manamana - english edition

Rainbow prawns

2009-10-08T15:11:00.005+02:00

It has been a long time since I discovered this recipe in a spanish forum called Mundorecetas (the recipe was added by ferrandisgemma), but until this week I didn't have the opportunity and time to test it. As you can see at the photos the recipe is simple, but pretty well-looking, delicious and the coating is light and delicate. Bon appetit!

ingredients

Prawns (peeled! ;) as bigger as possible
Colored prawn crackers (dehydrated)
Sunflower oil
Skewers

preparation

Separate the crackers by colors, crush them as much as possible (normally I use the handle of a rolling pin as if it were a hammer) and then use a food processor to turn them into a powder as thin as possible. Moist the prawns in the oil, prick them with the skewers, coat them in the cracker powder and fry them in a small frying pan with olive oil until the cracker powder grows, then put the prawns a couple of minutes on a paper towel to dry out. Remember to prepare everything before start frying because the cracker powder just needs a minute to be ready and only a second to burn! Serve cute and devour hot!

extras

You can marinate the prawns in oil with your favourite herbs and serve with many different sauces: mayonnaise, soya, thousand island dressing, curry, etc.

alternatives

Substitute the sunflower oil with sesame oil, the taste will improve. Remember not using olive oil for this recipe, it's too dense and sticks to the prawns too much.

A sandwich for all: Scanwiches, the guide for choosing wisely!

2009-09-05T11:31:00.001+02:00

Reading 37signals' blog "Signal vs. Noise", which I recommend everybody, even if you don't work in the software industry, I've stumbled upon a wonderfully simply but nice and useful blog called Scanwiches.

The idea is as simple as appealing: A photo list with the sandwiches someone is cooking and/or eating and their ingredients, updated as time goes by. The photos are great, the style of the blog is simple and stylish, and the sandwiches are... well, having a look at them and start craving is all one!

New entries in The manámaná map for hungry travellers

2009-08-13T12:21:00.003+02:00

Dear Auntie Cris has reported new places around the world where eating and buying food is something delicious:

· Belgium/Gent/ - Restaurant Le Mystic & Neuhaus Chocolatier
· Belgium/Brugge/ - Restaurant 't Eetablissement (their mussels and fries are simply great)
· Italy/Rome/ - Restaurant Il Brillo Parlante (excellent and cheap)
· Germany/Berlin/ - Restaurant Las Malvinas (excellent and cheao)
· Argentina/Buenos Aires/ - Restaurant El Establo

And I've added my latest discoveries in Donostia-San Sebastián:

· Spain/Euskadi/Donostia/ - Bar Bergara (some of the best pintxos!)
· Spain/Euskadi/Donostia/ - Ice-Creams La Veneciana (super-creamy ice-creams, lemon specially recommended)

View manamana guide for hungry travellers in a larger map

A coffee perfect for each one: Malaga City's serving and measurement system

2009-08-04T12:06:00.003+02:00

There's a wise saying in Spain that goes: Not two persons drink coffee the same way. It's not just that some people like it large and with just a little trace of milk while others like it exactly reverse, but also that our appetite for caffeine may vary as our day goes by. Coffee lovers try to avoid those coffee houses and cafeterias where, independently from how you ask for it, they serve coffee in their own standardized way, usually including awful coffee machines and blends. That's why I love cafeterias that are old and tiny, where usually the demography of old people is a good sign about the quality of the coffee served or, at the very other end of the table, places like Starbucks, where I can enjoy huge cups of Blue Mountain with soya milk or smoothies.

But let's center in the main subject: there are many people out there, including me, who are really demanding when asking for a coffee; and probably Malaga (Spain) is one of the world's capital in the matter, because they have invented a wonderful system to measure the coffee served in order you get exactly the amount you want. Expresso or With Milk? In Malaga that's for amateurs!

The system is as scientific as simple: the cup or glass is formally divided in 9 equal sections and the name of the coffee is different for each number of sections filled with coffee instead of milk. Some coffee houses and cafeterias have this system displayed in their walls to help newbies and, as I think this is something worth to be supported, I've designed and now publish here a little guide with the system in Spanish and English (English translation mine, if you find errors or a better name for one of the coffee types please tell me!). I recommend printing it and stick it in the fridge's door, it's specially useful at breakfast or when serving coffees in a dinner with guests. Usually, I choose a Half Short (Entre Corto)... and you? ;)

Hasselbacken potatoes

2009-07-13T18:45:00.004+02:00

The first time I saw Hasselbacken potatoes photos at Seasaltwithfood I fell in love. This recipe was first served in a Swedish restaurant called Hasselbacken, but at home we call them Swedish potatoes for short. Truly, potatoes are not the best looking of all ingredients in any kitchen, but this recipe makes them look as if they have enjoyed a session with a Chanel artist and smells with the gastronomical version of Number 5. They are beautiful, they are delicious, and they are so easy to cook that they will get a seat in your cookbook really quickly.

ingredients

2 medium size potatoes per serving
1 garlic per couple of potatoes, in as thin as possible slices
5 gr butter per potato
1 dessert spoon of olive oil per potato
salt, best if coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper

preparation

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Wash thoroughly the potatoes, put the with the flat side down and cut nearly to the bottom in slices, 3 to 4 mm wide. Put the potatoes in a baking tray, insert the garlic slices between the slits, 3 or 4 slices or a slit per 2 slices will be enough. Rub the butter on top of each potato, pour the olive oil above and sprinkle the salt and pepper. Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes or until crispy by the outside and soft by the inside. Serve hot and crispy or, in case of day-after leftovers, you can enjoy them with mayonnaise or other sauce of your preference.

extras

You will find many variations to this recipe. I recommend you specially scattering some parmesan cheese on top of them 5 minutes before ending the baking, or adding breadcrumbs or finely chopped vegetables such as onions to the butter. At Oneperfectbite a soy sauce glace is proposed with high success.

variations

Maybe substitute the garlic for other ingredient? ;)

Social junk food? No, thanks!

