Spoon foods

Spoon foods are, strictly speaking, defined as a diet that does not require chewing. Porridge, as you know it, is not typically meant by that in Andalusia. It's not eaten. Besides, you can only buy oat flakes that by no means is a rich variety, and they are not used for anything other than baking here. Rather, thick soups and stews are beloved spoon foods (guisos) in Andalusia, especially during the cold season. They are considered heavy food because of high content of protein requiring more blood to flow into the digestion tracts since they are prepared with lightly fried meat, fish or other food and slow cooked in sauce with dried and soaked legumes, fresh vegetables and potatoes. Meat (take beef, bacon, ribs, cured ham and sausages or blood sausages for example) or fish (e.g. cod) are cooked in oil, boiled in water or stewed with plants (including pods of beans, chickpeas or lentils) in a large stewing pan or casserole dish.

Great variety of Mediterranean legumes

Spoon foods have always been enjoyed by Spanish people at home and are today regular items even on the most select bar and restaurant menus under such names (in Spanish) as guiso, cocido, guisado, puchero, olla, pote, potaje etc. They were already made famous in Cervantes’s Don Quixote, being in his time (1547-1616) considered poor people’s food. So what! One cannot really argue love for traditional flavours!

Potaje de tagarninas

Andalusian spoon foods are usually meaty and fatty, crazy rich, and not exclusively beef and/or pork based, but may also contain kid, lamb, poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) and/or giblets (liver, cheek, tongue, oxtail). Vegetables used are often seasonal, like artichokes (alcachofas) in spring. Rice, corn and peas are not common ingredients in these dishes, but the noodles sure are. And, of course, not a single miracle is to be expected in the kitchen of Andalusia without laurel and fresh herbs. Also, wine can be used while stewing, and beaten egg yolks can be stirred into the broth at the last minute before serving.

Now, a recipe for you to try at home:

Lentils Stew (Potaje de Lentejas)

Ingredients:

- Lentils

- Garlic

- Onion

- Green pepper (the one used for frying)

- Tomato

- Potatoes

- Carrots

- Laurel

- Paprika (i.e. mild powdered seasoning)

- Olive oil

- Water

- Parsley

- Salt

- Chorizos

Preparation:

Soak dry lentils (handful for every person and an extra handful, just in case) overnight (let's say, for 8-10 hours) in tap water. Throw the water away and rinse the lentils after soaking, put the lentils into a pot, chop vegetables (3-4 cloves of garlic, an onion or a half, a pepper, a tomato, 1-2 potatoes, 1-2 carrots) finely (I mean, really finely, like the same size as the little lentils) and add to the lentils together with 1-2 leaves of laurel and a spoonful of paprika, cover them with a glass of olive oil and water. Place the pot onto the stove and bring the water to a boil. Turn the burner on to low and simmer the food until fully cooked, for more than an hour. Take an occasional peek into the pot to make sure it hasn't gone dry. When cooked, add a little salt and parsley to taste. Boil the skinned and cut (into some serving pieces) sausages (use smaller chorizos) in another pot. Take them out of the water and place them onto the ready stew some time before serving to let them flavour it.

And, some possible changes to have a dish I love most:

At my home this stew-like thick soup is almost completely vegetarian as made without meat or fat, except that of low fat stock. So, I don't use any olive oil nor fatty spicy sausages, but some cayenne pepper to season instead.

Beginning of Lent

It's Ash Wednesday today, the beginning of Lent and the most solemn period of the Roman Catholic year. Lent (Cuaresma) is an effort to relive Jesus's forty-day fast in the wilderness and is regarded as a time of ascetic preparation for Easter. Catholic Lent is a period of 40 days, not including Sundays, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending at midnight on Easter Saturday. The meaning of all this is to reduce one's "bodily pleasures" for the duration of Lent but commonly it's about not eating any meat on Ash Wednesday and fridays. Ash Wednesday is named after the practice of burning the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday and placing blessed ashes in the form of crosses on churchgoers' foreheads as a reminder that “man is but dust” when faced with God and a reminder to fast, pray and confess. Generally, Lent is a time of penitence in preparation for reaffirming baptism at Easter during which Catholics choose to “give up” something they like (meat, chocolate, alcohol, etc.) or give of themselves through service.

All the cultures have their periods of abstinence (of bodily purification, of physiological hygine) that have granted them, like to everything important in the ancient world, the sacred and religious nature. In the Gospel of Matthew there is a phrase that condemns this torture: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face...” (Matthew 6:16-17). This is why Andalusians fast with joy and pride. To some forty days on fish and seafood could be a real torture, but not to them. Making something out of little is what their forefathers learned during the times of severe poverty and what is still in their genetic memory. So, they say here in Andalusia that everyone can cook meat, but cooking meatless food that tastes fabulous needs imagination. Hence, they do not only cook fish but also dishes prepared using fish stock as they go through Lent, and have, as they still bother to prepare vegetables for dinner, truly mastered creative cooking. Some typical delicious low-cost dishes for Lent that are prepared in Andalusian homes and restaurant kitchens are fried cod in batter (pavías de bacalao), fisherman's rice (arroz a banda), potatoes “of importance” (patatas a la importancia), spinach and chickpea stew (guiso de garbanzos con espinacas), scrambled eggs with tagarninas (revuelto de tagarninas con huevos), chickpea stew (potaje de garbanzos), lentil and artichoke stew (guiso de lentejas con corazones de alcachofas), and for the dessert (postre), rice pudding (arroz con leche), for example. In the pastry shops (pastelerías), you will find sweets which are only made during Lent and the Easter Season. In Seville, these are pestiños (small fried cinnamon pastries), torrijas (bread soaked in milk and fried in batter with sugar) and huesos de santo (filled marzipan rolls).

Here's a recipe to try at home:

Potatoes “of importance” (Patatas a la importancia)

Ingedients for 4 persons are 4-6 potatoes, 3 eggs, 1 onion, 2-4 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 sprig of parsley, 6 strands of saffron, water or chicken broth, and salt. Peel, wash and cut the potatoes into rounds approximately 1 cm thick; season them. Put the flour in one dish and beat the eggs in another. Put the potatoes in the flour and then into the beaten egg. Fry in plenty of hot oil. Make a paste with the garlic, saffron, parsley and salt. Heat 3 spoonfuls of oil and cook the peeled and chopped onion until it begins to brown. Add 1 spoonful of flour, stir rapidly and add the paste, without stopping stirring. Put the potatoes in a casserole, pour the prepared mixture over them and add 2 cups of water or broth. Place on the heat and, when it begins to boil, correct the seasoning and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take off the heat, sprinkle with chopped parsley and put into a fairly hot oven, letting them cook for another 5-10 minutes. Serve in the same dish. You can also put some potatoes in their sauce on each plate and serve with a bit of parsley or chopped boiled egg on top.

And, just in case, a video tutorial (in Spanish):

The Making of "Patatas a la Importancia"

This is more or less what the finished dish should look like.