FRENCH TOAST, TORRIJA IS THE SPANISH EASTER TREAT

Hello, hello, the coming week is one of the most important catholic celebrations in Spain, 1 week of holy prossession through streets and squares in every village and every town.

The Holy Bible, the Easter is the culmination of the Passon of Christ, and in Spain it's told by figures richly dressed, and decorated, and transported by humans along the streets, so everybody can see and venerate the holy imagery.
se more of the Easter Week in Granada here

Be prepared for the crowdes of people until late night hours, in Seville the Madruga, starting Thursday late afternoon may finish at 10 am on Friday.
In your hotel or the Turist Informaton Office you can have the program for the week.

And this typical Torrija you can buy in many cake shops, and try in restaurants or make it yourself at home.

Easy shopping list this time.

Shoppinglist

1 pan ( de torrijas).              1 white bread ( some places you can buy a special bread for torrijas)

1/2 litro de leche.                 1/2 liter of milk

Granos de cardamomo.       Cardamomo grains

3 huevos.                             3 eggs

200 ml.de azucar.                 2 deciliter of white sugar

2 cucharitas de canela.          2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 liter of AOVE.                1/2 liter of extra virgen olive oil

Start peelng the seeds of the cardamomo and  use a mortar to grind, add to the milk, alt let the milk boil for a couple of min. Transfer to a couple of plates to cool , and cut the bread, the bread must be at least 24 hours old. Beat the eggs in another plate, and mix the sugar and the cinnamon in a third plate.Now heat the olive oil in a small frying pan to medium , high temperature.

Soak the bread in the milk on both sides, then transfer it to the beaten egg, turn again, and transfer to the frying pan. Fry until golden on each side, I use a small pan, and only put 3 slices of bread in, then it's easier to control the heat.

Have a plate with some kitchen paper ready, and let them drain and cool a little before you turn them round in the sugar/cinnamon mix, and then arrange nicely on a serving platter. 

We like to eat them before they get cold, but they are are nice both ways, put them in an air thight container if there are any left, for the next day.

Soft &creamy inside, and a little crunchy outsde.

If you toss the sugar/cinnamon mix too early ( the torrijas are very hot) the sugar will melt
and they will be stcky, some people like that too.

If you are not used to stir frying, you can do them caramelized, just add a little butter with sugar and cinnamon to the fryngpan, when the sugar is melted add the bread (after the egg in the recipe), and let fry until golden.

At home we often do this for Sunday breakfast, my girls always loves them.

Do you want to leave me a comment, what do you think aboat  the Easter in Spain?

If you read Spanish, you can vist my Spansh Blog here, 

I wish all of you a nice easter week, take care and enjoy time with family and friends. Now the last weeks of 

skiing in Serra Nevada, lots of sun, snow and fun, and after the Easter Week it´s Low Season, really good prices too.

We have some vacant apartments.

Call Berit at 34 958 480 242

 skiservice@msn.com

Love

Hilde

SPANISH X-MAS TRADITION

the third advent sunday is nearly over, and the christmas feeling won`t really come, sunny days, not a single cloud to see anywhere, we need some precipitacion, Sierra Nevada need some snow, but anyway there will be christmas.

If you are in Spain at X-mas time, may be you have wondered why all local buissnesses, hairdressers, insurancecompanies, shops, offices, has a big plate of spanish christmas sweets and bottle of Anis on a try normally just inside the door, it`s to offer you and other customers a shoot of Anis, it can be at ten a.m., and some typical spanish christmas sweets.

 The X-mas charols are quite different from the ones we are used to listen to, they can even be quite flamenco inspired. And the bottle of Anis, when empty, used as an music instrument dragging a pen up and down through  the frilles in the bottle. A tambourine and the zambomba is also used for cristmas party music.

Take a listen to this "Villancico"

                                 No traducction for Zambomba anywhere, but here you can see it.

I had give this a Norwegian touch.

Spanish christmas sweets.

Back from the left : Alfajor,Polvoron,Mantecado.
Middle from the left :Turron  Jijona, Turron Alicante and Chocolate turron
   In front: bisquit almond filled with Jijona turron  .

Since the 15th century most people in Jijona (north to Alicante) has their way of living making the turron, the most popular x-mas treat in Spain, in the origen there was not so many tasts and flowers as today, but also here the times change, the turron is a kind of nougat , confected of honey, sugar, egg white and tosted almonds or other nuts, and formed to a rectangular tablet or a round cake. Jijona (Xixona) has a Museum about theTurron .

The Mantecados origen is from Antequera (north of Malaga) and Estepa (east of Seville), while there was an exedent of pork grease and cereals in the 18th century , they made a kind of  soft homemade cake of this, but the change came in the 19th century when Mrs. Filomena from Estepa made them dryer and more easy to conserve, she one day made a lot and sent them with her  husband, working as a transporter, to sell them in the different markets he went by. The popularity became grand, and in year 1889 there  where 15 households, converted in small fabrics, opening distant markets.
Today Estepa smells of cinnamon, 23 fabrics produce around 18 tonns of Mantecados, or their
similar,Alfajores,Polvorones, Hojaldrinas and Roscos de Vino.
Since we go to Norway for Christmas, I must confess that I haven`t done any this year, but I will try to get some together tomorrow so you can have the recipe and see how they are done.