2009-06-27T16:33:00.001+02:00

A very interesting article arrived to me by RSS past morning, and for once it wasn't about work. Well, it Was about work, for I work in an ISV and everything with the prefix e- interests is my business some way or another; but that article is also about new marketing trends on food, and that's where this blog comes handy.

The title is crystal clear, "Social media will not get me to eat your gross pizza", and talks about brands promoting their junk food through social media channels such as Twitter or Facebook.

I love the idea those marketing folks behind the food companies came with but, alas, I hate it with the very same enthusiasm: I'm a chix0r and a generic humanoid carbon unit very concerned about health and feeding, ergo I'd love to hear about Starbucks promos in networks such as Foodbuzz (ahhh... caffeine with soya milk...), but also about things such as nutritional recommendations for runners in the website of Adidas (no, I'm not being paid for mentioning them, it's just that I'm their customer/user!).

As anyone reading me for some time knows, I'm very careful with food because when you've already lost your health once you don't want to experience it again. Fortunately, I've lost my taste for junk food, and not just because I have to eat healthy, but also because I've discovered the delicious, joyful and first quality calories a homemade pizza or a pizza in a good restaurant can give.

Social networks and media has become a very important source of information to make your life and the life of those around you far better... if you use it wisely. Do we really want to fatten up our e-lifes with all the old bad habits some companies are trying to sell us with brand new tools?

Make yourself a favor: learn to cook pizza and you'll never dream of buying greasy-grossy pizzas ever again!

Let me tempt you with some recipes ;)

Step-by-step photo-guide for cooking spanish tortillas

2009-06-26T08:00:00.002+02:00

Learn to cook tortillas is something basic when learning Mediterranean cuisine but when starting is always a bit of scary, specially on knowing when it's ready (without waiting for the smoke rising up from the frying pan) or how turn it upside down without losing half the tortilla in the process. But sooner or later you have to learn (especially if you are Spaniard) and, as you discover quickly, it was much ado about nothing, it's a delicious recipe that allows hundreds of variations and, probably the best of it, it can help you out of any gastronomic impromptu. As the first time cooking tortillas everything feels a bit difficult and strange, so I've taken advantage of Auntie Cris' version of Zucchini Tortilla (like mine but with a potato instead of onions), shooting photos of the cooking process to publish them here as a step-by-step guide. Now you can have a try to cook typical Spanish tortillas with a reliable guidance :)!

1. Before starting, have ready and at hand the mixture you're going to use to cook your tortilla.
2. Remember that usually everybody chooses a frying pan a bit too large for what's needed. If you like think tortillas, use a frying pan a slightly smaller than you'd choose. In case of panic you can always pour the mixture in the cold pan to check the subject before starting. Then clean and dry it and pour olive oil enough to fill nicely the bottom and start the cooking process.
3. When the oil is hot (avoid heating it up too much, when smokes come out of it the oil is spoiled and turns toxic) pour your mixture into the frying pan.
4. If you want your tortilla to be a think one, low the fire after a minute of cooking and put a lid on but a bit lifted in order the vapor gets a way out. This is for avoiding it gets cooked by the outside but stays raw or underdone by the inside. If your tortilla is a thin one, just leave the heat medium or medium-low.
5. You can verify the cooking process of the underside of the tortilla just tilting slightly the pan and lifting the tortilla a bit with a fork. Remember that the center of the underside gets always a bit more cooked than the border. When you like the color of the underside proceed to next step.
6. Retire as more oil as possible tilting the pan and with the help of a spatula (see photo). Why do this? Because if you don't, when you turn the tortilla upside down that oil will get spilled everywhere, and that may include yourself as well.
7. Now get a plate with same or bigger radius than the frying pan and slide the tortilla from the pan to the plate slowly with slow and graceful strokes of your wrist.
8. Then get a plate like the last one and cover the tortilla with it, grip the plates firmly with both hands and turn them 180º quickly. Congratulations! You've turned the tortilla upside down! (That last sentence is used in Spanish to describe a circumstance that has been changed completely ;).
9. Now, with care, delicacy and a spatula return the tortilla to the frying pan. Remember that beforehand you need to pour two or three spoons of olive oil into the pan.
10. Now press the borders of the tortilla with the spatula and use the fork again to check how's going the cooking at the underside.
11. When it's ready slide it to a plate, and voila! Your tortilla is ready to be devoured.

Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food: Learn or improve your cooking in 24 hours!

2009-04-11T23:38:00.007+02:00

Ministry of Food is another great initiative of Jamie Oliver, my favorite chef. As I explained previously Jamie is not only a really good chef, but a businessman and a person engaged in multiple social activities to make this world a little better.

Well, Ministry of Food is many things at one. For instance, a concept from World War II, a Jamie Oliver book (you can buy it from Amazon clicking "bookshop" at this blog), a website but, most important, an idea: That people can learn to cook or improve their cooking greatly learning from one another. The mechanism is quite simple, you take the pledge of learning a handful of recipes that you find appealing from the book, the website or even other person who already learnt them, and to pass them on to people you know. It's food-buzzing, and it's really satisfying!

