Green Beans with Potatoes (Judias verdes con patatas)

This is a traditional seasonal dish in Spain but now it is eaten year round. It is a very simple dish to make before a second course of meat or fish, or it can be served for supper as a single course. Usually is topped with a drizzle of oil and vinegar or a light alioli or béarnaise sauce on the side.

Ingredients:


5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes
1 lb. green beans, tips removed
4 cloves garlic, chopped
salt
olive oil
vinegar
alioli
or béarnaise sauce


Boil the potatoes with salt. When they are half cooked add the green beans. When the potatoes and beans are tender, strain them. In another pan sauté the garlic, then add the beans and potatoes and sauté a bit more. Serve on a plater along with "vinagreras" to drizzle vinegar and oil, alioli, or béarnaise sauce, and let every person add what they like.

Tuna Stew (Marmitako)

"Marmitako" is a traditional dish from the Basque Country. The name comes from the word marmita (pot) and the suffix ko (from), so it means from the pot. It traditionally made with tuna but today salmon is also used. This is the food that was elaborated in a pot on the tuna fishing boats. A dish that the fisherman ate and still eat, but now it has passed along to everyone's kitchen and it is not exclusive of the fishermen. In Cantabria, a region bordering the Basque Country, it is also known as marmita or sorropotún. 
Marmitako is a very popular dish and in many towns and cities they have cooking competitions. Many men compete and there is a reason for this. In the Basque Country it is very typical that  groups of male friends organize themselves in what it is called txokos -  gastronomical societies where no women are allowed. The txoko is a place where men get together to cook and experiment in the kitchen. They have had a big influence in maintaining and promoting Basque cuisine.

Ingredients:

1 pound tuna (1 thick tuna steak) cut in bite size cubes

1 onion finely chopped

1 green bell pepper finely chopped

6 large yukon gold potatoes in chunks (tear off the pieces with a knife instead of cutting so you expose the starch)

1 dry choricero dried pepper or dried chile ancho

1/4 tablespoon sweet Spanish smoked paprika (I add a bit more because we like the smoky flavor)

1/4 tablespoon  picante Spanish smoked paprika

1 cup white wine

fish broth or water to cover the ingredients

Salt and pepper to taste

In a pot or "marmita" put a tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onion and green pepper until the onion gets translucent. Add the potatoes, stirring them well. Then add the paprika and stir well for a couple of minutes but be careful not to burn it. Otherwise it will give a bitter flavor. Season with salt and pepper.Add the glass of wine let it reduce. Then add the fish broth or water to cover the potatoes and then add the seedless dried pepper cut in half lengthwise to rehydrate. Cook everything on a medium to low heat. After an hour remove the dried pepper and spoon the meat out of the skin with a spoon, putting the meat back in the pot. When the potatoes are done, add the tuna cubes and turn off the heat.

Serve in a soup bowl or plate, add some homemade croutons or fried bread croutons, and some crunchy micro greens.

Potato and Leek Soup (Purrusalda)

"Purrusalda" is a Basque dish of potatoes and leeks, ingredients that are abundant in northern Spain. When my brother was little he fell a couple of times into empty swimming pools and both times he blamed the "purrusalda" for his misfortune, alleging that it made him dizzy. One day, he came home from a friend's house and when my Mom asked what he had for lunch he responded: "A wonderful dish of leeks and potatoes." I guess it is always better in somebody else's house. The moral of the story: When your kid doesn't like something, send him/her to a friend's home.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
5 Large Potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes
4 medium Leeks
5 Garlic Cloves
Chicken Stock 
1 Slice of Fried Bread per person

In a deep pan put the olive oil and garlic and then fry the bread on both sides. Remove the bread and then add the leeks. Stir and add the potatoes and the chicken stock to cover them. Let it simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Rib and Potato Stew (Estofado de Costillas con Patatas)

Stews, they are cooked for a long time, and they have the great quality of tenderizing meats that otherwise will be tough. This is the case with this dish that after a 3 hour cooking process, the meat falls from the bone.

Ingredients:


2 Pounds of Ribs
6-7 Potatoes Cut in Quarters
2 Onions
1 Large Garlic Head 
1 Green Pepper
2 Tablespoons Smoked Paprika
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4 Cups Chicken Stock, to cover the pot


In a pan put olive oil, add the ribs, and brown each side to sear the meat. Take them from the pan and put them aside. When you are done, you can start the stew. In a deep pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil, add the onions, garlic, and pepper. Cook it for about 10 minutes, add the ribs, and the smoked paprika. Stirring together very quickly, add the potatoes. Finally, add the chicken stock. Let it simmer for about 2 hours. At this point you can add the peas and let it cook for about an hour, or when the potatoes are done and the ribs fall from their bone.

