22 RECIPES : COOKING IN LOCKDOWN

RICE PUDDING

by Sara Alegre Rice pudding is a typical Spanish dessert. It comes from Asturias, we don't know exactly the date of the origin of this delicious dish, but we know that in 1607 the first rice pudding recipe was published in the book “'Cozina Art Book” by Domingo Hernández de Maceras, cook of the College of Oviedo at the University of Salamanca. The recipe was different from that of today, but one thing was clear, all known documents called it a delicacy. Nowadays, when we are used to eat it, everybody can find it in a restaurant or a bar during all year. The rice pudding is also really popular between people because of its sweet flavour and its soft texture.

Now, I'm going to show you how to prepare this dish. To prepare a delicacy like rice pudding we need the next ingredients: (For 6 people)  150 grams of rice  100 grams of butter  150 grams of sugar  2 litres of milk  Peel of half a lemon  1 cinnamon or vanilla stick These are the steps to prepare it: 1. Put the rice in a wide flat pan with almost twice as much water and boil over low heat.

2. Put the milk in another pan with the sugar, cinnamon and lemon peel.

3. When the rice is almost dry add to the pan of the milk with the sugar, the cinnamon and the lemon peel.

4. After an hour, add the butter while stirring.

5. Allow another hour on low heat so that it thickens and leaves a thick creamy consistency.

6. Remove the lemon rind and cinnamon.

7. Put the rice pudding in a bowl or divide the content into six individual plates or bowls.

8. Sprinkle with sugar and put a very hot iron on top so that a layer of caramel. It can also be served without caramel, only garnished with cinnamon powder.

9. Eat and enjoy!

As you have seen, this is a very simple recipe, with common ingredients that everybody has in their houses, so everybody could perfectly prepare it.

Personally, I have never eaten rice pudding because I am a little bit selective about the food that I eat, but, after Knowing the history, the good opinions of the people and the easy way of cooking it, I'm definitely going to taste it!

FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST

by Roberto Ciriero I’m from Spain, and a dish which has always fascinated me from a foreign country is the one from England called Full English or Full breakfast. It’s a typical dish which is eaten mainly in weekends’ mornings. This dish has its origin in the 14th century and mainly done by the nobility, who were the people that could afford preparing this dish, the all-day-breakfast. It was a custom to invite other nobles to parties, and they gave them this breakfast.Offering a full breakfast is an English tradition. As previously said it was an all-day-breakfast, and during the industrial revolution, the only meal a lot of people could do.

Ingredients:  4 sausages  8 bacon slices  4 eggs  3 tomatoes  bread  cooking oil or butter

Optional:    

-mushrooms -black pudding -skillet potatoes -potato waffles

How to cook it:      

First of all, we fry the sausages in a pan with the cooking oil or butter, during 8 minutes.

Then we fry the bacon between 2 and 3 minutes.

After this, we slice the tomatoes and we add some salt, if you want you can fry them to caramelize the slices.

Last but not least, we can scramble the eggs, fry or boil them.

With this, you finished cooking and the only thing you have to do is to serve it with a cup of tea or orange juice.

If you want you can bake beans, the only thing you need is to boil them with a tomato sauce during 10 minutes, or get them out of a tin and heat it.

This dish is delicious and it gives you a lot of energy too. I would recommend you to try it, it is easy to prepare, but if you do not want to cook, some restaurants offer it. Try this dish to have a very good start in your day.

RASPBERRY CRUMBLE

BY ESTRELLA ANDRADES In England there are lots of desserts, one of the most delicious is raspberry crumble because, it is sweet and its origin comes from the Second World War. Ingredients: 500 grams of raspberries ½ cup of oatmeal A tablespoon of white sugar A tablespoon of brown sugar ½ teaspoon of cinnamon 225 grams of plain flour Method: Start by doing the topping. Mix in a bowl the flour, oatmeal, white and brown sugar, cinnamon and mix it with butter until it looks like crumbs. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a separate bowl add flour, sugar, cinnamon and four cups of raspberries and mix everything. Then pour the first mixture into a bowl and the other over the top. On top of everything more raspberries.Later, bake the crumble for 35 minutes, remove from oven and let it for five minutes. Finally, serve warm with ice.

I usually eat raspberry crumble in special occasions, I like because it is very sweet and also it is crunchy. This dessert is very complete for me because it has got fruit and ice cream.

