Nava's Famous Tomato Salad
From: Nava
So simple it ought'a be a sin to get kudos for it.
Ingredients:
Ripe tomatoes.
Canned tuna.
White vinegar (optional).
(Olive) oil.
Salt.
Salad onion (optional).
Green or black olives (optional).
If you remember about it in advance, open the can a couple days before and transfer it to a mason jar with a generous amount of vinegar. This step is optional.
Chop the tomatoes; sprinkle with salt; add oil, tuna, olives and chopped onion. Shake. Serve.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query nava. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query nava. Sort by date Show all posts
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tortilla de patatas
Tortilla de patatas
From: Nava
Ingredients: good oil, potatoes, eggs, salt. Onion (optional). The onion acts as a natural preservative, it keeps the omelette juicy and "unrusted" longer.
You will need a large pan; how large depends on how big you want your omelette to be (am I helpful or what). A fried-eggs pan is large enough for a 2-3 portions tortilla, the 3-people one will just be deeper and juicier (well, either juicy or burnt).
You will also need two dishes larger than the pan, one of which has enough of an edge to hold a mountain of potatoes over a lake of scrambled egg without pouring egg all over your kitchen, but at the same time this edge is low enough to slide the whole thing sideways into your frying pan without making the oil jump.
I have no idea how much the potatoes for a 4-egg tortilla weigh, as we always measure them by eye. It would be one medium-sized potato and one egg per person. If you like it "wet," add one more egg than mouths expected around the table. Since it's quite common to have miscalculated the amounts and need an extra egg anyway, I recomend starting with that extra the first times; once you get an eye for your potatage and your taste in omelettes, adjust your recipe.
Tapas style: this is actually considered somewhat heretic to be done anywhere except in a bar. Chop up the potatoes and onions in tiny bits. Fry them (although, as Ogette is my witness, most bars don't so much fry as boil them). The frying part is the same.
Home style: slice the potatoes. Deep-fry them; this means so much oil that for any other dish it would be called "drowning." You can scramble the eggs (no salt) in a deep plate either before you start frying the potatoes or, if you have enough practice to do two things at the same time, while the oil heats up. I'm assuming you use a pan, if you use a deep fryer do it normally but take the potatoes out sooner than you normally would. The oil must be hot enough that it's frying, not boiling. To see that the oil is hot enough, drop a small piece inside when you think it's already hot; when the piece of potato isn't just swimming about but trying to jump in place, add the rest. The potato slices change color twice as they fry: they become translucid first, later they brown. If you're using onion: add the finely chopped bits to the pan when the potatoes are about half-fried and don't worry about whether it gets done or not. Take them out of the pan and onto the scrambled egg when they're translucid but not brown. Salt them when everything is on the deep dish.
Pour off the oil into a large enameled jar. Put the pan back on the fire, on low. Add the egg and potatoes to the pan, sliding them in sideways from the plate, setting the potatoes more-or-less equally all over the egg. When the egg on the bottom is done (i.e., at the point where you'd fold it over if it was a normal omelette), transfer it back to the plate. This is done by covering the pan with your plate, taking it up from the fire, turning it over (one hand on the plate's bottom, one on the pan's handle), lifting the pan-now-lid and placing it back on the fire. Careful: it's heavy and hot!
Don't even think of flipping it up, I'm not responsible for you having to call both the paramedics and a painter for your kitchen: it's a potato omelette, not a pancake. Cover the plate with another plate; turn this "plates and omelette sandwich" over: now you have a plate with the potatoes on top of it and the done half of the omelette on top of the potatoes, push it sideways back into the pan.
When the bottom half is, again, done, take it out into the plate you'll serve from, using the same pan-becomes-lid method as before.
It can be served by itself as a main dish (I know some people who like using tomato sauce as a dip, but they're the kind of folk who'll put tomato sauce in their pasta Alfredo); by itself in smaller portions as a pincho (the portion should be small enough to be held aloft when you grab it by the toothpick from which "pinchos" get their name); by itself in small portions on a slice of bread (as a "tapa" or lid on the bread); it can go into a baguette as a sandwich, sliced into pieces so it fits the bar of bread (in this case, it's better to use pamtomaca, as a sandwich with only the omelette will easily be too dry).
