and finally... paella!

So, finally I have some time to sit down and write another entry on the blog. I had the pictures for this one taken time ago, but I have been so busy at work that it was impossible to finish it.

As I have mentioned before, I was born in Madrid (even half of my family comes from the North of Spain), so paella was never a common dish in my home when I was a kid. My mom cooked very nice rice dishes, but they were more on the "arroz a banda" fashion (a dish from the Murcia region). 

Nevertheless, as a Spaniard you cannot escape (not that I ever want to) the omnipresence of the paella, cooked with more or less proficiency all around my country. This is possibly the dish that most foreigners will identify as the "national Spanish recipe", while in Spain it is considered as being only traditional in the Valencia (or larger Mediterranean) area.

In Spain, we cook rice in a very different manner as you can see in France or other neighboring countries. The way we cook it resembles more the way to cook rice pilaf (or similar dishes), in which the rice is not cooked separately from the rest of the ingredients in the dish, but altogether, so all the flavors present can melt in a single bite.

Among all these rice dishes, paella is possibly the trickiest one, since you not only want to achieve a nice mix of flavors in the dish, but also to achieve the perfect consistency of the rice. This is done through three factors:

•  First one, cook the paella in a paella. OK, it might sound dumb, but it is not. Actually the name "paella" does not refer to the food, but to the special pan that the rice is cooked in (a Catalonian word for that type of pans). You need to keep the rice/water level shallow, so you don't need to stir the rice while cooking (see point 2). Paella pans will grow up in diameter with the number of portions, so this shallow level is always kept.
• Second one, do not stir the rice while cooking. Yes, it is true. If you cook the rice in a paella pan, the rice will be able to cook through all the height of the water/rice level without need to stir it. Not stirring the rice will get you two good things for the price of one: first one, the starch the rice gives away during cooking will be kept to a minimum, so the grains will stay loose and not mushy, and second, an amazing thin layer of the broth will get adhered to the surface of each grain. And this is what we want (look at the picture above).
• Third one, use a proper type of rice for it. Do not use jasmine, or basmati, or any long grain rice. But do not use also arborio or carnaroli (high starch rice), or Valencia (I know it sounds weird, but it will get you a really mushy paella). Go ahead and get the real deal. Now you can get in Amazon (or a few Spanish stores around) one of the types of rices we produce in Spain for this dish: arroz bomba or arroz de Calasparra. This types of rice will keep the structure of the grain longer (preventing the "mushiness"), absorb better the broth (increasing the flavor pattern of the dish), and not liberate too much starch (see mushiness above).

My last recommendation when dealing with a paella is the same as with many of the traditional dishes you can find around that have a very short list of ingredients: the quality of the ingredients will show in the end result. If you use frozen veggies, your paella will be mediocre. Go ahead and get the fresh ones. You don't need any fancy or exotic ones, just regular tomatoes, garlic and some other things. Keep it fresh and it'll show!

Enjoy it!

Paella de conejo, pollo y alcachofas - Paella with rabbit, chicken and artichokes

 

 

 Ingredients  (4 people - paella pan diameter 40 cm or around 15 inches)

• Rabbit and chicken: 1 kg or 2 pounds (see note below)
• Roma tomatoes: 4 medium grated (skin removed)
• Artichokes: 3 medium, cleaned (see note below)
• Garlic: 2 cloves finely laminated
• Green pepper: 1 large
• Saffron: 1 teaspoon
• Rice: 400 grams (see note below)
• Olive oil
• Salt

Preparation

My recommendation for cooking paella is to have everything ready ahead of time (the famous mise en place). Once you have started with the cooking process, it is a mess to begin to chop the veggies or measure the rice.

First, clean the rabbit and chicken, and cut it in small pieces. This will speed up the browning process, as well as make it easy to eat the paella. Leave the bones, they give a lot of flavor!
Clean the artichokes by removing the harder outer leaves, trim the top (it might be spiny), and the base. Cut them lengthwise in quarters. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in thin slices. Grate the tomatoes (discard the skin). Clean the pepper removing seeds and veins, and cut it in small pieces.