SCONE

By Alba Burgos The origin of scones is Scottish,they are typical of the English cuisine,and their name is linked to The Stone of Destiny.The history tells that centuries ago the tribes of northern Scotland saw a rock impact that broke the plains and turned them into cliffs.That collision was seen by the tribes as a prophetic sign of a new empire.After a long walk,they reached the impact site and decided to keep a piece of it as a treasure.That divine stone was called The Stone Destiny.The king of England,Edward I,desirous of the possession of the divine stone,organized a contest to conquer Scotland and get it.Some time later,the rock reached Westminster Abbey in London and was kept secret.A young pastry chef sheltered in Scone Abbey remembered that much coveted stone and nostalgically recalled the bread rolls that were made at his home during the war years.These buns were quickly distributed by the people,which helped to calm the hunger of the most impoverished.The new bun,which was born from the memory of the divine rock,was called scone.

It’s a very common food in breakfasts and snacks in the United Kingdom,Ireland, Canada,Australia,New Zealand and the United States of America.This dish is usually sweet and often contains raisins,blueberries,cheese or dates.Normally,you see them in a round or triangular shape,but there are also square ones.

The ingredients are: - 260 gr.flour -Âź tsp.salt -one egg - 120 ml.whole milk

-10 gr.yeast - 75 gr.butter - 1 tsp.vanilla extract -50 gr.sugar

How to cook it: First, in a bowl we mix the dry ingredients:flour,yeast,salt and sugar.Then, you cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the bowl and,with a fork you integrate the butter until it reduced to a kind of sand.

Lately, in another bowl beat the egg and the milk.

When the butter is fully integrated,we make a whole and add the liquid.With this dough you form a ball with your hands,compacting the dough handling it as little as possible.Then you place the scones upside down on a sulfurized paper in the baking tray and paint with milk.With the oven previously heated to 200ยบC with heat above and below,bake for 15 minutes,until they are lightly browned.

From my point of view, this is a dish with a really interesting history at its back and I think you can eat it with many different accompaniments.

APPLE PIE

BY ANA MÂŞ MARTĂ?N This recipe emerged in England, in a town where there was a tradition of making fruit-filled cakes and where many apples were grown.The first recipe of apple pie appeared in the cooking book The Forme of Cury in 1390 and was called tartys in applis.Later in the 16th century this recipe spread among the British,French and Dutch colonists and they took it to the Atlantic.The French called apple tourte and Dutch called it appeltaart.

In origin the pie was filled with apple,pear,figs and raisins and dye with saffron, but now we fill it with all types of apple.This recipe was accompanied by spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

Ingredients: -For the dough: o o o o o o o

500 g of flour.

250 g of butter cut into small cubes, just out of the fridge.

50 g of icing sugar.

1 teaspoon of fine salt.

1 tablespoon of cider vinegar.

7 tablespoons of cold water.

4 or 5 Granny Smith or green apples. Always peeled and cut into pieces.

-For the filling: o o o o o o

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 100 g American brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 50 g of butter 3 tablespoons of cornmeal 2 tablespoons of lemon juice

In my opinion, this is an easy recipe that everybody can do and everybody usually likes.If I had to choose my favourite dessert, it would be this because I think that is a delicious recipe and I love apples.

CHEESECAKE

By Sandra Cobanera Cheesecake as we know it,dates back 4000 years before the current era, back in Ancient Greece, where this cheesecake was considered a true source of energy and this is why it was the food for the first athletes of the Olympic games.In A.D. 230, the writer Athenaeum was credited with the first written recipe for cheesecake, in those days, the crushed cheese was simply heated in a copper saucepan with honey and flour and then allowed to cool and serve.When Greece was conquered by the Romans, the cheesecake became a riot of war,and turned into a cake that was eaten only on special occasions.With the extension of the Roman Empire, the cheesecake reached the rest of the countries of Europe, where each one modified the original recipe according to their tastes and indigenous culinary traditions.It was not until the 18th century when this cake began to look as we know it today.Then American customized it and added the cream cheese with which we all know the cake today.

This cake is eaten throughout the world practically, since each country has adapted it to its gastronomy. The conventional recipe is: Ingredients: 1. 2 packages of Maria type cookies, Digestive, ... etc 2. 100 gr. butter ( at room temperature) 3. 1 package of peanuts with honey (you can add any type of dried fruit) 4. 400 gr. of liquid cream to assemble 35% fat 5. 100 gr. of sugar 6. 2 envelopes of curd 7. 500 gr of cheese spread (Philadelphia Cheese style) 8. Jam: homemade or jar strawberry jam Preparation: 1. You have to melt the butter, and crush the cookies. Then we mix it until there is a uniform mass and thus would have the base already done. Next, we put it in a removable mould and let it cool in the fridge.

