Spanish-Gourmet.comSpanish-Gourmet.comSpanish-Gourmet.com
  
  
  
»  Olive oil »  Spanish Wine
»  Saffron »  Our Herbolist
»  Pimentón »  Recipes
  
  
  
Recipes
 
 
  Drinks
  Soups
  Rice
  Meat
  Fish
  Mushrooms
  Vegetables
  Others
  Desserts
 
 
Soups

 GAZPACHO

Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
 
For the soup:
  • 1 kg ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
  • 1 medium green bell pepper, de-seeded and chopped
  • 1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped
  • 1 hard boiled egg, shelled and chopped (optional) 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Dash vinegar,salt
To Accompany:
  • 1 small tomato, ½ cucumber, peeled, ½ red or green bell pepper, ½ small onion

Preparation:
 
Liquidise all the soup vegetables in a blender until smooth, add oil, vinegar and pinch of salt and whizz quickly. If very thick, add some cold water, then chill well before serving.
 
To garnish, finely chop all the remaining Ingredients, and serve in individual bowls with the gazpacho.
 
 
 CHICKPEA SOUP WITH GARLIC AND MINT

Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
  • 850g tinned chickpeas
  • 2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 7 tbsp olive oil
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • ¼ tsp hot pimenton (paprika) or cayenne pepper
  • 4 tbsp fresh mint and
  • parsley, chopped
  • salt and ground black pepper

 
Preparation:
 
Drain the chickpeas, reserving the liquid. Use the liquid and added water to make up 900 ml (1½ pints). Put the chickpeas, liquid, oil, garlic and lemon juice in a blender and whiz until smooth. Now pour the soup into a pan, add the salt, pepper and pimenton or cayenne, and stir in most of the chopped herbs.
 
Heat the soup to very hot for a few minutes, remove from the heat, check seasoning and stir in the remaining herbs.
 
 
 CREAMED ALMOND SOUP

Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
  • 50g plain flour
  • 50g butter
  • 1ltr chicken stock
  • 350ml full fat milk
  • 150g almonds, shelled and ground
  • 150ml thin cream
  • 1 egg yolk
  • salt and pepper

 
Preparation:
 
Make a white sauce by gently blending the flour in the melted butter in a large pot and gradually stirring in the stock and milk. Heat, stirring constantly, until nearly boiling, then turn down the heat to simmer very gently for 10-15 minutes. Stir in the ground almonds and heat through for 3-4 minutes.
 
Before serving, beat the egg yolk and cream together, stir into the soup, and heat through. Season to taste.
 
 
 RED ONION SOUP

Serves 6
 
Ingredients:
  • 1 large Spanish red onion, chopped
  • 1 kg Spanish red onions, quartered and finely sliced
  • 800g tinned tomatoes
  • 4 tbsp Spanish olive oil
  • 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 bouquet garni bag (or make one with a bayleaf, some sprigs of thyme and a piece of orange peel)
  • 300 ml (½ pint) Spanish red wine
  • 1 ltr (2 pints) vegetable stock
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 
Preparation:
 
In a big heavy-based pot, fry the chopped onion gently for 10-15 minutes, until light golden. Stir in the sliced onion well and cook on a low heat for about 20minutes until the onions are soft.
 
Meanwhile, strain the tomatoes (removing the seeds, if desired). Chop the tomatoes. Keep 250 ml (½ pint) of the juice.
 
Now stir the garlic into the onions and let this cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add the bouquet garni, tomatoes and juice. Mix in the red wine and bring to the boil. Keep the soup bubbling until about half of liquid has evapourated.
 
Now pour in the vegetable stock, half cover and allow to simmer gently for about half an hour. Now remove the bouquet garni and check seasoning.
 
Crispy croutons and a drizzle of good quality olive oil are a perfect accompanyment to this soup.
 
