Translating a Quote from my home country, Germany, which goes as follows “… it does not always happen as one wants or has planned”. This applies to our desire to travel to Europe on another 1-month long trip to countries we have already visited many times in the past and also to new countries, which are on our “bucket list”.
But since my health still does not allow me to travel so far abroad, I have decided to ‘visit’ those countries through my kitchen, i.e. trying to bring you easy recipes from those places.
So I am starting off with Spain. This was triggered by a telephone call from our friend Francesca in Madrid. And since we had taken our girls some time ago for a long family holiday to Madrid, we have very fond memories of some of the delicious, but so simple, dishes eaten in either our favourite ‘Bodegas’ or in the homes of some of our friends.
Francesca’s Mama one day made for us an easy Chicken dish for Lunch. And it only took her 45 minutes before we were able to sit at her table, accompanied by a chilled Cava ‘Segura Viudas’, lots of chit-chat and lots of laughter. Oh yes …… those were the days!
Pollo con limón
What you need: (for 4 people you can use 8 or more Chicken drumsticks)
8 x Chicken drumsticks, washed, dried and kept aside
500 g x Chorizo, skin removed and sliced
12 x (or more) Potatoes, peeled and cut like thick chips
2-3 x decent size red (for colour) Capsicum, halved, cleaned and cut into strips
Some lemon slices (skin removed)
2-3 x Cloves of Garlic (pounded slightly)
1x Bunch of Spring onions (the green part only) cut into small rings
Some Olive oil
Salt and black pepper (to taste)
How to make this dish
In a large pan heat the Olive oil, add the earlier prepared chicken drumsticks and brown those from all sides, take out and keep aside.
Now add the also earlier prepared potatoes and fry those lightly – add some salt.
Next add the Capsicum and Garlic and fry those too for a few minutes only. Now add the chicken drumsticks.
Turn down your heat and cook all this for appr. 30 minutes.
Before serving your “Pollo con limón” add all your Chorizo slices and fry for 5 minutes with your sliced lemon.
To serve, sprinkle the Spring onion greens over your Chicken and add some more Lemon halves.
Memories of a month in Madrid…..
…..and a Quiche named “our own Jewels in the crown”.
Some time ago we took our girls for a month long family holiday to Spain – to the beautiful and lively city of Madrid in fact. We rented a beautiful little flat in a nice and most convenient area. From here we took many trips, mainly by bus, to some of the interesting little towns often only a one to two hours bus ride away. There is so much to see – the towns, like Toledo and El Escorial by themselves, the churches, galleries, Museums etc. – so much beauty not to be missed!
Frequently arriving back ‘home’ late, we did not feel like cooking but just wanted to “chill out” as the girls called it. So to make one of my nice party/picnic/TV-viewing Quiches the day before was just the right thing to do. The only company this Quiche needed was some lovely red wine and/or Cava. Bliss!
So, to make this dish now when I am rather busy with house- and other matters, makes sense – only Cava is missing!! And instead of Spanish Red we have our Indian SULA.
For a 9 inches (22.5 cm) flan dish, I used the following:
250 g tender corn kernels (frozen) thawed
250 g tender green peas (frozen) thawed
2 x large onions, very finely chopped
5 x garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1 x red large Capsicum, finely chopped
1x yellow large Capsicum, finely chopped
1 x green large Capsicum, finely chopped
½ x a generous bunch of fresh Coriander, washed and finely chopped
3-4 x Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and some Pepper, to your liking
3 x Tbsp Flour
4 x Eggs, room temperature
2 x tsp red chilli powder (or less if you can’t stand the heat)
½ x tsp Cumin
10 x drops (at least) of Tabasco – optional – (this Quiche does need some heat)
Method:
Drain the de-frosted corn and peas (separately!) in a small colander. Heat most of the oil in a wide pan, add onions, garlic and the entire chopped capsicum stir and cook at medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Let this mixture cool down a bit and then add the coriander – stir.
Now ‘blitz’ the corn only until a very fine paste. Add this and the flour into a bowl, add your eggs and mix everything very well.
Combine the Capsicum mixture with the corn/flour/egg-mixture, stir and finally add more salt (if needed), Chilli powder, Cumin and of course Tabasco – stir once more.
In the meantime I have pre-heated my oven to 200 C. The total mixture gets filled into the flan dish and baked in the oven for ca 45 minutes.
Since ovens vary I recommend you check around the 45 minutes stage. In my case I switch off but leave the dish in the oven. Do not let the Quiche get dry – slightly moist is delicious.
This dish is equally good warm or cold; I happily freeze any left-overs.