A month ago I bought the book at Amazon and I've enjoyed so much that sometimes I take it to bed at night for some minutes of joyful reading. The book's motto is "Anyone can learn to cook in 24 hours", but it's not only a book for turning you into a home-made chef for your everyday life even if you don`t know how to fry an egg (the book teachs you that one too!), it's also great to learn a couple of things that, if you already know about cooking, will improve your meals incredibly, or to learn the nice and maneagable way to recipes that you though you would never be prepared to try.

Of course, I've taken the pledge (soon the recipes at this blog!) and now that I've started cooking the recipes I would say tons of paragraphs more about Ministry of Food, but I think it's better if I point you the key links for you to explore and learn:

Ministry of Food Homepage
Kitchen basics (equipment, cupboard, hygiene and seasona fruit & veg)
A PDF for cooking learners: The basics about kitchen equipment
The Pass It On Movement
Podcast with cooking lessons by Jamie from iTunes
Rotherham Food Centre for cooking classes, Health Trainers advice and cookery demonstrations
News about Ministry of Food's universe
About Jamie: a tiny biog

Cherry clafoutis

2009-02-09T08:04:00.010+01:00

Clafoutis or Clafouti is an old fashioned dessert from the french region of Limousin (Limoges are) that spread to the rest of France in the nineteenth century. Right out of the oven it has an overwhelming sweet smell of cherries and sugar, it is very simple of cooking and it's served preferably warm, so in case you are going to serve it as dessert in a dinner bake it hours before and before serving put it for a couple of minutes in the oven (30 second in the microwave). The clafoutis it is cooked either in a big mould, like Kevin at Closet Cooking, or in small individuals ones and it's usually decorated with powdered sugar (you can make it with standard sugar and your mixer with the blades attached). Usually is prepared with sliced cherries, but some gourmets recommend to keep the cherries in one piece to improve the taste and respect the batter. As you can see in one of the photos, one clafoutis is different, with a clearer dough, from the others. That's because I substituted it with a sweetener for diabetics in order my dear Uncle Charlie could taste them (he's one of my culinary guinea pigs). I'm really happy with the result, these are my first clafoutis and are delicious!

ingredients

100 gr flour
100 gr white sugar or 120 brown sugar (I used brown)
50 gr butter or margarine
200 ml cream
50 ml milk (1/4 glass aprox.)
4 eggs
300 gr cherries (aprox.)

preparation

Wash and cut the cherries in slices. In a large bowl beat the eggs, add slowly the sugar to mix them completely and beat for a minute more. Now add the cream, the milk and the melted butter. When it is well mixed add slowly the flour (better if you do this with a mixer). You will get something like a very dense soup. Preheat the oven at 180 ºC. Pour the mixture in the buttered moulds or baking dishes of your preference. Now add the cherries (I've added from 9 to 12 slices per serving). Remember not to fill the moulds completely because the mixture will rise up a lot in the oven (it will go down afterwards). Bake them for 25-35 minutes or until the mixture is golden.

extras

You will find many recipes in which chefs add cocoa to make it of chocolate (for instance Jamie Oliver). You can also put some nuts in the mixture or serve it with whipped cream or syrups.

alternatives

Clafoutis can also be cooked with plums, cranberries, apples, prunes, caramelized fruits or even mixing different fruits at one. Try with your favorite fruit!

Romanesco gratin

2009-02-05T10:21:00.001+01:00

From time to time my mother appears bringing a gastronomical rarity. Sometimes it's a sauce from a far away country, other a recipe mentioning ingredients only available in history books or, as a few days ago happened, with a really strange vegetable in her shopping bag. The object of study is called romanesco and looks like a cactus with pine pedigree that has had enough aesthetic sensibility as to grow following the rules of a fractal. And it's green. Ok, that's not bad in itself, specially for a vegetable, but when someone comes to you with a just discovered ingredient one of the things that makes you suspect more about its genetic origin is its color. I must recognize that thanks to this habit of hers I've grown up with a demanding and adventurous palate. Back to the cactus-pine, thanks to Internet I discovered that it's a type of cauliflower hybridized with broccoli, born in Italy (sixteenth century) and with excellent properties: it's a great source of fiber, vitamin C, provitamin A, folic acid, potassium, phosphorus, and it smells and is digested far better than other brassicas. Once the object of study was identified as edible it was just a matter of getting the apron. The resulting recipe is really delicious and definitely far more attractive to the eye and nose than classic white cauliflower!

ingredients

1 romanesco (for 3 diners, or 2 really hungry)
4 or 5 small potatoes, or 2 or 3 medium size
cheese for gratin, choose your favorite (at the photos I bought a mix of 3 that comes ready for pasta: emmental, cheddar and gouda)
1/2 a tin of natural tomatoes (a small one, but if you can grate the tomatoes at home please do it)
1 big glass of bechamel sauce (also better homemade than from supermarkets)

preparation

Wash and peel the potatoes and put them in the bottom of a pressure cooker with two glasses of water. Wash the romanescu, chopping off the leaves and the core and put it over the potatoes. Cook them following the pressure cooker's instructions for cauliflowers (be careful not to cook them too much or you will get a purée!). When it's ready take them out to drain. Preheat the oven at 220 ºC. Cut the potatoes in slices and put them in the bottom of a really deep tray or mould (I've used one of 22x32 cm and 8 cm tall). Cut the romanescu into small pieces and distribute them over the potatoes. Now pour the tomato slowly all along the border of the mould. Remember not to pour too much or the tomato will mask all the flavor. Pour the bechamel all over the romanescu. Bake for 10 minutes, then scatter the cheese over it and grill for 5 minutes or until golden. Serve hot.

extras

You can fry slightly the potatoes with 3 spoons of olive oil to toast them a bit before putting them in the mould, or fry them directly without the pressure cooker. You can also all a layer of sauté onions between the romanescu and the potatoes or also, your favorite herbs or a bit of nutmeg. I recommend slices of toasted bred for serving.

alternatives

All types of cheese and many vegetables suit this recipe, so its perfect to get rid of leftovers or small quantities of ingredients: carrots, leeks, zucchini, parmesan, etc.