From: Nava
Ingredients: good oil, potatoes, eggs, salt. Onion (optional). The onion acts as a natural preservative, it keeps the omelette juicy and "unrusted" longer.
You will need a large pan; how large depends on how big you want your omelette to be (am I helpful or what). A fried-eggs pan is large enough for a 2-3 portions tortilla, the 3-people one will just be deeper and juicier (well, either juicy or burnt).
You will also need two dishes larger than the pan, one of which has enough of an edge to hold a mountain of potatoes over a lake of scrambled egg without pouring egg all over your kitchen, but at the same time this edge is low enough to slide the whole thing sideways into your frying pan without making the oil jump.
I have no idea how much the potatoes for a 4-egg tortilla weigh, as we always measure them by eye. It would be one medium-sized potato and one egg per person. If you like it "wet," add one more egg than mouths expected around the table. Since it's quite common to have miscalculated the amounts and need an extra egg anyway, I recomend starting with that extra the first times; once you get an eye for your potatage and your taste in omelettes, adjust your recipe.
Tapas style: this is actually considered somewhat heretic to be done anywhere except in a bar. Chop up the potatoes and onions in tiny bits. Fry them (although, as Ogette is my witness, most bars don't so much fry as boil them). The frying part is the same.
Home style: slice the potatoes. Deep-fry them; this means so much oil that for any other dish it would be called "drowning." You can scramble the eggs (no salt) in a deep plate either before you start frying the potatoes or, if you have enough practice to do two things at the same time, while the oil heats up. I'm assuming you use a pan, if you use a deep fryer do it normally but take the potatoes out sooner than you normally would. The oil must be hot enough that it's frying, not boiling. To see that the oil is hot enough, drop a small piece inside when you think it's already hot; when the piece of potato isn't just swimming about but trying to jump in place, add the rest. The potato slices change color twice as they fry: they become translucid first, later they brown. If you're using onion: add the finely chopped bits to the pan when the potatoes are about half-fried and don't worry about whether it gets done or not. Take them out of the pan and onto the scrambled egg when they're translucid but not brown. Salt them when everything is on the deep dish.
Pour off the oil into a large enameled jar. Put the pan back on the fire, on low. Add the egg and potatoes to the pan, sliding them in sideways from the plate, setting the potatoes more-or-less equally all over the egg. When the egg on the bottom is done (i.e., at the point where you'd fold it over if it was a normal omelette), transfer it back to the plate. This is done by covering the pan with your plate, taking it up from the fire, turning it over (one hand on the plate's bottom, one on the pan's handle), lifting the pan-now-lid and placing it back on the fire. Careful: it's heavy and hot!
Don't even think of flipping it up, I'm not responsible for you having to call both the paramedics and a painter for your kitchen: it's a potato omelette, not a pancake. Cover the plate with another plate; turn this "plates and omelette sandwich" over: now you have a plate with the potatoes on top of it and the done half of the omelette on top of the potatoes, push it sideways back into the pan.
When the bottom half is, again, done, take it out into the plate you'll serve from, using the same pan-becomes-lid method as before.
It can be served by itself as a main dish (I know some people who like using tomato sauce as a dip, but they're the kind of folk who'll put tomato sauce in their pasta Alfredo); by itself in smaller portions as a pincho (the portion should be small enough to be held aloft when you grab it by the toothpick from which "pinchos" get their name); by itself in small portions on a slice of bread (as a "tapa" or lid on the bread); it can go into a baguette as a sandwich, sliced into pieces so it fits the bar of bread (in this case, it's better to use pamtomaca, as a sandwich with only the omelette will easily be too dry).
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Pa amb tomàquet (pamtumaca)
Pa amb tomàquet (pamtumaca)
From: Nava
Bread with tomato. The first is the proper Catalan spelling, the second can be found in bars the world over. Well, maybe not in China.
Ingredients:
Toast.
