Simple Spanish Food

A Spanish Split Pea Soup, sopa de guisantes amarillos

This is an easy Spanish style soup that doesn't take too long to make. 

1 lb bag of yellow split peas

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

1 bay leaf

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 teaspoons Spanish spice blend

fresh parsley and, if you like, cilantro

salt to taste (one teaspoon or less)

Pour the split peas into a large pot.  Look them over, pushing them around, and remove any bits of stones or dirt. Rinse the peas 2 or 3 times.

Add enough water to the pot so that the peas are covered by 2 to 3 inches of water.  Bring them to a boil. Simmer for half an hour. When the peas begin to soften, add the bay leaf and carrot and continue simmering.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic in the olive oil. Remove the pan from the heat and let the oil cool some. Add the Spanish spice blend. Stir. Add this mixture to the simmering peas.

Let the soup simmer until the peas are quite soft. Add salt to taste (It doesn't need much, thanks to the spices, making this a good soup for people on a low-sodium diet).  Just before serving, add handfuls of fresh chopped parsley and--for an Extremaduran or Canary Island touch--a handful of coarsely chopped cilantro.

 

Caldo Gallego in Thirty Minutes

I've posted before on a vegetarian or vegan caldo gallego. Here's another version you can make in just half an hour.  I used chicken broth for this, but you can use vegetable broth if you want to make your caldo vegetarian or vegan. If you prefer your caldo gallego with meat, just add slices of chorizo during the last ten minutes of simmering.

Ingredients

1 small bunch of kale or collards, washed and chopped

1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans of chicken broth or vegetable broth

1 potato, diced

a few cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon of pimentón de La Vera

In a medium pot, fry the garlic in the olive oil. Remove the pot from the heat and let the oil cool some. Add the pimentón. Stir.

Add the broth, the potatoes, the greens, and the beans. Bring the soup to a simmer. After fifteen minutes, test one of the potatoes with a fork. If it's soft, the caldo is ready.

Serve in small cups for a tapa, or in soup plates for an easy one-pot meal.

 

 

 

 

 

A Hearty Vegan Stew for Autumn: Spanish Gypsy Pot, Olla Gitana

Butternut squash,  apples, and smoky pimentón de La Vera give this Spanish bean soup a sweet and spicy flavor perfect for fall.  As it contains no meat or dairy products, it's suitable for vegetarians and vegans, yet it has a nice creaminess, thanks to ground toasted almonds.

I have adapted this recipe from one by Clarissa Hyman. To see the original, and many other great Spanish recipes, check out her book  The Spanish Kitchen.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup of dried chickpeas

1 cup of dried cannellini

2 apples, peeled, cored, and cubed

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 slice of good bread

1/3 cup of toasted almonds

a pinch of saffron, ground with a little salt in a mortar

1 tablespoon pimentón de La Vera

fresh chopped mint

salt and black pepper

Pick over the garbanzos  and remove any dirt or stones. Rinse them. Put  them in water to soak.

Do the same with the cannellini.   Soak both beans overnight, but keep them separate at this stage because garbanzos almost always need longer cooking.

The next day, rinse the garbanzos. Put them in a large pot with the bay leaves and enough water to cover them. Bring to them to a boil and let them simmer for an hour.  Add more water if necessary.

Rinse the white beans. Add them to the garbanzo pot with  a teaspoon of salt. Let the beans simmer together for an hour more, adding more water if necessary.

Add the butternut squash, carrot, and apples to the bean pot.  Let them simmer slowly for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the chopped onion in the olive oil until soft and golden.  Remove the pan from the heat. Let the olive oil and onion mixture cool some. Add the pimentón and stir. Add this mixture to the pot and stir.

Put the almonds, bread, saffron, and garlic into a blender or food processor and chop the mixture to a paste. Add a half cup of broth from the soup. Whir it smooth. Add this mixture to the pot and stir. 

Again, add more water if the soup gets too thick.

Let the soup simmer a few minutes more. Add ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Serve with chopped fresh mint sprinkled on top.

