A Spanish meal ....

 

A few weeks back we invited our friend Rebeca, who is originally from Spain, to come and cook a Spanish feast for us for lunch. We first met Rebeca on a Hash trip to Hampi - the historic World Heritage site in the neighbouring state of Karnataka. ( We are all in the Hyderabad chapter of the Hash House Harriers walking/running group which meets every Sunday afternoon somewhere in the city and occasionally travels on weekend trips to other parts of India.)

We started talking and soon discovered we all liked food and trying new recipes from various parts of the world.   Rebeca comes from the north east of Spain - from a town called Tarazona in the region of Aragon.   She descibed the town as an ancient village dating back before 1492 and where Muslims, Christian and Jewish communities have lived side by side for generations.
There are no Spanish restaurants in Hyderabad as yet so we decided to cook Spanish food at home ... with some Spanish and Chilean wine to add to the celebrations! 

Rebeca preparing a Spanish feast in our kitchen

Rebecca decided to cook two of her family's favourite recipes ... Marmitako - a fish and potato soup cooked in a prawn-infused fish stock, and Albondigas en Salsa - a meatball stew flavoured with a walnut and white wine sauce.   Both dishes were truly outstanding and I learnt a lot from watching Rebecca prepare this meal.  
Marmitako is a recipe from the Basque region of northern Spain.  It has its origins in the fishing communities of the region where fish, potatoes and onions were in plentiful supply whether on or off the boats during the fishing season.

Albondigas is one of Rebeca's mother's favourite recipes - which she cooks whenever her immediate family gets together - all 15 of them.   The dish can be prepared the day before and is always served with lots of crunchy bread to soak up the rich sauce.
I learnt a new way to cut potatoes - cutting halfway through the spud and then 'tearing' the last part to give each piece a rough edge when cooked so that the flavour clings to the potato.   And adding white onions to a lettuce salad after soaking them in salty water for some time to take away the astringency.

Rolling the meatballs by hand .. 'with love and care!'

The rolled meatballs before frying

Pan frying the meatballs just to brown them

The pot of Marmitako

The salad with the addition of white onions soaked in salt & water

Serving the lunch ... where's the wine???

Here are Rebeca's recipes for the two main courses at lunch ...

MARMITAKO    (Fish and Potato Soup):

A delicious mix of seafood & potatoes served in a fish fumet

Ingredients

2-3 onions.

2 greep pepper

2 cloves of garlic

2 ripe tomatoes

choricero or ancho chiles

olive oil (better extra virgin olive oil)

tuna fish (or other similiar fish, could be salmon also)

1 kg potatoes

Method:

1/.   Prepare the fumé:   Boil fish stock (1 litre more or less) ... or use water as a substitute ... and then add some prawns, fish bones, or head of a fish will be nice plus  2 carrots, 1 onion, parsley, pinch of salt, and a few drops of olive oil.

 2/.   Whilst fume' is simmering, cut the onions and peppers into thin strips, fry them till golden and soft (put first the pepper because it is harder than onions).   When they are soft add the chopped ripe tomatoes to make a nice sauce.   When this is cooked add the potatoes cut into 4 pieces each with rough edges and stir into the sauce and then add the stock. Cook the potatoes till soft, take a few pieces from the soup and smash them up and add them again to the pot ... this is to make the stock a little bit thicker.
3/.   Add the tuna cubes to the soup and let it cook and boil for no more than 4 minutes ( depending on the size of the cubes, but it is important not to leave the fish to dry.)

4/.   Serve from the pot in individual soup bowls.

Rebeca suggests looking at another version of Marmitako on this website:   

http://www.spain-recipes.com/marmitako.html

 

Albondigas en Salsa de Nueces y Vino Blanco 

(Meatballs in Walnut Sauce and White Wine)

Meatballs with the crushed walnuts and white wine added.

Ingredients:

750gr minced beef

2-4 chicken legs unboned, and skinless, also mince,

chopped garlic, parsley.

1 egg
some breads crumbs soaked in 2 T milk

some flour

crushed walnut and white wine
extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Method:

1/.   Chop the garlic and parsley - put in a bowl and add a beaten egg. Then add the minced meat already seasoned with salt & pepper and mix with the hands ( this is important to do with love and care! ) then add the bread crumbs and mix again.

2/.   Leave to rest for a while and then start making the meatballs.   Do not make the meat balls too big because look they nicer if they are small and also the meat will be more tender after frying them.
3/.   Once you have rolled out all the meat balls, brown them in oil till golden outside, but not too cooked inside.
4/.   Once fried, and having the meatballs inside the pan, add a pinch of flour to the olive oil in the pan, cook and stir for a few minutes then add water and salt. Add the crushed walnuts and also a 1/2 cup of white wine and boil for few minutes till the sauce gets a bit thick.

....   and then 'is done' ... as Rebeca would say!

My dessert ... rum & mango syllabub with ginger snap base, fresh mint  & roasted coconut

Tony saab, Hyderabad, INDIA, May 2012