Overripe round tomatoes.
(Olive) oil.
Salt.
Cut a tomato in half through its equator. This leaves you with two halves, each of which has these triangular holes on the flat surface. Squash this surface against the toast, moving it around to spread the goodness. Sprinkle a tiny amount of salt and pour a little bit of oil. Eat.
You can also do it on a bar of bread (doesn't need to be toasted) and fill it with salami, ham or serrano for a great sandwich.
From: Nava
Bread with tomato. The first is the proper Catalan spelling, the second can be found in bars the world over. Well, maybe not in China.
Ingredients:
Toast.
Overripe round tomatoes.
(Olive) oil.
Salt.
Cut a tomato in half through its equator. This leaves you with two halves, each of which has these triangular holes on the flat surface. Squash this surface against the toast, moving it around to spread the goodness. Sprinkle a tiny amount of salt and pour a little bit of oil. Eat.
You can also do it on a bar of bread (doesn't need to be toasted) and fill it with salami, ham or serrano for a great sandwich.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tortilla individual
Tortilla individual
Meaning omelette, not the ones for tacos. Sized for one. For two you can use the same pan, but two eggs.
From: Nava
"Tortilla francesa": in a single-egg-sized pan, pour a bit of oil. While it heats on the fire, scramble an egg with a dash of salt. When the oil is hot, pour off to your general oil jar as much of it as you can. Put it back on the fire, pour the scrambled egg in. Use a fork to fold it over itself as it gets done. If you like your omelette "soft," just fold it a couple times and turn it over once so it's solid enough to fork it over to the plate without pouring egg all over the countertop; if you like it "brick hard," give it a couple turns patting it with the fork.
"Tortilla de...": as above, only you add a chopped-up extra ingredient to the scrambled egg, either before pouring it to the pan or sprinkling it after pouring. Most newbies tend to put too much of the extra when they mix it beforehand. Common extras are canned tuna, chorizo, meltable cheese, mushrooms... If your extra is tiny bits of several veggies (no potato) it's called "tortilla Juliana;" there's also a "sopa Juliana" which is your basic veggies (no potato) soup with the veggies chopped up in tiny bits.
If you have bread of kinds similar to baguette or ciabatta, a sandwich made with one of these tortillas (whole, they are the right shape for a Spanish barra) makes a great lunch for someone on the go.
Meaning omelette, not the ones for tacos. Sized for one. For two you can use the same pan, but two eggs.
From: Nava
"Tortilla francesa": in a single-egg-sized pan, pour a bit of oil. While it heats on the fire, scramble an egg with a dash of salt. When the oil is hot, pour off to your general oil jar as much of it as you can. Put it back on the fire, pour the scrambled egg in. Use a fork to fold it over itself as it gets done. If you like your omelette "soft," just fold it a couple times and turn it over once so it's solid enough to fork it over to the plate without pouring egg all over the countertop; if you like it "brick hard," give it a couple turns patting it with the fork.
"Tortilla de...": as above, only you add a chopped-up extra ingredient to the scrambled egg, either before pouring it to the pan or sprinkling it after pouring. Most newbies tend to put too much of the extra when they mix it beforehand. Common extras are canned tuna, chorizo, meltable cheese, mushrooms... If your extra is tiny bits of several veggies (no potato) it's called "tortilla Juliana;" there's also a "sopa Juliana" which is your basic veggies (no potato) soup with the veggies chopped up in tiny bits.
If you have bread of kinds similar to baguette or ciabatta, a sandwich made with one of these tortillas (whole, they are the right shape for a Spanish barra) makes a great lunch for someone on the go.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Endive Salads
Endive Salads
From: Nava
For salad, Mom makes one with *checks out Google images* endives, I think the ingredients would travel well and the salad itself takes a very short time to whip up. She buys trays of 2-3 endives.
Option one:
Take the two outer leaves from each endive, put a bit of cream cheese on each, arrange artfully on big plate. Cut the endives in quarters along their axis, then each quarter in half against the long axis. Put some cream cheese on each. Arrange over the bottom leaves. Sprinkle pieces of ham and hard-boiled egg. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze half a lemon over the salad.
