Oniony roast lamb

Posted on February 22, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Not only does our little fireplace keep us warm throughout winter, but it also furnishes us with an extra oven, which I use constantly in the cold months for pizzas, rice and meat dishes and roast veggies. Today I cooked a Iaia-style leg of lamb with caramelised onions in it, and it behaved beautifully, staying really hot for the first half an hour or so and then gradually dropping down to about 160ºC by which time the lamb was perfect.
Our Iaia is not a fan of cold roast meat, but I am, so I cook a leg for 2 people to make sure there is plenty left over for salads and sandwiches. And always use more onions and garlic than seems necessary, because they caramelise down to so little and taste so good that there is never enough!

What you need:
1 leg of lamb
6 onions
a head of garlic
a little white wine
a little olive oil
salt and pepper

What you do:
Heat your oven to about 210ºC. Roughly chop all of the onions into your baking dish. Break up the head of garlic into cloves without peeling them and chuck them in too. This way, the garlic cooks inside its jacket, and you get an amazingly fragrant paste to squish over your meat or mix into the juices for gravy deluxe.

Lay the leg of lamb on its oniony bed and season well with salt and pepper; add any herbs you fancy too. Pour about ¾ glass of white wine into the tray and drizzle a little olive oil over the lamb – if your joint has been (sadly) deprived of its fat, add extra and massage into the meat.
Cover with foil and pop into the hot oven. After half an hour, reduce the heat to about 170ºC (the exact temperature will depend on how fiercely your oven burns – you want the lamb to cook for two hours without frazzling, so adjust as you see fit).

I take the foil off after the first hour and spoon some onion/wine/lamb juice over the meat. If the onions appear to be either burning or sticking, it means you have not put in enough liquid, so add some quickly.

We like our lamb brown right to the bone, and the two-hour roasting time ensures both that and the scrummiest onions ever. They will be gloriously golden, the garlic softly squishy and the meat tender, with a darkened crusty exterior.

Leaving it to rest is always the best, but there are times (like today) when hunger gets the better of me, and it goes straight to the plate.

Serve with: greens and a red

Putxero Day 3 – mandonguilles (left-over croquettes)

Posted on February 9, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Here is the final recipe for this particular putxero. Using the rest of your leftovers, plus a couple of extras, you can make a whole meal of these little golden dumplings.
This particular recipe is hotly debated in the family. Should you add bechamel? Should you use a blender instead of a mortar and pestle, to make the ingredients smooth? If I were to follow Iaia to the letter, I would answer yes to both of those questions, but Auntie Toni has convinced me that la abuela (Oscar’s grandmother) didn’t do either and that her mandonguilles were the best ever…I’ll let you experiment and decide for yourself!

What you need: leftovers from the putxero
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
a small bunch of parsley
about 30g of pine nuts
1 or 2 eggs
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
sunflower seed oil for frying

What you do: Finely dice your onion and fry gently in a little olive oil until it softens. While it is cooking, grab a mortar and pestle and smoosh your garlic and parsley, adding a pinch of salt to help grind everything up. Once the onion is softened, stir in the garlic/parsley mix and the tsp of paprika. Fry for 20 to 30 seconds, then remove from the heat.
Take your leftovers and mortar and pestle them in manageable batches. (I don’t include the fat at this stage because I prefer to finely chop it rather than squash it). You want things to be chunky but not whole; it isn’t very taxing, nor is it a precise art, so smoosh to please yourself. In a large bowl, mix the onion, garlic and parsley into the mashed putxero leftovers. Add the finely chopped fat and the pine nuts. Mix well.
Put a frying pan with a couple of centimetres of sunflower oil on to heat. The hotter the oil, the less oily your finished croquettes will be. The egg (which is essential for binding the croquettes) can be dealt with in two ways, I tried both today, and it makes no difference whatsoever.
1. Beat an egg and then stir into the mixture before forming little croquette-shaped balls and frying, or
2. Make the little balls first and then dip them into a beaten egg before popping them into the pan.
Let the croquettes turn golden on one side before attempting to move them, and then do so gingerly so that they don’t fall apart. Drain on kitchen paper and allow to cool slightly before gobbling them up, or you will burn your mouth! Easy peasy.

Iaia’s braised lamb shanks

Posted on January 22, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

I’ve got exams starting next Monday, so this week’s cooking is all about minimum time investment for maximum flavour. Iaia’s lamb shanks fit the bill perfectly and are what we had for lunch today. It’s true, they do require slow cooking, but you can pop them on the stove and forget about them for a couple of hours while you do something else (like study). Once cooked, they can be left off the heat in the pan to develop their flavour for hours, or even overnight. A quick reheat is all that’s needed before serving.

