STEWED ARTICHOKES WITH MEATBALLS

Hi again, springtime, April, but still time for a comforting hot stew, the 0 kilometer veggies are at the best moment, Granada has the best green asparagus, the best fava beans, and the artichokes. Many families has a small plot where they grow theese veggies, recollect them and sell them on the side of secondary roads. So fresh, and we have so many recipes, last spring I posted the Asparaous Cream, the Habas con Jamon, one of the famous recipes from Granada, we buy a lot of everythng now, and freeze for the rest of the year.
This recipe is all homemade, and we always do a big skillet to invite family and friends.


Shopping list 4 persons
8 artichokes
4 large potato
1 onion
2 tablespoons of extra virgen olive oil
1 liter vegetable stock

Meatballs for 4 persons
500 gr of minced veal
1 egg
3 table spoons of bread crumbs
1 teaspoon of chopped parsley
1 tea spoon of grated nutmeg
Pink salt from Himalaya
White pepper

Fritada for the stock
2 slieces of white bread
2 garlic cloves
1 handful of almonds
AOVE
Pink salt from Himalaya
1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Start peeling and chopping the onion finely, add the olive oil and the onion to a skillet and let simmer while we peel the artichokes, all the hard dark leaves must be taken off, rub your hands with lemon juice, and in the end, you cut off 1/3 of the top, have some water ready with the juice of 1/2 lemon ( the artichokes turns brown with the air, but the lemon water avoids that) You can also peel the stalks, we don't like to throw away anything edible, and add them to the stew.


When the onion is transparent, you add vegetable stock, or water, I never use the boullion you buy ready after  I saw a video clip of what is used to make it. I always save the stock of everything I boil, and use that, I even freeze it when I'm not going to use it the same day or next.
Strain the artichokes and add to the onion stock, peel the potatoes and cut in lage pices and add too.

Then mix the ingredients for the meatballs, mix well, and if you rinse your hands in cold water, the balls comes out nicely without gluing to your hands. Have some flour in a small bowl, toss the meatballs with it, and fry at medium heat until they are golden brown all over. When finished, transfer to the boiling artichokes.
The artichokes and the potatoes are ready in about 25 min.

For the fritada, used in many spanish dishes:
Then we cut the white bread in cubes, and fry int olive oil, until crisp and golden, use a kitchen paper to drain the exess of oil. Then chop the almonds and the garlic, and fry in the same oil, when finished,  be careful not to burn the almonds, add the sweet paprika and transfer all to the food processor at medium high speed, and you get a brown paste. Add this to the stock, and let simmer the last 5 min, now you will get a lovely sauce.

Serve 2 artichocks some potatoes and meatballs, with a little sauce, we use this as a main dish.

We have a small lemon tree n the garden, and they are just ripe now, very strong ths year, but nice to have really 0 kilometer fruit.

If you want to freeze the artichokes, just peel them as in this recipe, boil water, enough to cower them, add the artichokes for 2 min., strin well, and put in plastic bags. Then you can cook them later as you wish. The same way, the fava beans and the asparagus too.

Hope you liked this very, very Spanish stew.

Love
Hilde

1st OF NOVEMBER ALL SAINTS DAY

Halloween celebrating has got very fashion in Spain, but it's a modern celebration, tomorrow the "Dia de Todos los Santos", All  Saints'Day, the tradition is to go to the graveyard to visit the graves of family and friends.

Several days before, people start cleaning, painting and decorating with fresh flowers, if you have been in the surroundings of a cementry the last days, you might have seen people carrying ladders, buckets and flowers. Since there is not enough space in the ground of the graveyards, you have the "nichos",  and to reach the highest ones they need a ladder. There are some public ones, but it can be a long time to wait to get one, so people bring their own ones from home.

Lots of people travel a long way to go to their home town to look after the graves on this day, years ago I have seen places where they brougt the picnic to the cementry.

The Spanish "Camposanto" (Holy Ground) has always been respected, and lots of  them have or are beeing restored, in Granada it has the privilege to be situated just behind the Alhambra, actally you use the same parking. A route of the memory was made to visit the histrorical mausoleums, the art was a sign of power and wealth, many of the mausoleums are made by local artist, but also of national and international well known sculptors.