Option two, aka "YUCK Philadelphia!":
Do the "flower" thingee. Chop up the endives. Toss the chopped-up endives with pieces of ham, medium-aged cheese and hard-boiled egg. Place the toss-up over the flower. Squeeze half a lemon over it. Tell the guy who complains about cheese that he can pick it out or go to a restaurant (ours isn't lactose intolerant, just picky).
To make sure that the eggs are boiled Just-So (Mom doesn't believe me, but for some reason *my* eggs are never runny and never greyed):
Place the eggs in the pot you'll use to boil them. Pour cold water. Add a spoonful of salt, don't be afraid to oversalt it cos you basically can't. Put to boil. Time starts counting, not when you see bubbles, not when it's boiling hard, but when the bubbles are just big enough to start moving up, and it's 8 minutes (9 in Huesca or Colorado)
From: Nava
For salad, Mom makes one with *checks out Google images* endives, I think the ingredients would travel well and the salad itself takes a very short time to whip up. She buys trays of 2-3 endives.
Option one:
Take the two outer leaves from each endive, put a bit of cream cheese on each, arrange artfully on big plate. Cut the endives in quarters along their axis, then each quarter in half against the long axis. Put some cream cheese on each. Arrange over the bottom leaves. Sprinkle pieces of ham and hard-boiled egg. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze half a lemon over the salad.
Option two, aka "YUCK Philadelphia!":
Do the "flower" thingee. Chop up the endives. Toss the chopped-up endives with pieces of ham, medium-aged cheese and hard-boiled egg. Place the toss-up over the flower. Squeeze half a lemon over it. Tell the guy who complains about cheese that he can pick it out or go to a restaurant (ours isn't lactose intolerant, just picky).
To make sure that the eggs are boiled Just-So (Mom doesn't believe me, but for some reason *my* eggs are never runny and never greyed):
Place the eggs in the pot you'll use to boil them. Pour cold water. Add a spoonful of salt, don't be afraid to oversalt it cos you basically can't. Put to boil. Time starts counting, not when you see bubbles, not when it's boiling hard, but when the bubbles are just big enough to start moving up, and it's 8 minutes (9 in Huesca or Colorado)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Sangria
Sangria
From: Nava
Cheap red wine, one liter. The pseudo wine that goes in cartons works. Don't bother using the good stuff, it's not worth it.
The juice of one or two Navel oranges (depending on their size), or of two Navelinas.
Opt. the juice of half a lemon.
As much soda water (Casera if you can get it) as juices, in volume (it can be less, specially if you're adding liquor).
Opt. half a glass of brandy, white herbal liquor or rhum (about 1/3 what the total juices were in volume). This option is most often used by people who are also adding the lemon.
Let it stand in the fridge to cool.
Rinds, ice, glazed sugar on the edge of the jar, etc. added as decoration before serving, to taste.
From: Nava
Cheap red wine, one liter. The pseudo wine that goes in cartons works. Don't bother using the good stuff, it's not worth it.
The juice of one or two Navel oranges (depending on their size), or of two Navelinas.
Opt. the juice of half a lemon.
As much soda water (Casera if you can get it) as juices, in volume (it can be less, specially if you're adding liquor).
Opt. half a glass of brandy, white herbal liquor or rhum (about 1/3 what the total juices were in volume). This option is most often used by people who are also adding the lemon.
Let it stand in the fridge to cool.
Rinds, ice, glazed sugar on the edge of the jar, etc. added as decoration before serving, to taste.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Ensaladilla rusa (no idea why we call it "Russian salad")
Ensaladilla rusa (no idea why we call it "Russian salad")
From: Nava
Compulsory veggies: small potatoes, carrots, green beans. Optional: peas.
Other optional things: green boneless olives, tuna (1), hard-boiled egg.
Mayo, garlic mayo, alliolli or pink sauce (mayo with a dash of tomato).