Once you have everything ready, you have to make sure that your pan will not be tilted during the cooking process, since this will cause having deep/shallow areas with different cooking times.
If you don't use an adapter fire ring (as the one in the picture - see note below), just move the screws in the legs until the pan is flat (I test this putting some water or oil in the pan and making sure that the poodle stays in the middle). In the past when I did not use that ring, I used some aluminum foil packets to raise some areas of the burners.

 So, paella in place, flat and ready to go.

Put some olive oil in the pan (for this quantities about 4 tablespoons), and start cooking the meat. You want it to be cooked through, and having the outer part well browned. This is what will give most part of the flavor to your dish, so cook it well.
Once it is ready, reserve in a separate dish.

If the pan is dry, put a bit of olive oil and add the garlic and pepper. Cook it for 3-4 minutes stirring frequently (you don't want to burn it). Add the grated tomato and cook it for 5 minutes more. Once the liquid is gone, add the rice and cook it for 2 minutes. Add the meat, stir well and add the artichokes.

Then, depending on the type of rice you are using, add these amounts of water to the pan:
- Arroz bomba or Calasparra: 3 to 3.5 parts of water per part of rice.
- Any other type of rice (not recommended): 2 parts of water per part of rice.

Note: The first time you cook a paella you will find how much water the rice is "asking for". This depends not only on the type of rice, but the quality of the water and even the altitude of the terrain. In Valencia, there is people that will bring their own water just to make sure they don't mess it up... paella can get really serious in some parts of Spain!

Now it is time to add the saffron (it will add not only color but also flavor), and check the salt level. Remember that the rice will retain some of the saltiness of the broth, so the final result will be not as salty as the initial broth.

Make sure again that the pan is flat, and cook it at high temperature for 8 minutes. Lower the heat to keep a minimum simmer and cook for 5 minutes more. Check the water level: if it's very low keep the heat to minimum and cook for 2 minutes more, if there is still some water increase the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Beware it is better to have a paella not very dry but well cooked than a dry one with under cooked rice. Experience is key with this dish, keep trying until you know what works for you and your equipment.

Let it rest covered with a kitchen towel for 5 minutes more, and serve it immediately.

Notes:

Meats
Valencian paella has only meats (no seafood please), and only rabbit and chicken. You can change the rabbit for some extra chicken in this recipe if you don't like the rabbit, but I assure you that the flavor of the dish is amazing with it!

Artichokes

The artichokes we find in US are typically very well developed, meaning that the cores are already not good for eating (too fibrous). If this is the case, remove the fiber in the core with a spoon, because it will disperse through the paella.

Rice 
As I mentioned above, please use bomba or Calasparra rice for paella. They have been developed over many years to achieve the perfect degree of broth absorption without loosing the structure. You use arborio for risotto, correct? Use the same strategy here!

Adapter ring
We brought this one from Spain, where it is used to be able to cook indoors with larger paella pans. Some people told me that they saw something similar in stores with Asian kitchen utensils too. You can get one of this in Amazon if you need it, it will keep the fire distributed more evenly around the surface of the pan, and prevent any over/undercooking in different areas.

Spanish comfort food (my mom's style)

 

Comfort food is something that I crave during cold winter days. To get a nice bowl of some hot and comforting food is one of the best feelings in the world. And that feeling is complete when I come back to one of our family's recipes for such days.

All my mom's family is from a tiny village in the mountains of Burgos (North of Spain), Riocabado de la Sierra. This tiny village survived with the crops the land produced (not a long season, since the weather gets really nasty in fall and spring arrives late), and mostly sheep herds. As in most of the north in Spain, the main carbs source were potatoes: easy to store during wintertime and extremely versatile, they were a clear winner. Also as in most part of my country, during November/December all the families would kill one or more of their pigs to prepare their meats for the long winter season. This originated the famous pork preserves from Spain: jamon, chorizo, lomo and more.

In my mother's family it was very normal to prepare something with potatoes and some pork product as chorizo or jamon then, as my grandmother used to say: "mainly potatoes, the pork is just to give some flavor hint!".

This recipe is proof that comfort food does not have to be unhealthy or time consuming. It can be prepared quickly, and even with a couple of tricks (in the notes below), you can speed up the process for busy week nights.

