Turrón from Jijona

It is said that 'Turrón' was originated at the arabian peninsula, in the XI century a book called 'De medicinis et cibis semplicibus' was published, inside there is a recipe of a sweet called 'turun'. Later on, the arabs brought that recipe to Spain where it was changed a little.

The original recipe was more simple than today, it was a mixture of toasted almonds and cooked honey. Instead of almonds, it was possible to see the turrón made of hazelnuts, pinions or walnuts.

In the XV century it is possible to identify different types of turrón depending of the geographical zone of Spain. Hazelnut turrón was made at the north Mediterranean region, At the south plateau and Andalucía was the 'alajú' a turrón made of pinions, walnuts and almonds. In Alicante region was typical the turrón made of almonds.

The end of october is the end of the agricultural cycle , after that, farmers start the elaboration of the turrón to be ready to be sold at Christmas.

It is said that the turrón was known at the Royal Court thanks to Philip the Second. Also, the authorities from Alicante spent a lot of money to give turrón to famous people from Madrid and Valencia as a present , soon it became part of the salary at Christmas time.

In the XVII century the turrón started to be exported to Europe , at that time, the egg whites were added to the original recipe, this way, the turrón did not leak honey and its colour was clearer.

In the XVIII century , the honey started to be scarce, so farmers decided to add sugar to the original recipe, leaving the recipe as it is known today.

The first time when Turrón from Jijona was elaborated was in the XIX century, it is the result of grinding turrón from Alicante, it was specially made for children and elder people.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 rectangular tupperwares.
• 300 grams of marcona almond.
• 100 grams floral honey.
• 100 grams sugar.
• 1 egg white.
• Ground lemon rind.
• a teaspoon of cinnamon.

 

Method:

 

1-  Take a frying pan, toast without oil almond flour or whole almonds, that you are going to grind later.

 

 

2-  You can add some toast almond pieces to the mixture.

3-  Take a casserole, add the sugar and honey, put on a low heat , and stir until all the sugar is disolved , then you add cinnamon and lemon rind.

 

 

4-  Whisk the egg's whites until they go stiff.

 

 

5-  Put the heat off , Add the whites to the mixture and stir with encircle movements. .

6-  Put on a low fire , add the ground almonds , stir well during 2 minutes and let cool.

 

 

7-  Put some parchment paper over one tupper. Knead the mixture with the hands, then put it in the tupper. Smash the mixture , this way the almonds  will release its oil

 

 

8-  Cover the turrón with parchment paper, place other tupper over it, afterwards place some weight in the tupper, as you can see at the pictures:

 

 

 

 9-  Let stand for 3 or 4 days at room temperature.

Alicante

«Alicante (provincia)» de Ulaidh & HansenBCN - Trabajo propio. Disponible bajo la licencia GFDL vía Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alicante_(provincia).svg#mediaviewer/File:Alicante_(provincia).svg



 

Banana sponge cake from Cape Verde

                                                                                Receta en Español

Banana sponge cake or 'Bolo de banana' is a typical dessert from Cape Verde. It is a sponge cake with a layer of banabas and other layer of caramel, it will sure surprise you.

Ingredients for the caramel:

-  200 grams white sugar.
-  200 ml water.

Ingredients for the sponge cake (mold17x25 cm):

-  6 bananas (1 Kg).
-  200 grams sugar.
-  250 grams wheat flour.
-  200 grams butter.
-  4 eggs.
-  100 ml  whole milk.
-  chemichal yeast.
-  Salt.
-  1 dessert spoon cinnamon.

Method:

1- Pour some milk in a bowl, add egg yolks and beat well.

2- Add butter, sugar and mix well, you can use a food processor to help you.

3- Add flour, yeast, salt and mix well.

4- Cut bananas into slices , place then in the base of the cake mold where we are going to cook the cake.

Take the spare bananas (I had 3 bananas left), crush then with the help of a fork and make a banana paste that you are going to add to the mixture, stir well.

5- Whisk the egg's whites until they go stiff.

6- Add the whites to the mixture and stir with encircle movements.

7- Add ground cinnamon over the banana slices , then prepare the caramel, to do this, put the water and sugar in a casserole, put on a medium heat and cook until the water turns into a slightly brown colour, this is the moment when you turn the heat off, the remaining heat will make the caramel will turn into a deeper brown colour. Before the caramel gets dry, pour it into the cake mold, over the bananas.

8- Pour the dough over the bananas and caramel.

9- Preheat oven at 180 º C for 5 minutes then, cook the cake for 30 or 40 minutes until it gets gold ,you know it is cooked when you poke the cake with a knife and you take it out clean.

10- Before unmold, let it get cool, you should turn the cake upside down , because the bananas should be presented upwards. As you can see in the pictures.

Cabo Verde

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Prawns soup from Cape Verde

                                                                               Receta en Español

The recipe I present today is 'Camaroes soup', a typical dish from Cape Verde, Camaroes means prawns in portuguese. There are several sizes of prawns, for this recipe you should use the big ones.

Ingredients:

-  300 grams of prawns.
-  1 onion.
-  2 clove of garlic.
-  1/2 ripen tomato.
-  1/2 Kg green plantain.
-  300 grams yucca or manioc.
-  500 grams of sweet potato.
-  3 or 4 tablespoon of oil.
-  3 or 4 grains Malagueta pepper.
-  Salt.

Method:

1- Wash prawns with some water, if they are not cooked, boil then with some salt, save water.

2- Peel prawns , reserve the heads and shells to add some taste to the soup.

3- Peel the yucca, boil in water until it is tender, then cut it in some pieces, get rid of the central thread.

4- Cut sweet potato into little cubes, cut plantain into slices.

5- Cut onion and garlic into slices , pour some oil in a casserole and sauté.

6- Cut tomato into litle pieces, add it to the casserole.

7- Add plantain, sweet potato, yucca, water (here you can use the water obtained when you cooked the prawns) , add salt and malagueta grains. Put it on medium heat.

8- Fry the heads and shells.

9- Put the heads and shells in a sieve on top of the casserole, pour some water and crush. This way you will obtain a juice with the taste of the prawns. 

10- Cook until all the ingredients are well done. Then add the prawns.

11- Cook 5 more minutes. And there you have the soup!.

My comments to the recipe

This soup is amazing, it has a wonderful taste. The Malagueta pepper is not spicy , it provides a curious taste to the soup similar to cardamom.

Where you can find the ingredients

Malagueta pepper is the ingredient more difficult to find. you can buy it on the internet. There are many online shops where they provide this spice.

Cape Verde

De Drawn by User:SKopp - Trabajo propio, Dominio público, Enlace