1: at home we normally use tuna preserved in vinegar, but I don't normally find that abroad. The kind canned with just water works too. You can sharpen up the "plain" tuna by opening the can a couple days before and transferring the contents to a mason jar or similar recipient along with a generous amount of white vinegar.
Amounts:
Potatoes: about 1/3 what you'd use as a main dish. Less than 1/3 for beans, less even for carrots.
Peas, tuna, olives, egg: a sprinkling of each.
The veggies are cooked separatedly in salt and water (as they all have different times to be "just cooked enough," you don't want to overcook them), cut into crouton-sized pieces and mixed.
The sauce, chopped olives, tuna and cube-chopped egg can be mixed in as well, but I prefer to put them on the side so each person can use only those items he likes.
From: Nava
Compulsory veggies: small potatoes, carrots, green beans. Optional: peas.
Other optional things: green boneless olives, tuna (1), hard-boiled egg.
Mayo, garlic mayo, alliolli or pink sauce (mayo with a dash of tomato).
1: at home we normally use tuna preserved in vinegar, but I don't normally find that abroad. The kind canned with just water works too. You can sharpen up the "plain" tuna by opening the can a couple days before and transferring the contents to a mason jar or similar recipient along with a generous amount of white vinegar.
Amounts:
Potatoes: about 1/3 what you'd use as a main dish. Less than 1/3 for beans, less even for carrots.
Peas, tuna, olives, egg: a sprinkling of each.
The veggies are cooked separatedly in salt and water (as they all have different times to be "just cooked enough," you don't want to overcook them), cut into crouton-sized pieces and mixed.
The sauce, chopped olives, tuna and cube-chopped egg can be mixed in as well, but I prefer to put them on the side so each person can use only those items he likes.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Microwave Fish
Microwave Fish
From: Nava
a portion of fish (for example, a slice of salmon).
Half a lemon.
A microwave.
A plate.
A microwave cover.
A ladle (metal works well).
Squeeze a bit of lemon on plate. Put unsalted fish on plate. Stick in, on a medium setting, for one minute, covered. Let it rest for two minutes. Flip over. Stick it for another minute. Take it out. It should be done, but check it anyway, specially if it's your first time (you may need to adjust time and settings depending on the microwave and on your idea of a slice). If it isn't, wait a couple minutes before sticking it back in. If it is, move it to the serving plate and salt slightly.
Repeat the process with any other portions.
The waiting times mean that you can actually cycle three portions at the same time, but this means more dishes to wash.
Works well with fishes you'd bake and with flat fishes.
From: Nava
a portion of fish (for example, a slice of salmon).
Half a lemon.
A microwave.
A plate.
A microwave cover.
A ladle (metal works well).
Squeeze a bit of lemon on plate. Put unsalted fish on plate. Stick in, on a medium setting, for one minute, covered. Let it rest for two minutes. Flip over. Stick it for another minute. Take it out. It should be done, but check it anyway, specially if it's your first time (you may need to adjust time and settings depending on the microwave and on your idea of a slice). If it isn't, wait a couple minutes before sticking it back in. If it is, move it to the serving plate and salt slightly.
Repeat the process with any other portions.
The waiting times mean that you can actually cycle three portions at the same time, but this means more dishes to wash.
Works well with fishes you'd bake and with flat fishes.
Friday, June 13, 2008
pamtomaca, pà amb tomaquet
pamtomaca, pà amb tomaquet
From: Nava
A Catalan invention; "pà amb tomaquet" means "bread with tomato." The other spelling is how it sounds to someone who can't spell Catalan, the stress is on the ma. In Spanish bars you can see either spelling. In Catalonia and the Balearic Isles, baguette sandwhiches from bars are with tomato by default; in other parts of the country you need to ask for the tomato.
You need: overripe tomatoes, (salt) , oil, (garlic), (toasted) bread, (ham, salami...).
The toasting isn't optional with sliced bread, as that one simply isn't solid enough to withstand the process otherwise. If you like it with garlic, cut a garlic clove in half and squash it over the bread before you do it with the tomato; it should be sort of trail-like, rather than trying to cover all the bread in garlic taste. Recomendation: don't mix garlic and other extras, everybody I know who's tried it says it doesn't work well.