Thanksgiving Dinner

If you can afford to spend a few more cents per pound. I recommend buying a fresh turkey. We have always bought it fresh with great success and yes, it makes a difference. We also brine the bird starting the night before it is cook.

Turkey with all the fixings gravy, squash, garlic potatoes, chestnuts and cranberry sauce

To brine the turkey:


After removing the giblets, wash the turkey and place it in a gallon of water with 1 cup kosher salt, (sal gorda). If you need to add an additional gallon of water to cover the turkey, then you add 1/2 cup salt. We place the bird in a 2 gallon container with the brine (these containers are easy to find in home improvement stores in the paint and tile section) and weigh it down to keep it submerged  overnight in a cool place.


Stuffing:


There are many recipes for the stuffing/dressing. I am going to use my husband's grandmother's very traditional recipe that can be multiplied to serve more people..


4 Cups Fresh Bread Cubes
1 Cup Chopped Onion
1/2 Cup Chopped Celery
1/2 Teaspoon Powdered Sage
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1-2 Cups Chicken Broth
Butter


Cook the onions and the celery in butter for 5 minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients. The miixture should be moist. Stuff the inside of the turkey with the mixture after the turkey has roasted for about an hour. More stuffing can be finished in a separate pan in the oven.


To roast the turkey:

Rinse the turkey and pat dry after you have taken it out of the brine. Rub it with butter to cover the whole bird and put it in a roasting pan in a preheated oven at 325 degrees to roast 20 minutes per pound.
Baste every half hour and if you see it getting brown cover with  aluminum foil. Yesterday a friend, Kathy, gave us a new way to roast the turkey inside a brown paper bag.


Cranberry Sauce:


1 Pound Cranberries
2 - 3 Cups Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Sugar


In a pan place the orange juice, the cranberries (they are bitter) and the sugar. Cook and let it reduce until the cranberries are open. Taste for a balance in bitterness and sweetness.


Mashed Potatoes:


1 Garlic Head
12 Medium Potatoes
Salt
Cream
Butter to Brown the Top

Peel and cut the potatoes (Yellow Yukon Gold) and boil them with a head of garlic until tender,when done, strain any excess liquid. Then mash the potatoes and garlic with a masher and add cream until they are smooth and velvety. Put the mashed potatoes in a pan with slices of butter and place under the broiler until the top gets to be a golden color.

Rioja Style Potatoes (Patatas a la Riojana)

"Patatas a la riojana," as the name indicates, is a dish from the Rioja region of Spain that is famous for its wines.  The preparation is simple and the results are delicious.

  
Ingredients: 


2 pounds Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 Green Pepper, diced
1 Onion, diced
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
Olive Oil
1 Bay Leaf
1 small dried Cayenne Pepper
3/4 tablespoon sweet Paprika
2 Spanish Chorizo links, sliced
Water
Salt and Pepper to taste


Sautee the green pepper, onion and garlic in oil until tender.  Add the potatoes, bay leaf, cayenne pepper, paprika, and chorizo. Cover with water and add salt an pepper.  Cook for approximately 40 minutes on low heat.  Serve with bread.  You will love it!

Patatas Bravas

"Patatas Bravas" is another tapa staple of Spain, they are known simply as "bravas." Everyone has their own recipe for the brava sauce. I just want to emulate the flavors of my favorite bravas and those ones are in the "Bar Tomás" in Barcelona on Calle Mayor de Sarria and They are worth a trip to eat a few plates of bravas with a tooth pick. The potatoes come with two sauces one made of vinegar and hot paprika and this is my guess; the other is just an alioli (a garlic mayonnaise.)

Ingredients:


2 Large Potatoes
Vegetable Oil to cover 1/2 of a quart pan
salt


Red Sauce:


1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Garlic Clove
1/2 Tablespoon Flour or any other thickener
1/2 Tablespoon Hot Paprika
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
Water


In a sauce pan put the olive oil and the garlic clove when the garlic turns golden brown remove it from the pan. Make sure that the pan is on low heat. Add the flour, paprika and vinegar, about 2 tablespoons, leave them about 10 to 15 minutes and finally add the water and stir to thicken. 


