Chapter Eleven: Comida

SPANISH MEATBALLS

Here, on the other hand, is a recipe that turned out really well for me. And it's a recipe that I have no shame in sharing the picture of.

If or when you come to Spain, you will most likely go to a tapas bar in the evening. Small portions of food served with a drink. That is how and why I chose to make croquetas and also meatballs. These are both typical things you could see at at tapas bar. The people also make them in their homes as part of the meal too, but if you go out, you will most definitely see croquetas and meatballs as an option to choose from.

Ingredients for the Meatballs
1 pound of beef
1/2 of an onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsp dried parsley
3-4 tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
Flour, for coating
Olive oil

Ingredients for the Sauce
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped (the original recipe called for 3 cloves but I only put in one)
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp paprika
Generous pinch of saffron
Salt
Olive Oil

Steps
1: For the meatballs, put the meat in a bowl with the onion, garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs. Mix with your hands until well combined, add the beaten egg and mix until well combined. Shape the mixture into small meatballs.
2: Sprinkle some plain flour onto a plate, and roll the meatballs in the flour to coat lightly.
3: Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a frying pan and add a few meatballs to the pan. Fry gently, turning frequently, until golden-brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside to drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining meatballs, cooking them in batches until they are all cooked. Top up the oil as needed during the cooking process.
4: Once the meatballs are cooked, make the sauce. In the same pan as the meatballs were cooked in, fry the carrots, onions and garlic over a medium heat until the onions are soft and lightly colored. Add the parsley, paprika and saffron, and pour in 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring to the boil, simmer for 2-3 minutes to thicken, season with salt to taste, and then add the meatballs to the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes to warm through before serving.
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CROQUETAS
(I have no idea how to translate this)

I said at the beginning that I would upload any and all pictures of the food I made. No matter if it turned out well or badly. Well, I lied. For the past few weeks, I have been debating about whether to admit to this particular one. It's not that this food tasted bad. Rather, these Spanish croquetas of mine that I made tasted quite well. The problem is that they did not look like proper "Spanish" croquetas.

Allow me to explain the ingredients and directions first and I will fill you in from there.

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 teaspoons of flour
1 cup of milk
1 egg
100 grams of bread crumbs
150 grams of ham cut into small pieces
Salt

Steps:
1: Put the oil in the frying pan and warm. Once the oil is warm, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour to the oil. Stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes a paste.
2: Put the pan on the heat again and add the milk, little by little, stirring the mixture all the time until it is cooked and even. Add the nutmeg, a pinch of salt and the ham. Cook in the pan until the mixture is stiff and don't stop stirring.
3: As soon as the mixture is stiff enough, spoon it into a bowl and let it cool. Beat the egg. Once the mixture is cool, make small portions with your hands into the shape of an oval. Dip each croqueta into the beaten egg and then dip it into the breadcrumbs which will stick to it because of the egg.
4: Place each croqueta separately on a plate. You can fry them right away or put them into the fridge and leave them until you are ready to cook and eat them. When you are ready, fry them in a pan with enough oil to cover them. When they are golden and crispy, take them out and lay them on paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Throughout this process, I had a few difficulties which I will explain here and hope that you won't have the same if you try to make this recipe.

To begin with, I had already seen and eaten croquetas so when I read "breadcrumbs" I knew that they would have to be small. All of the croquetas I have eaten as tapas have been smoothly covered with a breaded layer of deliciousness. However, after an hour of ripping apart bread and attempting to toast it and beat the you-know-what out of it, I gave up and decided my croquetas would instead be harshly covered with breaded globs. My suggestion to you is the next time you go to the local Spanish supermarket (like me), pick up some croqueta mix for 3.99 euros. It saves on time and on energy.

Carrying on, when you go to pour the milk in the pan and to cook it, be sure to cook it long enough. The recipe says "stiff". Be sure the mixture is stiff so that you can make small portions out of them. You see, I got lazy. I was stirring, stirring, and stirring some more when I decided it was good enough. Well, it wasn't. By the time I went to cover it with egg, the entire mixture basically fell through my fingers. I could not get an accurate shape or form to my croquetas. So I ended up stubbornly throwing the croqueta mix into globs on the plate then pouring the bread mix (not rolling the portions into the bread mix like the recipe said...) over the entire globby mess.

