Red pepper rolls :: Rollitos de pimientos

By the time I have been posting recipes, you know that I am always looking for new side dishes that might suit any meat or fish. But this time is 3 in 1: side dish + appetizer + tapa. Yes, and you are going to love it, for sure !

Ingredients (10 units)

• 3 red peppers
  
• 50 gr. of capers
• 50 gr.of toasted pinions
• 30 ml. of olive oil
• 20 gr. of parsley
• 20 gr. of spring onion
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• Salt
• Black pepper

Elaboration  
Do you remember one of the most traditional catalan dishes based on red pepper? Yes, you guessed: Escalibada .So we have to cook the peppers the same way. Cover the baking tray with aluminum foil. With a brush, spread some olive oil on the tray to avoid the peppers to get stuck. Place the red peppers on and put it right away in the oven. Switch it on to 150oC, up and down, for at least 50' (we don't need the peppers to be that sift this time). After 25 minutes, flip them to cook the other side. 
Once cooked, take them out to cool down.

Meanwhile, introduce the parsley, the capers, the pinions and the lemon zest in the blender mixer.  

Then, pour the olive oil and season it. 

Press four times the mixer.

Once the peppers are cooled down, peel them and remove the seeds. From the loose juice of the peppers, add a tablespoon of it to the capers mixture. 

Now it is time to make the rolls ! Cut each pepper in three strips, place on top some of the capers mixture and roll it. Dress them with a little bit of olive oil and serve.

Delicious and healthy, isn't it? I ate them yesterday with a simple omelette and it made my dish more complete.

You see I am very into the "healthy mood" lately hehe ;-)

Mini-pizzas of ham and pickles :: Mini-pizzas de jamón y pepinillos

Weekend is coming, yeah ! And I bet many of you will meet up with your friends around a table. Are you staying at home or going out to some bar or restaurant? If you decide staying indoors or you are invited to any of your friends' house, make sure to be nice and bring some food to share with the whole gang (this is something we always do in Spain).

Pinterest is a great source of  appetizers, snacks and finger food, perfect for these kind of occasions where you have to cook for quite a big group of people but you want to make it easy. However, I must confess that I have tried out some of the recipes stored there and... I failed. Pictures looked way much better that the recipes turned out. This time though, I succeeded and that's why I want to share the recipe with you step by step (or picture by picture).


Ingredients (8 units)

• 2 mexican tortillas
• 2 slices of ham
• 1 slice of cheese
• Pickles
• 8 teaspoon of fried tomato sauce
• Oregano

Elaboration
We will use a tomato can to cut the tortillas and make perfect circles. Make sure you use a cylindrical can whose base is the same perimeter as the holes of your muffins baking tray (we will cook them in there!).
For each tortilla I took 4 circles (or mini pizzas base).

Now, we are cutting the ham, the cheese and the pickles that will make our pizza filling.

It is time about to fix our mini-pizzas! Place the bases in the baking tray. Add a teaspoon of tomato sauce on each circle and spread all around. Then, start placing the ham as the main ingredient.

Follow with the pickles and the cheese. As the final step, put some oregano on top and take them into the oven, which has been previously pre-heated at 200oC. Cook them for 10-15 minutes.

Eat as soon as you take them out from the oven, otherwise, the tortillas won't be crunchy.

Easy and delicious recipe, isn't it? Note that you can use other ingredients as chorizo, mushrooms, bacon, etc,. There so many combinations!

By the way, this is a very family recipe that you can also make with your children :-) 

Font: Pinterest

Eggs on a ham tulip :: Huevos sobre una tulipa de jamón

Swedish translation here

Months ago I saw this recipe on the internet and thought how classy and elegant these basic products where showed off. 

It is only eggs and ham but this lovely presentation feels as you were eating the most glamorous dish.

Enjoy!

Ingredients (2 units)

• 4 sliced of Ham
• 2 Eggs
• 3 leaves of Basil
• Black pepper
• Minced garlic 

Elaboration

Choose a mold to make the tulips. I grabbed a silicone mold because it is easier to unmold. As I did, you can use your cupcakes mold ;-) 
Add a drop of olive oil (or a littl bit of butter) on each mold and spread all over the little container so the ham will not stick.

Now, cover each cup with 2 slices of ham. Make sure it is fully covered; otherwise the egg will spread all around (mine did...). 