2. For the dough we will heat the cream in a saucepan over low heat, we will incorporate the sugar and stir with the cream, mix with the

cheese, incorporate the curds, which we will have diluted in a little milk before.

3. Then stir all the ingredients until they are completely dissolved, at the moment the mixture begins to boil (it is important that the curds starts to boil, since if it the do not, it is possible that the cake does not curdle), set aside immediately so that it does not stick.

4. Later once the mixture is obtained, we will pour it into the mold that we have already prepared with the biscuit base. We will let it cool in the fridge for about 6 hours and once the cold cheesecake has curdled, we will decorate the surface of the cake with our preferred, coverage in this case strawberry jam.

5. Unmould the cake once we have decorated the surface and it is ready to serve.

I highly recommend this dessert, it is my favorite, apart from the fact that it is delicious it very easy to make. And you can prepare it for any occasion, not only in special events. In conclusion, this dessert is delicious, it is cheap to cook and very easy to make.

MUFFINS

by Sergio Molina The origin of this food is found in England, specifically in London, where there are references in recipes from 1703. Its name derives from the original word moofin, whose origin may be due to an adaptation of the French word moufflet (soft bread).

The cake was preferably consumed at breakfast or as a snack and included various flavors such as dried or fresh fruit, spices and chocolate.

Normally people like muffins because they are very sweet and their appearance and decoration are very striking.You can eat these cakes, in any store, or you can buy them in any supermarket they can be eaten by anyone except diabetics.

Ingredients:       

1 cup of milk (240 milliliters) 1 cup of flour (140 grams) 2 tablespoons of baking powder ½ teaspoon of Salt ½ cup of Sugar (100 grams) 2 eggs 1 tablespoon of butter

I do not like these types of cakes very much since they have a lot of chocolate and they are very sweet and I do not like very sweet foods, most people love this cake since people like sweets very much.

VICTORIA SPONGE CAKE

by Yasmina Sánchez This is a classic English tart, named after the queen who took it at tea time. This dessert stands out for being highly delicious for the palate, because the mixture of a delicately flavored sponge cake together with strawberries, jam and cream, makes Queen Victoria's favorite cake also become ours.

Although there are several versions that we can find throughout time and space, the variations are minimal; the typical Victoria tart usually consists of two basic biscuits, between which there is a layer of raspberry or strawberry jam and a very generous layer of whipped cream. It is not usually applied any type of coverage or decoration, except for a little powdered sugar on its surface. 

ORIGIN

The name, which was originally simply "Sponge Cake" and did not contain a filling, takes its name from Queen Victoria, who liked to accompany her afternoon tea with a portion of this juicy cake, yes, stuffed with jam raspberries and cream. 

INGREDIENTS

For the sponge cake: 4 eggs at room temperature 125 g sugar 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract 120 g of pastry flour 1 pinch of salt For the filling: 220 g of strawberries 250 ml of cream with 35% 30 g of icing sugar + 20 g to decorate

PREPARATION To prepare this dish, you must first preheat the oven to 180 degrees with heat up and down. Immediately, we beat the eggs with the sugar in a mixer with rods or by hand for ten minutes, until it is fluffy and whitish and when you lift the mixture it makes a cord over the dough that stays a few seconds. 

We gently add the sifted flour and incorporate it with a spatula very delicately, so that the mixture does not lose air. Pour the dough into a pan greased with butter and it with flour and cook for 20 or 25 minutes. Once the cake is baked, we take it out of the oven and turn the mold with the base upwards so that it is as flat as possible. We leave it like this for ten minutes and remove it from the mould to cool it down.

Once cold, we cut it into two or three discs and whip the cold cream with the icing sugar. We cut the strawberries into pieces, reserving six to decorate. We pour the cream on top of one of the discs, place the strawberries in pieces, repeat the operation if we have three layers.

Finally, sprinkle the surface with icing sugar and place the cut strawberries in the middle for the decoration.

We put it in the fridge. Although its origin is glamorous and aristocratic, its preparation is not complicated at all. Many people prepare it and serve it for dessert or at tea time.