Sweet puff pastry bowls

2009-01-28T10:22:00.002+01:00

I thought up this recipe thanks to a dinner with some friends a midsummer night. It was an informal dinner, a very spanish one, with gazpacho, tortillas and salads in a relaxed and happy ambience, so I wanted to give it a special touch. The dessert was ice cream and I was asking myself how to turn its presentation into something remarkable when I looked into the freezer. There were puff pastry sheets and the image popped up in my mind. I could bake edible bowls! This recipe is as easy as open to extras and variations for those with a sweet tooth, or even to change its purpose and fill it with ganache, whipped cream or fruit instead of ice-cream. And now that I think about it... I wonder how this would taste baked with salt and herbs to serve salads...

ingredients

1 sheet of puff pastry, pie crust, tart pastry or other of your preference (4 bowls)
8 spoons of sugar (I always use brown)

preparation

Think before hand that you will need four moulds of muffins, jelly or similar for baking, the deeper the better because the bowls will have the size and height of the moulds. Cover their outer side with aluminum paper and moisture them with a bit of butter or olive oil (if you are not sure about how to proceed just have a look at "How to unmold your cake: the simple and definitive method"). Now in a fat, clean surface, sprinkle half of the sugar, put the puff pastry over it and sprinkle the other half of the sugar over it. Now pass a rolling pin over to stick the sugar to the pastry (you can do this also with your hands). Now cut the sheet into four parts, as squared and equal as possible. If they are too rectangular you can stretch them a bit with the rolling pin. You can also cut the corners to turn them into circles. Put the moulds upside down on a baking tray, and the pastry pieces over them. If you press a little the top the bowls, when baked, will stand for themselves in the plate without falling to one side or the other. Bake them at 180 ºC until golden and then left to cool.

extras

You can cover them in chocolate, specially in their inner side, or just the edge, and you can stick almonds, pecans or hazelnuts to the chocolate. Other option is to serve the melted chocolate, nuts and syrups apart to let people customize their bowls.

alternatives

If you crush the sugar for a couple of seconds with a mixer (with blades, of course) it will stick better to the pastry. Other option is to sweeten the pastry with warm honey mixed with a couple of spoons of water (two spoons of honey for each of water, aprox.).

Mac fan's white chocolate tart

2009-01-26T09:43:00.000+01:00

I've celebrated last New Year's Eve dining with some friends and, even if for once we haven't go to dance, we went to bed indecently late thanks to a wonderful company, delicious dinner, great conversation and Wii Sports and Wii Big Brain Academy. Definitely the start of 2009 is something to remember.

While my man took charge on cooking the main courses (I'll write in detail about some of his recipes, for instance Fisherman style clams or his already famous Stuffed eggs... not a figure of speech, you now ;P... ) I focused on desserts: Two-chocolates caramel on biscuit (only for chocoholics, see photo, recipe coming soon to your screens!) and the Mac fan's white chocolate tart.

Why mac fan? In Pepinho's original recipe (in spanish), the tart should have been covered completely in cocoa powder. Well, once baked there was I, as always, thinking on how giving it a special touch. I needed a motif to cut a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle the cocoa as quickly as possible in order the sheet doesn't get glued to the tart.

First I though in a Christmas motif, but none of them seems to fit: they were too complicated to cut out or too boring. Suddenly, I looked at my marvelous 17'' MacBook Pro with its beautiful shinning apple and I knew the answer. It was that simple, all diners were mac users. I laughed as only a true mad scientist can and went for it.

For being the first time I make a decoration like that it came out nicely (however, next time I'll use the inverse cut out of the motif, it's easier to use). The tart made everybody laugh and its flavor was really nice, I must recognize it, even if I prefer dark chocolate this one really took me in. And remember, if you like less sweet flavors reducing the amount of chocolate 50 gr. will do the trick.

ingredients

1 sheet of pie crust, tart pastry shell or the pastry of your preference
6 gr gelatin powder
350 gr white chocolate (better if its special for cooking)
390 gr cream
Cocoa powder (without sugar)

preparation

Put the sheet of pastry on a mould (22-24 cm diameter) covered with parchment paper. Cover it with another sheet of parchment paper and put over it beans until covering the bottom. Then bake at 180 ºC until the borders get golden. Then left to cool. Meanwhile, put the cream in a small saucepan to warm and add the chocolate slowly, stirring continuously. When it is well mixed add the gelatin powder and continue stirring a couple of minutes. Remember not letting it boil. Now left to cool. When it's just warm pour it over the pastry tart and put it to cool in the fridge for, at least, 4 hours. Decorate with the cocoa powder.

extras

Pepinho adds some cardamom seed (powdered). I also recommend a couple of spoons of vanilla syrup or similar (I used Vahiné's). To decorate you can also use grated chocolate. When serving have a try to chocolate creams, syrups and whipped cream.

alternatives

Try it with other chocolate types: milk, dark or bittersweet.

