CLASSIC SPANISH RECIPES – CERDO CON LECHE (Pork cooked in milk)
From the North, Basque Country…
CERDO CON LECHE (Pork cooked in milk)
Notice: If you are cooking a full “Cinta de cerdo” or loin of pork, this should weigh about 2-3 kilos and this recipe will serve 12 people, so it is ideal for entertaining.
Ingredients:
* 1 cinta de cerdo (loin of pork) about 2 1/2 kilos of weight (tied, so that it keeps the shape)
* 2 litres full cream milk (leche entera), warmed
* 2 tablespoons lard (manteca de cerdo)
* 8 whole garlic (ajo) cloves, unpeeled
* salt and black pepper (sal y pimienta negra) to taste (I put a lot of pepper in this dish)
* a bit of nutmeg (nuez moscada)
Preparation:
* 1 hour before starting to cook, rub the pork with salt and pepper and allow it to rest
* Melt the lard in a large, heavy casserole (the oblong Le Creuset one is ideal)
* Brown thoroughly the pork
* Add the warm milk, some more black pepper and the garlic cloves
* Allow to cook, uncovered, at medium temperature until the milk starts to boil
* Lower the temperature, cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours, turning the pork regularly so that it will not stick to the casserole or the milk
* Once the pork is cooked, check the consistency of the sauce. You may have to remove the pork and reduce the sauce.
* Remove the string pieces and slice the pork.
* Strain the sauce and blend it with a Minipimer or put it through a food processor.
* Arrange the slices on a serving dish and coat them with some of the sauce. You can serve more sauce separately.
* Garnish with mashed potatoes, sautéed vegetables and apple quarters fried in butter.
Serve with a nice Rosé (Rosado) wine from Navarra
The verb llevar
This is a highly versatile verb, but because of that it can be confusing. It has many meanings.
1) It can mean ‘to wear’ (as in clothes)
¿Qué llevas? = What are you wearing?
Llevaba una camisa roja = he was wearing a red shirt
2) It can mean to carry
Llevó los platos a la cocina = he carried the plates into the kitchen
I will continue this thread later this week, but meanwhile, has anyone got any other meanings for the verb ‘llevar’?
My favourite Spanish dessert:
My favourite Spanish dessert:
TOCINO DE CIELO (Literally: BACON FROM HEAVEN)
This is a very rich dessert that you can also buy at a local “pastelería” if you are not quite sure about making it at home. As I said, it is extremely rich and sweet and should be eaten in small portions. You can make it in small moulds or use a larger mould and then cut it in small portions. Also, a candy thermometre is very useful to reach the correct syrup temperature.
Ingredients:
* 300 g sugar (azúcar)
* 250 g water (agua)
* 12 egg yolks (yemas de huevo) (You can use the egg whites to make a lemon meringue pie)
Preparation:
* Preheat oven to 180ºC
* Boil water and sugar for 5 minutes or until ir reaches a temperature of 103-105ºC (here is where the candy thermometre is very handy)
* Using a pastry brush, coate the inside of the mould or moulds with the syrup.
* Set aside the remaining syrup
* Whisk the egg yolks thoroughly.
* Stirring constantly and very gently, pour the remaining syrup
* Put the mixture through a fine sieve
* Pour the mixture into the prepared mould/moulds
* Bake in a bain-marie for some 40 minutes approximately or until a needle comes out clean
* Allow to cool in the mould/moulds
* Unmould to serve when completely cold.
It is also possible to coat the mould/moulds with caramel insted of syrup and use all of the syrup in the egg mixture. Some call this preparation with caramel “flan” but it is not the ordinary crème caramel as it does not contain milk.
You may find packets of a mix called “tocino de cielo” at your local shop or supermarket; however, you will be highly disappointed by the results once you have tasted the real product.