OPINION ON THE RECIPE I have never tried it, but it looks very good, and I like the ingredients that it contains. 

BROWNIES

By Elisa Tapia ORIGIN: Brownie is a very popular and loved dessert and it was, in fact, the result of a happy accident. Its creator was a british baker who moved to the United States to start a bakery business there. One lucky day, he was making a chocolate cake, but he forgot to add the baking powder to the cake. The result was a crunchy in the outside but spongy in the inside cake. The baker thought it was delicious, so he started selling it in his own bakery and named it brownie because of its. His customers loved it and some of them even started to make their own. Suddenly, brownie became one of the most popular cakes in the world.

INGREDIENTS:          

150g of butter 200 g of sugar 2 eggs 250 g of flour 25 g of vanilla extract 10 g of baking powder 10 g of salt 75 g of cocoa powder 50 g of chocolate ( optional ) nuts ( as many as you like )

INSTRUCTIONS: The first step is to preheat the oven to more or less 175 ºC, in the meanwhile start preparing the ingredients. Once step one is completed, melt in a large saucepan the butter. When it is done, remove from heat and pour the butter into a big bowl. Then, stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Later on, mix all the ingredients together, and when the mixture is homogeneous add the rest of the ingredients. Firstly, pour in the flour, but make sure you sieve it first so your brownie doesn´t turn too fudgy. Then, add the flour, salt and baking powder to the mixture and beat it all together. In case you want an extra chocolate flavour, you can melt some chocolate and stir it to the mixture as well. Once you have finished mixing all the ingredients, pour the dough into a large pan which has

already been spreaded with butter. Then, spread as many nuts as you want on top of the mixture. Finally bake it in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The brownie is a very tasty dessert and quite easy to make, so if you want to impress your family and friends with your cooking skills, don't miss out this recipe, I'm sure they will love it!

EGG CUSTARD RECIPE

by Paula Rubio The egg custard recipe is a traditional plate of Spain and it come from several centuries before the birth of Christ. The Phoenicians, the Greeks, and later the Roman considered them very healthy. They consumed them in different ways, but the ancient Romans copied the Greek formula of mixing eggs with milk and created a recipe called Tyropatinam with eggs, milk and honey, which was cooked over low heat to curdle the eggs and then served sprinkled with pepper. Then came the “flado” of curdled eggs in salty and sweet versions, with fish, vegetables and also fruits, cheese and honey. In France and Spain, the sweet version of “flado” began to be served as a dessert, inverted, with a caramel sauce, and was renamed “flan” or “crème renversee au caramel” in the Gallic town. It came to America through the Spanish Conquest, and today it is one of the most popular dessert in the world.

Ingredients:  six eggs  0’5l of milk  4 tablespoons of sugar  Liquid caramel Steps: 1. We take the six eggs and beat them.

2. Once the eggs are beaten, add the half-litre of milk and whisk it all over again mixed.

3. Then add the four tablespoons of sugar and whisk again until all mixed.

4. We take a bowl of mud and pour the liquid caramel all over the base.

5. Once the caramel is poured, we pour the pre-mode mixture into the bowl.

6. In the braking tray, we pour water to cover the whole base and place the bowl on top.

7. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

8. Place the tray in the oven, for 40 minutes.

9. Once the custard is done, take it out and leave it to cool.

10.

Once cooled, you’d be ready to taste it.

This dish can be eaten by any type of person except allergic to egg, milk, caramel and sugar. You can eat this dish when you want and you can buy it in any type of supermarket. Try to taste it!

FRIED DONUTS

by Mario Romero Ingredients:

         

500 gr of loose pastry flour 4 eggs 50 ml of whole milk 2 double envelopes of El Tigre gasifiers (6 gx 2 = 12 g) or 1 envelope of chemical yeast (16 g.)

The zest of a lemon and an orange.

6 tablespoons of sugar (about 150 gr) 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil 1/2 shot of anise (20 ml) and another 1/2 of pomace or Galician brandy Very soft sunflower or olive oil to fry the donuts (1 liter approximately ) and 1 piece of lemon rind (yellow part) For the sugar bath: 500 g of sugar, 125 ml of water, 50 ml of lemon juice.

The donut is a typical Spanish sweet at Easter, whose origin dates back to the ancient Roman Empire, a time when its recipe spread to much of Europe and the Mediterranean basin. These sweets are very typical here in Spain and they are usually eaten especially on Easter dates.