Patatas al estilo de mi madre - Potatoes (my mom's style)

Ingredients

• Potatoes: 4 large
• Green pepper: 1 (see notes)
• Garlic: 2-3 cloves 
• Spanish paprika (see notes)
• White rice (optional): 1/2 cup 
• Spanish chorizo: 100 grams (see notes)
• Bay: 1 leaf
• Olive oil
• Salt

Preparation

Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in slices. Clean the pepper, getting the veins and seeds out, cut it in small cubes. Peel the potatoes and cut them in chunks. Here is a big trick to achieve a way better broth at the end: instead of slicing them all the way through, try cutting only half of the chunk, then tear apart the rest of it. This way of cutting the potatoes is called "chascar" in Spanish, for the sound that the potato flesh makes when you tear them. This will promote the starch of the potato to get into the broth, so instead of having a clear soup, you'll end up with a way tastier stew-like result.  

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven, and when it's hot fry the garlic and pepper over medium heat fire until it is tender, 3-4 minutes approx. Toss the chorizo cut in small pieces (or substitute - see notes), and fry it for 1 minute extra. Add the potatoes and toss around to cover them in the mix, 1 minute. Add 1 teaspoon of Spanish paprika and toss quickly to avoid the paprika to get burnt. If you are adding rice, add it now.

Cover the potatoes with water (water level should be just under the potatoes, add a little bit more if you add rice and control the water level while cooking). Add salt to the taste and bay leaf.

Leave it simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. You can eat it directly or let it sit for 1 hour or so (and reheat slowly after), it will be really better!

Enjoy!

Notes:

Potatoes

For this dish, I like Yukon potatoes, since they give a lot of flavor to the dish, and they remind me of the ones my grandma or mom would use. In any case, avoid the red potatoes, they don't release as much starch as needed for this recipe.

Green pepper

In Spain we mostly use Italian green pepper for cooking (rather than bell pepper), so for this recipe I prefer to use Cubanelle or Poblano peppers (the first one if I go for the sweetness, the second if I look for a hint of spice).

Spanish paprika

This paprika is not as the one you can find in non-Spanish supermarkets under the 'paprika' label. It differs in having a very distinctive smoky flavor: if you even have tried the chorizo from Spain, you'll know what I'm referring to. In US I have found it in some specialty spice shops (as this one), or in the uber ubiquitous Amazon (as this one).

Chorizo
My mom uses mostly chorizo or panceta (similar to the Italian pancetta) for this recipe. The idea is to add a little bit for flavor, but not to overwhelm it with meat. You can even try to do it with good bacon, just avoid flavored bacon since it will add different taste to the final result.
And be careful, you are not looking for Mexican chorizo (not cured), but Spanish chorizo, cooking type. I like the one of Palacios brand (imported), and I find it in my local supermarket. You can find it in Amazon too (here).
If you don't eat meat or pork, just go without. I have made it many times and it's really good! The key for the flavor is on the veggies and paprika, not in the meat...

Tricks for weeknight dinner

One of my mom's tricks to accelerate this recipe is to prepare in advance a medium/large batch of the veggies/meat part. Just cook the garlic+pepper, add meat and cook it together. If you let it get cold, you can freeze it in small batches, and then just take them out when needed and defrost it in the dutch oven directly. Once it's ready, continue adding the potatoes. It will cut down the prep time!

How to store it
This recipe does not freeze well, since it was potatoes. But you can eat it later during the day or even the day after with very good results: the flavor profile will get more complex as the time goes on. Just be careful with storing it in the fridge, since the potatoes can get stale in the cold.

Think paella is the most traditional dish in Spain? Think again...

Most of the people I have met outside of Spain thinks that paella is the "national" dish in my country, and that is made in every household from North to South.

If you think also that, I am sorry to disappoint you, but paella is typical only in the Mediterranean side of Spain (in the Valencia and Catalunya areas to be exact). Rice dishes are consumed all over our geography, with many different dishes (that I will post in the future here), but paellas are part of the culinary tradition in those two areas of Spain. I will post during this month a recipe of paella, and get a little more detail on this.

