I have decided to share with you other typical spanish dishes. But not those which can be find in a book or over the Internet, but those which we really eat everyday (at least in my family) and that you can't probably find in a book.

I hope you enjoy and cook them

The first of them is: Arroz con tomate

Ingredients:

Water to boil.
A cup of rice
Fried tomato sauce (never ketchup please!)
Garlic
Salt
Olive oil (how not?)

Put a casserole with water (more than half the casserole) to boil.

When the water boils introduce the rice, with some salt and a spoon of olive oil.

In about 15 minutes the rice will be cooked. Keep it out of the fire.

You must then drain the rice.

Now put a frying-pan with some olive oil. Put also the garlic cut in thin slices. When the garlic is somewhat cooked, introduce the the rice into the pan.

Just leave it half a minute without letting it to stick to the pan.

Serve it with the fried tomato sauce (you can buy it in the markets in USA and other countries, yes?) previously warmed.

This recipe is a very healthy one. If you see, there is almost no fat in it. And the olive oil is the most healthy fat you can find.

Questions? (I assume that my english is not as good as to being understood 100%).

Enjoy!

Fernando

I love this idea. Do you have any more?

I have never seen fried tomato sauce here...

In add. to Fernando's idea.

You can add one or two fried eggs.

Fried Tomato: If you do not find it in the market, you can take natural tomatoes. 'Undressed' them (take of the skin) :-). With a little bit of olive oil, fried and crushed them, adding a bit of salt and sugar (b/c of the acidity of the tomato) and pepper. You can add also, in you want, garlic, onion, parslic... But be moderate, you can ruin the 'salsa'

I totally agree with Josemacall, if you add some fried egg then it's a very common dish here called "arroz a la cubana". Although, I learned once that dishes that are "a la cubana"/cuban style got the name from being dishes that included bananas. I personally add fried bananas because it's tastier, but we still call it arroz a la cubana without them.
Fernando, your description of arroz con tomate has reminded me very much of a dish they prepare in the US called Spanish rice!!
Hey guys, what about "arroz con leche"/rice with milk, delicious dessert!, or "rancho", that being a concoction of boiled rice and potatoes with chicken and some spices. Rancho is the term used for meals in the military.
!viva el arroz¡

[ 11-11-2001: Message edited by: pim ]

Wait people, I will post more recipes, but be patient please, I could be here writting forever

And yes, my co-citizens are right, there are lots of variants of the same recipe (in fact, every family do it in their own way).

Fernando

WOW!! Thanks, Fernando!!!!!! What a wonderful recipe. And I love that it's Low-Fat, too. I'm not sure where I'll find fried tomato sauce, but maybe in the international foods section of my market or imported foods store. Please, give us MORE recipes!!! We're STARVING!!!! hehehee...

Fernando

You could even add a blob of MARMITE

Jo

Hi Jo-Anne, what is MARMITE?

Are there any specific recipes anybody is interested in?. For starters, I can share some of my recipes for easy-tapas, I hope you like the first one.

HOMEMADE HAM "CROQUETAS"

Ingredients(for 18 units):

-4 ounces of finely chopped ham(Spanish ham if possible!)
-0.2 pounds of butter
-1 finely chopped small onion
-0.3 pounds of (regular)flour
-Half a pint of milk(maybe a little bit more)
-2 beaten eggs
-2 ounces of grated bread(from a stale loaf)
-enough olive oil to fry.

OK, we start off by melting the butter in a saucepan, when it's hot enough, add the chopped onion and when it becomes translucent you can add 0.2 pounds of flour; then stir until it begins to look lumpy. Gradually, and stirring at the same time, add the milk and stir some more while it simmers with the ham and a little salt and pepper until it thickens.
Put this paste in a bowl and let it cool down(for more than 1 hour if you can).
To form the croquetas, take 2 to 3 full tablespoons so that they're about 2.5 inches long, and shape them with your hands (like "elongated meatballs").
Prepare a plate with the remaining 0.1 ounces of flour, a bowl with the eggs, and another one with the breadcrumbs.
One by one, start rolling the croquetas, first in a little flour, then the egg, letting the excess drip, and then the bread.
In a saucepan with abundant oil begin frying them, turning them around until they turn golden (and hopefully look delicious!)

¡¡ENHORABUENA, HAS PREPARADO TUS PRIMERAS CROQUETAS ESPAÑOLAS!! :P ¡QUE APROVECHE!