The tomatoes should be too ripe to be used in a salad. Cut them through the equator. Flip them on the bread, so the triangular spaces where the tomato keeps its seeds are directly in contact with the bread. Push it around, so all the bread gets tomatoed. Toss away the remaining of the tomato (unless you're my Grandpa, who just salts it and munches it away because "i'z a zin da zrow au' 'ood" "don't lie, Grandpa, you just like it" "true that, are you done with the other half?").
Pour a biiiiiit of oil on the bread. Don't drench it, please, or at least do it where my arteries and tastebuds won't be offended by the sight. If you're having the pamtomaca by itself, you can introduce it to the salt shaker (who is in a hurry to go away).
Great by itself, or with sliced ham (York, prosciutto, serrano), salami...; either as a tapa (one slice of bread, the meat on top) or as a sandwhich.
From: Nava
A Catalan invention; "pà amb tomaquet" means "bread with tomato." The other spelling is how it sounds to someone who can't spell Catalan, the stress is on the ma. In Spanish bars you can see either spelling. In Catalonia and the Balearic Isles, baguette sandwhiches from bars are with tomato by default; in other parts of the country you need to ask for the tomato.
You need: overripe tomatoes, (salt) , oil, (garlic), (toasted) bread, (ham, salami...).
The toasting isn't optional with sliced bread, as that one simply isn't solid enough to withstand the process otherwise. If you like it with garlic, cut a garlic clove in half and squash it over the bread before you do it with the tomato; it should be sort of trail-like, rather than trying to cover all the bread in garlic taste. Recomendation: don't mix garlic and other extras, everybody I know who's tried it says it doesn't work well.
The tomatoes should be too ripe to be used in a salad. Cut them through the equator. Flip them on the bread, so the triangular spaces where the tomato keeps its seeds are directly in contact with the bread. Push it around, so all the bread gets tomatoed. Toss away the remaining of the tomato (unless you're my Grandpa, who just salts it and munches it away because "i'z a zin da zrow au' 'ood" "don't lie, Grandpa, you just like it" "true that, are you done with the other half?").
Pour a biiiiiit of oil on the bread. Don't drench it, please, or at least do it where my arteries and tastebuds won't be offended by the sight. If you're having the pamtomaca by itself, you can introduce it to the salt shaker (who is in a hurry to go away).
Great by itself, or with sliced ham (York, prosciutto, serrano), salami...; either as a tapa (one slice of bread, the meat on top) or as a sandwhich.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Garlic fried chicken, Spanish style (pollo al ajillo)
Garlic fried chicken, Spanish style (pollo al ajillo)
From: Nava
You can use any parts you fancy, but it's common to either get a whole chicken chopped up (no separating the breasts first) or use dark meats.
Items needed:
A frying pan; the oil will jump but don't bother with a lid, if you do it's likely to overcook.
Enough chicken to feed however many people you're feeding: 1/4 per person, unless you're dealing with teenagers (a single teenager can devour a range chicken in its entirety and then start eyeing what's on other people's plates).
Cooking oil.
A few cloves of garlic.
A green pepper (optional).
Long thongs. No, not the underwear kind, which would be a contradiction in terms: the ones you use to grab hot stuff.
Have the chicken cut to small pieces. Wings can go whole or get separated in two bits at the elbow joint; legs get chopped at the knee and then each half gets chopped again; the body gets chopped up in similar-sized pieces.
Put oil in the pan; it shouldn't be so much that the food swims in it, but more than just wetting the pan. Heat it.
When you think it's hot enough, put a clove of garlic in it (if you're going to eat it, peel it; otherwise you don't need to). If it doesn't sizzle, wait a bit more. When it sizzles, add another clove, the whole washed pepper and as much chicken as your pan has room for.
Turn the chicken pieces around a few times so they're golden all over. As they get done, take them out to a plate and add more pieces in. Turn the pepper around too; if you're eating the garlic you shouldn't do it too much. Replace the garlic as needed.