 

Today, I bring you a dish that could easily qualify as the most traditional (or at least common) in Spain: la tortilla de patatas (potato or Spanish omelette). You can find it all over Spain, with different variations in each area or even family, and it is one of the few dishes that are cooked everywhere. It is a recipe that will accept a number of variations, all correct, depending on the type of ingredients you like to add (to a number, of course!), how well-cooked you like it, or even how warm... You can start a small fight between Spaniards if you throw the question of whose tortilla is better, but of course it's always my mom's! :)

The basic mandatory ingredients are four: potatoes, eggs, olive oil and salt. Then you can add onion (my recipe calls for that, I love onion in my tortilla), and even green pepper (it's really good) or leeks (good too). For me, the onion is a must, since it will give the tortilla an amazing sweetness that will not be there without it, but I can also go without to be fair. A tortilla is a tortilla, after all...

The main problem I have seen when a non-Spaniard cooks a tortilla, is to confuse it with an Italian fritatta, and that can lead to main mistakes. First of all, you don't saute the potatoes in a little of olive oil, you fry-poach them in quite a lot of oil. The egg is not added in the same pan of the veggies, you mix it separately. Third, you cook the final mixture over the stove top, not in the oven. And last of all, you want to leave your egg partially cooked, not well done in any case.

Also, the technique involved in making an A-grade tortilla is something that we Spaniards learn since we are babies watching our moms in the kitchen (remember, this is cooked through all the Spanish geography). I still remember the first time that I attempted a tortilla in my first apartment, and how disappointed I was with the result. I called my mom asking her for tricks, her answer: "practice". Even watching it all your life does not qualify you for excelling in tortillas, just keep trying, it will eventually be perfect! I will post some recommendations at the end of the recipe, if you have any more questions please let me know, I'll be happy to help if I can!

OK, let's go for it. Remember, I'll be doing my version of my mom's tortilla, but you can always tweak it to your taste.

Tortilla de patatas - Spanish (potato) omelette

Ingredients

(see notes for amounts and types)

• Potatoes: 4 large
• Eggs: 8 large 
• Onion: 1 medium Spanish onion
• Olive oil 
• Salt

Preparation

First of all, peel the potatoes and cut them in small pieces. Look at the picture above for a size/shape reference. I prefer to cut them quite homogeneously (regular in size), but some people will cut it free shape with a hand knife. I would recommend to cut them in a cutting board first times you try the recipe, until you are familiar with it. Also, peel and cut the onion in small/medium cubes.

Heat olive oil in a large and deep saucepan in the stove top, until it is hot but not simmering (you can try it by putting one of the potato pieces in the oil, if it starts to simmer instantly, it's ready). 

Add the potatoes and onion, and mix it until everything is well mixed.

Now it comes one of the trickiest parts to explain for the non Spaniards. You have to cook the potatoes in such way that they are a mixture of poached and fried. For that, what I typically will do is to keep checking the pan, and low or up the heat for achieving that "magic spot". 

My process would be as follows: first, I cook the potatoes in high heat until they start to be cooked (around 5 min or so), preventing any browning from happening (if it starts browning I would instantly lower the heat). Then I start poaching the potatoes by lowering the heat until the oil bubbles just a little and there is no browning in the potatoes. Check the image below to have an idea on how it will look like. The potatoes start to crumble apart when you move them, and after 15 min or so they will be fully cooked. Then I take the heat up again to achieve some final caramelization in some of the potatoes and specially in the onions. Be very careful with this step, since you can brown them too much, and you don't want to move the potatoes around, since they will fall apart into a mushy mixture. This typically takes 3-4 minutes.

When you have finished with the cooking, drain the potatoes into a mesh. Please keep this oil! It will be good for another go, as well as for reuse in stews and many more!!! Olive oil can be reused very safely, and this one will be beautifully infused in onion taste, believe me.

In a large bowl, beat up the eggs with some salt (the amount will depend on your taste, try once the mixture is done). Add the potato-onion mixture and mix well. You want the final mixture to look like the picture above (not too eggy but not dry).

And now, the second tricky part, aka: the cooking. You'll need a shallow pan, with a very good anti adherent coating. This is crucial. You really need anti adherent coating. My mom would be able to make it with any pan, but if you are a newbie in tortillas, you need an easy start up. Turning a tortilla in a sticky pan is something quite painful and messy, believe me. I have been there...