Variations:

-Delicious with minced chicken leftovers instead of ham.
-Also with a little bit of both.
-You can add: mushrooms, parsley, garlic, or whatever you want if you're creative!

Enjoy, saludos.

(And Homer Simpson says....." Mmmm.. Ham " (27k .wav))

[ 11-11-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Pim

Have a look at the thread beneath this one ( Marmite!!! )

Thanks for the yummy recipe.

Jo

[ 11-11-2001: Message edited by: Jo-Anne ]

While in Jaen in September I purchased some olive oil, because I wanted to try it.

First, I noticed the clarity of the oil, it has a lighter taste, and it appears to cook at a lower temperature. I am comparing it to the olive oil purchased here in Michigan at the local stores.

Does anyone know where I can order Spainish Olive Oil online and have shipped to the USA? I like it and I am running out!

Gsobotta,
A barcelonés acquaintance of mine owns a company that does just that, they import typical Spanish goods into the US. However, it's run from NY, and ever since the October attacks the site has been having problems I'm afraid. But do contact him at: www.gourmetguru.com

Buenas noches a todos!

Thanks pim

The website is under construction, I will try again later

gsobotta

It has been demostrated that olive oil is the most healthy fat for human consume.

It degradates slower when heated, has better properties for frying (as for example, food takes less oil when fried with oilve oil), has less calories and is better for colesterol.

It seems as if the only problem is that is more expensive than the rest ô_ò

Regards

Fernando
(Who eat with olive oil every single day)

My esposo LOVES arroz con tomate frito!
The one thing he misses most is tomate frito (fried tomato sauce) not to be mistaken for ketchup!! We buy that and Spanish olive oil through La Espanola Meats in CA.
I know MM has a link through Tienda.com and I think they also have tomate frito.

[ 11-13-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

gsobotta - Tienda.com an excellent selection of olive oils - the newest one in their line is fantastic. Believe it is still at an introductory price - click on the Tienda.com banner above and you'll get connected directly to the site.

Chef Fernando - mucho gracias for the yummy recipe! I tried it over the weekend - and it is ever so much better than what Americans refer to as Spanish rice which is often mushy. By all means - use fresh tomatoes and just chop them up and saute them with garlic in olive oil. (this can actually be done before adding the cooked rice to the pan - see Fernando's initial post). Keep these wonderful family-style recipes coming please!

Jo-anne - delete the marmite(ugh!!!!) From the five years I lived in Australia that was the ONLY thing I could never learn to love - or even like!

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: Puna ]

For Spanish olive oil, those that live near Trader Joes are in luck. They carry it and it is wonderful. They also have white asparagus (canned in glass, of course).

OK, as promised here's the recipe for another one of my favourite easy-tapas:

CANAPÉ DE BERENJENA Y SOLOMILLO

Cut some slices of French bread about 0.9 inches thick, and toast them on both sides in a preheated pan. When finished, an on just one side, pour a few drops of olive oil and also rub them with a ripe half tomato cut in half so its juice soaks the bread a little bit.
Now, take 3.5 ounces of tenderloins, for ten toasts or canapés aproximately, and add salt and a little pepper to them. Fry these pieces in a pan with two tablespoons of olive oil for twenty or thirty seconds each side. Place each one on a toast.
Prepare a little bit of a liquid mixture of water and regular flour a little salt and no lumps! If you wait a little it'll somehow thicken by itself and be perfect, so in the meantime....
Cut the eggplant in thin slices once washed. Start dipping the slices in 'our little secret mixture', allowing the excess to drip, and fry them in a pan with enough olive oil. Then place on top of the meat.
¡YA ESTÁ!

Simpler & quicker version:

Skip the eggplant and the 'tomato rubbing' part altogeher, and just place thin slices of tomato on top of the canapé.

ENJOY!!!

pim

What a coincidence, my friend from Madrid made some macarones (penne) with a spicy spanish chorizo yesterday. (We all live in Miami Beach ... the recipe was her invention). She made a tomate frito sauce, but cheated a little, "frying" canned, peeled tomatoes and then simmering them.

MMM MMM MMM!!! QUE RICO!!!

I've decided that my next trip to Madrid will include an opportunity for all our online friends living there to tempt me with their wonderful cooking talents... I'll make it a point to allow them to cook me a wonderful meal, and the winner of the contest gets the right to adopt me... The losers of the contest will get me as a visitor to their tables on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays... I have to be fair about this you know...