The pepper is usually not eaten (this isn't just my family and our tummy problems, it's a real "usually").
You can use dipping sauces if you want (salsa, mojo verde, mayo, guacamole...) but it's not needed at all.
From: Nava
You can use any parts you fancy, but it's common to either get a whole chicken chopped up (no separating the breasts first) or use dark meats.
Items needed:
A frying pan; the oil will jump but don't bother with a lid, if you do it's likely to overcook.
Enough chicken to feed however many people you're feeding: 1/4 per person, unless you're dealing with teenagers (a single teenager can devour a range chicken in its entirety and then start eyeing what's on other people's plates).
Cooking oil.
A few cloves of garlic.
A green pepper (optional).
Long thongs. No, not the underwear kind, which would be a contradiction in terms: the ones you use to grab hot stuff.
Have the chicken cut to small pieces. Wings can go whole or get separated in two bits at the elbow joint; legs get chopped at the knee and then each half gets chopped again; the body gets chopped up in similar-sized pieces.
Put oil in the pan; it shouldn't be so much that the food swims in it, but more than just wetting the pan. Heat it.
When you think it's hot enough, put a clove of garlic in it (if you're going to eat it, peel it; otherwise you don't need to). If it doesn't sizzle, wait a bit more. When it sizzles, add another clove, the whole washed pepper and as much chicken as your pan has room for.
Turn the chicken pieces around a few times so they're golden all over. As they get done, take them out to a plate and add more pieces in. Turn the pepper around too; if you're eating the garlic you shouldn't do it too much. Replace the garlic as needed.
The pepper is usually not eaten (this isn't just my family and our tummy problems, it's a real "usually").
You can use dipping sauces if you want (salsa, mojo verde, mayo, guacamole...) but it's not needed at all.
Baked salmon
Baked salmon
From: Nava
You need:
an oven,
a whole salmon, cleaned and de-spined ("like a book"),
an oven pan or a cocotte. If you're using a cocotte, you can skip the oil.
oil and lemon
salt
While the oven heats, pour some oil into your recipient, just enough to keep the salmon from sticking. It will start letting water out after a while, so you don't need to drown it. If it's a cocotte, you can squeeze half the lemon instead.
Lightly salt the inside of the salmon. Close it. If you're feeling fancy, mark some cuts where you expect to cut the portions and stick slices of lemon in there. Place it in the recipient. Squeeze the (rest of the) lemon over it. If it's a cocotte, close it (yeah yeah, so I do know people who thought the lid was for decoration).
When the oven's hot, put it in.
When it smells good, it's done! (Depending on the size of the salmon and whether it was a pan or a cocotte, it will vary between 25' and 45', at least in Mom's oven).
Temperatures aren't given because I have no idea what temperature we use, my oven just has non-temperature numbers and I don't have the manual. It's the same setting as for chicken or a slightly lower one.
Salmon with orange: the same, using orange instead of lemon.
Salmon with shrimp: ditto, with peeled shrimp inside the salmon.
From: Nava
You need:
an oven,
a whole salmon, cleaned and de-spined ("like a book"),
an oven pan or a cocotte. If you're using a cocotte, you can skip the oil.
oil and lemon
salt
While the oven heats, pour some oil into your recipient, just enough to keep the salmon from sticking. It will start letting water out after a while, so you don't need to drown it. If it's a cocotte, you can squeeze half the lemon instead.
Lightly salt the inside of the salmon. Close it. If you're feeling fancy, mark some cuts where you expect to cut the portions and stick slices of lemon in there. Place it in the recipient. Squeeze the (rest of the) lemon over it. If it's a cocotte, close it (yeah yeah, so I do know people who thought the lid was for decoration).
When the oven's hot, put it in.
When it smells good, it's done! (Depending on the size of the salmon and whether it was a pan or a cocotte, it will vary between 25' and 45', at least in Mom's oven).
Temperatures aren't given because I have no idea what temperature we use, my oven just has non-temperature numbers and I don't have the manual. It's the same setting as for chicken or a slightly lower one.