 

 

 

An Easy Cocido: Chickpeas with Spinach (garbanzos con espinacas)

Chickpeas with spinach--garbanzos con espinacas--is a classic Spanish combination.  It's prepared in many different ways.  Some recipes include a small amount of salt cod (bacalao). Many call for chopped boil egg or egg yolks.  My recipe for chickpeas, spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms and rice with chickpeas and spinach are variations on the garbanzo-and-spinach theme.

Today's recipe is one the simplest. It's  meatless, suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and also very tasty, thanks in large part to smokey and spicy pimentón de La Vera which adds a chorizo-like flavor.  If you like, you could garnish this with chopped boiled egg.  We just sprinkled on some toasted pine nuts.

It is important to start with the best dried garbanzos you can find.

Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:

One 14 ounce bag of garbanzos

1 large onion, chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons of pimentón picante de La Vera

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

2 bay leaves

2 or 3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 or 3 small tomatoes, or 1 large, chopped

1 large bag of pre-washed spinach, chopped

Look over the garbanzos. Remove any stones or twigs. Wash them a couple of times. Soak them overnight.

When the garbanzos have soaked 12 to 24 hours, drain  them, rinse them, and put them in a large pot with enough cold water to cover them a couple of inches.  Bring the garbanzos to a boil.  Skim off any foam. Turn down the heat to medium.

Add the bay leaves and one teaspoon of salt.  Let the garbanzos simmer until they're nearly tender. This may take an hour. It may take two or more. It all depends on the garbanzos. After an hour, try one and see if it's tender.  Add more water if necessary.

Meanwhile, saute the chopped onion in olive oil until slightly caramelized.  Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes soften.  Remove the pan from the heat and let the oil cool some.  Add the pimentón, stir, and add this mixture to the garbanzos.

Add the chopped spinach. Keep simmering the garbanzos until they're tender.

Like so many soups and stews, this dish is even better the second day. Serve it with toasted pine nuts,  a simple Spanish red wine, and good bread.

 

A Simple Gazpacho

For years I struggled to make a gazpacho as good as the ones we enjoy in Spain.  I followed the usual recipes, most of which included peppers or cucumbers along with the tomatoes,  and I was always, always disappointed. Even when I used tomatoes I had grown myself in the garden, the taste wasn't what it should have been. We would return to Spain and I would find that the pre-made gazpacho sold in cartons at the grocery store tasted better than those I made at home. My gazpachos always lacked flavor.  The high-and-dry climate of Spain is ideal for growing first class tomatoes.

Still, I kept experimenting here in Central Florida, using simpler and simpler recipes (there are hundreds of gazpacho recipes in Spain). I eliminated the cucumbers, peppers, and even the bread, all of which diluted the flavor of the tomatoes.  In the end I arrived at this recipe.   It's the best--and easiest--I've come across for gazpacho when using less than ideal tomatoes. Even if you do have the very best tomatoes, this is a great way to show off their flavor.

That said, it's still important to use the highest quality tomatoes you can get your hands on. The huge, awful-tasting,  mealy-textured, hard pink tomatoes sold in supermarkets and many vegetable stands just won't do.  I usually don't like the "cluster" types either.  I've found that certain varieties of greenhouse-grown tomatoes are not bad, and this simple gazpacho actually makes them into something special.  They're usually slightly larger than golf balls.

Here's how to do it (makes  two large bowls of gazpacho, or four tapa-sized servings)

1 lb of the best tomatoes you can find

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup of virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

Wash the tomatoes.  Peel the garlic clove. Put all of the ingredients into the blender. Blend it smooth, chill, and serve.

My favorite way to enjoy gazpacho is the traditional way, as a drink, rather than as a soup.  I pour a glass and sip it, as is, on the patio. Esperanza, my mother-in-law, likes it this way too.

But Ana prefers gazpacho as a soup, with lots of pizcos--garnishes of chopped boiled egg, scallion, sweet pepper, and cubes of bread toasted in olive oil.

 

Easy Spanish White Bean Soup (alubias estofadas, o sopa de frijoles blancos)

This Spanish-style white bean soup is really, really good.  Esperanza, my mother-in-law, gave me the base recipe, which I've made vegetarian and vegan.  As in my recipe for easy Spanish lentil soup (sopa de lentejas), I have replaced chorizo with pimentón de La Vera (see my post on pimentón de La Vera for more information about this essential Spanish spice).   The slight smokiness and depth of flavor  is one of the things that makes this soup special, so it's important to use  authentic pimentón de La Vera.