What you need for two people:
two lamb shanks (get the butcher to nick them like these ones here, so they cook evenly)
a head of garlic
2 well-sized onions
a large potato
salt, pepper and any herbs you fancy
a generous half glass of white wine
the same of water
a couple of tbsp of olive oil
a spoonful or so of flour

What you do:
Season your flour generously with salt and pepper, then lightly dust your lamb with the mixture. Heat the oil in a heavy-based (preferably oven-proof) saucepan or casserole dish and brown the lamb well.
While the meat is colouring, take the head of garlic apart but don’t peel the cloves, they will steam into a lovely mild pulp in their pink jackets. Peel the onions and cut them in half, then into slices (not too thinly, or they’ll burn).
When you think the meat is well browned, remove it from the pan and set aside while you toss the onion and garlic in the hot oil to soften without colouring. You will need to stir things about because you don’t want the onion colouring or burning. Adding a little salt to the onion will encourage it to release water and help avoid burning too.Pour the wine and water into the pan, settle the lamb shanks comfortably into their oniony bed, cover tightly, turn the heat down and leave everything to simmer quietly for a couple of hours. You may want to check the liquid levels every now and then, depending on how well your saucepan seals.
After about an hour and a half, peel and cut your potato into smallish pieces, dropping them around the lamb. Cover and simmer again until the totties are cooked through. Then switch everything off until about 20 minutes before you want to eat (or continue straight onto the next step).While you are steaming any accompanying vegetables, finish the lamb off by putting it under the grill, making sure it isn’t too close to the heat source. This will brown the potatoes and give your melting meat a nice dark crusty exterior.

Serve with: steamed greens

Carxofes farcides (stuffed artichokes)

Posted on January 13, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

This would have to be my favourite artichoke recipe. Iaia and I cooked a double quanitity (24 artichokes) today for a family lunch, so don’t be put off by the sheer size of everything you see here.
To serve as a main course for four people, simply halve all of the ingredients and use a deep frying pan with a lid instead of the industrial saucepan you see here in the photos. The important thing is that the artichokes fit snugly in a single layer. And please, don’t skimp on the oil – there isn’t any other fat in the recipe, and you need to be generous to make sure it tastes fabulous!

What you need for the stuffing:
500g lean minced beef
500g minced pork
50g pine nuts
2 eggs, beaten
2 small slices of stale bread, soaked in…
…½ glass of milk
a good bunch of parsley, finely chopped
salt, pepper and ground nutmeg to taste

What you need for the gravy:
2 large onions, roughly chopped
2 or 3 carrots, roughly chopped
4 or 5 pear tomatoes halved
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
a small bunch of parsley
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sweet paprika
750ml of good chicken or vegetable stock
75g whole raw almonds
salt to taste

Other ingredients:
24 artichokes
250ml olive oil
8 hard-boiled eggs
4 more carrots
extra stock
a large bowl of acidulated water

What you need to do:
Prepping the stuffing: If you can manage it, it is best to make the stuffing mixture the day before you cook the dish itself. This will ensure that it has the perfect texture – not too dry, not too sloppy. Simply put all of the stuffing ingredients into a large bowl and mix well by hand. The mixture should feel a little loose at this stage. Cover with cling film and let rest in the fridge overnight.

Prepping the artichokes: Have your bowl of acidulated water to hand; you will have to plop the prepped chokes into it, so they don’t go all grey and ugly. Trim the tough outer leaves from the artichokes, cut off most of the stem and then trim any very green parts off the base. Slice off the green leaf tips and use your thumbs to open the artichoke slightly in preparation for the stuffing. Fiddling with artichokes will stain your finger brown, so you might want to wear gloves! When you have finished them all, turn them upside down onto a tea towel to drain a bit before you stuff them.Now it’s time to stuff your artichokes with however much mince fits into each one. Once stuffed, you need to dip their tops in egg and fry them top down to seal the stuffing in. Once the tops have browned, turn them on their sides and continue to fry them for a few minutes to start the cooking process, then remove them from the heat and set them aside for the moment. It’s a bit of a palaver, but once you get a rhythm going, you’ll be fine.
After stuffing, you will have some minced mixture left over. Roll into meatballs, coat in the remaining egg (as they have very little bread, we need the egg to bind them) and fry until golden. Remove and set aside.