[PDF] Four free recipes from Jamie Oliver at Amazon.co.uk

2009-01-19T16:22:00.011+01:00

This morning I was purchasing some books at Amazon.co.uk. I was doubting which book to buy from Jamie Oliver, my favourite chef, when I realized that in the product profile of one of them was a list of links to get four of Jamies recipes for free in PDF format.

The book is Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life, and the direct links to the PDF recipes are:

Sample Recipe 1: Hot smoked salmon with an amazing chilli salsa.

Sample Recipe 2: Spicy pork and chilli-pepper goulash.

Sample Recipe 3: Sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake.

Sample Recipe 4: Butternut squash muffins with a frosty top.

Surprisingly, these recipes are only available through Amazon.co.uk, not Amazon.com. I suppose this is due to DRM issues but it's really silly, because you only need to navigate to the UK site's product page to get them! Also, I'd like to remark that I nearly didn't realize of the links due to the awful design of the site. Amazon folks, please... work harder in the interface design, it sucks!

The Friday Five - Christmas Dinner

2008-12-20T22:45:00.004+01:00

The folks at Fuelmyblog run a funny activity called Friday Five, where they ask us questions to be answered from our blog or at comments section in the related Friday Five post at Fuelmyblog's Blog. I encourage everybody to join and answer them!

This Friday Five questions are about Christmas Dinner:

Turkey or Goose?
Do you wear the hat in the Christmas Cracker…during the meal only or all day?
Funniest joke in a Christmas Cracker?
Mulled wine or Champagne?
Christmas Pud or Christmas Pie? Mince Pie? (No idea what Christmas Pie is..!)

And my answers are:

1. Depends on the family house of celebration. At mine is Cat. No! Not a real cat! (In fact, a siamese female cat owns me and all my family since 1992 ;). Cat is the nickname we use to define a weird recipe (but delicious to eat) involving meat, a sock (obviously Really Clean XD) and a pressure cooker. In case of my in-laws it's the best recipe of cannelloni you can imagine (we always argue about how many are at each tupperware after the dinner). I don't know yet on which I will be posting this Christmas! Well, I think now you get the idea of why all my friends say that I'm from another planet.

2. In Spain there's no such kind of crackers, but we are very fond of wearing the hat at night, preferably after desserts, when the round of high spirited alcohol drinks starts.

3. As I told in point n.2, there are no Christmas Crackers in Spain. However, we cover the joking section singing Christmas carols in the worst way possible. Usually with improvised percussion.

4. In my family's it's Cider, and in my in-laws it's Cava (similar to Champagne but more digestive).

5. None of them. We have a very extense variety of traditional Christmas desserts and sweets, such as turrones, polvorones, marzipan, mantecados, alfajores, etc. Polvorones and mantecados are specially useful also in the joking section due to their stickiness in mouth. It's like trying to swallow a concrete cake! As I love cooking, I also add to the list as many chocolate desserts as I can cook in time...^^

Zucchini Tortilla

2008-12-06T18:28:00.004+01:00

This is my contribution to FuelMyBlog Cookbook. The folks at FuelMyBlog asked for typical recipes from the corner of the world we live in and, given the fact that I don't know how to cook paella (...yet), a delicious tortilla recipe came to mind as a lighting.

One of the most popular and also easy to cook recipe from Spain is the almighty tortilla. Why almighty? Because you can put into it a lot of ingredients and tastes good, it's a great help for appetizers in a snob ambience or as main course in a casual dinner, and can last up to three days in the fridge. Also, for many spaniards it tastes better the day after cooked. In Spain there's a saying that goes "Not two persons have coffee the same way", but in the case of tortilla and gazpacho, the champion cold soup/drink here, the recipe is basically the same everywhere in the country. I chose zucchini variation because, unlike omnipresent potato tortilla, aka "spanish tortilla", it's only enjoyed at homes and very rare to find in restaurants. Hope you like it!

ingredients

3 small or 4 large eggs (keep 1 more in reserve)
1 big zucchini
1 small onion
oil (olive oil if possible)

preparation

Chop finely the onion and the zucchini into cubes more or less of your thumb's size. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Pour oil into a frying pan (21 cm diameter) until covering its surface, heat until hot. Fry the onion until getting golden, then retire while draining to remove as much oil as possible (you can so it with a colander). Now use the same frying pan and oil to fry the zucchini, adding oil if needed, until soft and toasted and repeat the same process as with the onion. Now add both of them to the bowl with the eggs and stir. Add another eggs if you think there's far too much vegetables compared to eggs. Have a look at the frying pan. First, you need it to be not too large because tortilla must be as think as possible and, second, you will need the bottom covered completely with a thin layer of oil (3 mm more or less), so change of frying pan and/or retire or add oil if needed. Pour the mixture on it at medium-low heat and cover. Check that the underside gets toasted peeking by a side with the help of a fork. When the time comes, slide slowly it to a flat plate with a diameter bigger than the frying pan. Now cover it with the frying pan and rapidly invert the tortilla back into it for cooking it by the other side. Round the edge of the tortilla with a spatula and fry uncovered until golden. Don't worry if you have to repeat this a couple of times because you retire it too early, you'll get the knack of it in a couple of tortillas! ;)

extras

People usually add to this recipe a couple of cloves of garlic finely chopped and even half a small glass of milk.

alternatives

The famous spanish tortilla is made exactly the same way but substituting the zucchini with the same amount of finely chopped potatoes. Other popular variation is with any variety of mushrooms.

Ever wanted to be in a real book? Participate in Fuelmyblog Global Cookbook!