In my opinion, they are quite rich sweets, I like to eat them almost all year round, since my mother knows how to make them and they are delicious.

SWISS ROLL

by Germán Miguel Our most famous dish is the Swiss roll, it is a dessert that is typical of the whole world, it is normally served with jam or chocolate and with sprinkled sugar on top. To do it first we have to make the sponge cake dough with eggs and flour. It goes into the oven and as soon as it comes out we have to spread it with jam and roll it up so that it is cylindrical. Swiss roll is usually eaten on birthdays accompanied by a glass of milk. It is a dish that everyone likes and it is delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

      

3 big eggs 100 g of powdered sugar and a little more, to sprinkle 75 g of wheat flour 25 g of cocoa poder 15 mL of hot wáter 75 g of butter at room temperature 175 g of sugar glass

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Work the filling: place the butter in a bowl and beat it with a kitchen balloon. Add the icing sugar little by little until it forms a smooth cream, refrigerate.

2. Preheat the oven to 180º C. Put the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy. Sift the flour and cocoa powder, add the hot water.

3. Pour the mixture into a cookie tray with a waxed paper base, spread the dough very well all over it leaving an elongated base, bake for 10 minutes or until fluffy.

4. Let cool and place it on a table with everything and the waxed paper, distribute with the filling in the centre of the entire bread plate.

5. Trim the edges and roll loosely, like sushi, taking the bread off the paper. Finally, wrap it to shape it.

6. Put it in the refrigerator for three hours and take off the paper little by little to get the roll ready, you can slice it or leave it whole to serve.

7. If you want to give it a touch of decoration, sprinkle it with icing sugar all over the centre.

HAM CROQUETTES

by Chiara Mastronardi I live in Navalmoral de la Mata, a town of Extremadura, Spain and we many delicious traditional ,dishes but our most famous dish are Serrano ham croquettes. Croquettes are originally from France where they feature a mashed potato ,center but when they arrived in Spain they became a bit different. Here, they are filled with a creamy bechamel sauce. This aperitif emerged in France, where an aristocrat named Louis de Bechamel, who was in charge of the kitchen of King Louis XIV. The "father" of the croquettes worked as a tax collector and was superintendent of the Duke of Orleans' house.

It is said that he or some of his assistants created the besamel. when the cook Antoine Cámere, he served croquettes a la royale at a dinner for the Archduke of Russia. It seems this chef had the brilliant idea of coating the bechamel in a crispy layer.

Traditional Serrano ham croquettes consist of small fried food rolls.The recipe is very easy.

Ingredients:  2 tablespoons olive oil,plus extra for deep-frying  4 tablespoons unsalted butter  3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour  1, ½ cup whole milk,heated  3 ounces Serrano ham,finely chopped  salt,pepper  2 eggs  2 tablespoons fine dried bread crumbs  Preparation: Start the preparation the previous day to allow the bechamel time to set.

In a saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the flour and using a

wooden spoon mix well. Continue to stir until the flour is well blended.

Add the milk, cook, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon for about 5 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the Serrano ham and mix well. Spread the mixture into a pan and let in cool and then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them. Spread the bread crumbs on a dinner plate. Make small rolls and roll each croquette in the bread crumbs and then dip into the beaten eggs and roll it again in the bread crumbs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying.

Pour the olive oil to a pot and heat over high heat. When the oil is almost smoking, slip 5 o 6 croquettes into the oil until they are golden on all sides.

When all the croquettes are fried, serve them immediately.

You can eat them as a tapa, light lunch, or a dinner along with a salad in bars or at homes all over Spain. But the best croquettes are in Extremadura. So if you want to try the authentic croquettes, come to my town.

MANTECADOS

by Sonia Mardeni The mantecados are a traditional Spanish sweet. They’d originate in an autonomous community in the south of Spain called Andalucía. The characteristic of mantecados is that they have lard. You can eat them all year round, but they are typical of the Christmas season. Moreover there are different flavours: lemon, chocolate, almond. . .

You have to dry the flour, the purpose of drying the flour is to remove the moisture, so that the mantecado is tight and stays tender for a longer time.

RECIPE: Ingredients: 250 gr of wheat flour 175 gr of lard 150 gr of sugar 2 egg yolks 3 tablespoons sesame seeds [best if roasted] 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder Preparation: 1. The first thing we are going to do is dry the flour in the oven to remove its moisture. To do this, put the oven at 100ºC with active upper and lower resistance, put the flour in a well-extended baking tray and when the oven has reached the temperature, insert the tray in it at half height. Stir the flour every 10 minutes for about 30 minutes.

