Mad About Spanish Food

Here in Algorfa, we're close to the border with Murcia, and when we venture to Mar Menor, we're in Murcia proper. Last week, it was my husband Tony's 80th birthday, and his daughter and her husband flew across from the UK, together with his granddaughter and her fiance. Once the birthday was out of the way, we took them out and about, and as they'd never been to Mar Menor, we thought that would make a good trip, even in January. It was a sunny but windy day, and we walked along Calle Campoamor and found a pocket of sheltered sunshine.

That pocket of sheltered sunshine occurred right outside Casa Miguel, so we sat down and ordered some drinks. No food, as we were booked into a restaurant for the evening. However, along with the drinks came two huge plates of Murcian Salad. On the one plate was the traditional mix of tomatoes, black olives, onions, tuna, peppers and egg. On the other plate  was the tomato, onion and pepper base, but with seafood - mussels, calamare rings, crab sticks, octopus and prawns.

I thought for a moment that my Spanish had let me down, and they thought we were going to eat, but this is the regular tapas at Casa Miguel. And when we ordered another drink, we got two more plates of Murcian salad. All that, overlooking Mar Menor with the sun on your face. It really doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Personally, I think that big ones and small ones both have their merits, so I'm not too concerned about size. As long as it tastes good, I don't mind what size my tomato is. What was that? You thought I meant something else? Wash your mind out with soap - this is a family friendly blog!

Here in Spain, we're lucky enough to have a wide variety of tomatoes available, all year round, and the choice can be a bit baffling sometimes. I love those small sweet cherry tomatoes. I always keep some in the fridge to snack on, and they're ideal for the buffet table.

I like to put out a dish of multi coloured cherry tomatoes, so people can just pick them up as they go past. I also make some mini kebabs as tapas with a cherry tomato, an olive, a square of Manchego cheese and a chunk of pepper. I make up a batch, then drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. It's a quick, tasty, healthy tapa, and it always go down well.

At the moment, there are a lot of beefsteak tomatoes around, and they are so full of flavour. Last week, we had beefburgers for tea. I cooked them in the halogen oven, and also prepared a dish of chopped onions, tossed in olive  oil, and a couple of slices of beefsteak tomato, which I cooked on the lower rack of the oven. When everything was cooked, I served the slices of tomato on top of the burgers, with the onions underneath. It made a tasty change from relish.

Beefsteak tomatoes are also handy for grating - one tomato will do a big dish of tomato paste, and it will keep for at least a week in the fridge. That's handy to put on tuna sandwiches, or on your toast in the mornings.

And if I want a light supper, I'll halve a couple of beefsteak tomatoes, then scoop out the flesh and cook it with some chopped mushrooms, celery and onions. If I have some cooked brown rice around, I'll mix in some of that, otherwise I'll use some prepared breadcrumbs with garlic and parsley, then add an egg to bind it all together. Then I pile the mixture into the tomato shells, cover with grated cheese and brown under the grill. Delicious!

So, does size matter to you? What's your favourite way to serve up lovely fresh Spanish tomatoes?

One thing I never ate before coming to Spain was rabbit. Just the thought of eating Bugs Bunny or one of his pals made my stomach turn somersaults. However, the first time I went to a fiesta in Algorfa and had a helping of the obligatory paella, there was rabbit in it - which I didn't know until I'd cleared the plate and pronounced it delicious.

I then decided that I was going to serve up more rabbit, but that resolve soon changed when I saw those big eyes looking at me from the 'conejo entero' in the chiller cabinet. So, rabbit was off the menu once again, although I did order it a couple of times when we ate out.

Then a couple of weeks back, Lidl started stocking packs of half a jointed rabbit for just 3.50 Euro, so I bought one, dashed home and perused my Spanish cook books. The only recipe for which I had all the ingredients was marinated rabbit, but even then, it sounded a bit too Spanish for us, with 6 cloves of garlic, so I adapted the recipe and came up with a wonderful supper.

In the pack of meat there were some ribs with quite a bit of meat attached, and also some liver. I set those aside, and used them as the basis for a rabbit and lentil stew, along with some serrano ham taquitos (lardons).

For the main dish, I made a marinade with the juice of a lemon, plus a strip of peel, a large glass of dry white wine, a bay leaf, thyme and parsley, 2 cloves of garlic and a finely chopped leek. Then I added salt and pepper, and put the rabbit into the marinade.

Leave it for a minimum of 6 hours, but it can go overnight if you wish. The original recipe called for 6 cloves of garlic and a finely chopped onion, but because I was cutting down on the garlic, I used a leek, for more flavour. And I added parsley as well as thyme so we didn't end up with garlic breath! Use a glass or plastic bowl for the marinade, rather than metal, because of the lemon juice.

Once marinated, dry the rabbit on kitchen paper, coat it with flour and fry until it's golden brown. Then add the marinade and other ingredients, and a little vegetable or chicken stock. The rabbit needs to be well covered, with enough liquid to allow for evaporation. I also added some sliced mushrooms and peppers, for a little colour and an extra hit of vegetables.

You can cook it on the hob or in the oven. I decided to do it in my new toy - my halogen oven - so I started off the vegetables for around 10 minutes, before adding the other ingredients.

The recipe said cook for around 30 - 40 minutes, and I was a bit incredulous about this, but of course the marinading time tenderises the rabbit. Since then, I've experimented and used orange instead of lemon. That also gives a good result, although as you might guess, the flavour is completely different.

All in all, it was a wonderful meal, and economical too, as I got a stew out of it for the next day. If, like me, you're a bit nervous or squeamish about preparing and cooking rabbit, why not give these prepared packs from Lidl a try?