La Comida
Chón made gazpacho for our first course. The tomatoes that she bought today weren´t super ripe and she used more green bell pepper than she would have liked, so the gazpacho was quite green. It´s ideal to have a 2:1 ratio of tomatoes to green bell pepper for the traditional red color.
Gazpacho
tomates sin piel (skinned tomato)
cucumber (pepino)
pimentón verde (green bell pepper)
dientes de ajo (garlic cloves)
cebolla
vinagre
aceite de oliva
sal
pan remojado (water-soaked bread)
Una Batidora a Mano
Gazpacho is supposed to have stale bread soaked in water. This provides body and a certain creaminess. I read an article on gazpacho, which compared gazpacho made with bread crumbs, no bread, and soaked bread. The gazpacho with soaked bread held together the best, was creamy and needed no extra water. The breadless one was too thin and watery, and the one with bread crumbs needed extra water to make it soupier. Chón puréed it with one of her favorite kitchen appliances--the immersion blender (batidora a mano).
Chón strained the gazpacho with a colander. Gazpacho is supposed to be very smooth, so this is an important step.
Gazpacho
The gazpacho was delicious and refreshing. The croutons helped modify the acidic bite from the tomatoes. Gazpacho is traditionally red, but Chón accidentally used too many green bell peppers. This soup originated from the Andalucian region, which is in southern Spain and has a climate comparable to Africa.
La Olla a Presión
Chón only had to cook the stew for 45 minutes in the pressure cooker to get the meat to be super tender. So fast!
Chón first cooked the veggies in olive oil, added the meat, spices, a little puréed tomato, then covered everything with wáter, and let it cook.
Los Ingredientes
beef (carne de vaca), green bell pepper (pimentón verde), onion (cebolla), bay leaf (hoja de laurel), garlic (ajo), pimentón (paprika), a little flour (harina), salt (sal), and a little puréed tomato (salsa de tomate)
Carne Guisada
This beef stew was so flavorful and smelled wonderful! Bread is a must.
Piel de Sapo
Comments
Post a Comment