August Fair in Málaga

It's not about Seville. The August Fair (Feria de Agosto) is the Málaga Fair that takes place every August in Málaga with its two entertainment zones: "Night Fair" in Cortijo de Torres neighbourhood and "Day Fair" in the historic center of the city. In 2013, it's on August 17-24.

Poster of the Málaga Fair by Alberto Villén. Image from www.diariosur.es

Vespa dressed up for the Fair. Image taken from a Facebook page

Fried fish and other specialities at the Fair stands in Málaga. Image taken from here

Stay in touch with the latest news on the event on Twitter, Facebook or news site SUR.es. 

As always from late June to the end of August. Las Pavías

There's an annual serial event called Las Pavías taking place again on the public library patio in front of my house organised by the local Brotherhood every summer weekend night starting at 21.00 PM that rallies the entire neighbourhood into action.

Poster of the event. Image by the Sacramental Brotherhood of Tomares

It's a public-spirited eating and "spending time" event in essence, a perfect way to pass a Saturday or Sunday night with fine outdoor dining in a pleasant atmosphere of a pedestrian patio, surrounded by friends and neighbours. Quite noisy and messy, but relaxing, and all for a good cause and at affordable prices that do not exceed two euros. The earnings are intended for the Brotherhood purposes, such as social work, repairs and incidentals, which are not adequately funded through general contibutions.

The ambience of the event. Image from the news site ABCdesevilla.es

What they have for the people to enjoy is a wide variety of traditional snack and sandwich choices, together with some mandatory homemade desserts, such as three chocolate cake, rice pudding, tiramisù, crème caramel, sponge cake or something else of the kind. The stars of the night, obviously, being strips of desalted codfish, marinated in a mixture of lemon juice and sweet paprika (pimentón), then coated in flour and egg or in a frying batter, and deep-fried in olive oil - a snack called Soldaditos de Pavía (Pavian soldiers). The origin of the name relates, supposedly, to the red and yellow striped uniforms of the Spanish troops at the time of the Battle of Pavia, in 1525. 

Mothers and wives of the Brotherhood members frying fish on spot. Image from Artesacro.org

Anyway, besides the tasty speciality, they have other things here, including small pork loin and ham baguettes with salmorejo (tomato cream), Russian salad, seafood cocktail, small kebabs and Spanish omelette. All to be accompanied with a soft drink on the rocks or a nice cool beer. What a treat! And, to wrap it up, here's a recipe for those who want to put this sunny summer to good cooking use and try making the Pavías at home.

Sandwich science

Coming from a linguistic and cultural background other than Spanish, it has been a bit of a headache for me to have breakfast out as in my mother tongue there's one word for “tostada”, “sándwich”, “bocadillo” and “montado”. So I haven't changed my breakfast preferences much staying at home in the mornings. Nevertheless, I have studied the science of the types of bread and the ways they are typically used by Andalusian people. It's not relying on your vocabulary, or dictionary using skills, it's learning the basics right.

Lesson 1. Toast

Toast (tostada) can be had, topped with anything imaginable from simple olive oil and garlic, or olive oil and tomato, to a richer topping, like cheese, ham and cheese, loin of pork, grilled meat, tongue, chicken, tuna, cod, salmon, anchovy, blue crab, prawns, lobster salad, surimi, egg, Spanish omlette, mushrooms, kidney beans, lard with paprika and other spices, or something sweet instead, such as honey, hazelnut chocolate spread, etc. One could have their toast with just about anything, hypothetically speaking, but in reality, the few popular toppings for a toast - in addition to olive oil, garlic and tomato, of course - are some good cheese and cured meat cuts (ham or pork loin).

Toast with ham and cheese

It's a question of taste, for sure, but the bread that makes the best toast is probably a soft round white bread called Mollete de Antequera.

