Olives' Empanadillas for the O Food Event

Jack Bauer has some kind of hipnotic power... I swear I wanted to post about Empanadillas during the weekend, but we managed to get the last 24 Hours season and we got nailed to the sofa! No time for cooking, nor talking, nor walking... we could only devour chapter after chapter.

Anyways, somehow I managed to fry some empanadillas; it's tasty and quick, so here you have my recipe for the O Food Event: Olives' Empanadillas.

Just in case you didn't hear about it, find hereunder all you need to know. Still have some hours to send your recipes to Michelle from Bleeding Espresso.

CONTEST RULES

O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and for the second year in a row, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are hosting the O Foods Contest to raise awareness of this important health issue.

There are TWO WAYS to take part in the O Foods Contest:

ONE: Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato); include this entire text box in the post; and send your post url along with a photo (100 x 100) to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

PRIZES for recipe posts:

1st: Signed copy of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma, Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who is currently battling ovarian cancer, inspired this event, and will be choosing her favorite recipe for this prize;
2nd: Signed copy of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home by Mario Batali (winner chosen by Sara);
3rd: Signed copy of Vino Italiano: The Regional Italian Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich (winner chosen by Michelle).
OR
TWO: If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word and send your post url to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.


Awareness posts PRIZE:


One winner chosen at random will receive a Teal Toes tote bag filled with ovarian cancer awareness goodies that you can spread around amongst your friends and family.
———


From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:


Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).
There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.
And remember, you can also always donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at our page through FirstGiving!


Please help spread the word about ovarian cancer.
Together we can make enough noise to kill this silent killer.

And to the recipe! Ingredients for a 20 Empanadillas batch: two packages of empanadillas dough (you can find these at the supermarket), 200 grs of Tuna fish preserved in Olive oil, 3 boiled eggs, about 15 to 18 black olives, five choped Pimientos del piquillo, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil and salt.

Feel free to add some fried tomatoe, green onion, spinachs, meat... up to you :D.

• Start boiling the eggs. About 10 minutes is enough, then cool them in cold water, peel and grate. Reserve.
• Strain the olives and chop in small pieces, reserve some for decoration. Reserve.
• Take the piquillo peppers, strain and take the seeds away. Prepare a pan with some olive oil, heat and throw the choped garlics in. When golden, add the peppers cut in strips. Cook for 5 minutes at low heat. Discard the garlics and reserve the peppers.
• Take the tuna and cut into small pieces. Place inside a big bowl. Put the rest of ingredients in and mix. Reserve.
• Prepare the dough over a clean surface and put a bit of the mixture in each open empanadilla. Moisten the borders with a bit of water and bend making the borders coincide. Help yourself with a fork to seal it and reserve.
• Heat some olive oil in a deep pan. When the oil is hot (not burning) throw the empanadillas in until golden. You can also bake them in the oven if you want to avoid the frying.
• Put over chitchen paper and they will be ready to eat in 1 minute. Enjoy :D

Last year, I won the O Foods Contest... this year it can be YOU!!!!
Check my post here.

Rossejat de Fideus - Toasted noodles (a daring translation!)

There is some confusion with Rossejat de Fideus and Fideuà. In Catalan, fideus means noodles, so both dishes have noodles as main ingredient. The difference lies in the size of the noodle, the way to cook it, the ingredients and the procedure of the dish.

Fideuà is a little more complicated dish... similar to Paella but with noodles; Rossejat de Fideus is so easy and quick. Click here to get the Fideuà recipe and here for the Allioli one... you will need it :D.

So, the Toasted noodles are typical from the South Catalonian coast and Fideuà is from Valencia. The noodles we will use for this dish should be number 2. Just make sure to prepare a good tasty fish stock and the Rossejat will be done :D.

Ingredients for 4 servings: 400 grs of nº2 noodles, 1 ripe tomatoe, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil, a tablespoon and a half of fresh parsley and salt. For the fish stock: A piece of fresh monkfish head and some rock fish, a leek, a carrot, a branch of celery and an onion.

• Get all ingredients for the stock fish cleaned, peeled and ready. Get a deep pot, put all ingredients in, cover with water (minimum 2 liters). Bring to boil. Take the white foam off and simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes.
• Once done, strain and maintain hot.
• Grate the tomatoe and reserve. Mince the garlic cloves and the parsley and reserve. 
• Take a paella pan, pour some olive oil in it (just enough to cover the surface) and heat. Throw the noodles in and stir until they become toasted.
• Pour the tomatoe, garlic and parsley in and stir for 30 seconds.
• Pour 3/4 of a liter to 1 liter of the fish stock (it has to be boiling).
• Taste and add salt if necessary. 
• You should cook the noodles until they absorb all the stock or until they achieved their package cooking time.
• Let it rest for 1 minute and serve with some allioli on.