The guided visits show you the most significant art work, the San Jose Cementry is one of the most ancients in Spain, dates from XIX  and occupies 110 000 square meters,divided  in 19 patios, one of them has a chapel, La Ermita, in new romantic style, now restored ,where you can bury the ashes.

www.granadadirect.com/rutas/cementerio-granada/

The photographs are from the cementry in Otura,  the little town where we live, but here and everywhere in Spain, you can sea the respect and the care for the deceased.

Hope you get some good treats tonight, and the best is tomorrow beeing holiday, in Spain when you have a holiday together with a week end it's called "puente", bridge, and we use it to travel, see family and friends, discover something new, students go home to be with family, so be careful on the road.

Happy Hallloween !!!!!!

MEATLOAF WITH MUSTARD, DILL AND ALBAHACA MAYONNAISE

Andrea and Comte de Maquis.

End of the week end, end of the week, must start thinking of following week, my daughter Andrea started at the University last week, and she is a very buisy lady, in the morning riding lessons, then training her beloved Comte de Maquis, lunch and school she is studies art, from half past three to half past nine. Long day, and I try to make healthy and different lunch boxes for her every day. We made, for the moment, a kind of timetable for the lunches for 3 weeks, not to repeat the food every week, she does a lot of training, and she specially needs proteins, but also vegetables, and fruit.

Some days my man and I cook the lunch for us, and that lunch goes for her next days lunch box.

Saturday i prepared this meatloaf, containing both veal and chicken, it was our lunch today and Andrea's lunch for tomorrow,  easy to pack, and acompaned by a salad and the mustard mayonnaise and a pice or two of fruit , she can work the day through.

The ingredients.

Shopping list

600 gr. carne de ternera                (veal)

600 gr. pechuga de pollo                (chicken breast)

75 gr. jamon serrano                       ( serrano ham)

4 cucharadas de cebolla frita          ( fried onion, I use the Ikea Food one)

2 huevos                                        (eggs)

3 cucharadas de pan rallado            ( bead crumbs)

3 cucharadas de vermouth              (Martini or other vermuth)

3 cucharillas de sesamo tostado      ( roasted sesame seeds)

1 cucharilla de paprika ahumado     ( smoked paprika)

! cucharilla de ajo en polvo              (garlic powder)

1 cucharilla de pimienta blanca         (white pepper)

1 cucharilla de sal rosa de Himalaya (pink salt from Himalaya)

My butcher pics the meats for me, and do the      picado, at the moment, so I only have to mix them.

put the meat mix and all the ingredients in a big bowl, and mix all with a wooden spoon, then I have a little olive oil and then some bread clumbles in the      molde,  then it's easier to take it out when finished.

The pink Himalaya Salt, I buy from my friend Susanas health food shop, we all wanted to cut down on the salt, and this is so tasty, that I use less of the half than I used of "normal" salt.

Fill in the mould, and press hard with your hand, take a little water on the top, to make it soft and    glatt.

The roasted meatloaf.

Put in the oven preheated on 180 degrees for 45 min, try with a  pinne,  if it comes out clean, the loaf is done.

Mustard Mayoonaise

3 cucharadas de mostaza                    (mustard)

3 cucharadas de mayonesa                 (mayonnaise)

3 cucharadas de nata                          (cream)

Eneldo                                                (fresh dill)

Albahaca unas hojas                            (fesh     

Sal y pimienta                                     (salt and pepper)

Mix the ingredients, here again I used the Dill Mustard from Ikea Food, if not use a sweeter kind of mustard, and finely shpo the dill into the mayonnaise, taste for salt and pepper, set in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, and chop the albahaca leves on the top at serving time. Serve in a bowl apart, and the meatloaf cut in slices of  an half centimeter or what thickness you prefere yourself.

I have to share my wonderful Jasmin, it's now three years old, and has so much flowers, and it smell so good all over the garden.

Have a good start on this new week.

THE SPRING BECAME SUMMER APSPARAGUS CREAM

THE NATURE IS EXPLODING IN COLOURS

From one day to another the temperature in Granada rose from 15 to 30 degrees (celcius), I never remember , but this is quite commun in Granada, no spring , and no time to prepare the summer.
So today I have been running, cleaning the ouside sites,washing  the garden  furniture, cheking the cushions, buying some new plants, pruning the old ones, cleaning the windows, at least 3 months of rainy weather made me close my eyes on them when a litte sunshine came throuh the clouds, and all the dust was more than visible.