So, that’s it again – enjoy – Guten Appetit. Carina
In 2013, Jo and I took our two girls for a one month vacation to beautiful Madrid. Ostensibly this was meant to be a little “educational trip” for Bianca to look at fashion (she is now a qualified Fashion Designer) and for Andrea to look at Architecture; she too has since qualified and is working as well.
One of the Studios/Salons Bianca and I visited was to this very beautiful Store of “Adolfo Domínguez“ (for more details look at my blog entry of 23.06.2013 – Fashion for comfort & love!). After our “work” we always made our way to the top floor where, to put it simply, we felt a bit like inside the world of “The Devil Wears Prada”. Sometimes it seemed to us, that every woman there nibbling on a lettuce leaf and/or having their glass of delicious wine, had walked straight out of pages of VOGUE. In retrospect I would have liked to eat (and photograph!) my way through Chef’s small but very delicious looking menu.
(Pic. Above: Inside the top-floor Cafeteria at “Adolfo Domínguez” – a little heaven amidst the noise and hectic of Madrid.)
But one item from his blackboard I really loved and in the end he very kindly shared the recipe with me.
I have altered it a little bit – in order to suit our own pallet giving it a little bit more ‘kick’ especially re the spices -.
This is lovely for Snacky food served on a bed of beautifully crisp green salad with the Onion Jam as an accompaniment and when made smaller and a bit thicker also as cocktail party food.
So, why not give those little Fritters a try – maybe you too end up liking them as we do in my own little family.
Little Courgette Fritters with fiery onion jam
Recuerdos de Madrid – Memories of Madrid
Right at the beginning a little word of advice, when you make the onion jam, make double or even treble the amount you want for your fritters, this thick chutney like jam is so Moorish, it keeps well in your fridge up to a week – you also might want to have it with your favourite cheese!!!
I used the following:
Appr. 1 lb courgettes (yellow or green), top and tailed, coarsely grated and kept aside in a bowl
A small chunk of hard cheese (either freshly! grated Parmesan or Cheddar), kept aside
2 eggs, slightly beaten with a fork
App. 4 Tbsp of Besan (yellow) flour also known as garbanzo bean flour, chickpea flour (or plain)
Salt and pepper (you will need a bit more salt here than usual)
¾ Tbsp of Kashmiri Chilli powder
½ tsp of fennel powder
½ tsp of cumin powder
Small bunch of Spring onions (use the green part only!)
Vegetable Oil for frying
1 very clean cheese clothes
A few sheets of kitchen paper towel
To make the onion jam I used the following:
4 large onion, thinly sliced
½ Tbsp Oil
3 green chillies
5 small garlic pods
1 Tbsp (maximum) soft brown sugar
½ tsp of dry red chilli flakes
Heat oil in a wide pan, add your onions and the garlic, stir and on low heat and cook this for the next 20 minutes, approx.. or until onions are very soft.
When done let this cool down quickly and transfer to your Blender with the chillies, sugar and the chilli flakes and “blitz” until everything is very smooth.
Return to the pan and once again on very low flame cook for an additional 10 minutes. Done! And ready to be used with the fritters.
Tip the grated Courgettes onto the cheesecloth and wring out as much of the liquid, which will have appeared, and move to a large mixing bowl. Now add the eggs, cheese, flour and all the spices and the spring onion greens and mix well. Check seasoning.
Take your pan, add just enough oil to cover the pan and heat on medium flame. When hot add dollops of your fritter mixture with a big spoon carefully into the oil, flatten the fritters slightly and gently fry for 3-4 minutes on either side. A word of warning: do not take your eyes off them for a second – they can turn dark very quickly (see my own disastrous first attempt: delicious but near cinder top and bottom!!)
Remove and keep on the sheets of kitchen paper to lose some of the oil (do not cover). If you make a large batch, keep them on a baking sheet inside your oven on very low heat to keep warm.
When you finished making all your fritters, bring them to your table with the beautiful jam in a separate bowl and enjoy!!
Carina
Notes: You can of course also use half/half (yellow/green) courgettes.
The amount of chillies used is suited for our own pallet; tone it down if you want, but……you do want ‘the kick’!
(Two weeks of non-stop festivities, noisy parades (and a visit to Santa Maria la
Real de La Almudena)
This is the Catholic Cathedral in Madrid, which was consecrated by Pope Paul II in 1993. When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, King Felipe II wanted a Cathedral for his new capital. Plans were discussed as early as the 16th century to build a Cathedral in Madrid dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena, but construction did not begin until 1879. Unfortunately, when we visited Madrid and this Cathedral my normally faithful Nikon let me down, so I was not able to photograph this beautiful Church; but hopefully on our next visit…..!
Some time ago the 4 of us flew off to Madrid to spend a very happy month on a family holiday in this vibrant city. Although each of us wants to go back, especially on the invitation by friends to return for Christmas, we all decided to spend this year here at home – for once!