Oh! I'll bring my own plate, and silver ware if that helps...

Wolf (Who would probably end up having to be carried on a truck from Fernando & pim's places after he ate up all their scrumptious food.)

Wolf, I´ve never heard of a one single person jury. There must be at least two to three members... I can assure you, it won´t be hard to convince me to participate! :p Tia

Tia,

Fantastic! With two of us, we should certainly be able to offer a good review... I'd bet we could get CaliBasco to join us, and the three of us could really make the rounds of the kitchens, and determine who gets to wear the chef's hats...

Of course, we'll have to take our time deciding, getting several meals from each of the contestants, until we know we're getting the ratings right... After all, we don't want to make a mistake now, do we?

Wolf (Who's getting darned hungry right now and it isn't even 4 PM... I'm in big trouble... Dinner isn't until about 7'ish..)

Ok, I agree with that... ummm, something tells me that I'm being somewhat tricked... ummm.

Anyway. I consulted my cooking assistants (which in this case is my mother) and here I come with the recipe for the fried tomato sauce:

You have to buy 6 kilograms of red tomatoes, two big onions and, of course, some olive oil (you will find that this is a must-have in my recipes ).

The first thing you should do is to peal the tomatoes. This is better done if you boil them some minutes (just to soft the skin).

Then, in a saucepan, chop the two onions with 3 spoons of olive oil (3 which must be firstly cut into small pieces). Let it being cooked at moderate fire until they get translucent. Add a bit of salt and a spoon of sugar (yes, sugar ).

Then add the pealed and chopped tomatoes and stir them for some minutes. You must left there all the ingredients until it becomes a heavy sauce. You should stir from time to time.

Then get it out from the fire, let it cool down and stir until it gets a sauce.

You may freeze it and then heat it up in the microwave and it would be as good as just-done.

This sauce is very used in Spain. You may use it with all kinds of pasta, with rice, with meat, burguers, etc...

I hope to had being understood just a bit

Madridman, when are you going to open us a section for this recipes? :P

Wolf and Tia: You put the kitchen and I will cook

Fernando

Fernando,

We intend eating at your house....

Kiss your mother for me. I lost my mother less than a year and a half ago, and wish I could do it one more time, and that I'd done it many more times, while I had a chance.

Wolf (Whose respect for Mothers includes his own wife, whom he cherishes.)

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: Wolf ]

Wolf: If it were my house you would be more than invited (I would even organize the meeting here), but unfortunately is my parent's house, and I think that if I use it for meetings I would sleep in the streets right the next day

Excuse me mom, leave it the kitchen, I have come with some friends which I have met over the Internet..no don't worry, we are just going to use the kitchen. Eeeek, I can imagine my mother in that situation and it is scarring...

I will kiss her for you. I'm sorry about your loss. That is always sad

But anyway, I think I could handle this little problem. If you don't come to the food the food will go to you (I will carry a tortilla de patatas with me ).

Fernando

I ordered my Spanish Olive oil from www.latienda.com today; it should be here in a few days. Nearly a year ago, I adopted the Mediterranean diet and I only cook with olive oil. In many of my recipes, it is the only source of fat.

Fernando. While visiting Andalusia, I tasted a white cold soup with chopped almonds. Do you have an idea what it was? Do you have a recipe?

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: gsobotta ]

I have visited Tienda.com. It is very well, althought I was surprised to see that half a liter of olive oil costs 25$!!!!!

Do you know how much a liter costs in Spain??!! About a two dollars!!! My goodness, with that prices you have to treat is as gold. Too bad there are still taxes over the trade between our countries

gsobotta, the cool soup you tasted is called "ajoblanco", and is typical of the southeast of Andalusia. You may find the recipe in one of my posts in this board (you may search for it somewhere).

Anyway, mediterranean diet is the most healthy one. It is not me who says it, but many experts. That doesn't keep me to eating american food from time to time however

Fernando

gsobotta: What a shame. It seems you didn't click-through the Tienda.com banners on MadridMan.com as no sales have been registered today in my account with them. (Doh!! Someone shoot me! I'm starting to sound like jer... ARGH!!!!) By the way, it seems Tienda.com also owns the LaTienda.com domain name and is forwarded to Tienda.com.

Fernando, can you give us a recipe for the BRAVA SAUCE which seems to be a big secret??

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

The Brava Sauce: ¡Marchaaaaaando!