Not much Spanish people make their own christmas cakes, and you buy them  like this, individually packed.

The candles burn at home every day.

Our  christmas tree.

Have a nice start on the last week before---------------------------------
Did you buy all X-mas gifts?
Well I did, may be I start to see what I will put in my suit case, all must be for below 0 temperature.

Night Night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARROT CAKE

Dear friends, November is here , onely 2 months left of 2013, the time sometimes runs too fast,  we had a very nice  and long weekend, lunch and dinners with friends, some  bottles of good wine, good food, good laughs, something we all need, a happy time.

When we are invited to a meal with somebody, in Spain it's very common to bring a bottle of wine for the hosts,  something we all apreciate, but  some time ago I wanted to do this more personal, and  I brougt some  home made cakes called Soplillos, typical from the Alpujarra area,  see post from september, in several occations, but this saturday I  wanted to do something new, looking in my cook book, almond cakes, cup cakes, chocolate cakes, something autumnal,  and finally I decided to do a Carrot Cake.



Shopping List

4-5 zanahorias.                            (carrots)

200 gr. harina de almendras         ( almond  flour)

4 huevos.                                      ( eggs)

200 gr. azucar morena.                 (brown  sugar)

50 gr harina de trigo.                   ( flour)

50 gr harina de espelta integral.  ( spelt flour)

200 gr. AOVE.                            ( extra virgin olive oil)

1 sobre de levadura Royal.          ( Royal bakingpowder)

1/2 cucharilla de canela.              ( teaspoon cinnamon)

Una pizca de sal.                          ( touch of salt)

Una pizca de nuez mozcada        ( touch of ground nutmeg)

Azucar glass para decorar.          ( icing  sugar to decorate)

Start to heat the owen at 200 degrees. In Spain you can buy the almonds ready peeled, at home we have a lot of almonds  ( hatvested by my man from the almomd trees belonging to some friends) . To peel them easily, I put them in a bowl, cover with water and run in the microwave for 3 min., after a short while they are very easy ro peel,  put on a kitchen paper to dry well, and then in the foodprocessor first on half speed , turning slowly to max speed, we obtain the almond flour.

Then peal and grate rhe carrots. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and the sugar  with a mixer, then add the Extra virgen olive oil, mix the dry ingredients, and go adding to the bowl, little  by little, and  the  last the grated carrots.

Use a little butter to grease the  mould for the owen, I used a heart shaped one, as you see on the photo, and cover the bottom with brown sugar before adding the dough. And it needs aboat 40-45 min in the owen. Try with a wooden toothpick, it must come out all clean, if it gets dark on the surface,cover  during the last minuts with a baking paper.

Let it rest for  some min. before you unmould.

When chilled cover with  icing sugar. 

The brown sugar in the bottom of the mould makes the surface a little glossy.

Here just to enjoy, the almond flour makes the consistence a little moist, and it gets nicer for the next day or two.

If you try this recipe, I would be very glad to hear about how it tasted, and with this a very good night, have your beauty sleep, and tomorrow we will have another sunny day.

VEGAN CHOCOLATE MUSSE, AND SOME OF GRANADAS CHARMING SPOTS

Hope you all had a good weekend, and enjoyed the unusual good wheater we have at this time of the year, fall is coming slowly, wonderful sunny days, but nights are getting slowly colder, and  the leaves on the trees along my preferent walking track along the Rio Dilar are yellowing. This weekend we have stayed home, but with the nice visit of my uncle and aunt( my motehers youngest sister ) from Norway.
It's always so nice to have the family around, with some nice meals, glasses of  wine, a walk in the coutry side , in the old town of Granada, and for me to chat in Norwegian,wich I don't have many occations to do.

I had some dishes prepared when they arrived on friday, and they where so amused aboat the Vegan chocolate musse, so I share the recipe with all of you.

Shopping list

1 calabaza mediana.                      ( medium size  butternut squash)
6 cucharadas de cacao en polvo.    ( cocoa)
1 taza de almendras.                      ( almonds)
6 cucharadas de sirope de agave.    ( agave surup)
3 cucharadas de leche de coco.        ( coconut milk)
3-4 cucharadas de almendra laminada ( laminated almonds)

Start peeling the almonds, I use to put some water into yhe cup and let it micro wave for 2 min. Then it's so easy to peel, put on a kitchen towel or paper to dry.
Then peel and cut the butternut in big slices as I show on the photo, then wrap in   Aluminio. , and cook in the owen for 45 min. ( pinch with a knife to see if its soft all through.. Then leave to cool a little, I have done this for a couple of times before, but this last time it was quite humid, so I had to press the liquid out pressing it in a strainer  with a wooden  spoon.