So for today I will just take you to some famous sightseeing spots of Madrid.
The actual Christmas celebrations are stretched over 2 weeks and include noisy (but fun) parades and dancing everywhere.
This year the whole centre of Madrid is literally bathed in lights – an incredible sight; this “spectacle” is designed by a number of well known names in the fashion- and design field using energy saving lights. The boulevards are brightly decorated and there are open-air ice rinks. Charming Christmas markets are set up in the main squares – and one must not forget to look at the most spectacular Belenes (Nativity Scenes).
Madrid is worth visiting at any time of the year – so why not try to come for Christmas?
I now offer you 3 totally different kinds of music for this season and which, I think, go well with this beautiful city. Let me start with this video entitled “Canciones de Navidad en español”
For you, who like Flamenco for Christmas I found this little musical treat. The video is entitled: “Villancico Flamenco.- “Mira Qué Bonita” por Camarón de la Isla.”
This was recorded in 2011 in Belén de la Catedral de Sevilla . Try and see this video to the end – the crib here is absolutely beautiful.
But if you prefer just to sit back with a nice glass of wine and listen to a beautiful concert, I present this feast to ones ears; it is “Concierto Navideno de la Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria”.
So, light your candles, take your time and choose the right kind of seasonal music for you and relax, but most of all – enjoy!
Dies ist der katholische Dom in Madrid, welcher in 1993 von Papst Paul II eingeweiht wurde. Als die Hauptstadt Spaniens in 1561 von Toledo nach Madrid verlegt wurde, wollte Koenig Felipe II einen Dom fuer seine neue Hauptstadt. Plaene wurden schon im 16th Jahrhundert discutiert einen Dom in Madrid zu bauen zur Widmung der Jungfrau von Almudena, aber der Bau startete erst Anfang 1879. Leider, als wir Madrid und diesen Dom besuchten, liess mich meine normalerweise getreue Nikon im Stich, so dass ich nicht in der Lage war diese wunderschoene Kirche zu photographieren; aber hoffentlich beim naechsten Besuch.
Vor einiger Zeit flogen wir 4 rueber nach Madrid fuer einen monatelangen Familien Urlaub in dieser lebendigen Stadt. Wir wollen alle wieder dort hin und ganz besonders auf die Einladung von Freunden Weihnachten mit ihnen zu verbringen, aber wir haben uns alle entschlossen, dieses Jahr mal hier zu Hause zu bleiben – zur Abwechslung!
So fuer heute moechte ich Euch nur zu einigen der sightseeings spots von Madrid nehmen.
Die eigentliche Weihnachtsfestlichkeiten strecken sich ueber 2 volle Wochen hin und man sieht viele laute Paraden, die aber grossen Spass machen; und ueberall wird getanzt!
Dieses Jahr ist die ganze Innenstadt von Madrid buchstaeblich in bunte Lichter getaucht – irre; dieses Schauspiel wurde von einigen der bekanntesten Designer in der Mode- und Design Branche entworfen. Und die Lichter in allen Farben erfuellen waehrend dieser gesamten festlichen Zeit die Stadt und sie sorgen dank Einhaltung strengster Umwelt- und Energiekriterien fuer helleres Licht bei geringerem Verbrauch.
Freiluft Schlittschuh Bahnen, Weihnachtsmaerkte auf all’ den grossen Plaetzen – und dann noch die wunderschoenen “Belenes” (die Krippen) – herrlich.
Es lohnt sich Madrid waehrend des ganzen Jahres zu besuchen – so warum versucht Ihr mal nicht zu Weihnachten dorthin zu reisen?
Ich biete Euch nun 3 ganz unterschiedliche Musikvideos fuer diese Saison und diese schoene Stadt an.
Erlaubt mir dieses video “Canciones de Navidad en española” vorzustellen.
Fuer Euch, die Flamenco zu Weihnachten hoeren moechten, habe ich diesen kleinen musikalischen Schatz gefunden. Das video heisst : “Villancico Flamenco.- “Mira Qué Bonita” por Camarón de la Isla.”
Es wurde in 2011 in der ‘Catedral de Sevilla’ aufgenommen. Schaut Euch dieses video bis zum Ende an – die Krippe hier ist unwahrscheinlich schoen.
Aber wenn Ihr es vorzieht Euch mit einem Glas Wein in Ruhe hinzusetzen um ein schoenes Konzert zu hoeren, stelle ich diesen Ohrenschmaus vor: “Concierto Navideno de la Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria”.
So, zuendet Eure Kerzen an, nimmt Euch Zeit und sucht Eure Musik aus, aber hauptsaechlich – geniesst sie!
Anyone 4 Curry & Other Things 