SPANISH TORTILLA

Hello, hello, this is , after the paella, the second national recipe of Spain, normally potatoes,eggs and olive oil. Since very long time ago, in every house there was always potatoes from the family plot, eggs from ones own hens, and oil from ones own olive trees.
So it was easy, tasty and fills up a lot with a nice pice of bread, in Spain, the bread never misses at the lunch and dinner table.
I made a small variation and put in a lot of onion and zucchini, makes a real good taste, and maybe feel a little lighter.

The shopping list:
2 calabacines.                    ( zucchini)
2 cebollas.                         ( onion)
2 patatas.                           ( potatoes)
Sal.                                    ( salt)
Extra virgen olive oil.       ( extra virgin olive oil)
4 huevos.                           ( eggs)

Start peeling and cutting the vegetables as you see on the photo, rince and strain well.

Put the extra virgen olive oil in a frying pan, heat at medium fire, and carefully add the veggies, use a wooden spoon to mix, all must be coated sith the oil, add some salt, and cover, the oil should be bubbling  softly.      a fter 6-7 min, turn the veggies, they should not be toasted, turn again, and when you see the colour gets more yellow, transfer the veggies to a strainer, the olive oil,strained, can be kept in a closed container for another use.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a little salt, and now we add the potato/zuccini//onion mix, like you see on the photo. Heat up the frying pan again to medium, cover the bottom and sides with a little oil, just like a film only.

Add all to the pan and use a spatula, to make the border round and nice. When you see the egg start to solidify, using a big plate, you turn the tortilla upside down, and transfer from the plate to the frying pan again to get cooked on the other side, help yourself with the spatula.

The first one I made 34 years ago got burned on one side, but the second turned out nicely, my husband likes the high, rare done and soft tortilla, some people likes it flatter and well done, if you want the second option, use a bigger frying pan.

This is easier than it looks like, when you get used to the trick on how to turn, and I like it not too hot, so I can prepare it a couple of hous in advance.
Accompany with a salad and fresh white bread.

The tortilla is normally cut in wedges.

This s yummy summer food too.

I think you are going to love it.

Easter week is very near, do you go to Spain for your holiday?

Next post I`ll tell you a little about the catholic easter traditions.

Love

Hilde

LOMO EN MANTECA

Hi friends, lomo en manteca is a bit difficult to translate, you may have tasted it, in the south of Spain in a restaurant, specially those situated on the old mountain roads, we have so many of in Andalucia, specally around Malaga and Granada.
This dish is an ancient way to conserve the meat, when the Matanza (slaughter) was celebrated, the hams salted and hung for drying, the chorizos and morcillas manufactured, some was for drying and some was fried in oil or in manteca as well , stored in ceramic containers called orzas (daggerboard is the translation I can find, but as I never heard it before,  don´t know if it´s right), as well the name can be Lomo en Orza.
The "orzas" has a wide bottom but with a narrower  throat, keeps cool and was the best container to conserve, and the manteca made it airthight inside.

The ingredients you need :
2 kg of  lomo de cerdo.               (pork loin)
800 gr. of manteca de cerdo.      (lard)
Sal.                                             ( salt)
Agua.                                        (water)

Clean the meat so there is no grease left, cut as you see on the photos, aboat 4 cm thick slices, toss all with salt, and put in a big wide skillet, together with the lard and fill with water until you cover the meat,. Bring to boil, and let boil until the water has evaporated, you can se the bubbles are getting tinier and it start frying. Take the meat out of the skillet, and strain the liquid, clean the skillet and put both manteca and meat back, and let fry until light golden.

When it´s ready it  looks like this.

This recipe is from a blogger friend Lidia de la O, who write the blog, Atrapada en mi cocina,  you can see here, all of her delicious recipes and wonderful photos.

 I have done it myself a lot of times before, but always frying the meat, not letting it boil with water.
This process makes the meat more tender, and from now on I'm going to use this recipe.
You can do as I, put it in a container, be careful to cover all the meat wth the lard and keep in the fridge, or put in sterilized glass containers as Lidia do, and it rests for many weeks.

Lomo en Manteca con Salaillas, small breads.

If you don't feel like making it yourself, but would like to try, in the Malaga aerea, you order a "plato del monte" , some places it can be called "lomo en orza" in Antequera it's called " pelona", but normally it  is       " lomo en manteca".On the bottom of the skillet there will be some tiny meat bits and together with a litlle lard this is called  zurrapa, and used on toast for breakfast.

In well assorted supermarkets  as El Corte Ingles, Hipercor and Carrefour you can also find it tinned and ready to enjoy.
You can use it as a full meal with chips,( lots of calories) or a salad, I love the roasted pepper salat, "Ensalada de Pimentos Asados" or like you see on the photo as a tapa.

Tomorrow I will do the roasted pepper salad, as well as the salallias, small breads, typical from Granada, with a little Olive oil and sea salt on. Before the week-end I promise both recipes, and you can do a nice Spanish meal ahead, and just relax with a glass of wine on Saturday. (Spansh of course)
Have a good week, and please come back

.Have a look at my Spanish blog here

Love
Hilde

RUSSIAN SALAD

Well,  Olympic games finished, I'm not glued to the television anylonger, when it comes to cross country skiing, I'm still very NORWEGIAN. And we had a lot of medals, ohmygod!!!,!! these boys and girls are really amazing, I take my hat off for such a fellowship, the perfect sport performances and the humanity shared by all the members of The Norwegian Ski Team.

Well in Spanish, this recipe is called Ensaladilla Rusa, wich means Russian Salad, here every housewife has her own recipe, but the main ingredients are potatoes, mayonaise, and canned tuna,
Then you can add peas, carrots, boiled eggs, roasted paprika, corn, onion,olives, after your own wish. I know the russians use chicken instead of tuna, but I prefer the tuna variant, sort of makes it more light.

Start boiling the potatoes, I prefer the red skinned, they are whiter inside, wash them well and cook with the skin on, it's quicker to peel once they are cooked. When you throw out the water, put them back on the burner, and let all the water evaporate, let cool until you can handle without getting burned.

Now we make the home made mayonaise, see basics .( on the blog)

Chop the onion finely, and use the   for the dill, open the tin of tuna, strain, and save.
Then peel and cut the potatoes in small cubes, transfer to a serving bowl, then add the other ingredidntes, I like the potatoes to be tempered , the aroma is absorbed by the potatoes, mix and add the mayonaise, mix well again and put in the fridge at least a couple of hours .

Before serving you can decorate with some boiled eggs, and some slices of piquillo peppers.

Ready to enjoy, it can be made the day before, and don`t worry, the lefties are fine the next day, just be careful with the mayonnais in the hot season.

Hope you enjoy my recipes, f you do make any of this, please send a comment and a photo, and  I will publc it in the blog. I `m very happy if you leave a comment without photo too.

Have a good nght, and week. This week is a little shorter in Andaluca, since  Friday the 28 of February is the Day of Andaluca, and we have holiday.

                                                                Love
                                                                Hilde