You don't want to miss this dish!!!! The noodles get all the fish stock flavour and their toasted texture is something really special to try.

I'm sending this Typical Catalan recipe over to Presto Pasta Nights; I hope you like it Ruth :D. This is the 132 edition and it's amazing how many pasta dishes there can be. Sara from Imafoodblog is hosting the event this week and I encourage you to visit her blog and participate at PPN :D.

Also sending the Allioli sauce to Ben's Homemade #6  at  What's Cooking? Come join the forum and send your SAUCES over!!!

If you want to find a place to buy the paella pan and the earthenware dishes, why don't you try at La Tienda? They sell online!

     Follow the links and get all you need there!

The Most Delicious Minted Green Peas Puree

Since I first tasted this recipe at the hotel's restaurant in Budapest a year ago, I've been trying to perform it at home and last spring I achieved the best results! It is so simple and delicious :D. Of course, if you can get fresh peas is much better, but the ones you find frozen can also work well for this.

 

In my last post you saw some of the herbs and plants I have in my terrace and I didn't show you the mint, but I have some too. The mint goes so well with the green peas,  it gives them a wonderful scent.

I didn't get the blood rice sausage in my Budapest's meal but I thought it would be the perfect counterpoint to highlight the puree. I know Janet is crazy about Morcilla, so... Janet, this recipe is for you... hope you also enjoy the green peas ;D.

 

So, let's wash our hands (Flu is right there in the corner ;D) and go for the recipe!

Ingredients for 4 servings: 400 grs of fresh green peas (or frozen), 2 medium onions, 1 potatoe, 3 glasses of chicken stock aprox., 4 to 5 branches of fresh mint, 10 olive oil spoons, 200 ml. of cooking cream, salt and pepper. 350 grs. of rice morcilla.

• Get the chicken stock in a pot and bring to boil. 
• Peel and chop the onions. Reserve. Peel and cut the potatoe. Reserve.
• Pour 3 olive oil spoons inside a deep pot and fry at low heat the onions 5 to 6 minutes. Pour the peas and potatoe in, stir for 1 minute and pour the hot stock in. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
  
• If your peas are frozen, pour them in just 5 minutes before the potatoes are done.
• Get all the mint leaves clean and dry and put inside a pot together with the rest of the oil. Blend until you get a fine green oil.
• Pour half of the mint oil into the peas pot. Stir and add the cooking cream too. Cook for just one minute.
• Use a food processor to blend it all. If you want to achieve a finner texture, use a thin colander.
• Take the peel off the morcilla and fry with just a bit of oil in a pan for a few seconds. One side and then the other side.
• Prepare the plate: pour the puree in, the morcilla in the middle and the rest of the mint oil on top. Have it warm.

Walnut and Parsley Bread

Do you want to see my newborn? Hush, hush, don't wake him up... don't you see he's just born? See how cute and fine he is? See what a brown beautiful skin he has? Get your nose close to the screen and breath deeply... can you smell it? Can you feel that wonderful aroma of new life?

Do you want to know his name? Don't you guess it? Yes... his name is: Walnut and Parsley Bread! My first baby-bread :D.

 

I'm sooooo excited!!! You cannot imagine how high I got when the baby bread came out so nicely :D. Want to know about it? Ok, 9 months ago... he, he, he... I'm joking ;D.

I've always ( and I mean always) bought my bread at the bakers shop. But lately, their bread has become chewy or hard or tasteless and I 1,05 Euros was too much to pay for it. So, I decided that a breadmachine would be a fantastic investment... and I was soooooo right ;D.

I followed a recipe from the book: 365 Recetas de PAN from Anne Sheasby and adapted it a bit. The book looks wonderful and there are 365 recipes for bread, pizza dough, muffins... bla. She's got recipes for breadmaker and for oven.

I made the dough with the breadmaker and poured the ingredients in the order the breadmachine asked for (not the way it says the book). Once the dough was done I run the bake program. It took 2 hours and a half and the most delicious aroma invaded my kitchen!!!

Ingredients: 350 grs of white strong flour, 225 ml of mineral warm water, 1 1/2 table spoons of fresh minced parsley, 70 grs of slightly chopped walnuts, 25 grs of butter, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of dry yeast.

1. Get all ingredients ready by the breadmaker: Chop the walnuts just a bit. Warm the mineral water up. Wash, dry and chop the parsley. Get the rest nearby too.
2. Pour the flour in, the water, the parsley and walnuts, the butter, salt and the yeast. Push thek dough button and the start one. Iron some clothes meanwhile, if you like ;D.
3. Once the dough program finishes, start the bake one. Read two chapters of your favourite book, if you like ;D.
4. When it's done, take it out of the machine and place over a metalic grid to let it cool down. And believe it or not... it's done! Without any effort!!