Prepare the pan in the stove top over high-medium heat, put some olive oil (just a couple of tablespoons), and pour half of the batter into the pan. Shake the pan gently, and distribute the batter evenly. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes. Once the sides are browned, get ready to turn it. The process is described in the pictures below, and it goes like this: 1) get your turning dish and place it over the pan, 2) hold it with your steering hand and make some pressure over the pan, 3) hold firmly the pan and with a quick movement turn the pan/dish upside down, so the tortilla is now in the dish (cooked side up), 4) put the pan in the heat again, pour some olive oil, let it get hot and place the tortilla back in the pan. 

If this gets over complicated for you, other option is to slide the tortilla from the pan in step 1 into a dish, and then to the upside-down turn with dishes instead of with the pan and the dish. 

Once the other side is cooked (2 minutes approx), slide it to a dish and let it cool a little bit before eating it.

My recommendation? Have it with a good crusty bread, it's to die for...

Enjoy!

Notes:

Potatoes and eggs

I typically use large baking potatoes, since they are capable of resisting the long cooking without disintegrating into the oil. The proportion potato/egg is 2 large eggs for 1 large baking potato. I also tried to Golden Yukon, but they turned out too sweet for my taste. 

As for the recipes that call for few ingredients, the freshest the ingredients the better the result. Fresh free cage eggs will make a great impact on the result, believe me.

Olive oil

You can find information about cooking olive oil in the rosquillas recipe here: rosquillas

Cooking point

In Spain there are two groups of people: the ones that like their tortilla with onion, and the ones that don't. Same goes with the cooking point. Some will like their tortilla basically raw (barely cooked in one side), some in semi-liquid state, and some well cooked through the height. I think the tortilla gains when not fully cooked, since the flavors develop way better, specially if you let it sit for a little while before eating it. If you cannot stand uncooked egg mixture, cook it but be careful not to boil the egg, it will leave a really nasty sulfurous taste (and yes, I have had that experience. Yes, in a "Spanish" restaurant).

How to store it

Keep it in an air tight container or wrapped in plastic for one day at cool temperature. Do not put it in the fridge, the potatoes will go stale in a matter of hours.

Roscon de reyes - King's bread

During Christmas time, one of my favorite memories was the morning of January 6th, the day of the Three wises (or Dia de Reyes in Spanish). The main reason was because during the night of the 5th to the 6th, tradition told that the kids that were good the year before would receive gifts, while the ones that misbehaved or were not kind would receive coal (candy rock).

Spain is a country with catholic influence, so instead of having Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas, as in other countries in Europe, Spanish kids receive the visit of these three wises.

The second motive of happiness was because we celebrated one of my sister's birthday the same 5th, so we had double party, and for her, double presents. I was the small one, so I could always count with enjoying my sister's gifts, at least when playing together.

And the third and last motive was that this is the only chance during the year of eating for breakfast a delicious brioche-bread called Roscon de reyes (loosely translated as King's bread). This is a soft and fluffy bread, enriched with eggs and butter, with orange peel and orange flower aroma, that with just a hint of the smell can automatically transport any Spaniard into the morning of January 6th, and therefore to the childhood memories of waiting impatiently for the day to arrive and the happiness of opening the presents with the family in the morning.

The roscon also has a big suprise element in it, since it typically has a small gift hidden inside it. Depending on the region of Spain, it will have only a small porcelain figurine: if you find it, you'll have to pay for the roscon. In other regions, it will have the small figurine and a big dry bean: the one finding the figurine will be proclaimed king for a day, and the one finding the bean will pay for the roscon. It's all fun, specially for the kids.

The recipe today is quite easy, just use ingredients as fresh as possible, the quality of the eggs and dairy products will show in the final results. Also, respect the resting times, and treat the dough with care, it will pay off!

