo de tortilla de patata, Spaniards tend to keep their sandwiches simple.   The Spanish-style ham sandwich, or bocadillo de jamón, is a good example. All you need to make one is a Spanish baguette or barra de pan  and some jamón serrano.   That's it. Nothing could be easier. 

A word about Spanish hams. When shopping you will probably  see the special (and expensive) jamón ibérico--ham made from an heirloom Spanish pig called pata negra, "black hoof." You will also come across the even more expensive jamón ibérico de bellota--ham from a pata negra raised free-range on wild acorns. The latter is the ham that frequently makes international news because of its high prices. These luxury hams are best reserved for special occasions, served on their own, as an elegant tapa or appetizer. Ordinary jamón serrano is quite good and perfect for sandwiches or indeed most tapas.  I don't consider jamón serrano inferior to these other, far more expensive hams (nor did Andrés, my father-in-law). They are just different styles of cured ham.  Each has its own merits.

Here's how to make that sandwich.

Start with a Spanish baguette or barra de pan.

Cut off a piece. The size depends on how big you want your sandwich to be. Slice it longways, as you would for a sub.

Now slice some jamón serrano. Or use the pre-sliced kind.

Place a thin slice or two on the bread. Don't pile it on.  Jamón serrano is full-flavored. A slice or two is enough.

Now close it.

And that's it.

Really. 

A Spanish ham sandiwich doesn't need cheese or mayo or anything else, because it's perfect as it is. To add any of that would be to detract from the ham.

Yes, Spanish ham is that good.

Taking a trip? Wrap your bocadillo  in aluminum foil, not plastic wrap. This is not only the Spanish way, it's the best way because the foil lets the bread breathe and retain its texture.

 

 

 

A Spicy Spanish Meat Pie: Empanada de Carne Adobada

This is an old-style empanada like the ones Ana used to eat in Galicia (in the Northwest of Spain) as a kid.  It has a flaky, crunchy crust of olive oil pastry, and a filling of caramelized onions and a small amount of chopped meat that has been marinated in an adobo--a sauce of vinegar, olive oil, garlic, a generous amount of smoky pimentón, and other spices.  It's a great way to use left over carne adobada (click here for recipe).

This empanada would typically be made with marinated pork loin, but you could use other meats.  As I explain in my post on cholesterol I don't eat a lot of meat because I'm on a low-cholesterol diet. When I do, I often cook venison, which is healthier and (to me) better tasting.  It's also considered a delicacy in Spain, where an empanada of venison marinated in adobo would be something of a luxury tapa.  If you don't have access to venison, grass-fed beef, free-range pork, or even bison would work well too.

 

Here's how to do it:

First, make an adobo and marinate the meat of your choice.  See my post on a simple Spanish marinade for meats (carne adobada) for the recipe and more information.   Reserve a small amount of uncooked, marinated meat--1/3 of a pound or so--for this empanada.  As you're going to chop the meat, the "odds and ends" are fine. Again, the reserved meat should be raw. (It freezes well, by the way, so you can save the meat until you're ready to make this empanada).

Next, make the crust. See my post on empanada gallega for a recipe for an olive oil pastry crust.

Saute two large, chopped onions in 1/3 cup of olive oil, over medium heat. When they are soft and slightly caramelized, add a small pinch of saffron.

Chop fine about five ounces of the marinated meat. 

Remove the onions from the heat. Allow them to cool. Add the chopped meat and stir.

Now roll out the crust and assemble the empanada as I describe in my post on empanada gallega.

Bake the empanada for 12-15 minutes in a very hot oven (525 degrees) until the crust is golden.  You can also bake this empanada in a kamado or Big Green Egg. The results are even better. See my post on baking empanadas in a kamado or Big Green Egg for details.

Adobo: a Simple Spanish Marinade for Meat

If you've ever spent any time in a Spanish home, you've probably tried some form of carne adobada--a meat marinated in olive oil,  smoky pimentón and other spices. Usually these days it's lomo adobado--pork loin.  Spanish butcher shops sell pork loins already marinaded, so all you have to do is stick it in the oven, or pan-fry a few slices. 

As I explain in my post on cholesterol, I don't often eat meat. When I do, it's usually venison,  so I was very pleased to find a recipe for venison in adobo in Janet Mendel's Cooking from the Heart of Spain: Food of La Mancha. (Ms. Mendel, by the way, has a great Spanish food blog called  My Kitchen in Spain where you'll find authentic Spanish recipes,  in-depth information about Spanish foods, and a list of her excellent books.)  

If you don't like venison, don't worry. This is actually an all-purpose adobo.  It can be used for beef or, more typically, pork loin. I suspect it is also used with wild boar--something I would really like to try.

I have altered the recipe slightly. The  flavor of this adobo is much like the very best you'll find in Spain.  It is essential to use authentic  pimentón de La Vera though.  See my post on pimentón de La Vera for more information.

 Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:

2 lbs venison ham, bone removed, or pork loin

for deglazing the pan: 1/2 cup of white wine

For the marinade:

6-7 garlic cloves, peeled and minced.

2 tablespoons pimentón de La Vera  (I like picante).

2 teaspoons thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon kosher  salt

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of virgin olive oil

a few whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

First mix the ingredients for the marinade in a large glass or ceramic bowl.

Put  the meat in the marinade and turn it over a few times until well-coated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the meat marinade a couple of days in the fridge. Every day, give the meat a turn. Slice the meat thin, about 1/4 inch thick, across the grain. 

Heat up a heavy skillet. Put a little olive oil in the pan and cook the meat slices  quickly--1 minute per side, two minutes total.  (Be careful not to overcook the meat or it will be dry out).  Don't crowd the pan. Work in small batches, adding more oil when necessary. When all of the slices are cooked, deglaze the pan with a half cup of white wine. Reduce it slightly, pour it over the meat, and serve.