I took half of the bread and gave it to my parents... you know how moms are... now half  Sagrada Familia's neighbourhood has tasted the bread... and they loved it!!!

Today is not October 16th and therefore I cannot send my baby bread to 1x umrühren bitte: Announcing World Bread Day 2009, but I'm sure this is just the start; more breads will come :D.

Gazpacho aromatized with fresh Basil

I want to show you the easiest and tastiest recipe for Gazpacho before summer ends. Here in Barcelona, temperatures are starting to drop but tomatoes are the cheapest veggies in the market right now. Shouldn't we take advantage of it and buy some kilos to get our gazpachos done?

It will help you to get tones of vitamines in your system! And antioxidants too!

I've spent the summer away from home and my terrace plants have gone wild! See?, I installed a dripping-water automatic system and take a look at the size of my plants now!!! I feel like Gulliver in one of his trips :D.

From left to right: Bay tree, Basil bush in flower, Fig tree and some lavender back there. If you don't find fresh basil you can perfectly do it without it.

Gazpacho is like the king of the summer dishes, there's always some in my fridge and it's perfect before you get into the pool, or just right after you leave the pool or taken as a picnic when going to the beach inside a small portable fridge bag. Have a glass for lunch and have another glass for dinner, have it whenever you feel thirsty and hot, you will feel immediately relieved! Gazpacho=Summer; that's why I'm sending the recipe over to Zorra and her Vacation Food Event, you are still on time to participate! Come and join :D

Ingredients for 4 servings: For the gazpacho soup: 2 ripe tomatoe kilos, 50 grs of the yesterday's bread white part, half a cucumber, half a red pepper, half a green pepper, 1 garlic, 2 green onions (only the white part), 8 fresh basil leaves, 5 table spoons of sherry vinegar, 12 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 -2 glasses of fresh water, salt and black ground pepper.

Keep the half of the veggies you discarded aside and cut in very small pieces. Reserve.

• 
  
  Put the bread inside a small bowl and cover with fresh water.
• 
  
  Peel the tomatoes and take their seeds away. Cut and place inside a big bowl.
• 
  
  Cut the cucumber, peppers, onions and garlic in small pieces and place in the same big bowl.
• 
  
  Squeeze the bread and place in the bowl, add the water, 4 basil leaves, the olive oil and the vinegar.
• 
  
  Blend with a food processor until you get an homogenous texture. Use a fine colander to strain and get a fine texture. Add salt and pepper to fit your taste.
• 
  
  Place in the fridge and let cool down.
• 
  
  Serve cold and with the veggies cut in small pieces aside. Sprinkle with the rest of the basil. 

This is one of the best summer soups I ever tasted. What are you waiting for?

A Flu and Blogging Interruptus

I just heard on the radio this question to the audience: Has the A Flu changed your daily routine? I would like to hear your voice here, please.

Here in Spain it's like the only thing we talk about these days! It's on the news, on the streets, on the market; everywhere! I think they are getting just too loud about it. Is it that terrific? I don't think so. But then, why are they scaring us so? So far, 23 persons have died from the virus in my country and it seems that the other flu (every year's one) kills more people than that. A Flu is specially virulent with those whom suffer from other cronich diseases.

Why then there's this big fuzz about it? Is it the same in your countries? How has winter been in the southern hemisphere?

Answering my own question, I will say that Yes, I changed my daily habbits. I am a bit paranoid with this and made a plan to try to avoid the flu. This is what I do:

1.- Starting this August I wake up one hour earlier and go for a fast walk. It is important not to run, just walk really fast and get the Tshirt all sweated.
2.- I drink Actimel first thing in the morning. It is supposed to help my body defenses against diseases.
3.- I make a fresh orange juice and drink it immediately. Vitamin C is my ally too. Kiwis are also full of C Vitamin.
4.- I will try to avoid as much as possible public areas such as train stations, subway, cinemas...

Isn't it too crazy? Are Media washing our brains out or rather is it useful to have all that info? What about the vaccine? Is it good that pregnant women have it? What about the money Pharmaceutical Companies earn? I guess we'll get the answers during this winter, won't we?

The great thing about blogging is that it doesn't spread the virus ;D. So lets focus on blogging and delicious recipes. I have a good bunch waiting for their turn in my PC. So, I guess this blogging interruptus has finished :D.

Thank you all again for your concern, advise and great words!!!

As a small taste, take a look at the upcoming recipes... Mmmmmm simply delicious!


Lobster Soupy Rice and Deliciously fresh Gazpacho



Mackerel Timbal and Mashed Green peas with Morcilla



Strawberry Mousse and Lemon Curd Cake

So, you will soon be seeing my face on your blogs! :D