Another key to success is to start with the best beans possible. In Spain, beans are serious business.  There seem to be countless varieties, and even though they are dried, much attention is paid to their freshness--the best dried beans being from the most recent harvest.  Here's a pic of a Madrid shop specializing in beans.

You could use Cannellini, navy beans, or great northern beans, but try to find the freshest you can. It makes a world of difference in the soup.  Here in Central Florida, I usually buy beans from bulk bins at a reliable health food store, or from Latin American groceries, which usually carry good brands with the harvest dates on the bags. 

Here's how to do it:

ingredients:

12 ounces of white beans (great northern, navy, etc.)

2 onions, total

2 bay leaves

1 carrot

4 garlic cloves, total

1 heaping tablespoon of flour

2 teaspoons pimentón de La Vera

1/4 -1/3 cup of olive oil

salt

Put the white beans in a large pot.  Don't add water yet.  Look the beans over, moving them around with your fingers, to make sure there are no stones, twigs, etc.

Wash the beans in a couple of changes of water.  Now put them in a large pot with enough water to cover them by 2 inches.  Let them soak overnight.

The next day, bring them to a boil. A little scum may rise. Spoon it off. Turn them down to a simmer.   Add one of the onions, peeled but not chopped, two whole garlic cloves, the bay leaves, and a teaspoon of kosher salt.

Let the beans simmer 1/2 hour.  Add the carrot, peeled and cut into large pieces.

Let the beans simmer 1/2 hour more. Add more water if necessary.

Meanwhile, chop the other onion and saute it in the olive oil, over medium-low heat, until it's golden (this usually takes 15-20 minutes). Add the two remaining garlic cloves, peeled and chopped, and the flour. Stir. Remove the pan from the heat. Let the oil cool a few minutes. Add the pimentón. Stir.  Add the sauteed onion-pimentón mixture to the beans and stir. Continue to simmer the beans until they're as tender as you like.

This soup is great with Spanish-style bread and a salad.  

 

A Recipe for Vegetarian Caldo Gallego?(!)

Vegetarian Caldo Gallego is something of an oxymoron. A true caldo gallego is a smokey, super rich pork  broth in which various vegetables, and still more pork and sausages, are simmered.  I have never had a truly great caldo gallego outside of Galicia.  This is probably because of the special quality of the smoked and cured pork in Galicia. 

So instead of trying--and inevitably failing--to recreate a true caldo gallego, I set a different goal:  a hearty, vegetarian-vegan dish that relies on the key vegetables of caldo gallego--kale, navy beans, potatoes--along with pimentón de la Vera  (please read my post on pimentón de la Vera) which adds a smoky depth of flavor. 

It's a great everyday dish, especially for the fall and winter months, when kale is sweetest.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup of dried navy beans, or other small white beans

1 small bunch of kale

1 large potato (I often use Idaho potatoes, because they thicken the broth nicely) peeled and cut into big chunks.

7 or 8 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

1 large onion, chopped

Water

salt to taste

1/2 cup (total) virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons of pimentón de la Vera

The day before you plan to cook the caldo, pour the navy beans in a pot and pick over them, removing any stones or twigs. Wash them.  Put them in a large pot with a generous amount of water (at least 3 inches over the beans). Let them sit overnight.

The next day put the pot of beans on the burner. Bring them to a boil. Turn the heat down to a fast simmer. Add salt.  (I put about one teaspoon).  Cook the beans until they're tender (but not too soft). This may take up to two hours, or it may take much less.  It all depends on the quality of the beans. Test them now and then so you'll know when they're ready.

In a frying pan, saute the onion in 1/4 cup of the olive oil. When the onion turns translucent, add the garlic cloves.  When the garlic turns slightly gold, remove the pan from the heat.

Let the onion-oil mixture cool some. Add the pimentón. Stir. Add this to the pot of beans. Stir.

Add the potatoes to the beans.  Keep them simmering.