Put the almonds in the food processor, start on medium , and slowly go up yo fast speed, it should be like flour, then add the butternut sqash, the agave sypup,the cocoa, and the coconut milk, and let the food processor run for a couple of min. , until its really smooth. Taste if you want it sweeter or more chocolate taste then add more cocoa or syrup.

Put into small serving glasses, and leave in the fridge for 3-4 hours, can just as well be prepeared the day before, and take out of the fridge 30 min. before serving, toss some laminated almondas to decorate, I buy it ready laminated in the super.

Raday to enjoy, hope it tastes.


Photos of some of the most charming spots of Granada.

New urban lightning in Gran Via.

Paseo de Los Tristes.

The Monastry of La Concepcion has a museum you can visit in the mornings.

Plaza Nueva, Justice Palace.

Santa Ana Church at Plaza Nueva.

Roof tops seen from Albayzin

Narrow street in the Albayzin.

SOPLILLOS FROM LA ALPUJARRA

Soplillos and Turkish Hibiscus Tea.

Hi friends, I know you are waiting for the spare ribs, and the cheesecake recipes, on the menu in Dinner with friends, but yesterday in the newspaper I read a report of the craft people from Las Alpujarras, And my fingers itched to go ahead and make these cakes, with a huge tradition from this area,the morish invasion, in 711 Granada and  Las Alpujarras was populated by moores and they brought the tradition to make  desserts and cakes, with eggs, almonds , honey and sugar 4 of the most important ingredients  of the North -African gastronomy.

Here comes the shopping-list;

6 huevos grandes.            (Large eggs)
420 gr. azucar blanca.     (Sugar)
150 gr almendras.            (Almonds)
Ralladura de 1 limon.       ( zest of 1 lemon)

This is easy , and you don't need hundreds of ingredients, nor are they difficult to get, begin with separating the whits from the egg yolks, we are only going to use the whites, keep the egg yolks for a tortilla or some dessert, but use them the same day or the next.

In a food processor start to whisk the egg qhites, and go adding the sugar little by little, and continue whisking until you have a syrup like dough.

In the meanwhile chop the almonds into small bites, and grate the peel of one lemon, I found this tool in Ikea some time ago, ( green and white on photo) and it works perfect, as it doesn't take any of the white bitter, only the yellow of the peel.

Add the chopped almonds and the lemon zest, and mix.

Prepare a couple of baking trays with baking paper, I got some silicone baking sheets some time ago, and they work perfect for this, heat the oven to 100 degrees, use an ice-cream spoon to transfer the dough to the baking plates,  this gives about 35 cakes, and the two trays can go in the oven st same time, but change the under with the over try at the middle of the cooking time which is 1 hour and 15 min., this time I used the hot air .

The cakes must not be toasted in colour, they should be whitish and they use to crack a little when they are ready, have a look now and then, I took one out and let it chill a little, then tasted, it shall be crunchy on the outside, and a little toffe-caramel like inside.

My mother embroderied the tablecloth quite a lot of years ago and the tea cups are inherited.
HAVE A NICE WEEK,

SOY & ORANGE COOKIES

I hope you feel as I, the day has been fantastic, so hungry for some sun and higher temperature, I even got my bikini on this afternoon, the swimming pool  wasen't my temperature yet, but I had my feet in for a while, and it felt good, maybe tomorrow..................

The snow in Sierra Nevada is melting faster theese days, but anyway there is a lot still,  try to get a picture tomorrow, that means that all the rivers are going fast at the moment,  we have a trail we use to hike in spring and summer along the river Dilar, in the Natural Park of Sierra Nevda, but the water is to fast, and it·s very cold too, we have to cross it several times, no bridge, I will have a try again next week,

But back to yesterdays cookies, shoppinglist follows;

200 gr Harina de trigo ( wheat flour)
100 gr Harina de soja ( soy flour)
100 gr Margarina. ( margarine)
100 gr Azucar.    ( sugar)
1 Naranja.           (Orange)
50 gr  Nueces o almendras. ( nuts or almonds)
2 cucharaditas de levadura ( teaspoons of bakingpowder)

This is all you need.

Whip up the margarine with the sugar until it gets foamy, then add the nuts, finly chopped, you can use  the food processor ,  1 spoon of grated orange peel, and the juice of half  the orange.
In another bowl mix the flours and the bakingpowder, and mix this into the margarine and sugar  cream, use the hands to mix well, keep in the fridge for at least 30 min.

Using the roller pin to extend the mixture until 1/2 cm thick,  use cookie cutters or a small glass to cut out the cookies, I use  silicone sheets for the oven, if not use baking paper.Decorate with dark chocolate or candy chips.

Temperature 170 degrees during  15 minutes . Transfer  with care, they are burning, to a cooling rack, and when completely cold, to a cookie tin.

Yummy.

Ready for a good cup of tea, and to enjoy life.

A Victoria Holt book, a warm afternoon,, who can ask for more??????

And some of my own strawberries.

Good night with a white rose.