This book is amazing, there is no other way to put it. If you like Spanish food, or even simple to make, but incredibly delicious food, then I highly recommend the food of spain: a journey for food lovers. Nothing in this book was wrong. The recipes were all straightforward, there were no mistakes and the instructions were clear and missed no steps. The best thing of course was that the dishes were simply amazing. So I give this book top marks, my first 5 out of 5.
Chicken in Samfaina sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 kg chicken, cut into 8 pieces
- 60ml olive oil
- 2 large brown onions, chopped
- 400g eggplant, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 350g zucchini, cut into strips
- 2 green or red capsicums, cut into 1cm strips
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons chopped herbs (such as thyme, oregano and flat-leaf parsley)
- 125ml white win
Method:
- Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, add the chicken in batches and brown well on all sides. Remove from the pan and reduce the heat to low-medium.
- Add the onion, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until softened. Add the eggplant, garlic, zucchini and capsicum and cook until the vegetables are softened.
- Stir in the tomato, bay leaf, herbs and wine, and return the chicken pieces to the pan. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and the eggplant is soft. Season well with salt and pepper before serving.
Notes on this recipe:
- I used chicken pieces instead of cutting a chicken into pieces. That worked out well for the cooking.
- OMG THIS DISH IS AMAZING. If you can eat it, I highly recommend it. It’s simple to put together and tastes so great. I’d recommend serving it with mashed potatoes or really crusty bread.
Poor Man’s Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 4 large all-purpose potatoes, such as desiree, approx 800g
- 250ml light olive oil
- 250ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 green capsicum, diced into 2cm cubes
- 2 red onion, diced into 2cm cubes
Method:
- Peel and cut the potatoes into 1cm thick slices and soak in cold water for 20 minutes. Drain well and dry on paper towels.
- Heat the oils in a large, deep heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes and 1 teaspoon salt. Fry on high heat for 10 minutes, rotating and turning potatoes regularly until lightly golden. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes or until starting to soften. Add the capsicum and onion, stirring well. Cover and cook a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Increase heat to high and cook uncovered for another 15 minutes. When cooked the potatoes will be tender and have broken up slightly but will be a little crispy on the edges. Drain well. Season to taste and serve hot.
Notes on this recipe:
- I’m not sure who this poor man is, but he certainly had access to a lot of olive oil, which isn’t cheap in Australia.
- Also, this dish is probably fatal. It is very tasty though, so enjoy it at least once before you die.
- It’s cooking with hot oil, beware of setting things on fire, and burning yourself.
Lemon sponge cake
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs, at room temperature
- 380g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 185g plain flour, sifted
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160C. Lightly grease and line a 24cm spring-form tin. Using electric beaters, beat the eggs and sugar for 15 minutes, or until light and creamy. Beat in the lemon zest. Using a large metal spoon or spatula, gently fold the flour into the egg mixture.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the oven door open for 5 minutes, then remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.
Notes on this recipe:
- I’ve never made a sponge cake before and this was really easy. This probably had something to do with the fact that this cake uses whole eggs and doesn’t call for them to be separated, and I have a kick arse bench mixer that lovely people bought me for Christmas.
- Use a standard sized springform pan. You’d be surprised how fluffy the batter gets with all the beating.
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