Roscon de Reyes - King's bread

This recipe calls for a fermentation starter, so prepare this one first, and while it gets ready prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients

Starter

• Bread flour: 130 grams / 1 cup (*see note)
• Whole milk (warm): 75 grams / 1/3 cup
• Sugar: 1 tablespoon
• Instant yeast: 1 teaspoon (*see note)

Final dough

• Bread flour: 450 grams / 2 1/4 cups
• Whole milk (warm): 75 grams / 1/3 cup
• Sugar: 120 grams / 2/3 cup
• Eggs (large): 2
• Butter (in small cubes): 85 grams / 6 tablespoons
• Instant yeast: 2 teaspoon
• Orange flower essence: 2 tablespoons
• Salt: 1/8 teaspoon
• Orange peel finely grated (1 orange)

Decoration

• 1 egg (beaten)
• Granulated sugar
• Water
• Sliced almonds
• Caramelized fruits (orange, cherries...) 

Preparation

For the starter, mix the milk, sugar and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. Mix with the flour, and form a tight dough ball. If the dough is very wet, add flour until it's not sticky.

Fill a large bowl with warm water, and put the dough ball there. It will sit in the bottom for a while, but after 10-15 min, it will come back to the surface. Once it gets there, it's ready to go.

[This is really amazing to watch the first time you do it! It seems that it will never move, but them... bum! as a miracle of fermentation, it makes all the way up to the top...]

 

In a large bowl, mix the starter, flour, sugar and salt with the orange blossom essence, orange peel, lightly beaten eggs and milk with yeast. Knead it with your hands (or with a stand mixer if you have one). Once the dough is uniform, add the butter in cubes and continue kneading until the dough is soft and pliable (it will take a little time, but this is a very friendly dough).

Form the dough into a ball, and place it in an oiled bowl (moving it around so all the surface of the dough gets oiled too). Cover with saran wrap and leave it to ferment 3 hours in the counter or overnight in the fridge. It has to double its size. If you leave it in the fridge, remember to take it out at least 30 minutes before starting with the shaping process.

Once the dough is fermented, take it out of the bowl and deflate it in the counter. If you want to form two roscones, divide the dough in two equal size pieces. Shape the dough in a tight ball and let it sit for 5 minutes.

For shaping the roscon, take the ball of dough and make a hole in the middle with your fingers. Stretch it slowly using a circular motion, until you have a wide doughnut shape. If the dough resists, let it sit for a couple of minutes for allowing the gluten to relax.

If you decide to go traditional and place a suprise inside the roscon, do it now, and try to hide it as better as possible... the funny thing is not knowing where it is!

Place the dough in an oven tray with parchment paper and let it rise for 2 hours (until double its size).

When you have 15 minutes left, preheat the oven at 400F.

Brush the surface of the roscon with beaten egg (carefully not to the deflate the dough), and decorate it using the sugar with a little bit of water (so it forms clumps), almonds and fruits. Be creative if you want!

Bake at in the middle position of the oven, at 400F for the first 8 minutes, then 10 minutes more at 375F. Check it while baking, if the crust turns too dark, cover it with aluminum foil.

Let it cool in a rack before eating.

In Spain there are three ways of having this bread: as it is, or filled with plain or chocolate whipped cream... any of these are delicious.

Enjoy it!

Notes:

Bread flour
For this recipe you'll need flour with a higher gluten (protein) content than your regular pastry/cake one. Check out for bread flour in the supermarket, you may find it also with the 00 numbers in the name.

Yeast
Instant (chemical) baking powder will not be ok for this recipe. You'll need either fresh yeast (in the refrigerated are in the supermarket), or dry yeast (the one in small granules). For this recipe, if you use fresh yeast, substitute the amounts given by 10 grams in the starter and 20 grams in the final mix. The rule of thumb for conversion is divide/multiply by three: 10 grams of fresh yeast are equal to 3 grams of dry yeast.

Decoration
In my region of Spain, most of the roscones will have a decoration like the one showed in the pictures, but you can be creative and add/remove whatever you want. Typically it will have some kind of nuts, sugar and some dry fruit, but it's up to you, since you will be the one eating it!

Figurine/Surprise
Remember to choose something that is heat resistant, the dough will get hot in the oven! Porcelain is the normal choice for this in Spain. Don't make it so small that it can be swallowed too!

How to store them

The roscon is amazing the same day that is baked. The next day it will be ok, specially if filled with cream. If you plan to have it later than that, let it cool completely and freeze it in a sealed plastic bag. It will stay better than in the fridge.
When you want to eat it, leave it overnight in the fridge and take it out and take it out at least 1 hour before eating it. If you want to warm it a bit do it in the oven at 200F for 15 min.