Quickly, break the eggs into the ham cups and put them right away into the oven, which has been previously preheated at 200oC. Bake them for 13 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop the basil.

After 13 minutes, take off the baking tray and let the eggs and ham tulips cool down a little bit. You can take advantage of these minutes by season it with basil, black pepper and garlic.

Unmold when you feel you are not going to burn your hands and you will be ready to eat them !

Hope you enjoyed this recipe and, by the way, I am sorry for not mentioning the font where I took this recipe from but I cannot remember it!

Barcelona Tapas Tour II

Swedish translation here

 

Tapas Tour is our way of life (ok, not that extreme but something close ;-), and anytime the city organizes it we are in ! Estrella Damm is actually the one in charge of this currently event in Barcelona. Remember that we already attended one Tapas tour in the city and another one in Donosti.

The only thing you should do is:

1) Find a gap in your agenda and head off to the city.
2) Have an empty belly to be filled with delicious tapas.
3) Check the map where you can find one of the 104 restaurants / bars that offer you the tapa + beer combo (you can either check it in Gastronosfera website or stepping in any bar and grab it physically.
4) Remember: you've only got 11 days to enjoy this tapas tour! It is from the 5th to the 15th of June.

Map of Barcelona City with the restaurants you can find the tapa + beer combo

Each restaurant offers 1 different tapa. Total: 104 !

No matter where we are, whether we are just running some errands in a close town or on holidays somewhere else. We always check if there is any food event going on in the location. In our opinion, this is one of the best ways to discover new restaurants and, why not, a different culture, because, when you taste some other places, cities, countries' food, you get to understand so many things ;-)

Here are the tapas we had:

SQUID SANDWICHE
Squid ink bread, Andalusian-style squid and lime mayonnaise

CENTRIC
c/ de les Ramelleres, 27
08001 Barcelona

LAND AND FIRE MEATBALL SKEWER
Skewer with three meatballs and two sauces

CERVECERIA CASTILLA
c/ de la Gravina, 8
08001 Barcelona






 
MINI LA RIOJA-STYLE TIMBALE
Potato and poached onion with mini chorizos from La Rioja served with a quail's egg

LA RIOJA
c/ del Peu de la creu, 6
08001 Barcelona

COUNTRY-STYLE QUAIL
Open sandwich with pear confit, quail, sweet and sour sauce and matchstick potatoes

BARRAVAL
c/ de l'Hospital, 104
08001 Barcelona




 

FROM BARBATE TO RAVAL
Bed of tomato on muxama (salt-cured tuna) with basil parcels

LA TAVERNA DEL SUCULENT
Rambla del Raval, 39
08001 Barcelona

Pork loin and green pepper open sandwich :: Montadito de lomo y pimiento verde

Swedish translation here

 

"Pepito" is the popular name of this spanish open sandwich. There are different versions of this original sandwich but the truth is that his earliest reference dates from the postwar years in Spain. Around the mid-50s, there could have been a regular costumer of a bar that could have been named Pepe or "Don Pepito" (it is the more familiar name) and asked for a sandwich with a beef steak.  
This sandwich request was regularly repeated by the same Pepito until the bar costumers were asking, "I want a sandwich like Pepito", and eventually were asking only: "A beef pepito !".

One of these versions is the pork loin and green pepper, one of my favourite ones ever!

Enjoy and, un pepito, por favor! (a pepito, please!)

Ingredients (2 units)

• 2 slices of bread
• 2 sliced pork loin
• 50 gr. of green pepper
• Grated manchego cheese
• Salt
• Black pepper

Elaboration
We will start by washing the green pepper, cutting it into strips and cooking them slowly. Then,put it aside.
Now, season the pork and fry in the same pan as the olive oil has got the green pepper taste so it will be delicious!

In my opinion, a pepito tastes better with some good Manchego cheese on the top so cut a piece of it, grate and reserve.

Now we have got all the ingredients and we're ready to assemble our pepito.

Grab a slice of bread (toasted is much better!), soak it in the pan where you have previously fried the pepper and the loin and start piling everything up. 

First, put a slice of pork loin and, then, cover it with the pepper. 

And the cheese, do not forget it! ;-)

Now, you have your pepito, your open sandwich or your tapa! Make as many as you want and enjoy your spanish bite!

Artichoke chips :: Virutas de alcachofa

Swedish version here

I am really proud of our orchard. It gave us 5 artichokes yesterday so the only thing I thought about was cooking them as soon as possible.