MY FAVORITE SPACE FOR THE AFTERNOON

The old folks says that it has not been raining this way since year 1947, and it,s figured out that we have water enough for 3 years in the dams. Yesterday it was so hot in Granada, and  it's as always fun to see the way people dress, the more ancient , with winter jackets and winter shoes, like me in the middle, I took my jacket off, but still wear my  boots, but the youngsters, already in tank tops and sandals.

But we still have spring veggies, some friends are coming for lunch and I want to give some,as an entry before the Segureña roasted lamb , may be you wonder why i put the list of ingredients in spanish, I thougt it will help when you go shopping, you can just copy the list, especially if you speak little spanish, or if you live in a place where they speak little or no english.
As econmy in Spain you all know is not wery good, I do my shopping in the small local shops, you will find out that people are so friendly, when they get to know you they do anything to please you, and we may help to save the work for some people.

I'm lucky to have a friend who goes from Granada to Huescar almost every week, the Segureña lamb comes from Granada, Murcia, Albacete, Jaen and AlmeriaI ,but the most known place is Huescar, the name comes from the Segura river, and it has Denominacion de Origen since year 2008,  6oo families in the Huescar region make their living of breading 200 000 lambs a year, and we just love it's taste. It' also called the "pata negra" of the lambs.


ASPARAGUS CREAM
 4 pers.

1!2 kg of esparragos trigueros (green asparagus)
1 puerro        (leek)
1 cebolla (onion)
2 cc aceite de oliva virgen extra (virgen extra olive oil)
2 quesitos cremosos light  (light cream cheese)
2 dl leche condensada  (condensed milk)
1 l caldo de verduras o pollo ( vegetable or chicken stock)
100 gr jamon serrano (serrano cured ham)
1 ch cebollino (chives)

ALL THE INGREDIENTS READY CUT

ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IN THE KITCHEN

First chop the onion , and let it fry in a pan until it gets transparent, then you add the salt and the stock and let boil for 10 min. Cut the top of the asparagus and save, then chop the rest in 1 cm long peaces, be careful to take away the bottom, just break by hand , its easier than cutting it, you will feel what is no good after breaking two or tree  Part the leek longside in two, and then cut it in fine slices, add to the pot togethet with the asparagus and let cook for 10 min.

Then have a litte olive oil, just paint the bottom of the pan, and sute  for some minutes, I like them "al dente",
try and find the way you like it best, salt a lttle bit, and put on a papertowel.

I have a Thermomix, foodprosessor, but any will do, the soup is good as it is, one of my doughters dont like creams , so I take apart 1 bowl for her, the rest together with the cream cheese and the milk  I let go on level 5 for 30 sec, and then for 45 sec on level 10 , it must be really creamy.

I use to serve in a soup bowl, with lots of asparagus tops, serrano ham and chives.

ENJOY IT.

CORDERO SEGUREÑO ASADO

1 pierna de cordero Segureño  ( Segureña lambs leg)
2 cc sal    (salt)
2 cc mantequilla sin sal ( butter without salt)
2 o 3 ramas de romero fresco ( rosemary)
4-5 dientes de ajo  (garlic cloves)

Give the lambs leg a good round with salt, I use to say that I give it a massage , then peel the garlic, put it on the leg together with the rosemary and the butter. ( I dont use much butter for cooking, I prefere olive oil, but if I use butter, always  without salt, then you can add the salt you feel  for yourself.)

CORDERO SEGUREÑO

Preheat the oven 180 degrees, let it roast for 30 min., turn the oven off, and let it rest for another 30 min, and then back to 180 degrees for another 30-40 min.

I have sometimes pre-cooked the lamb for 30 min. when we had guests that we wanted to take for some sight seeing, and finished the roast when we returned home  a couple of hours later. This is a great way as you can have the entry or some tapas , and the main dish is ready in 30 min.

After the Asparagus cream the onely side dish I can admit is lettuce whit a dash of olive oil and vinegar, if you dont make the entry you can  make some roast potatoes in the same pan as the meat.



Again I  want you to see the real taste of the food, we have so much match and mix, and we are forgetting the real taste , wich is what I love about this easy and genuine cooking, and always doing it with a lot of LOVE.