IAN & SPAIN

It's Torrija time! Torrijas are a typical recipe at Easter, so there is clearly no better time than the present to give this heavenly treat a go! And if you like them you don't need to wait until next Easter to make them again, just crack on! They are really easy to make.

It basically consists of a few slices of Torrija bread, soaked in plenty of milk or sweet white wine, previously infused with citrus peel and other spices. It is a very easy recipe to make and it is absolutely delicious. Here I am going to give you both recipes for making Torrijas; either with wine or milk.

INGREDIENTS FOR ABOUT 15 TORRIJAS:

300g of special bread for Torrijas - available in your local bakery or Mercadona - (you can use a loaf of brioche if you can find Torrija bread)
Orange and lemon peel.
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 branch of vanilla
800ml of sweet white wine or 800ml of milk
2 eggs
Vegetable Oil, to fry them
200g of sugar (only if they are milk or if you are making the syrup option)
3 tablespoons of sugar and one of ground cinnamon

Steps to follow:

1.- If we are going to make them with wine, heat 800 ml of sweet white wine together with the citrus peels, the vanilla and the cinnamon stick and, just before it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and let it cool down. The wine will be impregnated with the flavour of cinnamon, vanilla and citrus but it may be very rich for some of you, but this is the traditional way.

If necessary, to weaken the intensity of the wine, something that is often done is to only use only 400 ml of wine and prepare a syrup with 400 ml of hot water and 200 g of sugar (maintaining 800 ml of liquid). Then you mix and heat it with the same ingredients as before.

2.- If we make them with milk, we put the milk in a bowl, together with the same ingredients as with the wine, but also adding 200g of sugar. We heat the milk with all these ingredients and, just before it starts to boil (we don't want the milk to boil as it takes on an unpleasant taste), cover the bowl, and let it infuse for at least 2 hours.

3.- Cut the bread into slices, if it is not already cut. They should be 2 or 3cm thick. Lie them flat in a large container, such as the baking tray, leaving a small gap between one slice and another.

4.- Pour the liquid of choice over them: wine or milk, previously strained to eliminate the citrus peels, cinnamon and vanilla. Let everything rest for about 5 minutes so that the bread soaks up and absorbs the wine or milk.

5.- After 5 minutes turn the slices over one by one so that they can start soaking up on the other side. Leave them for another 5 minutes.

6.- Now, we are going to dip the Torrijas in beaten egg and fry them. Do this very carefully because the bread will be very soggy and can easily fall apart. So one by one, pick them up carefully with your hands or a spatula, and dunk them in the egg and then fry them in abundant and very hot vegetable oil (180ºC). Fry for about 1 minute on both sides. Then let them rest on some kitchen towel.

7.- Finally, when you have fried all the Torrijas and they have cooled down a little, we need to mix three tablespoons of sugar on a plate and a tablespoon of ground cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of the Torrijas.

Now they are ready to eat! However, it is better to eat them once they have cooled down completely. It is not necessary to refrigerate them and they will last for several days but, the truth is, they will probably be eaten before they go bad!

Enjoy!

There are times when we just simply lack the time or even the desire to cook and as a result we all too often resort to the so-called fast-food or ready-made meals. A good alternative is to resort to a healthy express recipe that is still homemade but with a few shortcuts. One example is this recipe for "White Beans & king Prawns" that you can have ready in 15 minutes and put a smile on everyone's face.

If you find this recipe useful and would like more express versions of traditional Spanish recipes just let me know in the comments section and I will do my best to share some more!

Ingredients for 4 people:

1  Jar white cooked beans - 400 g
12 Large king prawns (Gambones in a Spanish supermarket - frozen are fine)
2 tablespoons of fried tomato in olive oil - jar 
4 Garlic cloves
1 Medium onion
1 Tablespoon of chopped parsley
500ml fish or seafood stock - I prefer seafood stock - enough to cover all the ingredients and a little more which will evaporate off during the cook. 