2008-11-09T15:07:00.005+01:00

Every year the folks of Fuelmyblog propose something special for Christmas. Last year was the creation of a book called "The Human Behind The Avatar" and, continuing in their line of creating great and different initiatives, this year they have proposed to create a very special cookbook. I copy/paste detailed information below to encourage everybody to participate (I'm from Spain but, alas, I don't know how to cook paella so I will publish some traditional spanish recipes of desserts or snacks :). It's fun, different, potentially delicious and... you will appear in a real book!

Scope

This year we wanted to change things a bit. As Christmas is coming, we thought it would be perfect to join up with Blurb again and this time create something every single person on Fuelmyblog can relate to...FOOD!

So we want to create a global cookbook, our latest research shows that we are represented in our community by just about every country on Earth. This means we can, for the first time, create a truly unique and global cookbook created by us, the community :)

How are we going to do it?

Firstly, you must submit a traditional local recipe, for example pie and mash from London is ok, we can't have Southern Fried Chicken from Delhi - the more local and unchanged, the more interesting the book will become.

So what do you need to do?

Apart from creating a recipe and taking a photo of it, nothing..We are doing the hard work of creating the book! If you do get a minute to blog this, please do link to our blog post here, we really appreciate any help promoting this book.

Who are Blurb?

Blurb is a web based company that allows anyone to create customized books (as in, a real, high quality, tangible book that you can hold). Users simply download their free software (for Mac or PC) and then start creating. Do not underestimate how high the quality is, we were astonished when we created the avatar book, it is incredible.

Ok - the details:-

You need to send us the step by step recipe with measurements (don't worry, they'll be a measurement convertor in the final book - cups v tablespoons etc!). And you'll need to submit your own photo - if you can, size needs to be 300DPI and Max size 2363x3000 pixels if not send full size, we'll try to adjust it.

Send the recipe & photo to this email address here. And please put your name (for credit) and your blog URL for the readers of the book to find and thank you.

Free Books!

Blurb are pretty excited (to say the least) about this book, as a bonus they will give the top ten recipes a free book as judged by a World Class Chef (to be revealed later during the month of November). Not only that, if you take a look in the section below you will get a 10% discount off your first order or creation with Blurb - you need to use the link provided and codes relevant to your country.

Closing date

We need to have all book entries in by the last day of November, that is plenty of time to put something together, but please remember, if we get too many entries, we'll have to operate on a first come first served basis for volume 1 !!

Can I see the recipes before the book is produced?

We'll set up a flickr account and display all new photos weekly or daily on the FMB blog (subscribe here).

Any other questions?

Drop us a mail using the contact form here.

[PDF] "Quick and easy dinners": Vegetarian Time's free cookbook for Amazon customers

2008-10-13T09:10:00.001+02:00

The magazine Vegetarian Times is offering free of charge a little cookbook called "Quick and easy dinners" in PDF format for all Amazon customers. The only thing you need to do is login into Amazon and open the page of Vegetarian Times. Once there, click the link to open the cookbook file and save it in your computer. As I've found the link too small and somewhat modest to find it easily I've highlighted it in the following screenshot:

The cookbook's recipes are:

Super-Fast Fondue with Steamed Veggies
Fettuccine with Basil-Tomato Sauce
Jamaican Vegetable Patties
Tortellini with Watercress, White Beans, and Pine Nuts
Udon Noodles with Walnuts and Pomegranates
Matter Paneer Made Simple
Tempeh Triangles with Piccata Sauce
Mexican Pasta

Also, the recipes include important information, such as nutritional facts per serving and a shopping list. Hope you enjoy them!

[PDF] MIT: Kitchen Chemistry Course's Recipes

2008-10-11T21:32:00.018+02:00

Long ago I published a post about Kitchen Chemistry courses at MIT. As I've decided to open a section in manámaná about recipes you can download in PDF from different places at the Internet I think MIT OpenCourse Ware it's a good place to start with. Let's see some of the recipes the course offers:

Guacamole (PDF), Salsa (PDF)
"Death by Chocolate" Cookies (PDF)
Buttermilk Pancakes (PDF)
Challah (Braided Bread) (PDF)
Scottish Raisin Scones (PDF)>
Mile-High Lemon Meringue Tarts (PDF)
Jam (PDF)
Three Bean Chili (PDF)
Lemon Cheese (PDF)
Wacky Cake (PDF
Vinaigrette
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream (PDF)
Meatballs (PDF), Marinara Sauce (PDF), and Creme Brulee (PDF)

You can get all the information at the page with all the information of the recipes... and the website of the course.

Chocoballs, Oreo Bonbons or Chocolate pseudo-truffles

2008-10-08T23:53:00.008+02:00

Some time ago, around March this year, Garbancita published in her enjoyable and stimulating I+D en mi cocina her discovery and application of a fabulous recipe based in chocolate, and I fell head over heels with it. In addition of being ridiculous easy to cook, it allows thousands of variations (see her blog to explore them, use Google Translate if you can't read Spanish), its results are delicious and is even funny to prepare. When providing your loved ones with these chocoballs keep in mind a couple of things: 1, they melt really fast, so keep them refrigerated and don't leave them out for long, and this leads us to number 2, you will rarely need to worry about that, for they are devoured from the face of the Earth at a speed only reached by some particles in CERN's Large Hadron Collide r.

ingredients

>> 2 boxes of Oreo cookies (32 cookies)

>> 100 gr mascarpone cheese

>> chocolate for desserts (yes, that one you melt to cover, chocolate bark or other similar)