Molletes de Antequera. Made and photographed by Marichu

Toast with olive oil and tomato. Image taken from another food blog

Lesson 2. Sandwich

Sandwich (sándwich) is made with sliced bread (pan de molde) that is not toasted. White bread, very soft in texture, baked in rectangular loaves that are suitable for making even slices (rebanadas), is the most popular for a plain sandwich. But bread for this breakfast treat can also be baked in round or oval loaves, better for making some firmer, butter lovers friendly slices (trozos).

Sandwich with crustless bread. Image taken from a blog

Lesson 3. Filled baguette

For filled baguette some good crispy fresh bread is used. They can be made of longer stick loaves (then, called bocadillos) or of shorter ones (called montados or montaditos as such). Size makes the difference here, and matters - these filled baguettes can be brutally large. Check out the guide of large baguettes from the province of Cádiz, otherwise you won't believe me.

Small cured ham baguettes. Photo from a blog

Small pork loin baguettes. Photo by Luzcarrion

Large pork loin baguette, cut in half vertically. Photo by Tulipán

Food at the April Fair

At the April Fair (Feria de Abril), that is a traditional appointment for all Sevillians, there are partying, dancing and singing, as well as horses and dresses, and of course, good food, shovelled in and washed down with a lot of wine (fino, manzanilla and rebujitos).

Sevillanas in the Alfonso Mora's stand (Photo by Intercambio de Idiomas Sevilla)

Eating isn't the main focus, nor is drinking, dancing or singing; this is all done merely passingly. Being there is an event in itself. Being together, exchanging looks and words, and sharing a passion for enjoying life. Chatting and eating, you know. It's a rite to chat while eating, as it is an authentic act of socialisation to eat while chatting. More often, it's snacking (tapeo, picoteo), not eating full meals. It's having a little bit of this and a little bit of that. 

Spanish omelette with a jarful of rebujito (Photo by my friend Alexánder Sánchez)

I found a website, where it was said that the Fair's origin dates back to the year 1846, when Narciso Bonaplata (Catalonian) and José María de Ybarra (Basque) submitted to the city council a request for an authorisation to hold an annual livestock fair on 19, 20 and 21 April to promote cattle ranchers and farmers. So, it was initiated as a countrymen's simple celebration.

The April Fair in its early days (Image taken from a blog)

In a way it still has its original traits. The latter also extends to food. Sevillan snacks (tapas), for the most part, and tapas at the Fair, for sure, are homey, no muss, no fuss kind of meals that are hearty and taste good. Nothing pretentious or extraordinary. Just solid, nutritious, rustic food. The list of the tapas offered in the stands is really long and it takes some experience to know what to order. Taken as a whole, it is all very Sevillian, it's just that some of the tapas are especially typical to the Fair.

A typical moment in a stand at the Fair

Tapas are served hot or cold. Typical hot tapas at the Fair (not the fried ones) include pork fillets (los filetitos de lomo), paella, Spanish omelette (la tortilla de patatas), and variety of seafood dishes, like grilled prawns (las gambas a la plancha), clams with seafood sauce (las almejas a la marinera), scrambled eggs with garlic sprouts and prawns (el revuelto de ajetes).

Revuelto (Photo by E. Agudo)

As Spain makes 44% of the world's olive oil, and as more than a quarter of Spain's oil (i.e. 10% of the total world production) comes from Jaén that is another province in Andalusia, most of the items on the menu at the Fair are fried food (los fritos, las frituritas), such as:

• seafood, like prawns (las gambas), prawn dumplings (las gambas con gabardina), shrimp cakes (las tortillitas de camarones), cuttlefish strips (los chocos), squid rings (las calamares), baby squids (los chipirones, las puntillitas);
• fish (el pescadito/pescaíto), including young hake (las pijotas), red mullets (los salmonetes) and anchovies (los boquerones);
• meat, like chicken strips (las lagrimitas de pollo);
• croquettes (las croquetas);
• vegetables, like peppers (los pimientos), or breaded pepper and onions rings (los calamares del campo).