The recipe I'm posting today is from my mother in law. It is perfect as appetizer, tapa or side dish. You know, vegetables are always perfect options for almost everything!

Ingredients

• 5 artichokes
• 25 cl of cold water
• 60 gr of flour
• 150 ml ofolive oil

Elaboration
Bringing food directly from the orchard means washing them thoroughly before eating mainly because of the grounds and small insects it might contain. Do it and after that we will mend them.

Cut the stems and get rid off the stiff leaves.

Grab the artichokes and wash them again. Now, it comes the "dainty part". With a very sharp knife make 6-7 slices for each part. Be careful not making them too thick. This process would be easier and more accurate with a mandolin but, we haven't got any so let's go for good quality knives ;-)

Once you are done with it, prepare a mixture with the cold water and the flour previously sifted. The colder the water and the sifter the flour, the better. So take your time with both steps otherwise the result won't be the expected one (I personally buy special flour which is already sifted). Mix the ingredients and you will end up having liquid dough.

Now, heat the olive oil. Then, soak each artichoke chip in the dough and put it directly in the hot oil. Fry it for a 2 minutes, or until they get a golden colour, and place it on a towel paper.

Do the same with the rest of the artichokes.

And, voilà! You have got the perfect crunchy veggie chips. Perfect to go with a glass of cold white wine ;-)

Avocado wings with spicy sauce :: Alitas de aguacate con salsa picante

Swedish translation here

 

Lately, I have become an avocado huge fan. It started by tasting this food for the first time in salads, then it came in the sushi and later I decided to eat it as a substitute of the meat and reduce the consumption of the last one.

However, I am bit lost on how to cook it despite of the typical recipes (sushi, salads, guacamole, etc.). Browsing around I found the coming recipe and I just had to try this out!

Seriously: it is delicious! I changed a few ingredients but still! Do you want to try this out as well ?

Ingredients

• 2 Avocados
• 150 gr. of breadcrumbs
• 40 ml. of lemon juice
• 125 gr. of yogurt
• 2-10 drops of Tabasco (pepper sauce)
• Black pepper

Elaboration
There are two basic steps: arranging the avocados and making the sauce to dip them in.

First of all, preheat the oven 200oC. Follow by cutting the avocado in half and make four strips for each part. With a knife, get rid of the skin and display the avocado in a platter.

Then, spread the lemon juice on the avocado. I used my Lékué Citrus Spray (it works fantastic!) and I did spray on each piece.
Now, dip in batter all the avocado wings with the breadcrumbs and place them on the oven tray, previously covered with foil. Introduce them in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Secondly, you can start fixing the sauce. Empty the yogurt on a bowl and add the black pepper and the Tabasco. I suggest you adding few drops first, check how spicy it tastes and then add few mores if you feel like. Mix everything together and it is done!

Finally,take the avocado wings out from the oven and you are ready to enjoy them.

Hope you like this new recipe!

Font: Original recipe here

Salmon cubes :: Cubos de salmón

Swedish version here

"Order anything you can't, you don't dare or you don't feel like cooking at home.

This statement might sound a little bit as I was from the countryside but it works perfectly to me when I step in a restaurant. In my opinion, this is the chance to taste way too many interesting food and dishes.

However, sometimes it just about mixing simple food with simple ingredients and make it taste scrumptious. Actually this recipe is one of these dishes that we had in a restaurant and as simple as it is I'm cooking it myself to bring it to your kitchen. Enjoy!


Ingredients (2 people)

• 130 gr. of salmon (I buy these premium gourmet salmon loins that are boneless)
• Mustard
• Coarse sea salt

Elaboration
Unpack the salmon loin and display it on a board. With a sharp knife, cut symmetrical cubs (2-3 cm each). With my 130 gr of salmon I cut 6 cubes.

Now, grab the plate you want to serve in and, carefully, lay the mustard. You don't necessarily have to make a straight line because we are going to spread throughout the plate with a cooking brush. I chose a small brush because I wanted to be more precise.

Nicely, set the salmon exactly on the mustard thick line. Delicately, grab few grains of salt and display on each salmon cube. I personally add enough salt so don't be afraid, you can always remove it from the top in case you feel it tastes too salty.

And that's it! An elegant, chic appetizer for your menus. Plus you eat fish which is always good for your body ;-)