2. When the flour is ready. Let it cool in another container 3. Put the lard together with the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, and beat with a whisk or electric mixer until they mix well.

4. Pour the yolks and two tablespoons of sesame seeds into the butter, sugar and cinnamon mixture, and beat again.

5. When the flour is cold, mix it in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients, and you already have the dough to prepare the mantecados. Knead it a little with your hands and make it into a ball.

6. Roll it out on a non-stick mat or parchment paper. The thickness that you should leave is about half a centimetre.

7. Now it's time to cut them into the shape you prefer.

8. Sprinkle sesame on top.

9. Preheat the oven to 180ÂşC 10.Bake for 15-20 minutes.

11.Let them cool down, don’t touch them until they are cool.

I recommend this recipe because I think it is very easy to make and I had so much fun making it that I think you should try it too.

SPANISH OMELETTE

by Daniela Manzano Here, in Spain we have a very typical dish called Spanish omelette that consists in an omelette with potato pieces inside. This dish comes from Villanueva de la Serena, in Badajoz in the year 1798 and was invented by Joseph de Tena Godoy Marquis of Robledo, who wanted to find a cheap food based on potato. Firstly, he had in mind making potato bread, but instead of doing it in the oven, doing it in the pan and frying it. The result was the omelette.

The ingredients of the omelette are:  Potatoes  Eggs  Salt  Oil  Onion ( in some cases) The steps to follow are: 1. First of all, have to peel and wash the potatoes.

2. Then, cut them in thin slices and put them in a bowl with a little bit of salt.

3. Put oil in the pan and start heating the pan.

4. Add the potatoes and keep cooking them during 20 minutes with low fire.

5. During that time, break the eggs and put them in a bowl.

6. Mix the eggs.

7. When the potatoes are cooked, take off the potatoes out of the pan.

8. Put the potatoes in the bowl with the eggs and mix them.

9. Put the mixture in the same pan without oil and keep cooking during 4 minutes each side.

10.

The next step is to put the omelette on a dish.

11.

And, finally, it’s ready to eat.

In my opinion, this dish is delicious; but I think it’s better if you eat it cold.

SALMOREJO

By Mario Hueso Salmorejo is a cream that is generally served as a main dish. The origin of this dish comes from Cordoba, a city from Andalusia. The Salmorejo is a dish very old. His first years dates back from the beginning of humanity, and his name was The White Salmorejo. His main ingredient was bread but at the end of 1800s this changed to the red colour, because the main ingredient changed to the tomato.

The preparation is very simple.

INGREDIENTS:  150 g extra virgin olive oil  1 Kilo of tomatoes  250 g the breadcrumbs, teapotbread (typical Andalusian stale bread) or wheat bread  1 Garlic  10 g of salt

PREPARATION: 1- Clean the tomatoes well and cut them into quarters, place them in a large bowl and mix them with the blender until obtaining a liquid sauce.

2- Pass this sauce through a sieve to remove pieces of skin and small seeds that were still to mix.

3-We cut the bread into small pieces and add them to the tomato cream on top. Let them rest for about 10 minutes.

4-In this way, help the bread to soften when it is very difficult and hard to mix.

5- Peel the garlic and remove the medium so that it does not repeat since we will use it raw. Add it to the tomato with the bread.

6- Add extra virgin olive oil and salt.

7- Check everything through the mixer until it is as smooth as possible.

8- Test if it is salt and if we need to correct it with some.

9-You can only put the bowl in the fridge and let it cool down.

In a few hours you will have it very fresh and perfect to try the best salmorejo.

10-At the time of presentation, it is best to put it in a plate or deep bowl.

11-Sprinkle with some Serrano or Iberian ham chips in the microwave (10 seconds). This way you get a clear note.

The Salmorejo is usually eaten in summer because is a cold food, and is very gratifying. Normally is a main dish that is served in a bowl, and often is used like a tapa. The Salmorejo is also used like a sauce to decorate others dishes.

MIGAS

by Micaela García In Spain there are a lot of traditional dishes like the Spanish omelette or paella, but where I live, Extremadura, the most famous one is a dish called``migas´´ (breadcrumbs) INGREDIENTS: Bread from one or two days before 2 cloves of garlic Olive oil Chorizo Bacon Eggs

METHOD: 1. Cut the bread in small cubes and moist them with water.

