Tag Archives: Kalamata olives

Pollo Guisado

Pollo Guisado is a simple Spanish stew made of chicken and vegetables, flavoured with saffron. The saffron makes the chicken taste of flowers, a little like the floral notes in gumbo filé or Metaxa 7 Star brandy. Saffron (azafrán) probably … Continue reading

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Bacalhoada

Bacalhoada is a very popular Portuguese bacalhau (salt cod) dish served on Fridays, Easter and Christmas Eve. There are some similar Spanish dishes, but they tend to be more stew like, wheras bacalhoada looks far more attractive with it’s layered … Continue reading

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Empanada de Pavo

The week before Christmas, I cooked a seasonal lunch for 30 people, with my friend Petra. Relative to high turkey prices (due to bird flu) we cooked four 9lb bronze, free range turkeys, in four ovens, with home made stuffing, … Continue reading

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Paletilla de Cabrito con Alubias Blancas

Paletilla de Cabrito con Alubias Blancas (goat shoulder with white beans) is a very common Southern European dish, interchangeable with lamb and cooked with the leg or shoulder. In France L’Agneau aux Haricots Blancs is often served for Sunday lunch … Continue reading

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Sardinas con Verduras

Sardines and pilchards are part of the herring fish family Clupeidae (the UK classifies sardines as being young pilchards). These are an inexpensive and sustainable oily fish often served fresh and fried, or preserved in salt, olive oil, escabeche, etc. … Continue reading

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Empanada de Beicon y Chorizo

Empanadas are pies that come from Galicia in the North West of Spain. The name comes from the Spanish verb empanar, which means to wrap in bread. These pies can be quite large, cooked in a rectangular tray, round on … Continue reading

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Calamares Rellenos

The squid is a cephalopod, from the Greek word κεφαλόποδες, kephalópodes, meaning head-feet. Cephalopods are closely related to the snail (gastropods). Like octopuses, the squid has an elongated head like body with tentacles. They produce a black ink which can … Continue reading

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Pita Bread

I noticed taramasalata and hummus on special offer at a Greek stall in the farmer’s market last week and had my arm twisted. I normally make my own hummus from chickpeas, but taramasalata requires fish roe, which is harder to … Continue reading

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Pissaladière

The Pissaladière is an anchovy, olive and onion topped flat bread, which is synonymous with the city of Nice. It’s thought that the origin of the pissaladière is likely to be Genoa (Italy), where they have been eating a Pizza … Continue reading

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Faisán en Adobo

In the days before canning and refrigeration, people had to rely on other methods of food preservation, such as immersion in fat or oil, pickling in alcohol or vinegar, salting (raw salt or brine) and smoking. When the Spanish and … Continue reading

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