Wash the kale.  Remove the coarse stems.  Cut it into slivers.

In a frying pan (the same one in which you cooked the onions will do) saute the kale over medium-high heat in 1/4 cup of olive oil. It should turn dark green and lose some water. It will begin to make popping sounds. Now add the kale to the caldo.

Let it simmer until the potatoes are tender.  Taste. Add salt if it needs it, and it's ready, but like so many soups, it will be even better the next day. Serve it with red wine and good bread. A pan de cea--a rustic Galician country bread--or a pan de centeno--a Galician rye bread--would be especially nice. I will post recipes for these breads soon.

 

Easy Spanish Pumpkin Soup Recipe (Sopa de calabaza)

Pumpkin soup recipes are fairly rare in Spanish cookbooks.  In fact until recently I didn't think Spaniards ate many pumpkins.  We never ate pumpkin in Spain, and Ana, my wife, doesn't like pumpkins--or at least she thought she didn't before she tried this soup.

But then I found a pumpkin soup recipe in José Pizarro's Seasonal Spanish Food: 125 Simple Recipes to Bring Home the Flavors of Spain.  Pizarro also tells how his father grows pumpkins in Extremadura and shares large pumpkins with friends and neighbors.   The original recipe calls for rubbing the pumpkins down with a rosemary-garlic-olive oil mixture before roasting them, and floating toasts spread with blue cheese in the soup, which sounds excellent, and which I hope to try soon. This is my own vegan version.  We had it with toasted pecans, fresh pickles,  and tuna empanada.

Here's the recipe:

About 2 pounds of pumpkin (the kind for cooking, not jack o' lanterns), or the winter squash of your choice.

2 tablespoons of virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 or 3 tablespoons of parsley

salt and black pepper

About 4 cups of vegetable stock or water, or chicken broth if you like

First cut the pumpkins in half.  With a soup spoon, scrap out the seeds and strings.  Cut the pumpkin into quarters.  Leave the skins on.

Make a paste of the olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley.  Rub this onto the flesh of the pumpkins until well coated.

 

I roasted the pumpkins in my kamado oven (Big Green Egg).  If you have one, try it.  It will give the soup a fantastic fire-roasted flavor.

If not, roast them in the oven at 450 for half an hour.  When the pumpkin is tender and ideally slightly caramelized, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.

When cool enough to handle, peel the pumpkins.  This should be easy now that  the pumpkin is fully cooked.  Place the peeled pumpkin in a food processor.  Add a little water or broth and blend to a smooth puree.

Pour the  puree into a pot.  Add the rest of the water or broth. Bring the soup to a simmer, and it's ready--but like so many soups it will taste even better the next day.

Serve in soup plates.  Drizzle onto each serving a good virgin olive oil.  You can top this soup with croutons, toasts spread with blue cheese,  or toasted pecans.

 

 

 

Almond Soup, Ajo blanco

We love going  to Cordoba, the ancient city in the south of Spain, for the Festival of the Patio Gardens. It's basically a competition to see who has the prettiest patio garden, and during the ten days or so it lasts, private patios are open to the public. We wander the streets of the old quarters of Cordoba, visiting patio after patio, all of them cascading with trailing geraniums, carnations, and other flowers. These gardens are like no others in the world.  You can read more about the festival here:  Cordoba's Patios.

For dinner we go out for tapas. One of our favorites is the ajo blanco served at the restaurant and bar Las Bodegas Campos.  It's essentially  a cold soup with a base of almonds, olive oil, and bread, spiced with garlic, and garnished with green grapes.  It's quite rich, and it hits the spot after hours of walking the rather rough cobblestone streets. I find that ajo blanco also makes a great vegan and low-cholesterol alternative to a cream-based soup.  There's something luxurious about it.

There are many recipes for ajo blanco out there.  José Pizzaro's Seasonal Spanish Food: 125 Simple Recipes to Bring Home the Flavors of Spain includes a recipe for ajoblanco garnished with piel de lagarto (lizard skin melon). I wonder if this is the same as the piel de sapo (toadskin melon) I know, which is, despite the name, and incredible-tasting melon.  