Put the cookies in a freezing bag and crush them with the help of a rolling pin until you get a dark powder. Add the cheese a bit a a time, stirring gently. Put the mixture into the fridge for a quarter of hour. Get a handful of it and leave the rest into the fridge to avoid melting. With the handful make balls of the size of a truffle (well, you can have a try with the Mythical Giant Truffle if you feel voracious;) and put into the fridge. Repeat the operation with the rest of mixture. Melt the chocolate, better with the bain marie technique (too many seconds in the microwave and say hello to burned choco-chunks...and no, they do not taste nice), and coat the balls with the help of a spoon or chopsticks (I recommend the chopstick, very comfortable and precise once you get used to them). Put them again into the fridge for drying, but afterwards keep them in a tupperware or tin box with aluminum paper to preserve their flavor and aroma.

extras

You can add to the mixture almonds, fruit confits, chocolate pearls, etc. M organa prepared in El caldero del slot a hell of varieties that will inspire you for sure. Moreover, you can coat them in cocoa powder, sugar, grated coconut or almonds, or decorate with other type of melted chocolate.

alternatives

There are so many! You can substitute the Oreo cookies with other cookies, or use a cake instead. Try also different chocolate barks, for instance, Garbancita used white chocolate (but remember that, specially when talking about white chocolate, this must be a type enabled to cook with, standard white chocolate doesn't melt well). You can find them in specialized heavens, such as Chocolat Factory, Bonnoir or Leonidas stores. Also, you can emulate Bakerella and use cookies or bonbons moulds to shape them nicely!

What can I cook with the ingredients in my kitchen?

2008-05-16T22:38:00.002+02:00

This is, most than presumably, the question people have asked to any recipes blog in the history of the Internet. It’d be perfect that your fridge was connected to your favorite blogs and return recipe proposals based on your diet, health needs, week’s day, fav sports, etc. (I’d need also a safe for the chocolate and a speaker saying “No, no, no! It’s not weeked yet!”), specially when you just don’t feel in the mood of being creative on what to cook today. Alas, such a wonderful highly technological scenario is not possible yet, but it seems like we’re getting near at a remarkable speed thanks to initiatives as SuperCook.

The concept of SuperCook is as simple as useful: You open a website, tell it what ingredients you do have in your kitchen and it returns a list of recipes that use them. Obviously, if you just have half an onion and a long bearded cheese in your fridge it will return recipes that need additional ingredients, but the principle is as clear as useful.

As service works really fine and the database seems large, getting bigger as the service crawls the web looking for new recipes, I do recommend have a try at it... you may be lucky and do find one that actually uses long bearded cheese! ;)

How to unmold your cake: the simple and definitive method

2008-01-02T21:35:00.000+01:00

Since my teenage years I’ve been baking cakes, and always with methods not 100% reliable on butter and flour, which leave my cakes, in the best case, powdered in flour, and others affirming that lots of oil is the solution (of course it is, if you want to fry the cake!) and, until starting 2007, I didn’t find the trick to bake them without fear of the unmold part of the recipes. The procedure is incredibly simple, and below you can see the shots that prove it (yogurt cake recipe).

1. Grease the mould of your preference with olive oil using kitchen paper.
2. Cut a sheet of household aluminium foil with the shape of the mould’s base, but a bit bigger. Stick it completely to the base with a few drops more of oil and pressing with the kitchen paper.
3. Pour the dough and bake your cake as you’ve always done.
4. Once baked, unmold the cake in a plate (obviously upside down). If it resists use a thin knife to finish the unsticking.
5. Voilà! Now just retire the aluminium foil to see your cake perfectly baked. If you use this trick please leave a comment or send me a foto to share your delicious experience with us! ;)

Recipes born from a perfume: Blood orange and grapefruit lasagne and Hot mango pie

2007-12-19T17:32:00.000+01:00

These days I've had the fortune to participate in the releasing of Roxy’s perfume and, while waiting some samples, I had a look at their web. My joy was higher when I saw that they have published a couple of interesting recipes based in fruits part of the perfume’s formula. As I'm a pain to eat fruit (fortunately I like vegetables a lot) I decided to have a try with their Pink grapefruit tart to bribe myself.

The silly difficulty was that I didn’t find pink grapefruits, thus, I decided to risk mixing blood orange, grapefruit and puff pastry in the first version of this recipe (horrible presentation, but great taste!) and afterwards with mango and pastry dough. They resulted really delicious! It has been a nice discovery for me because offers a way to find attractive the flavors of fruits avoiding excess with sugar; my favourite fruit is lemon, and yes, I even bite it fresh and terribly acid as it is, so any fruit else needs lots of sugar or a prayer to heavens for convincing me to eat it.

Resuming, I’ve followed the spirit of the recipe with the following variations:

>> I didn’t warm up the puff pastry in the oven due to lack of time, but it was already nice with sugar over it or, if you want a bit of sophistication, painting it with an egg beaten with sugar.
>> I poured some drops of lemon juice to the fruit and baked it in the microwave a couple of minutes before using as filling.
>> In the grapefruit case, the filling was just grapefruit baked at the microwave with two full spoons of brown sugar and the lemon drops.

alternatives

Have a try with other fruits: apples, pears, bananas, strawberries...

extras

Serve with honey or maple syrup, whipped cream without sugar, hot chocolate and other terrible and delicious sins.

