Restaurant Review - A Regional Journey of Discovery (Part II)

A Regional Journey of Discovery (Part II)

A Regional Journey of Discovery (Part II) A Regional Journey of Discovery (Part II)

Words by Gillaine Hathaway 01/09/2007

GILLAINE HATHAWAY CONTINUES HER TRAVELS THROUGH SPAIN TO SAMPLE FAMOUS DISHES FROM THE VARIOUS REGIONS OF A COUNTRY WHICH DELIGHTS IN FINE FOOD - AND USES LOCAL INGREDIENTS AND RECIPES IN DISHES DATING BACK THROUGH THE CENTURIES.

We are on our second wander through Spain. Last month we enjoyed starters from Galicia, Cataluña, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. This month its time for some of their main courses......
Let us start as before in Galicia, where the fruits of the sea are so important. Galicia is famous for its empanadas, a tasty pasty which can be stuffed with fish or meat as a tapa but also makes a delicious main course when served hot. Though the dough is important, so is the tomato sauce that is combined with the fish or meat to make the stuffing. So it is best to make this first and remember that it keeps so well in the fridge it can be used in many other dishes. The same applies to the empanadas themselves; they can be made in advance, cling-filmed and kept in the fridge. They also freeze well.

Empanadas with tuna

Ingredients for the sauce...
(serves 4 to 6)

425 gr tin crushed tomatoes
1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon paprika (pimenton dulce)
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed frying or sauté pan over a medium heat and then pour in enough olive oil to coat the bottom.
Add the onion and sauté, stirring continually until they are transparent (reducing the heat if necessary so as not to burn them).
Stir in the pepper and cook for five minutes, adding more oil if necessary.
Add the garlic and keep stirring for another minute, so the vegetables do not burn.
Stir in the tomatoes and the paprika, mix well and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove and leave to cool while making the dough and the filling.

Ingredients for the dough...
400 gr flour
100 ml warm milk
100 ml warm water
100 ml olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 sachet dried yeast

Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and mix in the salt and paprika. Make a hole in the centre of the flour.
Place the yeast in the lukewarm water to dissolve it. Then pour the oil, the water-yeast mixture and the milk into the depression in the center of the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon, then knead the dough with your hands until it becomes elastic and forms a ball.
Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm room to rise for approximately 1 hour.

Ingredients for the filling...
4 125 gr tins of tuna, thoroughly drained to remove the oil or water
2 hardboiled eggs, finely chopped
tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Place the tuna in a mixing bowl and flake it into pieces with a fork.
Mix in the eggs and add enough tomato sauce to make a moist filling.
To assemble the Empanadas...
Heat the oven to 180º C and lightly beat up the white of one egg.
Divide the risen dough in half. Place one half on a lightly floured board and roll out to one centimetre.
Cut the dough into eight-centimetre squares or circles, place a heaped tablespoon of filling into each square and brush the edges with the egg white. Fold over and press well with the fingers to seal (or by pressing a fork).
Continue with the rest of the dough, place on a baking tray and cook for approximately 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

On to Cataluña to enjoy ali-oli. This garlicky sauce is made all over Spain but in Cataluña it is one of the region's "serious" sauces and is an important part of any menu, freshly prepared to accompany meat and fish. And it must be made in a pestle and mortar: no short cuts please!
Ali-oli

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
1 egg yoke
olive oil (as much as you want depending on amount of sauce)
a dash of salt

Put the finely chopped garlic into the mortar and crush until it becomes a puree. Add the egg yolk and continue working in until it becomes a paste.
Drop by drop, add the oil and carefully combine it. You must not stop until you have made as much as you need.
Then add the salt and leave to rest for three to five minutes.

In Cataluña ali-oli always accompanies this famous variation on the paella theme...