2. Fry the garlic and the meat with olive oil, remove the meat and add the bread.

3. Add the meat and to the pan and stir fry for 30 minutes.

4. Finally, fry some eggs and put them on top before serving.

Migas are usually served hot, but you can also eat them without heating them. This dish is usually eaten in special occasions like after a slaughter of a pig, at village festivities or familiar meetings, usually in winter.

Migas come from grazing times, where shepherds used them for lunch in the middle of the morning for having strength all the day.

Although you can find them all over Spain, the authentic ones are from Extremadura, come and try them!

FRITTERS

by Ikram ElHousni Sephardic Jews have been making fried balls of wheat flour since the 10th century to celebrate Hanukkah, which they call "bimuelos".

The introduction of these buns in the celebration of All Saints is a Christian modification, due to its proximity to the Jewish Hanukkah.

Later, they became very famous in Madrid, where they became as popular as churros. They are also given away on day of the virgins.

The fritter in Spain can be savoury or sweet, this depends on the filling you choose. The fritters that we are going to make are going to be filled with cream, therefore they will be sweet .It is a dessert that can be found in cake shops in late October and November, since they are traditionally eaten in the celebrations of All Saints, but there are shops that cook them throughout the year. This dish is usually liked for its golden colour, its crispy texture and its delicious taste. It is easy to cook and you just have to follow the steps and the most important thing is the temperature of the oil.

Ingredients for about 30 fritters:         

170 g of pastry flour 1/2 teaspoon of chemical yeast 250 g of water 50 g of butter 1 pinch of salt 1 teaspoon of sugar 4 eggs Olive or sunflower oil for frying Whipped cream for the filling.

TORRIJAS

By Esteban Calvo In Spain we have many typical dishes, one of them is ¨torrijas¨.

These are famous in Spain, but they are actually of French origin. In Spain "torrijas" are eaten at Easter. They look like bread slices soaked in milk.

Ingredients:       

1 loaf of bread from a day or two before 750 milliliters of milk 160 grams of sugar , plus the amount necessary to sprinkle the French toast 1 lemon peel 1 cinnamon stick ½ vanilla bean 3-4 eggs,extra virgin olive oil with a mild flavour for frying.

How to cook them: 1. Put the milk in a saucepan with the sugar, the lemon peel, the cinnamon and the vanilla.

2. Put it on the fire and when it starts to boil, turn off the heat, cover the saucepan and let the aromatic ingredients infuse.

3. Leave the milk until it cools, then strain it and put it in a container that is convenient for you to wet the bread.

4. Beat the eggs until they foam a little and add two or three tablespoons of infused milk, beat again.

5. Cut the bread into slices of about two centimetres and put plenty of oil in a frying pan, but not excessively hot.

6. Dip the slices of bread in the milk, turn them over so that they are well impregnated but do not drip.

7. Pass them through the beaten egg and from there to the pan.

8. Fry the French toast on both sides until golden brown and when you remove it, press it on absorbent kitchen paper to discard excess oil.

9. Once the French toast is fried, sprinkle sugar that you can mix with cinnamon powder if you wish.

10.

Let the French toast cool before tasting.

11.

You can try the "torrijas" throughout Spain, especially at Easter.

They also cook them in many restaurants all year round. Many people like them, but I don't like them, I don't like wet bread.

EMPANADA (PASTY)

by Pablo Domínguez Ingredients: For the filling:     

1 can of tuna 2 cloves of garlic 1 onion, 4 eggs 1 can of pitted green olives 1 glass of tomato sauce and a drizzle of olive oil.

For the dough:     

½ glass of water ½ glass of oil 300 grams of flour 5 grams of special pastry yeast 1 egg and salt.

Preparation: 1. Put the flour in a large bowl and add in the center the yeast, previously dissolved in the glass of water, the ½ glass of oil, the egg and the salt.

2. Knead this preparation and let it rest for an hour at least, covering the bowl with a cloth.

3. Boil the eggs to make them hard, peel them and cut them into small pieces.

4. Make a sauce with the ingredients of the filling.

5. Put it into the puff pastry, which must be folded in half, sealing the edges with a fork.

6. Bake it at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.

History: The pasty is a dough filled with meat, vegetables or fruit cooked in the oven or fried in oil or fat in the countryside . Its name comes from the Castilian “empanar”, whose first meaning is "to enclose something in dough or bread to bake it in the oven”. Over time, the bread dough finished being cooked together with its filling and, later, other dough was made to wrap the filling. This type of preparation gave rise to dishes such as Italian calzone, Galician empanadas and British Cornish pasties; perhaps in a similar way the Tunisian briks, the Turkish börek, and the Arab sfihas and fatayer arose.