Spanish Capital Letters
Contrary to what happens in English, we very seldom use CAPITAL LETTERS in Spanish. Nouns and adjectives, days of the week and months of the year, titles and names of society members or doctrine followere are always written in small letters, unless they appear at the start of a sentence after a full stop.
Some examples:
Hablamos con un español. (We spoke with a Spaniard)
La bandera española (The Spanish flag)
Hoy es miércoles (Today is Wednesday)
El 12 de octubre (The 12th of October)
Veremos al doctor López (We shall see Dr López)
La duquesa de Alba está en Sevilla (The Duchess of Alba is in Seville)
Rajoy se entrevistará con el presidente Zapatero (Rajoy will meet President Zapatero)
El gobierno estaba en manos de los liberales. (The government was in the hand of the Liberals)
Question & answer about Alioli
Question:
I think these Spanish recipes are fascinating and have loved reading your posts Paloma.
I was wondering if you could tell me if Alioli is Spanish (or Italian?) – and if you have a recipe for this. (or more particularly some tips on how to make it)
I’ve tried once before and the result was revolting!
Answer:
Thank you for your kind words.
Now, how can I answer your cuestuib about alioli in a few words…. Difficult task, indeed! Alioli, Al-hòli, aïoli, aillade, al holio and quite a few more names, similar or totally different, describe one of the oldest sauces in the world. It originates from the Mediterranean region and that covers quite a few countries. You find different versions in the Catalonian area of Spain, the Provence Region of France, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Romania, Northern Africa…. The name comes from the Provençal language, or Occitan, or Langue d’ Oc, a Romance language originated from Latin, with close associations with the Catalan language. That name, in Langue d’ Oc , was al-hòli and possibly comes from ail (garlic) and oil. Basically, the sauce is an emulsion of plenty of garlic (about a head), a bit of salt (preferably Fleur-de-sel from the Camargue region and 2 cups of extra virgin olive oil. You have to work the garlic cloves with a bit of salt using a mortar and pestle and then you start emulsifying it with oil, added little by little. Quite a difficult task!
It was soon discovered that the addition of a whole egg or an egg yolk and some lemon juice makes this mixture more palatable and easier to emulsify. For this reason, the alioli sauce is an ancestor of the Mayonnaise sauce.
Some time ago, I gave a recipe for my own Mayonnaise which is easy to make with a Minipimer or hand-held blender. It appears under the “Got any good tapas recipes” thread, but here you are:
INGREDIENTS: (to be used in this order)
1 cup or 250 ml extra virgin olive oil (the best you can afford)
1 full large egg (yolk and white)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 garlic cloves (previously chopped)
salt and pepper to taste (if you can get “Lemon pepper” it improves the flavours)
PREPARATION
Following the strict order given above, put the ingredients into the beaker or a glass jar.
Introduce the handblender to the base of the recipient. Switch the power on and keep the handblender in that position until the oil emulsifies. Then, move the handblender very slowly up and down until all ingredients are well combined.
You can add more garlic cloves if you enjoy their flavour; however, this is not going to make you very popular with family and friends although it may be very handy to keep vampires away.
ENSALADA DE PIMIENTOS ASADOS Y AJO (Roasted Capsicum and Garlic Salad)
ENSALADA DE PIMIENTOS ASADOS Y AJO (Roasted Capsicum and Garlic Salad)
A delicious salad to eat as an entrée or to accompany roast beef, lamb, pork or chicken. I use three colours of capsicum: red, yellow and green as it makes it more attractive. This recipe also helps to learn the process of roasting and peeling capsicum to use it in stews, paellas and other typical dishes.
Capsicum or “Pimiento” has been an important ingredient in the Spanish cuisine since the discovery of America. The first plants and seeds were brought to Galicia (Padrón region) in the 16th Century. There is a variety called Pimientos de Padrón which comes from those first plants imported.
