Biking & Baking in Las Alpujarras

This is tree and shrub planting week, according to some locals, so we have been down on the land getting in various shrubs and 3 more olive trees. I've also treated myself to a white camellia for the terrace and an interesting South African plant called a Carissa or Natal Plum. The landscape is sublime just now, with green terraces, yellow poplars, sienna red maples, that crisp blue sky and then the snowy peaks...and astonishing sunsets too. Temperatures are plummeting at night but still very pleasant by day...digging in the sunshine in a Tshirt is pretty good at the end of November!

Last time I promised the recipe for chestnut soup, so here it is. It's a great autumn/winter warmer and all our friends loved it. This is plenty enough for 10 people, but you can serve fewer people and have enough for seconds or tomorrow's lunch!

800g chestnuts, peeled and par-boiled*; 125g unsalted butter (NOT oil); 2 garlic cloves, sliced thin; 3 medium shallots (or small onions) sliced thin; 1 leek sliced thin; 2 celery stalks sliced thin; 2 bay leaves; 2 thyme sprigs for the soup and a handful for garnishing; 2.25 cups white wine; 1.25 cups fino sherry; no more than 4 pints of home-made chicken stock (or from cubes); 2 tsp salt; 0.75 tsp black pepper.

Gently cook garlic, shallots, leek and celery in the butter until very soft (about 15 mins), add thyme sprigs, bay leaves and chestnuts. Cook for another 10 mins. Add wine and continue cooking until most of it has been absorbed. Add half the sherry and cook for a further 10 mins. Add the stock, bring to the boil and then simmer slowly for about 1.5 hours. Remove the thyme and bay, let the soup cool slightly and then puree to a fine blend. Taste and add more sherry if desired (or just glug it down yourself). Reheat gently and ladle into hot bowls, garnish with thyme and/or a few croutons and serve with a small jug of cream for those whose cholestrol count is too low!!!
 

Enjoy!!

* For easy peeling followed by par-boiling, select large, 'striped' chestnuts if available, or whatever type you can find; cut a couple of vertical slits and take off the outer skins  with a sharp knife (watch your fingers...); keep a small pan of boiling water on the go and boil a handful at a time for 3-5 mins; remove from the water, (drop in another handful of course), allow to cool enough to hold them, and whip off the inner skins with the same sharp knife.  If the inner skins are difficult, give them another boil.  If you discover anything resembling a grub (or an outer skin with a grub hole in it), discard or cut out all affected parts.

 The mushrooms were delicious, nobody died and last night we supped with friends on chestnut soup, stifado (rabbit stew) a la Rick Stein, fresh fruit salad and the good old chestnut chocolate cake.  Tapas were sun-dried mushrooms (of course), our own roasted almonds, Steve's delcious cheese straws and some splendid chorizo from a good source in Trevelez.  I will put the soup recipe up next time.

Today we went on a hunt for those marvellous orange mushrooms: Nisculos in Spanish or Saffron milkcaps in English.  We were a bit late looking for these, especially after a day of general strikes when every worker who wasn't protesting was up in the woods, seeking the same delicious goodies!  So we settled for the freshest Slippery Jacks we could find (out of masses that were too big/old/infested) and quite a lot of meadow-based Fairy Ring Champignones instead.  If this is my last blog, it may be that we mistook the type...actually we had some experts with us and always check rigorously in our books before we eat any mushroom, but you never know!  

In addition, the sun shone, the trees are fabulous shades of gold and russet, the  tops above Trevelez were white with snow and we made sure of a cerveza at La Fragua afterwards.  As usual, the day got away with us and already darkness has fallen.  Time to light the fire and close the shutters.

We have booked our flights to Patagonia  and I think I shall have to invest in a pair of jodhpurs if we think we will succeed in our aim of a 3 day ride into the interior where vehicles cannot go...this may include swimming across a river on horseback...all good, wholesome fun!  We will be travelling light, as always, but these, hard hats and tango gear will be indispensable.  And horse fly (tabanus) prevention and treatment stuff, as they can be really vicious we are told.

Right, off to cook the mushrooms...an omelette perhaps, with spring greens...

Hasta luego mis amigos (all 50,850 of you...!)

 So, it's still raining...what to do except fiddle with things that have broken, peel chestnuts, read a new book (I've been lent Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann) and try out some soup recipes...oh and plan the Big Aventure for 2013, which is to spend a month in Patagonia (that means Argentina and Chile) walking, climbing, horse-riding, fishing, tango dancing and maybe even motorbike riding if we can pack our helmets as well as everything else.  I'm feeling very well so might as well make the most of it...the oncologist says there's a wee area of my left lung that needs 'fighting' and I won't know the bone density results until early December, but hey, life's for living is it not?  Steve is still in his shorts, the healthy blighter that he is, and longing to get up on 'the hill' as soon as he can.

Here's a recipe for a yummy and easy garlic and lentil soup:

225g red lentils, rinsed and drained (no need to soak overnight, but make sure you get rid of any grit or dirt if you buy them loose); 2 medium onions finely chopped, 2 or 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped, 1 large carrot finely chopped, 30ml olive oil, 2 bay leaves, good pinch of marjoram or oregano, 1.5 litres vegetable stock, 2 tbs red wine vinegar, salt, freshly ground black pepper, celery leaves to garnish if you have them.

Put all the ingredients in a biggish sucepan, except for vinegar and seasoning; bring to the boil, then simmer for 1.5 hrs, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking  Remove bay leaves and add the vinegar, with salt & pepper to taste  If you want a thinner soup, add water or more stock.  Serve in heated bowls, garnished with the celery leaves.  Pretty good with warm crusty rolls, or just on its own, and just as good re-heated for a second meal.

Now, where's that umbrella...