First recipe... and family memories

I start this blog as a way to make the food culture of Spain available for all the non-Spanish speakers around. During my years living outside of Spain, I have realized how little is known about the culinary experiences from my country (besides the paella and sangria, of course!), and how difficult it is to find good recipes in English. 

Also, many of the Spanish recipes call for very local products, so for the last years I had to adapt my recipes to whatever I could find in local markets, or find a way to get the original ingredients wherever I was (without spending a fortune!). This blog also has a commitment to ease up the elaboration of Spanish recipes outside of Spain, providing local alternatives to specific products, or pointing on where to find them.

For my first post/recipe, I chose something very special for me, probably the first thing that I ever cooked (or helped cook at least!), back when I was a child in Madrid. We were very close with my mother's family, and I spend many Saturdays and Sundays in my grandparents' house, enjoying the company and stories they had for me. 

During Fall/Winter, in very special occasions, my grandma would tell me, let's do some rosquillas! Rosquillas are sweet treats that can be baked or fried, that can range from a fluffy-doughnut style treat to a harder-crunchier one (similar to an Italian biscotti).

My grandma's recipe had that wonderful anise and orange aroma that would feel the kitchen for hours... I still can smell it!  

Don't worry for the alcohol, it will be burnt during the cooking process, this is child friendly.

Anise and orange rosquillas - Rosquillas de anis y naranja

Ingredients

• All purpose wheat flour: 500 grams / 4 cups 
• 1 large egg (beaten)
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil (see note)
• 4 tablespoons of milk
• 4 tablespoons of sugar (or honey)
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1-2 tablespoons of anise liquor (see note)
• 2 tablespoons of anise seeds
• 1/2 orange (peel finely grated - without the white part)
• Olive oil (see note)

  

Preparation

Sift the flour with the baking powder in a medium size bowl. Make a well in the middle, and place there the egg, olive oil, milk, sugar, seeds, orange peel and liquor. Start mixing from the inside to the outside, it will be easier if you use first a wooden spoon. 

Once it has some consistency, continue mixing with your hands. You want the ingredients to get together but not to overwork the dough. Once everything is well incorporated, wrap it in plastic and let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours (this will ease up working with the dough and develop the flavor).

Remove the dough from the fridge and start shaping the rosquillas. I typically work with them in small batches, first rolling the dough in the counter until I have a long string, and then I cut them and roll them up, closing the edges with my fingers. The size will be up to you, I prefer to make them on the small side so they will be more of a bite treat, but you can definitely make them larger for breakfast!

Once you have all the rosquillas formed, heat up the olive oil in a deep pan or a dutch oven. Once it is hot, start frying them by batches (leave some space between them!). Adjust the heat, so you have a slow frying point, enough to cook the dough without burning it. Look at the picture below, this pastry cooks up really fast outside, but you have to give it time to cook on the inside.

Once they're cooked move them to a bowl with kitchen towels to eliminate the excess oil, then you can cover them with sugar if you want (I prefer mine plain).

Enjoy them once cooled down, they are really good with coffee or tea!

Notes:

Olive oil

In Spain we typically use two types or grades of olive oil, the extra virgin for salads and some cooking preparations, and the refined for frying. We typically distinguish them by the acidity level: extra virgin (or virgin) oils will be noted with an acidity level of 1º or more, while the refined one will have an acidity level around 0.4º

When you fry something with extra virgin olive oil it keeps the taste of the oil, so many people prefer to use the "softer" 0.4º oil for frying, specially soft flavor food, as sweets or veggies.

In the US, I have found that Costco has a refined olive oil that is really affordable and good, we always have one of those big bottles in the pantry!

Anise liquor

In some places you can find Spanish anise liquor, such as Anis del mono or similar. I have used French pastis or Italian sambuca with very good results, just be sure it does not have any extra ingredients such as licorice.

Don't be worry for the alcohol, it will be burnt during the cooking process, this is child friendly.

How to store them

Keep them in an air tight container up to 5 days, preferably with a paper towel base (to eliminate excess moisture).