Salmon with orange: the same, using orange instead of lemon.
Salmon with shrimp: ditto, with peeled shrimp inside the salmon.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Frying, the Spanish way
Frying, the Spanish way
Or, reduce, reuse, recycle.
From: Nava
The secret is not a secret at all: use reusable vegetable oils. That's olive, corn or sunflower; those three are the oils that are highest in oleic acid (therefore lower in "any other fatty acids"), it's about 99.99% of the fatty acids in olive oil and upwards of 90% in the other two (if memory serves, I'm writing offline and don't have my "natural chemistry" classnotes here). Oleic acid can be heated a lot more than other oils, it doesn't "coagulate" with itself and can be reused; it's also good for your cholesterol - well, that's how the olive industry says it, in reality it's at least less bad than fatty acids with several double bonds (found in "lesser oils" and animal fat) or, worse, with trans- bonds (found in hydrogenated fats). The only times myself, my grandmothers or Mom have ever thrown used oil away it was because we were moving house: that's a combined 250 years of cooking. And it's one of the reasons why a single liter of olive oil can last yours truly half a year or more, in spite of not using any other oils.
When you're done using these oils for frying, you do not throw them away, but store them. If you have a small pan (a handspan in diameter from edge to edge) that you use exclusively to fry eggs and single-person omelettes, as most Spanish households do (I've never been to one which didn't, "frying an egg" being defined as the lowest common denominator of cooking), then you just leave your eggs oil in the eggs pan.
You need to keep between one and three enameled jars or cups for your used oil. Pour your oil there through a thin-metal-mesh colander when you're done frying. Most veggies won't leave any taste to the oil. Meat will and its own fats transfer to the oil, so oil from meat must be reused either for the same kind of meat or for things like soup, mashed potatoes (instead of gravy, add a tiny tiny bit of used oil) or tomato sauce. Fish transfers a lot of taste, specially blue fish: you can separate it (and use it for your fish stock, rice, pasta) or you can fry some leaves of lettuce before transferring it to the common jar, you may need to change the leaves a couple times until the oil passes the "ok, this doesn't smell like fish at all any more" test.
Or, reduce, reuse, recycle.
From: Nava
The secret is not a secret at all: use reusable vegetable oils. That's olive, corn or sunflower; those three are the oils that are highest in oleic acid (therefore lower in "any other fatty acids"), it's about 99.99% of the fatty acids in olive oil and upwards of 90% in the other two (if memory serves, I'm writing offline and don't have my "natural chemistry" classnotes here). Oleic acid can be heated a lot more than other oils, it doesn't "coagulate" with itself and can be reused; it's also good for your cholesterol - well, that's how the olive industry says it, in reality it's at least less bad than fatty acids with several double bonds (found in "lesser oils" and animal fat) or, worse, with trans- bonds (found in hydrogenated fats). The only times myself, my grandmothers or Mom have ever thrown used oil away it was because we were moving house: that's a combined 250 years of cooking. And it's one of the reasons why a single liter of olive oil can last yours truly half a year or more, in spite of not using any other oils.
When you're done using these oils for frying, you do not throw them away, but store them. If you have a small pan (a handspan in diameter from edge to edge) that you use exclusively to fry eggs and single-person omelettes, as most Spanish households do (I've never been to one which didn't, "frying an egg" being defined as the lowest common denominator of cooking), then you just leave your eggs oil in the eggs pan.
You need to keep between one and three enameled jars or cups for your used oil. Pour your oil there through a thin-metal-mesh colander when you're done frying. Most veggies won't leave any taste to the oil. Meat will and its own fats transfer to the oil, so oil from meat must be reused either for the same kind of meat or for things like soup, mashed potatoes (instead of gravy, add a tiny tiny bit of used oil) or tomato sauce. Fish transfers a lot of taste, specially blue fish: you can separate it (and use it for your fish stock, rice, pasta) or you can fry some leaves of lettuce before transferring it to the common jar, you may need to change the leaves a couple times until the oil passes the "ok, this doesn't smell like fish at all any more" test.
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