Although we can make this recipe by cooking the beans fresh and preparing a homemade fish or seafood fumet, I assure you that this express version has nothing to be ashamed of. Trust me!

• First, start by breaking off the heads and then peel the prawns and clean them. You can butterfly them by cutting a line along the back and also remove the black thread (digestive tract). 
• Pour the stock into a pan add the prawn heads - heat the stock and squash down the prawn heads to release their flavour. Let the stock boil for a few minutes.
• Now we need to prepare the sauce by frying the finely chopped onion, the garlic cloves, also finely chopped, and two tablespoons of fried tomato. Fry together for five minutes. Meanwhile, wash the beans well.
• Now add the prawns to the pan and cook them for about 2 minutes. Add the beans to the saucepan and then add the stock (pass the stock through a sieve first). Salt to taste, add the parsley and then cook it all together for about 3-5 minutes on high heat to reduce the stock a little. If you like it a little spicy, now is the time to add a couple of dried chilis. 

Now all you have to do is serve with a side of crispy bread and a green salad.

There are many interpretations of the Spanish omelette: completely cooked all the way through, moist but slightly cooked in the middle and still runny almost raw in the middle.  It wasn't until I lived in Madrid that I discovered the full potential of whisked eggs and a few potatoes. It was then that I discovered eggcellence! Forgive the pun! But in Madrid, they do omelettes differently. They are largely golden and runny. So, if you happen to be fussy about raw egg or harbour a fear of salmonella poisoning, this is where to stop reading. 

One of the best places I remember was Bodega de La Ardosa, a taberna which was established in 1892 but its history as a taberna goes back a further 100 years and was even regularly frequented by the famous painter Goya in 1799. A very traditional bar that offers excellent products and popular Spanish tapas made with authentic culinary talent. Joselito ham, squid, salmorrejo, 'ajoarriero', salted cod, the list is extensive ...but I could never resist their very famous Spanish potato omelette, which is made continuously throughout the day due to such high demand. The bar is run by Angel Monje and officiated by his mother, Concepcion Marfil, who has what is considered the "special touch" when it comes to tortilla española. Her omelette has no special ingredients or any secret recipe; it is quite simply incredibly tasty. It all comes down to temperature, timing and quality of ingredients. Orchestrating all three to perfection, she produces an omelette from the Gods. 

She uses five medium Monalisa potatoes, seven eggs, half a large onion, Lorietta extra virgin olive oil, from the region Montes de Toledo (variety Cornicabra) and salt. Just before preparing each omelette, she peels the potatoes, washes them and cuts with a knife, widthwise, with a length of about 3 centimetres and a thickness of between 2 and 3 millimetres. She tosses them into a bowl, along with the julienned onion and salt. Meanwhile, she has placed a frying pan with plenty of oil over medium heat. Hot, but not smoking, she adds the potatoes with the onion, where they remain covered by the oil, frying more than cooking, but never over a very strong flame, always medium heat, for about fifteen minutes. During that time, she moves the potatoes every three minutes, so that they are all done equally, homogeneously. After the quarter of an hour, approximately, she takes them out and leaves them in a container to drain the oil, for which he uses a slotted spoon, with which she presses them lightly to help release the oil. She beat the eggs in a bowl until they are fluffy and aerated. 

She adds the potatoes and the onion. It is kept together for just half a minute, just enough to be able to mix and distribute the egg, potatoes and onions evenly. She places a small, but deep cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Drizzles some extra virgin olive oil over the pan and spread it all over the base and the side of the pan. When it is hot, but not smoking, she adds the tortilla mix, just half a minute, constantly running the slotted spoon around the outer edges. She turns it over using a plate and cooks the other side for half a minute too, curving the edges in the same way with the slotted spoon. Then she takes out and serves. Sounds simple right? But it takes many many omelettes to achieve perfection and this is utter eggcellence!