Fideuejat
(with clams and pork ribs)

Ingredients
(serves 4)

300 gr pasta (Fideos Gallo No 4)
400 gr clams (almejas)
400 gr pork ribs, cooked and cut into small pieces
100 gr small fresh prawns, peeled
1 onion and 2 tomatoes, finely sliced
1 piece of green pepper
1 bay leaf
olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Wash the clams several times in water to get rid of the sand and place in a pan with a little water.
Cover and cook for a few minutes until the shells open. Then set aside, discarding any that remain closed.
Cover a large earthenware casserole with olive oil and heat. Fry the pieces of pork ribs and when golden remove to a plate.
In the same oil fry the onion and tomatoes and cook, stirring from time to time with a wooden spoon, until it becomes a sauce. Then add the pork, prawns and clams and their liquid and mix in well.
Add the spaghettis, bay leaf, green pepper, salt and just enough water to cover. Cook for the time indicated on the spaghetti packet, stirring with the wooden spoon to ensure that it does not stick - and serve immediately.

Back again to the Balearic Islands and to Mallorca, where hearty peasant fare steeped in tradition and rooted in local ingredients is the main theme of the island's dishes. In times past every village would celebrate the matanza, the winter slaughter of pigs when they made hams and sausages for the year ahead.
One of the oldest and most traditional classics, llom amb col, is made with pork wrapped in cabbage.

Lomo con col

Ingredients
(serves 4)

1 kg pork loin, cut into 12 even pieces
24 large and tender cabbage leaves
150 gr sobrasada (Mallorcan sausage), cut into 12 pieces
150 gr butifarrones (Catalan sausage), diced

For the sauce...
250 gr streaky bacon, diced
350 gr lean pork, diced
400 gr onions, finely chopped
250 gr tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped
100 ml dry white wine
100 ml olive oil
100 gr toasted almonds
100 gr raisins
50 gr pine nuts
150 gr camiot (Balearic sausage), diced
4 or 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
small bunch parsley
1 cup meat stock
salt and pepper

Clean the cabbage leaves and boil them in a pan of salted water to soften. Rinse, drain and cut out the stalks and lay two together on a surface.
Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a pan, season the loin pieces with salt and fry until golden on all sides.
Remove from the pan and place a piece on each of the 12 cabbage leaves. Add a piece of sobrasada and another of butifarron and wrap into a tightly closed parcel.
Place the parcels in an earthenware dish, ensuring that they are stuck together to prevent them from opening.

To prepare the sauce...

Heat the remaining oil in a pan, stir in the bacon and pork and cook until golden.
Add the onion and the tomato and allow to sauté for a few minutes. Stir in the wine and reduce by half.
Add the stock, pine nuts, raisins and Balearic, Mallorcan and Catalan sausage.
This should make a thick sauce; if not stir in a little flour.
In a pestle and mortar grind the almonds, garlic and parsley into a paste and add to the sauce, stir well and cook for a further five minutes.
Check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if required.
Pour the sauce over the cabbage parcels and cook in a medium oven until tender for approximately 30 minutes. Leave to rest for five minutes or so before serving.

Valencia is famous for its production of rice and as the home of the paella, a dish that is said to have originated in the fields where the peasants prepared it for lunch. But it is also famous for caldosos (runny rice) and los secos (rice cooked in the oven). Oven-made rice is known as the king of rice dishes, as preparing it is an art; whereas runny rice is not so difficult. Its success depends more on the type of rice you use and the pastis or anis seco can be left out - it is a matter of taste. There are many different recipes but the following is made with shellfish and squid.

Arroz con mariscos

Ingredients
(serves 4 to 6)

400 gr rice
8 large fresh prawns (gambas)
100 gr squid (calamares), cut into pieces
200 gr clams (almejas)
1 onion and 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large tomato, sliced
sweet red pepper (pimenton)
1.5 lit fish stock
1 tablespoon pastis or anis seco
150 ml olive oil
A few strands of saffron

Peel the prawns and set aside, keeping the heads and the tails.
In a deep saucepan heat the oil and slowly cook the onion until golden
Raise the heat and add the prawn heads and cook, crushing them with a fork until they release their juices. Then remove and discard.
Add the chopped squid and two of the finely chopped garlic cloves and cook for several minutes.
Finish preparing the sauce by adding the tomato and cook over a medium flame until it begins to darken.
Stir in the pimenton and the rice and cook for a few minutes.
Then add the boiling stock, saffron, last of the garlic cloves and clams, and leave to cook for 14 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Finish the dish by adding the prawn tails and the anis and cook for two more minutes.
Remove and leave to rest for five minutes before serving.

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