Ingredients:
* 6 large yellow,red and green capsicums (pimientos) halved lengthways
* 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (aceite de oliva vírgen extra)
* 2 whole heads of garlic (ajo)
* 3-4 leeks (puerros)
* 1 cup chicken stock (caldo de pollo)
* salt and pepper to taste (sal y pimienta a gusto)
* 1 cup vinaigrette (vinagreta) to dress the salad (basic emulsion of extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar)
Preparation:
* Preheat oven to 200ºC
* On a foil lined baking tray, arrange the capsicums cut sides down. Brush the skins with a bit of the oil
* Slice top quarter off tops of garlic heads and stand upright on the baking tray together with the capsicums. Brush some oil on the garlic heads.
* Roast in oven for 40 minutes
* Remove capsicums. Place in a plastic bag. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.
* Check if the garlic is tender, otherwise roast for a few more minutes. Remove to cool.
* Wash leeks thoroughly removing all traces of grit. Place in a single layer in a shallow pan or skillet, pour the chicken stock over. Adjust seasonings and sit a disc of greaseproof paper on top of the leeks. Simmer slowly until tender (about 20 minutes), remove to a colander, drain and cool.
* Skin capsicums, removing seeds and membranes. Cut into strips about 2 cm wide.
* Slice the leeks, move them to a plate. Scatter over and around the capsicum strips.
* Squeeze garlic cloves from the head over the top.
* Drizzle with the dressing.
Chattting with a girl
Charlando con una muchacha
Por favor señorita, ¿me puedes decir cómo se llama tu bebida? Tiene muy buena pinta, y me gustaría pedir la misma.
Se llama horchata.
¿Horchata? ¿Qué es?
Es una mezcla de agua, azúcar y almendras. La bebemos muy fría
¿Sí? Bueno, entonces la tengo que probar. Y ¿cómo se llama lo que comes?
: Son churros. Creo que se llaman ‘doughnuts’ en inglés.
Aaah, ¿hablas inglés
Sí, pero sólo un poco. Quiero practicar.
Y yo quiero practicar mi español. Deberíamos hablar más, mitad en español y mitad en inglés.
Sí, lo que llamamos un intercambio en español.
¿Vives en Madrid?
No, estoy aquí sólo para una semana. Es posible que vuelva aquí cuando haya visitado otras regiones del país.
Listen to the audio: Read in Spanish
Idioms to do with Horses
This subject came up a few weeks ago when there was a question on the forum about how to say ‘dark horse’ which doesn’t have an exact translation in Spanish, they make do with ‘incógnita’. This got me thinking about other idioms to do with horses! Here are a few:
Horses for courses: a cada cual lo suyo
To eat like a horse: comer como una vaca (a cow! – doesn’t quite sound the same, does it?!)
To flog a dead horse: machacar en hierro frío
To get on one’s high horse: ponerse a pontificar
Don’t look a gift-horse in the mouth: a caballo regalado, no le mires el diente (which is pretty much the same)
Hold your horses!: ¡para el carro!
To be straight from the horse’s mouth: ser de buena tinta
Get those into your conversation!!!
Matthew’s Idioms
‘El que no llora, no mama’.
Literally this means ‘the one who doesn’t cry, doesn’t suckle’, so the English equivalent idiom would be ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’
What´s the weather like?
¿Qué tiempo hace? – What’s the weather like?
Hace buen tiempo. – The weather’s good.
las estaciones del año – the seasons of the year
la primavera – The Spring
llover – To Rain
la lluvia – the rain
el arco iris – the rainbow
la tormenta – the storm
el rayo – the lightning
el verano – the summer
Hace mucho calor. – Its very hot
el sol – the sun
el otoño – the Autumn
el viento – the wind
la nube – the cloud
el cielo – the sky
Está nublado. – Its cloudy
la niebla – the fog
el invier – the winter
Hace mal tiempo.-The weathers bad
Hace frío.-Its cold
el hielo – the ice
nevar-to snow
la nieve-the snow
A good expression to know:
Un tiempo de perros = A lousy or filthy weather
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