Vegetables and emmental balls

2007-12-18T00:23:00.000+01:00

This recipe is an adaptation of one in a vegan recipes my mother gifted me. Vegetables balls are embarrassingly easy to cook, they can be freezed and permit multiple variations and sauces (see the “extras” section in this post), they are delicious all alone, with sauces, as garnish to meat, fish, eggs and even as dessert (see “alternatives” section to learn how to cook them with sweet potatoes) and are highly healthy and nourishing. Eat them hot!

1 big aubergine
400 gr spinach
4 carrots
grated emmental cheese, gruyere or other of your preference
mashed potato powder

preparation

I will describe here how to make them at the microwave, but you can boil the vegetable instead. Wash and slice them into small pieces (specially the carrots, it takes longer to cook them) and put them in soup plates with water and into the microwave. Continue adding water from time to time when needed until you can mash them with a fork. Retire the water and mash them well. Add mashed potatoes powder and mix (the more the potatoes powder, the lighter the color of the balls). If the mixture gets too dry add a bit of water. Finally add the grated cheese and mix; it doesn’t matter if the cheese melts a bit. With two spoons and your hands roll balls and cover with flour. Fry them just before serving, with sunflower oil you will get a lighter taste.

alternatives

Substitute the emmental cheese for other, grated bread os don’t use any. You can employ pther vegetables, such as zucchini, leek, sweet potato (excellent as dessert served with maple syrup). Obviously, you can use boiled or roasted potatoes instead of potatoes powder, they will taste even better!

extras

You can insert in the heart of each ball a matching ingredient, for instance, a piece of roquefort to the spinach, boiled onions to the aubergine or. in case of the carrots and the sweet potato, a drop of maple syrup nearly freezed (to make it nearly solid).

Participate in the book “The Human Behind The Avatar” and help Doctors Without Borders!

2007-11-22T11:27:00.000+01:00

The folks at Fuelmyblog are running the edition of a book about people behind the blogs, remarking that all of us are made of flesh and bone and have real lives, far beyond the avatar that we choose in each moment to go out into the big digital world.

We have agreed to send the 15% commission to earn on each book (that is, the complete sales proceeds) to the charity Doctors Without Borders/ Medicins Sans Frontiers/ Médicos sin fronteras. So I encourage everybody reading this post to participate with its blog, send this news to friends who have one and, obviously, gift the book this Christmas.

How to participate?

Participating is fast and easy, just follow these steps:

1. Make yourself a photo with your avatar and write 100 words resume (100 is a strict max) about why you started blogging, what your blog is about, etc.
2. If you have a Flickr account, publish your photo and resume in the Book’s space at Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/fuelmyblogbook/.
3. If you don’t have a Flickr account, or not have time or interest in creating one, mail the Fuelmyblog Team at help@fuelmyblog.com sending them the photo and the resume.

Facts and figures

They are keeping entries open until the end of November (30th, 8 days left).
The book will be published with print-under-demand procedures by Blurb.
Already 44 members in the project.

Linkography

Doctors Without Borders: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
Flickr The Human Behind The Avatar: http://www.flickr.com/groups/fuelmyblogbook/
Flickr The Human Behind The Avatar members: http://www.flickr.com/groups_members.gne?id=572451@N23
Fuelmyblog The Human Behind The Avatar: http://blog.fuelmyblog.com/2007/11/human-behind-avatar-story-so-far.html
Fuelmyblog site: http://www.fuelmyblog.com/index.jsp?l=blog
Fuelmyblog login/register: http://www.fuelmyblog.com/
Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/home/1/

Thanks to everybody participating and... keep blogging!

Hot cheese bread

2007-11-11T18:35:00.000+01:00

This is a tradicional asturian recipe learnt from my sister-in-law Ceci (hi sweet blondie! ;). This course is special for cheese addicts who want to make something original and delicious for a party or an intimate dinner. In the first case, with lots of people, use it as first course preparing it in a big loaf of bread and, in second case, in a small one or even individual loafs accompanied by pâtés, onion marmalade, a good wine (the Santa Digna rosé from Miguel Torres will surprise you, great vineyards in Chile), caramelized orange and lemon husks coated with chocolate and other homemade little wonders. About how do you eat it, the ideal fashion is to grab pieces of bread from the top and dip them in the cheese at the interior, so I recommend you to cut the slice of the top of the bread (I call it the hat) when serving to make it easy to assistants. By the way, this recipe is related to the delicious cheese called Torta del Casar.

A big loaf of bread (from a real bakery, not bread which dough has passes freezing)
emmental cheese
same amount of gruyere cheese or other at your election (for instance raclette or other cheese)
1 onion
½ glass of sherry, or Kirsch if you want to get a flavour nearer to Swiss fondue

preparation

Preheat the oven at 180ºC. Cut the loaf of bread in horizontal above its medium height, as if making a hat, and retire the crumb. Cut the cheese in small pieces and mix with the onion thin chopped, then fill the bread with this mixture and pour the wine over it. Cover with the hat and bake for 20-45 minutes, depending of the size of the bread. Be careful to put it in medium height into the oven in order the bread doesn’t get burned. It will be ready when the cheese is completely melted and the bread has a lovely and characteristic smell, as result of the boiling of the wine aromatizing the cheese and bread. Serve immediately.

extras

Ceci adds to the cheese a spoon of mayonnaise, I don’t do it just for a lighter digestion, but that touch makes the cheese creamier. Also, you can add a bit of black pepper, other cheese or even your favourite herbs.

alternatives

The first time I made this recipe I didn’t have wine, so I used a third of a can of beer instead. Also, you can use any type of bread, for instance the use of multi-cereals loafs or kamut will give an extra point of home flavour.