Zero sugar sweet cake

A cake for a sunny Spanish Wednesday morning.

Two over-ripe, ready for the bin bananas, raspberry tea-soaked cranberries and raisins, olive oil, flour, baking soda and two eggs. Mixed to no recipe, using guess-timates and my #Lidl stand mixer. I did take care to add the eggs one at a time and to fold in the flour.

Cooked in the #Weber BBQ, for just 10 minutes, regulating the temp at 180 degrees by using a bowl of water in the bottom, and opening and closing the lid. Really sweet, despite no sugar, as the bananas were so ripe. Okay, practically rotten. But it tastes good!

 

Just one glitch – having kids at college, so there’s no-one to lick the bowl 😦

Habas for homely Spanish comfort food

Every country has its comfort food. A shepherd’s pie with creamy, soft mashed potato, a good old chicken and leek pie lifted from the oven with wonky pastry and juices everywhere, or a bowl of steaming Irish stew fit for a soft day.

For us here in the Alpujarra region of Spain, it’s a springtime thing, and the arrival of the first carrier bag of crackingly fresh habas kindly offered by our neighbours, who grow the stuff on a Jack and the Beanstalk scale.

Usually with a few fresh pea-pods thrown in, I open the bag with pleasure, and we sit side by side, our backs warmed by the sunshine, podding and separating the little green jewels from their furred homes. The peas are popped into our mouths as we go, the habas mostly make it to the colander.

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Habas con Jamón

Heat some Olive Oil. Gently sautée some finely chopped onion and garlic. Add some Jamón offcuts, or a packet of Jamón tacos to the pan to fill the kitchen and the street with a mouthwatering scent. A splash of white wine or that Fino in the fridge door added to sizzle. Add the newly liberated habas, a litre of stock, and simmer, covered, until the sauce is thick and silky, and one testing taste leads to another. Add freshly milled pepper but no salt. Hey, lunch is ready, did you get the bread? A slather of salty butter and we’re ready to eat! Sit down there, won’t you?…

A Hairy Pear

We seem to be Driving Over Hairy Pears at the moment. Well, that’s what our kids called them when we moved here, that first Spanish Autumn of 2006. Quince or Membrillo – it is a hairy pear, but can be used in a variety of ways. We stew them in Tangines, make Membrillo paste to go with cheese, add them to apple to make a winter crumble. Here’s a handy link to some insightful quince recipes, enjoy! 

 

Chestnuts on an open fire….

The smell of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, or from a cart of a Granada street vendor right now is the very scent of Christmas, it’s just around the corner – like it or not! Local villages here in the Alpujarras have special days where the whole population get together for a mass ‘roast off’ usually with fried donuts and giant pans of migas too. If you see a poster on your travels here for such an event, just turn up to be welcomed like a long lost member of the family – don’t be shy! Here’s a handy wiki link if you decide to do your own….compete with photos and a video too – no excuses now!

Waiter, there’s a snot in my milkshake…

Love the pig!

Well, you just never know, do you?

This Horse-y hoo ha that has smothered the news lately makes you think. Think about what you eat, because after all, we are what we eat. Simple.

Cheap meat equals cheap content, and ambiguity – where did it come from? How many air miles are on it? How fresh is it?  And now….WHAT is it?

We’ve been to France, we’ve probably eaten horse, that’s not the argument really.  It’s knowing we’re eating it, and being happy about it.

Here in the Alpujarras, we wince at the pig being killed at Matanza – but enjoy the chorizo, morcilla, longaniza, and other tasty porcine entrails – we know where it’s from.

The wine we drink is the one from the grapes we harvested, to help our neighbour. No fish guts, no nasty preservatives.

Our olive oil is first press, green, from Carolina, I can point you out her trees close to Torviscon.

Our bread is freshly baked over wood, daily. Sometimes it would be nice to have something different, but that’s what the Panadero bakes.

We could buy all these things in Dia, or Aldi – cheaper, but inferior.

Next time you’re on your dwindling UK high street – doesn’t matter where, they all look the same –  then pass by the growing number of charity shops and betting shops – seek out your local butcher or baker – and do yourself – and your digestion – a favour.

Sunday Lunch

…with friends. An invite to Sunday Lunch here in Las Alpujarras is less of a Roast Beef affair and more of a trip to a Bodega, tasting the new wine….

and an enormous bubbling pan of Arroz.

A sort of  Paella with more liquid, crab, elvers, prawns, mussels, and squid compete with garlic, onions, vibrant peppers and golden saffron.

People drift in and out, a glass and a plate always proffered, plates of olives, capers, chorizo and cheese for a long sobre mesa first course…Rosario cooks the best Arroz…who would want Bisto when you can have this?!

serving up

Let it snow, Let it snow, Take it Slow

Yes, we had a good sprinkling of the white stuff last night, big powdery flakes that were melted away today by the Andalucían sunshine, but hopefully that will have improved the Ski conditions up at the the Sierra Nevada...

Cold weather, warm stew based dishes – a slow cooker bought in one of my more clever moments is the basis for this recipe, but a watched pot or for authenticity a tagine from Morocco will do.

Think Morocco and sunshine, zingy spices and warmth!