Penelope Casas' La Cocina de Mama: The Great Home Cooking of Spain offers another recipe for ajo blanco, in which she suggests a garnish of cooked shrimp in addition to the green grapes, apple, or melon.  Because I was serving the ajo blanco as the main course, I took this advice, and we think this rich and garlicky soup goes nicely with shrimp--much the way alioli does.

Here's the recipe:

7-8 thick slices from a good baguette, crusts removed

1 and 1/2 cups blanched almonds

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup of virgin olive oil (Penelope Casas recommends hojiblanca)

3-4 cups of ice water (depending on how thick you like your ajo blanco)

peeled green grapes, chopped apple, or cubes of melon for garnish

cooked shrimp (if you like)

This makes enough for six medium-sized soup plates.

First blanch the almonds. This is easy. Just bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop the almonds in for 30 seconds. Pour them into a colander and rinse with cool water. The skins should pop off easily now.

 Now cut the crust from the bread.

Soak the bread in a bowl of water for a few minutes. Squeeze it dry.  Put the bread in the food processor with the garlic and almonds and chop to a fairly smooth paste. Add the vinegar and salt.

Keep the processor going. Add the oil in a thin stream. It  should emulsify, almost like a mayonnaise. Begin adding the water in a thin stream. (Keep the food processor going all the  while).  The soup will look thin at first. However as it chills in the refrigerator, the almonds  and breads will gradually thicken it. I like this soup quite thick. At Las Bodegas Campos, it is served nearly as thick as a custard, and served in tall glasses with a long spoon.  You can increase the amount of bread, or lessen the amount of water, to achieve this effect. 

Let the ajo blanco chill for several hours or overnight.  It will keep for two or three days in the fridge. Garnish it with the fruit of your choice and the shrimp if you're using them.

Easy Spanish Lentil Soup (sopa de lentejas)

This is an easy, hearty, vegan/vegetarian dish, great for autumn and winter.  It's my favorite way to eat lentils. You can garnish it with Spanish croutons--bits of bread quick fried in olive oil--or as it is. It's great with a salad, bread, and a glass of red wine.

 I got the basic recipe from Esperanza, my mother-in-law. I have adapted it slightly over the years, using more pimentón and no chorizo. 

Ingredients

1 small (12-ounce) bag of lentils

1/4 cup of virgin olive oil

1 large onion or two medium ones

2 cloves of garlic

2 teaspoons of pimentón picante de la Vera  (or to taste)

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon of salt (or to taste) 

2 medium carrots

1 1/2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

 

First pour the lentils into a pot and inspect them while they're dry, moving them around with your fingers. You're searching for little stones and debris.  Pick out any than you find.

Now wash the lentils. Fill the same pot full of water, stir the lentils around in the water with your hand.  Pour off most of the water off (careful, don't let the lentils pour out with it and go down the sink)  and repeat until the water looks clear and clean. Strain the lentils in a colander. Rinse them. Rinse the pot. Put the lentils back in the pot and cover them with at least two inches of water.

Bring the lentils to a boil and turnd down the heat to medium. Add the bay leaves and salt. Peel the carrots, cut them into 2-inch pieces, and add them to the pot.

Let them simmer until they soften. This usually takes 30 minutes or so, but it could take 45 minutes or longer if your lentils have been sitting on the shelf a while.  Keep an eye on the water level and add more when necessary, turning up the heat to keep them at a simmer.  You always want the lentils covered by 1 to 2 inches of water.

While the lentils are simmering, chop the onion and saute it in the olive oil over medium heat, stirring frequently, until slighly carmelized.  This usually takes twenty minutes or so.

Add the garlic to the onions.  Add the flour and stir. Allow the flour to "fry" in the oil several minutes.  Take the pan off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Now add the pimentón and stir.

When the lentils are beginning to soften, add the onion-oil mixture to the pot and stir. The soup will begin to thicken. Turn down the heat to medium low. Stir the soup now and then. You will notice a "skin" forming at the top of the soup. This is from the flour and it is normal. Just stir it in.

Taste for salt and pimentón, and add more if you like.

When the lentils are soft, they're ready to eat.  However, like many soups, it will taste even better if you let it sit for a few hours or overnight.