Tag Archives: Spanish

Meat and Poultry

Liver in Spanish Sauce

This was one of Mom’s standby recipes. I did not like liver until one day when I was about four. I distinctly remember sitting in the dining “nook” in the kitchen in McConnell Creek, having eaten my mashed potatoes and vegetable, pushing the little pieces of liver around my plate and trying to make it look like I was finished. I guess I’d done it before, because THIS time Dad wasn’t having any of it. He gave me an ultimatum: “I’ll go into the living room to sit on the  (Chartreuse) couch beside the (Hammond Chord) organ, and will wait for 5 minutes. When I come back, either the liver is inside your stomach, or you go to bed for the rest of the day without anything else to eat, no books, no toys.” I debated momentarily before resignedly setting into my plate. There really wasn’t all that much on it, after all–I hadn’t been served a large portion. I survived the experience and liver became one of my favorite foods. I used to hate cheddar cheese, too, if you can believe that one.

Ingredients for Liver in Spanish Sauce

  • 1 lb. sliced beef liver
  • 2 T flour
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/4 t pepper
  • 2 T chopped onion
  • 2 T chopped green pepper
  • 1 t dried parsley
  • 1/8 t cayenne pepper
  • 2 cups canned tomatoes
  • 2 T oil or bacon drippings

Preparing Liver in Spanish Sauce

Rinse and trim liver. Dredge in flour. Brown in oil or bacon drippings. Add rest of ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover and let sauce thicken if desired. Serve over rice.

Meat and Poultry

Paella Valenciana: Spanish Rice with Chicken and Rabbit

Spanish rice with chicken and rabbit

Ingredients

Katalina
The Cat That Went to Spain–Katalina, circa 1988
  • 1/2 chicken, cut up
  • 1/2 rabbit, cut up
  • 2 or 3 ripe tomatoes
  • 1 artichoke, cooked and separated
  • 1/4 cup peas
  • 2 cups rice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • salt and 2 or 3 filaments of saffron
  • 4 cups water or broth

Preparation

Heat oil in a paella pan or shallow skillet. Throw in cut chicken and rabbit. Reduce heat and sauté until golden.

Add the tomatoes, chopped finely, and the artichoke. Cook 5 minutes. Add water. When it breaks into a boil, add the rice, salt, and saffron.

Lower flame gradually as rice cooks. Cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Remove from flame and let sit for a few minutes before serving. Servings: 6

Note: This is the true Valencia-style dish–made without seafood–as opposed to paella from Alicante, which does contain seafood. This little fact could cause dissension amongst the ranks of those who believe paella is synonymous with a seafood dish. The word paella, in fact, is the name of the wide, flat-bottomed pan in which the rice dish, whether seafood based or otherwise, is made.

 

Meatless Main Dishes

Basque Spinach

  • 1-1/3 cups grated Swiss cheese
  • 3 cups spinach braised in stock
  • 1 lb. potatoes
  • 1 T anchovy paste mixed with 4 tbsp. softened butter and 1/8 tsp. pepper
  • 3 T dried bread crumbs
  • 2 T melted butter

Mix 1/2 cup cheese with spinach. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/8″ thick slices. Boil in salted water 5-6 minutes. Drain. Spread half of the potatoes in bottom of baking dish, cover with 1/2 of anchovy mix. Spread half of the spinach over the potatoes. Repeat layers. Spread 1/3 cup grated cheese mixed with bread crumbs over top and pour on melted butter. Bake 30 minutes at 375ºF until browned.

Basque Spinach
The anchovies make the difference.
Fish and Seafood

Caldero Murciano

  • 1 lb. mullet, whole
  • 2 lbs. other mixed whole hearty fish
  • 2 cups rice
  • 2 dried pimientos, if available (otherwise, regular pimientos)
  • 3 heads of garlic
  • 2 ripe tomatoes
  • 1-1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 8 cups water
  • Saffron, salt and pepper
  • 1 small, cooked potato

Cut heads off fish and reserve. Cut fish bodies into thick rounds and sprinkle with salt. Set aside. Heat half of the oil in a heavy pot( traditionally iron). Fry the dried pimientos. Remove and put aside.

Add the fish heads to the same pot. Fry and remove. Throw the tomatoes, peeled and chopped, into the same pot. Fry 5 minutes. Add 8 cups water. In a mortar, crush the pimientos, one head of garlic, and 3 or 4 saffron filaments.

Add to pot and cook 5 minutes. Add the fish bodies and cook until done. Remove fish and set aside, keeping warm. Set aside 1 cup of the fish stock. Season the rest of the stock with salt and pepper and add the rice, letting cook over low flame for 20 minutes.

In the mortar, crush another head of garlic and mix with the cup of reserved fish stock. This will be used as a sauce for the fish upon serving. Crush the third head of garlic with the cooked potato; combine with the egg yolk and rest of oil. This sauce is for the rice. Serve the fish and rice separately with their respective sauces.