Making the gravy:
Use the same pan and the same oil to lightly fry the raw almonds. Watch them closely and whip them out as soon as they get a blush of colour; if you leave them in, they will suddenly go dark and burn. We’ll be mixing them into the gravy later. For now, pop the parsley and garlic in and swizzle them around for a minute or so before adding the chopped onion, tomato and carrot. Fry all of this gently until the onion starts to soften. Before you add the stock, you need to fry the flour and paprika lightly. This will thicken and flavour the gravy beautifully. It’s also a good idea to remove the tomato skins at this point. Once that is done, pour in your stock. Iaia says that it is important not to put too much stock in, you can always add more, and this is gravy, not soup. You will have to judge the amount for yourself, but for this recipe, we used about 750ml at this point. Cover the pan and simmer until the veggies are soft enough to go through the blender. When you think they are, pour everything into a blender (or use a stick blender), add the almonds, and whizz it all into a smooth gravy. Adjust seasoning to your taste.

Putting it all together:
With your pan off the heat, put the 4 chopped carrots and meatballs on the base and arrange the artichokes carefully so that they all fit in one layer. The carrots and meatballs can be used to prop the artichokes up; you don’t want them rolling around and losing their insides. Pour in your blended gravy and, if necessary, add a little stock, so the artichokes are about ¾ covered. Heat on, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover the pan and let things bubble gently for about half an hour, or until a skewer passes easily through the base of the largest artichoke. Slice your boiled eggs in half and place them over and around the artichokes to warm through, and there you have it. Stuffed artichokes in a yummy gravy!

Serve with: crusty bread for the essential oop and your favourite bubbly.

Arros d’hivern (winter rice)

Posted on January 8, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Winter is never very long or arduous in Valencia but there are some days when the cold gets right into your bones and hot, nourishing soupy rice is the only thing that will warm you up. This is one of the first things I learnt to cook here and one of my favourite rice dishes. It is also incredibly easy!

The cardet (cardoon in English) is delicious but it may be a bit hard to find. If you can’t manage to get your hands on any, just leave it out – there is no need (and no way) to substitute it.

What you need:

Two meaty pork ribs cut into pieces (650g)
A medium-sized swede
A stick of cardoon
Sweet paprika
One pear tomato
A jar of white beans
A bunch of spinach.
8 small handfuls of white rice (250g)
Enough water to cook the rice and still be soupy
Saffron or turmeric powder*
Olive oil
Salt (season as you go and to your own taste).

*People have a strange aversion to white rice here. They love to see it coloured yellow. Saffron is bloody expensive and gets lost in this dish, so I usually use turmeric. Otherwise, just leave it white.

What you do:

Peel and chop the swede into bite-sized chunks. Strip the cardoon of any leaves and if the stringy fibres are particularly thick, strip some off. Chop into mouth-friendly lengths. Slice the tomato in half and grate it onto a plate, discarding the skin. Wash the spinach thoroughly and chop or tear it a bit, so you don’t get giant leaves on your spoon when it comes to eating.
Pour enough oil into a large saucepan to coat the bottom and heat (if your pork is especially fatty, use less olive oil).
Pop the pork into the pan to brown; the browner it gets, the tastier the rice – but don’t burn it!
Put a generous pinch (or a small teaspoon) of sweet paprika into the pan and stir quickly so that it doesn’t stick and burn. After about 30 seconds, add the grated tomato and stir to deglaze the pan.
Pour in enough water to cover the pork, then add the swede and cardoon and top the water up so that everything is generously covered. Bring to a boil.
Cover the saucepan and turn the heat down. Simmer for at least two hours or until the swede and cardoon are cooked through (there are two factors to take into account here; one is that the bigger the pieces, the longer they will take to cook, and the second – and more important – factor is that the longer it simmers, the better the stock will be so no half-hour skimping!).
When the veggies are cooked** and you are ready to eat, check your seasoning and if you are happy with it, turn the heat back up to get a rolling boil before putting the rice in. Stir it around a bit and cover again, so as little stock as possible evaporates. About 10 minutes before the rice is cooked (read the packet – every rice is different, here it takes about 20 minutes to cook through), add the spinach and white beans and give everything a gentle stir.
Ladle into bowls and let sit for five minutes before eating. If you are lucky, you will get a sort of skin over the top, which is proof of a fantastic arros d’hivern!

Serve with: a full-bodied red to help warm those wintery cockles.

**I usually make a double quantity and at this point, before putting the rice, spinach and beans, take out half the stock, pork and veggies to freeze for another day. It means you will have this delicious rice in just 20 minutes next time!

Iaia's kitchen

Traditional recipes from my Valencia mother-in-law

Tag Archives: winter