 
 POTATO SOUP WITH SAFFRON AND MUSSELS

Serves 6
 
Ingredients:
  • 1 kg fresh mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
  • 150 ml dry white wine
  • 3 tbsp Spanish olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 500 g potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ tsp saffron threads, crushed
  • 1 ltr good quality fish stock
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Some fresh parsley, chopped, to garnish (optional)

 
Preparation:
 
Before starting, check that all the mussels are closed, or tap them a few times, to close them. Throw out any that remain open! ! Now, put the mussels and wine in a shallow pot. Cover and put on a high heat until the liquid begins to bubble. Take them out one at a time, as they open, so that they don´t overcook, placing them in a strainer over a bowl, in order to keep the liquid. Discard any that remain closed.
 
Meanwhile, heat the oil gently in a medium pot, stirring in the onion and potato cubes and cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes. Now strain the mussel liquid through a very fine strainer and add to the potato and onion. Add the bay leaves and stock and bring the soup to boiling. Now turn down the heat, until the soup is simmering gently, stir in the saffron and cook gently for 15-20 minutes. Now, you can remove some or all of the mussels from their shells, or remove one side from most of the mussels (this decision is yours!).
 
When the potatoes are well cooked, discard the bay leaves and whiz the soup in a blender until velvety smooth. Now stir in the mussels, re-heat if necessary, and check the seasoning. Garnish with the parsley.
 
Serve very hot.
 
 
 FISH SOUP


 
Ingredients:
  • 1 lb of fish(rock fish, shrimp, cod, etc.)
  • 1lb of mussels
  • 2 sheets of puff pastry
  • 4 tomatos
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 onion
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup of white wine
  • 30 gr. of toasted almonds
  • 2 slices of french bread
  • parsley
  • 3-4 strands of saffron
  • salt
  • white pepper
  • Spanish extra virgen olive oil

Preparation:
 
In a deep cacerole saute slowly the sliced onion in some olive oil; when it starts changing colour, add 2 peeled garlic cloves and a sprig of parsley both chopped, add the tomatoes, peeled and chunked; poach for five minutes in enough water to cover Ingredients, mix in the fish and add fresh water to cover it all. Crush the saffron, 2 garlic cloves, the almonds, fried slices of bread and the parsley in a morter. Stir the crushed mix into the broth, season and cover, let slow boil for 20 minutes. Steam the mussels and extract the meat from shell draining all their juice through a thin mesh strainer. Add this mussel juice into the broth a few minutes before serving and stir.
 
Strain the fish and break it apart into small chunks and strain the broth through a china cap. Portion the fish, shrimp and mussels in to 4 individual cooking bowls and fill each with their respective broth. Unfold the puff pastry and cut out 4 circles a little bit bigger than the bowl lip, wet the bowls edge and the puff pastry circles edges with water, and put the circles of pastry over the soup pressing firmly to assure good adhesion to the bowls. Paint the pastry shells with the beaten egg and oven at 375 ºF untill the pastry is golden brown, remove and serve.
 
 
 EASTER SOUP

 
Ingredients:
  • 1/4 kg tinned chickpeas
  • 1/4 kg dry white beans
  • 1/4 kg peas
  • 1 sprig fresh fennel
  • 1 whole garlic bulb
  • 1 tomato, quartered
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 300 gr. dried salted cod
  • 1 sweet dried red pepper
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
  • 5-6 strands saffron
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4-5 tbsps Spanish extra virgin oil and salt

Preparation:
 
De-salt the cod by soaking in water overnight (change the water 3 or 4 times). Also soak the beans in plenty water.
 
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the drained beans, garlic bulb, onion, tomato bay leaf and dried pepper. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Cover with water and cook gently until all the Ingredients are tender. Now add the drained chickpeas and the sprig of fennel.
 
While this is cooking, drain the cod and cut into cubes.
 
Before the chickpeas are soft, add the potatoes, crumbled saffron, the peas and cubed cod, and finish cooking gently for 10-15 minutes.

 
SpainishIndex.com
SpanishIndex.com		 spanish-gourmet.com
Spanish-Gourmet.com