Patatas a la riojana

Patatas a la riojana

Ingredients:

1 Chorizo

4 or 5 Potatoes

1.5 kg Pork ribs

1 Onion

3 Garlic cloves

Parsley

1 Dry pepper

1 Tbs paprika  (hot, if you like)

Evo Oil

3 Bay leaves

How to proceed:

1º In a large size pot, put 2 table spoons of olive oil. Clean and chop the onion and the garlics, and add them in the pot. Fry until they become yellow.

2º Cut the chorizo in 5 or 6 pieces (thick slices) and add them in the pot. Clean and separate the ribs, then add them to the chorizo. Add some salt.

3º Stir eventually. Add in the pot :the paprika, chopped parsley, dried pepper (ñora) and the bay leaves.

4º Stir again for 2 or 3 more minutes, meanwhile, clean and cut the potatoes. Add them in the pot and pour enough water to cover all the ingredientes up. Adjust the salt.

5º Leave it boilng at medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes will be soft. And sevre when is still hot. Enjoy!

Pollo a las hierbas provenzales/ Grilled Chicken marinate with Herbs de Provence

Pollo a las hierbas provenzales/

 Grilled Chicken with Herbs de Provence

Ingredients:

2 Chicken thighs

1 Onion

2 Garlic Cloves

Provencal Herbs

1 Lemon

1/2 glass White Wine

Parsley

EVO oil

How to proceed:

1º Heat 2 tbs of oil in a large size pan, clean the chicken and add salt and pepper, toast it for both sides in the pan.

2º Meanwhile, put in a blender, the 2 garlic cloves, a bunch of parsley, the lemon juice, the white wine and the provencal herbs. Sace it for later.

3º Preheat the over at 420f/ 200c.

4º Take the chicken from de pan, and slice the onion. Use the same oil where you cooked the chicken and put the onion, fry the pieces lightley until they are soft.

5º In an over tray put some parchment paper, and place the onion and on top of that, place the chicken. Pour the mix from the blender marinating the chicken.

6º Place it in the over for 45 minutes. If you like to add some potatoes, after 20 minutes in the oven, turn back the chicken and add the potatoes. Enjoy!

Albondigas en salsa de tomate/ Meatballs in tomato sauce

This is a very popular recipe from the spanish gastronomy. It can be presented as a main dish or as a "tapa".
How to make a tapa: Take 3 or 4 meatballs depending on their size, and garnish with some green peas and fries.
How to ask for it in a spanish bar: Me pone una tapa de albóndigas en salsa, por favor?

Coming back to the recipe I have to say that usually you mix some ground veal with ground pork meat. But you can do it as you like, as I did today, I just used groung beef.
Parsely is optional, I used when I have at home, today I didn't have, but it has to be fresh parsley.
Once you get used to eat meatballs you can try different sauces, tomato is the basic one, but you can try almond sauce or with vegetables.
This is a recipe that is going to take some time to prepare so, so if you are in a rush, leave it for another day ; )

Albondigas en salsa de tomate/ Meatballs in tomato sauce

Ingredients:

600 or 700 grams ground beef

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

100 grs Breadcrumbs

2 eggs

Salt

200ml Tomato sauce

2 Potatoes

1 can Green peas

2 tbs EVO oil

1 cube chicken Avecrem

1 bag of powder Bovril

Flour (all purpose)

How to proceed:

1º Clean, wash and cut in half the onion. Save half for later, take the other half and chop it, do the same with the garlic cloves.

2º In a large size bowl, mix the ground meet with the onon and the garlic that you recently chopped. Add salt, the eggs, the cube of avecrem and the breadcrumbs. If you are going to add parsely now is the time to do it too.

3º Mix with your clean hands. The mixture should be very moist but still hold its shape if roll into balls. In a plate put some flour on a side, and start doing balls in your hands with the meat and passing them by the flour, covering the entire surface.

4º In a medium size fry pan, pour enough oil to deep fry the meatballs in it. Start deep frying them, while finish rolling them. You can do both tasks at the same time.