Alioli Sauce:


2 Garlic Cloves
2 Egg Yolks
Olive Oil
Salt
4 drops of lemon


In a blender, on the lowest speed, we put the garlic until it is puréed, add the yolks and the olive oil little by little. It has to get the consistency of mayonnaise, when this is done add salt and lemon.


Cut the potatoes in cubes or in this case I used an apple core peeler to give that round look.
Heat the oil and add the potatoes until done. Remove from the pan and let them sit on a paper towel, add the salt.


Serve on a plate any way you like.

Potatoes in Green Sauce (Patatas en Salsa Verde)

This is a traditional Basque dish, the green sauce is also used for clams. The parsley gives the green color.

Ingredients:


4 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Cup Parsley
1 Leek or more if you really like them
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Small Green Pepper or 1/2 Big One
1 Chicken Bouillon
6 Medium Red Potatoes


Peal the potatoes and cut them in half and then in thirds. In a blender, put the parsley and garlic until finely chopped and mixed. In a pan we put the olive oil, the leek, green pepper and the parsley-garlic mix, then stir everything. Add the potatoes and the chicken bouillon. Cover the potatoes with water, bring it to a boil, and simmer until potatoes are tender.  

Sauté Swiss Chard with Garbanzo beans and Potatoes

Who could say that Swiss Chard can be so good? This is a great way for kids to eat vegetables.

Top it with some purple and fingerlings fried potatoes

Ingredients:


2 Bunches of Swiss Chard, chopped
1 Can Garbanzo Beans
Potatoes sliced and fried
Garlic finely chopped
Garlic Sliced
Olive Oil
Salt


Put the Swiss chard in a pan with water and salt and boil until the chard is tender.Strain the chard and place in another pan where you have fried and removed the sliced garlic so as to infuse the oil.  Add the garbanzo beans and sauté with the chopped garlic. Then garnish with fries, sliced garlic and serve.

Potatoes

Oh, the potato. This is one of those products that is versatile and nutritious, maybe like no other. You can have it fried, broiled, boiled, baked, scalloped, mashed, dried,in dumplings, in pancakes, etc.  It is known in the botanical world as "Solanum Tuberosum" and its origin is in the Andes, Peru.  It is a tuber, grows underground and has a high content of starch, and Vitamins C, B6, magnesium, potassium and fiber among others.

Red, great for boiling; Yukon, fantastic for mashed potatoes; Fingerling, for stews and Purple, for stews and fried.

The Spaniards introduced the potato to Europe at the end of the XVI century. The Spaniards didn't know what to do with it, but it is believed they ate it boiled. Little by little, it spread through Europe. At the time grains were more important, until farmers and peasants realized the nutritional value of the potato, the easiness to grow and store. By the XVIII century, the Irish depended on the potato in their diets, but poor genetic improvement of the potato made it very vulnerable to disease. In the famine years of 1845-1852, 1,000,000 Irish died and 1,000,000 more emigrated from Ireland. There are more than 4000 varieties of potatoes and there is also a museum dedicated just to the potato: "The Potato Museum" in New Mexico.


Tip: The potato absorbs a lot of salt, so when you got carried away with the salt on a dish add a potato cut in quarters.

Spanish Omelet (Tortilla de Patatas)

We could say that this is the national dish of Spain. It's the best known with the paella and sangria. This is a staple that you will find in all "Tapas Bars." It's very versatile and essay to make.

Ingredients for basic Tortilla:

6 Eggs

5 potatoes

Olive oil

Salt

I add to mine:

1/2 Onion

1/2 Leek

1/2 Green Pepper

The National dish of Spain

Peel and cut in small pieces the potatoes, onions, leek and peppers. Put in a pan with enough olive oil to cover the potatoes. First, we add the onions, leeks and peppers when the onion starts changing color, add the potatoes, and cook medium to low heat until the potatoes are done.

Wisk the eggs and add the potatoes, not the oil, and salt, you can be generous with the salt because potatoes absorb it. In a non- stick pan add about a table spoon of olive oil, and add to the mix. We let it cook from one side, then take a plate put it on top of the pan and turn it 360˚. Now we can cook the other side. When done serve it with roasted red peppers, on a slide of "pan amb tomaquet", with a green salad, etc.

Add "Pan amb Tomaquet" and arugula salad, yum!

The great Spanish chef, Ferran Adriá, created a recipe in case you are in a hurry. he substituted the cooking of the potatoes, for kettle chips.