Apart from the mess I made, the taste was at least a success. Which is how I came to convince myself to share the recipe and story. If you have never tried a Spanish croqueta, you need to. If you try this at home, please learn from my mistakes, and I wish you the best of luck. And no, there is no photo at this time to show how it turned out. I did not take one. I do promise to make the recipe again and show an accurate picture of what it is supposed to look like.

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SOPA DE LENTEJAS
(Lentil Soup)

I keep saying my beginner's luck must run out. But this time it proved me wrong. My soup, believe it or not, turned out quite tasty. Even a fellow teacher commented on the good looks and smells of it at school.

So if you are stuck in a rut with cooking, try this one for a cold, wintry day in the Midwest. It has a lot of flavor, but not spicy. Remember, Spanish food is NOT spicy. Just flavorful.

So here it is:

Ingredients
250 grams of lentils (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 chorizo (Spanish sausage)
100 grams of serrano ham
1 large onion
1 small glass of red wine
2 cloves (optional and I did not put them in mostly because I did not know what they looked like)
1 red pepper (optional but I did put it in and was really good)
Olive oil
1 bay leaf
3 carrots
4 small potatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 pinch of saffron (however, I did not add this in)
fresh parsley
salt and pepper

Steps:
1: Soak the lentils for at least a half hour
2: Cut the ham and chorizo in diced-shaped pieces; peel and wash the carrots and potatoes; slice the carrots and halve the potatoes; wash and slice the red pepper
3: Drain the lentils and put them in a sauce pan. Add enough water so that it covers all of the chorizo, ham, carrots, potatoes,pepper, wine, and lentils; put the pan on low heat and cover.
4: Slice the onion and garlic and fry while stirring all the time; after a minute or so add the red pepper and when it is all soft, add the ingredients to the rest of the soup
5: Let the soup simmer for 40 minutes then boil off the excess liquid

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A bucket list is not a bucket list if you don't try a little to complete it. So this week with national holidays and no school, I decided to make an attempt at it. And what better way to start off but with food? That was my thought. And actually, all in all, it went pretty well. The downside is, though, I am worried that I could have used up all of my beginner's luck. But time will sure be able to tell.

In the meantime, my first dish to practice with was paella. When looking at the photo, it may be deceiving because with the peppers it probably looks a little spicy or picante. But get that thought out of your head immediately because Spanish food is unlike anything you could have ever tried at Taco Bell or any Mexican restaurant. So if your taste buds don't go in the direction of spicy but rather of flavor, Spanish food would probably be a perfect fit for you.

So from here on out, I promise to upload personal photos of what I make, recipes of how I make it, and any other tidbits I can pass along as stories or advice.

PAELLA

If you go online to search Spanish food, you will no doubt find many recipes for paella. It is honestly not hard to make. However, it is time consuming. And if you are from the U.S., you may have trouble finding some ingredients. The main ingredient that makes "paella" what it is all about is the spice called azafran or saffron in English. Good luck finding it in the stores. After studying abroad here three years ago, I came back hoping to make paella for my parents only to find out that supermarkets do not carry the spice. I did not, however, try any of the coop stores. That is something that you could try if you are interested in making this dish. However, if you would like me to bring some home for you, send me an email or message and I will be sure to put it on my list of things to do.

So here it is ladies and gentlemen, the recipe for paella.

Ingredients:
600 grams of short grain rice
Half a chicken in pieces
2 artichokes
2 medium sized red peppers
2 mature tomatoes
Black pepper
Garlic
Parsley
A strand of saffron
Olive oil
1/2 lemon
Sprig of rosemary and thyme
Salt

Steps:

1: Fry the chicken in some olive oil. Put the browned chicken pieces into a pan with 8 glasses of water, and bring to the boil. Leave simmering for half an hour.

2. Cut the artichokes and red pepper and fry them.

3: Fry the tomato and garlic in olive oil in the large paellera (special paella pan), then add the rice, stir for a minute and then add the chicken, chicken stock (there should be 6 glasses), artichokes, red peppers, the juice of half a lemon, black pepper, parsley, thyme, rosemary, the saffrón strands (grind them first) and salt.

4: Once all the ingredients are in the paella pan, turn the heat up to maximum and boil for about 10 minutes. Then lower the heat and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, the liquid should have evaporated. Turn off the heat, and leave to stand for five minutes. If possible cover while it is standing.