5º In a large pot, pour 2 tbs of oil, slice de half onion you saved before and add it to the oil. Pour 2 tbs of flour and stir. Set medium heat, add the tomato sauce, fry for a couple of minutes. Now, add 1 glass of warm water, some salt, and the bovril. Stir your sauce for 5 minutes.

6º Now you can start deeping the fried meatballs into the sauce, stiring every now and then until you finish with the meatballs.

7º Peel wash and cut into dices the potatoes. Use the same oil where you deep fried the meatballs to deep fry your potatoes. Add them to the sauce once they are ready.

8º Last thing, open the green peas' can and add them into the sauce. Adjust water and salt if required for the sauce, just for the meat to don't stick on the bottom. Leave them low heat for 10 more minutes, stiring every 2 minutes. Serve them as a main dish or as a tapa in a dessert plate. Enjoy!

Sea Bream with rustic potatoes in the oven/ Dorada al horno

There are hundreds of different ways to cook the sea bream, I speacially like it on the oven. This recipe that I'm going to show you is very simple and it doesn´t require too many ingredients. Your main ingrediente is the sea bream, so it must be fresh or if frozen, leave it in the fridge for one night to defrost. This is a fish I use to cook frequently, so I might share several different recipes down the road. I hope you like them too.

Baked Sea bream with rustic potatoes

Ingredients:

1 Whole Sea bream (600grams)

1 Onion

1 slice of lemon

1 or 2 potatoes

Salt

Pepper

Rosemary 

EVO oil

1/2 glass Cooking wine

How to prepare it:

1° Preheat oven at 180c/ 356f.

2° On an oven tray, place the parchment paper covering it. And spray some oil over the surface.

3° Peel, wash and slice the potatoes (not too thick). Put them covering the tray. Add salt and rosemary. Do the same with the onion.

4° Now, wash the fish and it should have been cleaned by the fishmonger. On the side hole, cut in half  a slice of lemon and put it inside. Add salt and pepper on both sides and lay the fish on top of the potatotes, drizzle with 1 table spoon of oil.Pour the wine over.

5° Cook in the oven for 35 minutes. Take it out. Now you can separare the fillets and prepare two servings. Enjoy!

Empanadillas stuffed with Mushroom and Chicken

Empanadillas rellenas de champiñón y pollo/ Stuffed

Ingredients:

1 pack of 2 sheets Puff Pastry

1 Chicken thigh

300 grs Mashrooms

1/2 Onion

Parsley

EVO oil

Salt & Pepper

2 Garlic cloves

1 Egg

200 grs Grated Cheese

How to Proceed:

1º. Pour 4 table spoons of oil in a large size fry pan, and the the onion and the garlic that we have previously cut in small pieces.

2º While stiring the onion often, clean and cut the chicken also in small pieces. Add the chicke in the pan with salt and pepper.

3º Continue stiring the chicken in the pan often, while you wash and cut the mushrooms. When you feel the chicken is almost done, add the mushrooms and some parsley previously cut.

4º Leave it in the pan for about 6 or 7 more minutes. In the meanwhile, take out the pastry sheets.

Clean the counter top which is going to be your working place, and pour some flour. Now, stir the sheets and flatten it with a rolling pin. We are going to make our empanadillas.

Take a cup or a glass wide enough and use it to take out circles as in the picture below:

   

5º Place the pastry circles that you are obtaining in an over tray with baking paper:

6º Now you start filling the empanadillas with the chicken and mushroom, don't put too much filling because it's going to be difficult to close it.

7º On top on the filling add some grated cheese.

8º Place the rest of the pastry on top of that ones in order to close them, Use a fork to push on the edges as showed in the picture below:

9º Our last step is to take the egg, beat it in a small bowl and with a brush or if you don't have it you can use your fingers, paint the surfaces.

10º Place them in the oven at 392ºF (200ºc) for 20 minutes. And they will be ready to enjoy them!