Fried anchovies (Photo by R. Doblado)

Prawn dumplings

You can also choose from many cold snacks (las tapas frías), such as:

• Iberian cuts (las chacinas ibéricas), like cured ham (el jamón), pork loin (la caña de lomo), spicy sausage (el chorizo), strong cheese (el queso, el cabrales);
• crustaceans, like prawns from Huelva (las gambas de Huelva), common prawns (los camarones), king prawns from Sanlúcar (los langostinos de Sanlúcar), crayfish (las cigalas);
• fish dishes, like tuna in oil (el atún en aceite), anchovies in vinegar (los boquerones en vinagre), marinated dogfish (el cazón en adobo);
• meat dishes, like small sandwiches with pork topping (los montaditos de lomo), cheese stuffed meat rolls (flamenquines);
• salads and other dishes with oil and vinegar seasoning (el aliño de tomate, el pimiento aliñado, las patatas aliñadas), or marinated vegetables, like olives (las aceitunas);
• cold vegetable soups, like el salmorejo and el gazpacho andaluz.

Prawns (Photo by R. Carmona)

Montadito with pork fillet and ham (Image taken from the news site abcdesevilla.es)

Cheese stuffed meat roll (Photo by E. Ruz)

Thick tomato soup salmorejo (Photo by R. Doblado)

Then, all the stands usually feature spoon foods on the menu as a daily special (stew of the day, guiso del día), like spinach and chickpeas stew (las espinacas con garbanzos), chickpeas and cod stew (los garbanzos con bacalao), potato and cuttlefish stew (las papas con chocos), oxtail stew (el rabo de toro guisado), fish or lamb stew (la caldereta de pescado/cordero), pork cheeks (la carrillada), kidneys a la Jerez (los riñones al Jerez), eggs a la flamenca (los huevos a la flamenca), Andalusian stew (el cocido andaluz), etc. Stews are normally served late, not before 3 PM. 

Spinach and chickpeas stew (Photo by E. Ruz)

Potato and cuttlefish stew

Oxtail stew (Photo by Lola Monforte)

Typical desserts are fritters (los buñuelos, los churros) that are had nightly, before going home to sleep. Fritters are traditionally sold wrapped in paper cones or bags and served with sugar or hot chocolate.

Buñuelos (Photo by R. Doblado)

Churros

Rebujito - Official drink of the Seville Fair

It's 7.30 PM and it's 31 degrees! It's festival time here in Seville and today I'm bringing you some information about the way of enjoying it in these sunny days. It's about drink culture. It's about having fun without hurting yourself in anyway. For this reason, the Andalusians have invented special drinks.

Gate of this year's Seville Fair 

Rebujito is a wine coctail that was born at the April Fair (Feria de Abril) in Seville of a need to have a refreshing drink with a low alcohol content. Its etymological origin traces it back to the action of stirring (rebullir), which is, quite exactly, what the making of it is like. It's a delicious drink of fortified white wine mixed with lime-flavoured soft drink, such as Pepsi's 7 Up or Coca-Cola's Sprite, poured over a high ball glass full of ice and garnished with a spray of mint (herbabuena). The Andalusians usually mix one part wine to two parts of soft drink, but it's more like a question of taste. Rebujito is an Andalusian specialty mainly consumed at fairs and and other festive occasions, becoming more and more popular throughout Spain.

Herbabuena for an Andalusian-style long drink

The wine used to make a good rebujito is typically, but not always, dry. Thus, it's el fino or la manzanilla (pretty much the same thing, both made from Palomino grape), but depending on an area to be in, it can get more specific. 

Rebujito wines used in Cádiz and Jerez

So, the fino they use in Cádiz is often Fino Pavón, in Jerez it's Fino Tío Pepe, and in Córdoba it's Fino Montilla-Moriles. 

Rebujito wines used in Córdoba

The ones they use most in Seville are Fino Quinta, Manzanilla La Quita and Manzanilla La Gitana. 

Rebujito wines, typical at the April Fair in Seville

In Málaga they tend to use sweet wine instead, normally Moscatel Cartojal:

That drink is accompanied by finger food (picoteo), or a  proper lunch or dinner (comida), and goes perfectly with all the seafood treats of the Fair.

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.