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

NEW HOME DECO AND CHEST NUTS

We had a sunny morning, but at midday, the wind turned from south to north, suddenly it's cold, and windy, what a difference from yesterday, short sleeves and no socks, it's time now to prepare the house for the winter. This autumn has been extraordinary, even here in Spain.

The sun will still be here, but we can expect 4 degrees on wednesday night in Granada, the witches will have a cool flight on their brooms on Halloween Night.

And it's chestnut time, in almost every Spanish town you can find people roasting them, they normaly use a petrol barrel,it's filled with coal, and the chestnuts roasts slowly on the top, and you can buy and eat them in the street, they are hot and comforting, and has a nutty taste, but when you roast them thei get soft inside. We have an old frying pan at home, and save it from year to year, just to roast the chestnuts ourself, it's easy, just make a little cut in the shell,and roast for about 7-8 min. depends on the size, then turn an roast for the same time, take the shell off, and ready  to enjoy.

I got a new couple of chairs for the coffetable, they come from Eichholtz , Netherland, also the coffe table, they have such a contemorary
design, but with classic savour, I love a lot of things from their catalogue, and many where bes-sellers in my shop.

Take a look:
www.eichholtz.com

Here comes a couple of photos from my living room;

Sophia Loren Chair, the name makes you think of glamour.

It's not only glamorous, but very cocomfortable too.

Some fall branches and berries in a cristal jar with liken and moss, the mirror is from my study, and makes a good effect on the black slate wall.

My favorite insect, if one can have a favorite of  that kind, is the Dragonfly, the still life was painted of my doughter when she was 13 yers old.
She returned to her studies at Art School now, after working with dressage and riding horses for more than 1 year .

As you may have registred, I'm a night person, love the days, but the summernights are my favorite time, my family doesn't always agree, but I love these velvety warm nights, of that reason I always go to bed in summer very late, but now I want to change that and bed earlier, here I go.

Have a good night all of you.

VEGAN ALMOND AND CARROT PATE

Almond and carrot pate.

Good morning, I want to do a special mention for a on-line friend operated yesterday from cancer, and wish her all the best, she·ll beat the monster. We have gone through all of it during this winter, when a family member got this horrible diagnosis, cancer. But it can be beaten, wery important that people around are positive and give a lot of love . I wish that nobody had to go throuh this, and wish everybody who is affected to recuperate.

In the time we had the illness in the family we where recomended to eat less animal proteins, so we went ahead for vegan dishes, and the proteins we need from nuts, almonds, seeds, soy. lentils, chickpeas,quinoa,tofu etc, we are not vegetarians, but we found a lot of nice dishes, and I continue investigating, cook-books and on the net, even family and friends apreciate theese new dishes. There are so many possibilities and we even lost weight and got our cholesterol down. The importance of a healthy diet, we understand now, you are what you eat, and feel better and better. And very important, to shew the food a lot to salivate it, makes your digestions lighter, and it's good to drink a couple of liters of water, but not too much during the meals, repart it during the rest of the day.
Here in Granada we still have hot days, but the nights are cool, and we can sleep well without air-condition, we are wery happy about that, and long evenings outside, our garden is so nice, last night I came home after visiting my nephew and his family, and had a swim in the pool at 1 o'clock in the night, all dark, but wonderful.

I hope you will apreciate this snack, sometimes Lidel has Pan de Pasas Tostado, it fits so well, if not you can toast any bread, with grains or white.

Shoppinglist

4 zanahorias grandes  ( big carrots)
1 cebolla                     (onion)
1/2 spoon tahini           (tahini)
Harina de almendras    ( almond flour)
AOVE                         (Extra virgen olive oil)
Sal                               (salt)
Pimienta                       (pepper)

150gr. agua                   (water)

This is what you need, the brown paste is the tahini, I will make a Basics recipe, as it can be used for many dishes.

I do the almond flour and then the carrots in the food-processor, and they look like this.

Start shopping the onion, and the carrot in small pices, have a little AOVE in a frying pan, start with the onion and fry for some minutes, and then add the carrot, let fry for one other minute and then add the water, let cook until the ingredients are soft, if it's necessary add more water, and the salt and pepper.
While this is cooking, make the almond flour in the food-processor, or you can buy it , I prefer to choose the almonds, I buy them peeled, and do it myself.
Put the onion&carrot mix in the foodprocessor, no need to clean it after doing the almond flour,add the tahini, and go on half speed, then full to get a smoothe paste, then add the almond flour litte by little until you get the desired texture.
Let it rest in the fridge for some hours, and then enjoy , can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.

This bread is so good to many kind of snacks.