Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
1 large roasted red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, smashed
1/2 cup hazelnuts or slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 cup tomato purée
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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Procedure
1. Pulse red bell pepper, garlic, nuts, tomato puree, parsley, sherry vinegar, paprika, and cayenne pepper in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Slowly drizzle olive oil. Process until desired chunkiness or smoothness. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Serve!
Cojonudo
Ingredients
1 dozen quail eggs
12 slices of a baguette
12 Slices of Spanish chorizo
Spanish virgin olive oil for frying
Romesco sauce
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Procedure
1. Toast baguette.
2. Gently fry quail eggs in olive oil.
3. Fry chorizo in olive oil.
4. Layer baguette with romesco sauce. Top with quail egg and chorizo.
5. Serve!
Pulpo a la Gallega
Ingredients
1 kilo octopus
Spanish paprika
Spicy paprika
Salt
Spanish olive oil
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Procedure
1. Beat octopus with rolling pin. Bring water to boil. Braise for 50 minutes.
2. Cool octopus. Slice into thin rounds.
3. Douse generously with olive oil and paprika.
4. Serve!
Setas al Ajillo
Ingredients
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons olive oil
300g assorted mushroom (button, oyster, shimeiji, enoki, shiitake), wiped clean with paper towels
1/2 cup white wine
Flat-leaf parsley
Salt
Pepper
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Procedure
1. Heat up a cast iron pan until sizzling hot. Add olive oil. Pan roast mushrooms until semi-charred yet firm.
2. Lower heat. Add garlic and toss.
3. Drizzle with white wine.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Top with parsley.
5. Serve!
Paella Valenciana
Ingredients
Soffrito
5 tablespoons Spanish olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste or finely chopped
1 small can whole tomato
Salt
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
Saffron
Seafood
Squid rings
1 dozen tiger shrimp
1 dozen mussels
Rice
2 cups arborio rice
3 cups seafood or chicken stock, plus more if needed
1 cup dry white wine
Garnish
Roasted red bell pepper
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Preparation
1. Make soffrito. Heat olive oil over low heat. Caramelize onion slowly for 10-20 minutes. Add garlic and canned whole tomatoes in olive oil. Simmer until well sweated and until tomato achieves a jam-like consistency. Flavor with paprika and saffron. You may do this a day in advance.
2. Saute rice and soffrito.
3. Boil stock and wine in a separate pot. Slowly pour stock over the rice, stir and spread rice evenly. Cook for 15-20 minutes until done. During the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, arrange seafood. Cover rice with foil.
4. Arrange roasted bell pepper on top of paella.
5. Serve.
Mojo Pork Belly
Ingredients
Marinade
3 limes
Lime zest
Orange zest
Lemon zest
10 garlic cloves, peeled
4 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon coarse salt
3 1/2+ pound pork belly
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Procedure
1. Puree Marinade. Cover pork belly with marinade. Store in a ziploc bag and marinate overnight.
2. Thaw marinated pork belly. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
3 Bake pork belly for 3 hours until crispy. Rotate tray mid-way.
4. Allow pork belly to rest.
5. Serve!
Spanish Spice Rubbed Steak with Grilled Asparagus
Ingredients
Tbone or Ribeye at least 1.5” thick.
Flaky sea salt
Pepper
Spanish Paprika
Mustard
Fennel
Asparagus
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Procedure
1. Heat cast iron griddle (you can also use a heavy bottom pan with low sides) until smoking hot. You will know it’s hot enough if you can no longer put your hand over the cast iron griddle or if a droplet of water sizzles and evaporates in a nanosecond.
2. Pat steak dry with paper towel. Moist steak will not brown properly. Season steak liberally with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Rub with Spanish paprika, mustard, and fennel.
3. Grill one side of the steak until grill marks or brown crust forms, about 2 minutes. Flip gently. Grill the other side of the steak until grill marks form, about 45 seconds. Steak should remain pink in the center (medium rare). Cook longer for medium steak.
4. Transfer steak to a wire rack to rest. Grill asparagus until nicely charred and tender.
5. Serve!
Almond Tart
Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz, with slight variations
Ingredients
Pre-made tart or pie shell
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (80 g) sliced almonds
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier or Amaretto
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Procedure
1. Pre-bake tart or pie shell according to package
2. Mix cream, sugar, and salt and slowly bring to boil, stirring continuously. Upon foaming, remove pot from heat and add almond, vanilla extract, liqueur.
3. Spread mixture in pre-baked tart or pie shell. Make sure layering is even. Put tart with filling in oven.
4. Set the alarm for 10 minutes. Take out the tart and gently crack the tart's surface. Return tart in oven and check every 6 minutes. If sugar crust forms, gently crack it. Continute baking until filling slowly caramelizes. When tart filling is golden with flecks of cream, remove from oven. Ideal baking time is 30 minutes. Cool tart slightly until it sets. Top with Mantecado ice cream.
5. Serve!