I have posted it in the other thread of this same section. Go ahead and taste it. I'm preparing another family recipe. You will suck your own fingers when you taste it...

Fernando

Fernando, how wonderful your sharing recipes with everyone. I was served the rice topped with a fried egg and tomato sauce as a starter for one of my dinners in Spain. I believe it was the night I was in Bilbao. This is off topic but thank you again for your earlier advice on Levi's, in another section of this message board.

Hi there!
Wow Fernando I'm impressed by your recipe for 'salsa brava'!
However, for those lazier ones, like me I guess; here's the way I prepare it at home. This isn't "estilo madrileño" though, the majority of bars in Madrid don't use any mayonnaise, but they do in other regions, and I recommend it!
Also, many of us say 'papas bravas' instead of patatas bravas.

You just have to mix mayonnaise; homemade is best of course, in Spain many people use sunflower oil (only for this, please olive oil for everything else!), and an egg, salt and a few drops of lemon or vinegar; "tomate frito" sauce (again), and whatever amount of drops of tabasco sauce each one can endure! :p, you just heat up this mixture in a saucepan for a while, and it's ready!

Hi Churrocaliente, the potatoes should be diced and then fried.

paloma

[ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: pim ]

[ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: pim ]

It is a pleasure to share all this recipes with the community

Pim, you are right. I have tasted the bravas with mahonese and they are even better! And yes, there are other recipes different from the one I posted (I have just posted a new one very closed to yours in the other topic).

Of one thing I'm sure: The salsa has to include tomato sauce and it has to be spicy

Fernando

Churrocaliente, your friend from Madrid didn't "cheat" :), using canned peeled tomatoes, beating, and frying them is a more authentic way to prepare 'salsa de tomate frito' than just opening a can of fried tomato sauce, in fact that's how most of our moms and grannies do it!(with some salt and a little bit of sugar for the sourness(=acidez)
Try it sometime adding a banana cut in half, floured a little and then fried, it is sooo yummy!

¡Que aproveche!

Sorry MM, I did list you site as the source of where I discovered their website. Since this will not be my first purchase, I will make all further inquiries through the website.

I received my order today. To celebrate, made Shellfish Paella, I used the smoked paprika ordered and what a difference!

Thanks Fernando

gsobotta, the white and cold soap you tried in Andalucia is 'ajo blanco' or 'white garlic'.
I hope this, and my bad English, will help:

Recipe for 6 people.-

150 gr of almonds.
2 teeth of garlic.
The soft part of a bread of 250 gr. (?)
2 spoons of vinegar.
2/3 of a glass (wine one) of fine olive oil (never with other kind, of course).
Water and salt.


Put the bread in cold water for 1/2 hour.
If almonds are not peeled, peel them, and left them in warm (not hot) water for a some minutes. Then you must pressdown them with your finger to take the wetting almonds.
Use a beater (is this correct the name of this machine?) for, in this order, mix:
1.- The bread (drained off).
2.- The garlic.
3.- The almonds.
4.- The oil.
5.- The vinegar.

Once you have mixed all off this, add salt, and left it in the refrigetor for 2 hours at least.

Before service, add a little of frozen water (not ice) to the Ajo Blanco, as it gets the density you desire.

Also you can add some fruits as peeled grapes, fragments of melon.

Fernando - now you know just one more reason why all of us keep coming back to Spain! And LaTienda has less expensive products than many of their competitors... The $25 USD olive oil you referred to must be the huge container.
Wolf - how do I join the your very official sounding 'Tasters Union' ? Seems every single post over the last few days has been food related - and as per a different thread and in view of sounding redundant - I'm starving!!!

You are most welcome to the Tasters Union (what a great name), Puna! I´m sure the leading arbiter, the one and only ravenously hungry Wolf, appreciates your cooperation.

Fernando, do you have some delicious recipes with my favourite vegetable aubergine?

[ 11-17-2001: Message edited by: Tia ]

Thanks josemacall.

There were grapes in the soap. Your recipe is interesting; I think I can figure it out. I will have to give it try.

Pim, when you say add a fried banana to the tomate frito, do you mean a the sweet kind (banano) or plantain (platano)?

Hi 'Churro',
It's just a regular 'plátano' that added to the fried egg and the rice with the tomato sauce make a dish called 'arroz a la cubana'.