In the Middle Ages, one of the most important purposes of these preparations was to preserve meat, since its cooking in a consistent dough managed to protect it for several days. At that time, in Spain empanadas were made with dough made from wheat or rye flour.

They were stuffed with game meat or fish and, often, with leftovers of stew. Also of medieval origin is the French word pâté, which originally referred to a plate of minced meat wrapped in bread, until the term began to apply to its content. The same meaning in Middle English had the word pie, to refer to various types of cakes filled with foods of very different types.

Llibre de Coch, a recipe book in Catalan published by Ruperto de Nola in Barcelona in 1520, empanadas stuffed with tuna, eels, trout and eel are mentioned.

Ibero-American empanadas are derived from those European and Middle Eastern empanadas (fatay and sfihas) which, after spreading throughout southern Europe (mainly Andalusia), arrived in America with the Spanish conquerors.

Why should you eat empanada and when to eat it?

Empanada is a very nutritious dish, which provides many nutrients.

It is important to eat it when we make the most important meal of the day because we are going to make the greatest effort of the day, therefore, at lunch.

Then the consumption time depends on the country.

MIGUELITOS DE CREMA by Ana García Miguelitos are typical sweets from the town of La Roda in the province of Albacete in Spain, made from fine puff pastry, filled with cream and sprinkled with icing sugar. During the Albacete Fair thousands of them are dispatched in the inner circle of the Fairgrounds, usually accompanied by coffee, honey pomaway or cider. Currently, they are also sold with milk chocolate or white chocolate, but the original is the one with cream that was created in the confectionery La Moderna in 1922 by Don Tomás Andrés Núñez.

Preparation: 1. The first thing we do is make the pastry cream. To do this we dilute the cornstarch in 50 ml. of milk and it. In a bowl we whisk the egg with the sugar until it spurs and set it.

2. We heat the rest of the milk with the lemon and orange peel and the cinnamon stick. The moment it starts to boil, move the casserole away from the heat and incorporate the sugarsmoothed egg.

3. Mix well and put the scoop back into the fire by incorporating the milk with the cornstarch and removing the skins and cinnamon stick. Stir without stop and over medium heat, cook the cream as it thickens. When it boils again, remove it the heat and continue stirring for a few more minutes until a homogeneous, lump-free cream remains.

4. Pour the pastry cream into a wide bowl and stir periodically until cooled. It is important to remove the cream from time to time so that it does not form a hard crust on the surface as it cools.

5. Pour the cream into a wide fountain for cooling. When the cream is cold, cover it with film paper so that it comes in direct contact with the cream.

6. We can prepare it in advance of the day we are going to prepare the miguelitos and store it in the fridge. It's a candy that I love, once you try them you can't stop eating them, they're delicious.

Paella

By Luna Díaz I’m from Spain and this dish the most popular ones my country.

Paella is from Valencia, a region that is located on the east-coast of Spain and it’s very typical to eat this in there, with other traditional dishes from this region, for example: Patatas Bravas and a very popular drink, Horchata. In this region there are two variants of this dish that are Arroz Negro and Arroz a Banda. You can eat Paella in all the restaurants of this region, people who come to Valencia usually like this dish a lot!

Now, if you want to cook it in home, I’m going to give you the ingredients and some instructions that you must follow to make this dish: Ingredients:  Rice(1500 g)  One chicken  Green beans(500 g)  Garrofón beans(500 g)  Artichokes(6 g)  Snails(500 g)  Oil  Paprika  Crushed tomato  Saffron  Salt  Water Instructions: 1. Fry the chicken, beans, artichokes and snails in plenty of oil, seasoning with a little salt and paprika towards the end. When it is well browned, add the crushed tomato.

2. With all of this ready, the water must be added, the proportions depend on the fire and how big the paella is and you have to let the broth cook well for 25 or 30 minutes.

3. Add the saffron.

4. Then add the rice and cook it 17 and 20 minutes.

5. Finally, leave the paella to rest for a few minutes covered with a paper and then it is finished.