SPANISH DINNER PARTY - FIESTA FEAST

MENU:

TAPAS:  Ham, Cheese & Chorizo with Bread

                Jammon, Queso y Chorizo con Pan

                Prawns in Garlic - Gambos al Ajillo

SOPA:     Potato Soup - Sopa de Patata

                Galicean Broth - Caldo de Galicean

               COMIDA

PRINCIPAL   Chicken, Prawn & Chorizo Paella

                       Paella de Pollo

                      Potato Tortilla - Tortilla de Patatas

SUSTANTIVO:  Santiago Tart - Tarte de Santiago

                          Yogurt - Mousse de Yogur

Timeline:

The day before:

  do the shopping.  Don't forget what you bought and which dish you're making with what ingredients...

Make the soups.  Keep them on the stove if there's no room in the fridge - it's winter, it'll be fine (unless you've turned the heat up high in the house - then find room in the fridge)

Clean up the mess and go to bed.

The morning of the Fiesta:

Make the Santiago Cake

Go buy the ingredients you forgot but really need

Put some green stuff (namely spinach) in the Galicean Broth

Make the Santiago Tart

The afternoon:

Make the Tortilla

Make the tapas - except the prawns.  Just have them ready to go really quickly by 7pm

An hour before:

Heat the soups up and keep them sloooooowly simmering

Have all the ingredients ready for the Paella

Half an hour before:

Heat the tortilla's up in the oven (keep them covered)

15 minutes before everyone comes

start making Paella

let it simmer nicely while you greet your guests

Cook the prawns - Keep warm in the oven for 5 minutes until guests come

Serve the Tapas and soups with bread (pan)

the rest of the meals can come at leisure xxxxxxxx

TAPAS

SOPA

Sopa de Patata

taken from http://www.food.com/recipe/unbelievably-easy-potato-soup-74275 but with a twist of Gina

SERVES 8  

time from getting the ingredients on the bench to taste-testing:  35 minutes

You will need:

8 peeled potatos (just look for the tasty ones - not too waxy)

2 cups diced onion

1 chopped up leek

2 cups chopped celery

4 cloves garlic

lots of water

salt and pepper to taste 

(optional - you can add milk when you blend it, but I didn't)

It's really just one potato per person

once you have peeled them and recovered from the RSI

chop up everything else (except the water, silly) and throw it all into a large saucepan.  Leave the salt and pepper for a minute

Now.. don't cover it with water, just underneath.. have the water sitting just below the top of the ingredients - how much water you use now will decide the consistency of the soup.  Too much and it's watery, too little and it's too thick.  If you just put in enough to sit about a cm along the edge with the vegies still poking through, it should be fine.  

You only have to cook this for about 25 minutes 

(true story)

Add some salt and pepper - actually lots of salt and pepper (it will need a fair whack of salt) and maybe a teaspoon or 2 or even 3 of stock powder (I use Massells)

After it looks a bit sad and lifeless, but smells divine, add another tablespoon of salt and turn off the heat.

Get out the blender and murder it.

Put it all back in another saucepan, ready to heat up tomorrow night. (the Fiesta!!)

Eat some first... coz this has made you hungry

Yum ♥

Caldo de Galicean

2 Ham Hocks

2 huge cloves of Russian Garlic

2 cups of onion (one brown/one red)

300g diced Speck

3 Bay Leaves

Water or Stock (if you can get stock on special, or you've found time to make it yourself - good luck to you)

French Beans

Carrots

Potatos

1 Can white beans & 1 can Chick Peas (Garbonzos)

Spinach

smoked Paprika

Parsley

Cumin.... if you want to be a rebel

Actually now I look at the ingredients, it's nearly nothing like a Galicean Broth, but if no-one has been to Galicea, who will know?

Put the Ham hocks, garlic, onion, Speck and bay leaves into a Huge Saucepan.

Cover liberally with water.  Don't add seasoning yet

Cook for about 2 hours.  Give or take 30 minutes. (the smell is the key)

I just checked it after an hour and it had evaporated a tad, so I added another 500ml of stock/water

(The smell is very Pea and Ham without the Pea right now)

another hour and the meat fell off the ham bones without much enticement.

I put the meat back into the pot (which had reduced yet again... but I'll wait till I put the vegies in before I add a little more stock.

Then I put in about 3 carrots, 3 or 4 potatoes, a little bit of thyme, some smoked paprika, a dash of cumin and.... 3 chopped up chorizos.  The recipe I had read called for me to peel the chorizo.....but I didn't see it anywhere else.... hmm, so I improvised.. it also called for Turnip tops (boiled twice) which I'm sure could be replaced with Spinach.. but I forgot to buy that, so - no spinach!!

I let it simmer sloooooowly for over an hour.

The Chorizo gives it some serious bight, but it's an incredibly warming winter soup.  I can see a zillion things being added to it and it still works.

The secret ingredients are the pork, the beans and the paprika.  All else is changeable.

Another yum

Simple - as in easy, but tasty - as in divine - lemon yogurt cake

This cake was one of the cakes that made me think I could bake - long before I got how easy it was!!

Lemon Yogurt Cake        Donna Hay making this cake look even simpler

Here's the ingredients:  AND YOU CAN MAKE IT ALL IN ONE BOWL!!

• • ¾ cup (180ml) vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 cup (280g) thick natural yoghurt
  • 1¾ cups (385g) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 2 cups (300g) self-raising (self-rising) flour
  • lemon frosting
  • ¾ cup (120g) icing sugar
  • ¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
    
    In ONE quite good sized bowl, put the oil (any vegetable oil will do - even olive oil, but it's a bit thick and tasty...but we don't need to go and find Nepalese Walnut Oil... Canola will do), the eggs and the lemon rind.
    Whisk till smooth
    
    
    
    Then add the lemon juice, yogurt (most times, if I have a small tub of yogurt - yes, Greek is the best, I just add the whole thing straight from the container - no room for precious here, you can't have too much or too little) and the sugar.....
    
    
    Mix it all up till it's sloppy and smooth.
    
    
    Add the flour (sifted)
    
    
    
    Stir, stir, stir
    
    
    Put the gorgeous, creamy concoction into any old baking tin you have (for safety's sake kill the tin with spray - or grease it the old fashioned way... but don't take chances - you want it beautiful when all is said and done)
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Look how smooth and creamy it is - and how much I fit into this tiny ring tin?  It's all good.
    
    
    Bake:  180deg for 35 minutes - I tried 30, it didn't work. Stick to the preheated oven for 35minutes
    
    
    While it's cooking, stir together the sugar and lemon juice
    
    
    Tell your captivated audience that this may take a while....
    
    
    
    handle their disgust at the wait
    
    
    
    When the cake is cooked, there is no need to wait - take it out of the tin, put it on a plate and pour the icing mixture over it.  If you use granulated sugar (like Donna Hay), it'll look interesting, but taste the same.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    EAT IT!!!