Pim, thanks for the recipe for croquetas. Yum! I didn't make any myself, but the 78 year old mother of my ladyfriend prepared (precooked) 2 dozen ham croquetas for me to bring back with me to the states. She always does this for me and I love her even more for her gesture. So last night, I HAD TAPAS!! The freshly olive-oil fried croquetas complimented the anchovy-stuffed green olives from Spain. I was SAD to NOT have waited until I could buy some Spanish wine, but I simply COULD NOT WAIT to eat those delicious croquetas! I finished them off for lunch today. YUM!!

Saludos, MadridMan

Hi MMan!,
Hey, you don't have to thank me....I've met great people thanks to you!
You know? last night Iwa, Shawn, Antonio and two friends of mine went to Maceira the 'pulpería' that I talked to you about, it seemed impossible to get a table, but we did!. And we had ray CROQUETAS (yes the fish!), and lacón, chorizo criollo, carne mechada, ALBARIÑO, etc....I even tried the octopus in your honour (because I don't like it). We didn't stay for la 'queimada' at around 1:00AM because we wanted to go see some flamenco, although we went to get desserts instead.
We also went(while we waited for the table) to La Dolores which is quite a popular place.

Well, it's been quite a week!. And Shawn, saludos, I was also at the parade with Andrea and Maddie, and I agree, watching the McDonalds 'carroza' was so weird!


Pim, who's been a good girl tonight and was already home by 2:00AM.

So the MadridMan's Party v 3.0 is extending itself for days? I should have stayed more time

I'm now inmersed into the pre-exams period, but next time I will join you and the others Pim (if you don't mind ).

Fernando

Pim has forgotten to say where we had our desserts. We decided to try a new place and we enter Café Central at Plaza del Angel, 10. It seemed a good place and they had cakes on the bar.

They have the most expensive coffe I had in my whole life. The "standard" price for a coffe with milk in a "standard" cafeteria in Spain is about 0.78 €. At Cafe Central it was 2.40 € and it was just a normal coffe, not a special variety or with liqour or any other thing.

Furthermore, the waiter was very rude and came several times wanting us to pay before we finished eating our cakes. I considered it to be extremely impolite for a waiter to do so.

By the way, Cafe Central is one of the few places where they have live music (jazz specifically). However, if they charged us so much without music, I wonder which would be the supplements if you want to have a coffer while listening to the music.

As for the cakes, people thought they were very good but Paloma and I agreed they were just ok and there are places where you can have better cakes.

It's definitely not a place I would recommend to anyone.

[ 01-06-2002: Message edited by: Antonio ]

Thanks Antonio!

I had already forgoten the name of that place. Not only were the price very high by Spanish standards, but more important to me was the rudeness of the waiter. It was the first time that I had ever been hurried to finish my coffee and desert. From my point of view, one of the things about Spanish culture that is so refreshing is that it permits the full enjoyment of life without unneccesary haste. I have had a few occasions where I have had to remind the waiter to bring me the check, but this was the only time where I (we) was pestered.

It is worth noting that this place had plenty of available tables and that there was no entertainment. Despite the fact the tarta de chocalate was quite good, I will never eat there again.

Yep,
I also forgot to mention that when we met at El Brillante at 21hrs. on Friday it was 18ºC, so warm!, specially compared to the same time, same place last Saturday at MMan's party, when it felt below 0ºC and it was so foggy. Go figure!


Well, about el Café Central, apparently it is one of the best places for live jazz in the city, so I guess it's too bad we missed some of that; and I'm so naive that I still think they made some mistake with the "coffe rip-off"!
Anyway, I thought I'd suggest another place in the same area(plaza de Santa Ana), it's called Salón del Prado, on calle Prado 4. They also have live performances, because once I saw a very nice sort of belly dance.

And the prettiest and 'de toda la vida' include: Café Comercial, Café del Principe, Café de Oriente, Café Gijón, Café del Espejo, Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes,....there are more but these are the ones I know well. Now, they aren't "dirty cheap", but they're worth every Euro(in my opinion).

BTW, last night I went for the first time to two more modern cafés; Café La Palma, in calle La Palma 62, great for those into more alternative stuff; and café Mama Inés, on calle Hortaleza 22, very nice, with lots of beautiful(gay) people.

MMan, please excuse me(us), I realize this is the wrong thread!

[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: pim ]

Quess what my wife is making tonight? Ham croquetas and they are good! Brings back good memories from 3 weeks ago. You can take us out of Spain, but not Spain out of us!