Patatas Revolconas from Ávila

                                                                             Receta en Español

'Patatas revolconas',also known as 'revueltas', 'meneás' or 'removidas' is a typical dish from the center of Spain, places like  Ávila, Salamanca and Extremadura.

This dish come from a typical dish that farmers were used to cook in the past, it is a potato purée mixed with paprika and bacon, or 'torreznos' that are similar to bacon but thicker. 

The traditional recipe was made with 'torreznos'.

This dish is very common at bars and taverns.

Ingredients (4 people):

-  2 big potatoes.
-  1/2 tablespoon sweet paprika.
-  1/2 tablespoon hot paprika.
-  2 slices bacon for every person.
-  Salt.
-  3 tablespoon olive oil.

Method:

1- Wash potatoes , put them in a casserole with water and salt, cook them until they are soft. More or less for 40 minutes. Potatoes are done faster if you make some cuts along them.

2- Smash potatoes with the help of a fork.

3- Pour oil in a frying pan , fry bacon until it is done. Then,keep aside.

4- Add some paprika to the frying pan, cook for 1 minute at low heat and add smashed potatoes.Mix well with the help of a wooden spoon.Once well mixed you already  have 'Patatas revolconas'.

5- Put smashed potatoes together with the bacon, this way you have the dish ready.

My comments to the Recipe

Pay attention the moment you fry paprika, don't over heat it because it can become sour.

The dish is tasty, but also super caloric, don't eat too much.

Ávila

De Rastrojo (D•ES) - trabajo propio, el escudo fue realizado por User:HansenBCN, GFDL, Enlace

Tiroler Gröstl or potatoes from Tirol

                                                                               Receta en Español

Tiroler Gröstl is the most typical dish in Tirol (Austria), it is potatoes with bacon and veal, sometimes they add a fried egg.This dish reminds me to the typical 'huevos rotos' from Madrid.

  

Ingredients (3 or 4 people:

•   600 grams potatoes.
•   250 grams veal (very thin veal steaks).
•   1 onion
•   Olive oil.
•   1/2 dessert spoon marjoram.
•   Pepper.
•   Salt.
•   1/2 dessert spoon Cumin
•   100 grams bacon.
•   1 egg per person.
•   2 cloves of garlic.

   

Method:

1-   Wash, peel and cut potatoes in little cubes.

2-  Salt and fry the potatoes in a frying pan on a high fire, until potatoes are slightly golden.

3-  Add salt and pepper to the meat and cut it into strips:

4-  Cut bacon into strips.

5-  Cut onion into strips.

Once potatoes are slightly golden put on a low heat ,then add onion,veal,bacon,marjoram and cumin.

6-  When veal is done add garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.

7-  Fry eggs and put them over the potatoes.




Where to find the ingredients

Marjoram is difficult to find at supermarkets but it is easier to find at a herbalist's shop.



Austria

Trinxat (Andorra)

                                                                               Receta en Español

Trinxat is a catalan word that means carved or smashed, it refers to the way they prepare the dish, all the ingredients are smashed with the help of a fork.

it is popular in Cerdanya and Andorra.  

Today I present to you how this dish is prepared in Andorra.

Ingredients (2 people):

• 300 grams cabbage leaves.
• 1 potato 300 grams.
• 2 bacon slices.
• 2 garlic cloves.

Method:

1-  Wash and cut cabbage and potato into pieces. 

2- Put cabbage and potato into the pressure cooker, add a little water, you can use a steamer basket. Close the pressure cooker , put on a high heat.  Once the steam starts to come out,  put on a low heat and cook for 30 minutes.

Don't put any salt! the salt taste will be provided by the bacon.

3- Now put the cooked cabbaged and potato into another pot without the water, smash it with a fork:

4- Fry bacon with a little quantity of oil, put bacon aside:

5- Use the same oil to sautée chopped garlic.

6-  Add the mash of cabbage and potato to the skillet , stir well until the mash has absorved all the oil.

7-  Serve the mash accompanied by the bacon.



 My comments to the Recipe:

It is an easy recipe, the mixture of cabbage and potato is tasty. Besides bacon provides a wonderful taste and all the salt that needs this dish.

If bacon is too salty you can cook it in boiling water, this way it will lose some salt.



Andorra

Potato soup from Berlin

                                                                               Receta en Español
                                                                          
Potato soup is very typical in Germany, specially in Berlin. This is a dish with a lot of energy that you can take in winter.

Ingredients (4 people):

• 700 g potatos.
• 1 carrot.
• 1 piece celeriac.
• 1 piece leek.
• 1 onion.
• 1 garlic clove.
• 100 g bacon.
• 1 l water or broth.
• 1 tablespoon marjoram.
• 2 Bockwurst sausages.

Method:

1.    Peel potatos and cut them into thick pieces.

2.    Cut carrots,celeriac, onion and leek.

3.    Put some oil in a casserole, sautée garlic and onion.

4.    Cut bacon into strips, add it to the casserole and cook until bacon is done.

5.    Add the rest of the ingredients, add potatos at the end.

6.    Add 1 liter boiling water or broth.

7.    Add salt, pepper and marjoram.

8.    Cook on a low heat for 20 minutes.

9.    Remove from the fire , use a food processor to crush the ingredients , after that you can pass the soup through a siebe.

10.  Some minutes before serving , add sausages cut into slices and cook for 5 minutes.

My comments to the recipe:

This is an easy recipe to make, with a marvellous taste, I didn't know celeriac, it has a perfumed taste very nice to find in a soup, sausages provide the typical German touch. 

Where to find the ingredients:

 You can buy celeriac sometimes at Hipercor, in Madrid I found it at Ventas market, at 209  'Frutas y Verduras Toñín' .

Marjoram is also difficult to find at supermarkets but it is easier to find at herbalist's shop.

Germany

Broad Beans ,vitorian style

                                                                               Receta en Español

Favas or Broad Beans are native to Asia Minor, although some scholars suggest that  they originated in Central Africa.

The Romans made ​​great use of this type of beans which they turned into flour to make bread.

They form part of the diet of inhabitants of Navarra and Álava.

Broad Beans are so consumed and produced in Álava that they have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO);

This dish is one of the most typical if you want to make a meal based on food from the Spanish region of Álava.

Ingredients (3 people):

• 450 grams of beans.
• 120 g of cured ham.
• 60 g  of bacon.
• Oil.
• Salt.
• Water.

Method:

1. Shell the beans and wash them.
2. Pour water in the pot (just to cover the beans), heat until it boils.
3. Add the beans and salt ,then cook over medium heat 30 to 40 minutes.
   
4. Meanwhile, put the ham ,bacon and a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan ,sauté  it. Once it is ready, add  it to the pot of beans and cook for other 5 minutes until the broth thickens. 

5. Salt to taste. If the beans are large you can peel them.

My comments to the Recipe : It is an easy recipe to prepare, if we don't know exactly how much water to use, do not worry too much, if we have too much water, rather than taking and moving the ham and bacon to the pot, we do the opposite, we put the beans in the pan adding just a little water (not to let them dry).Of course, it would be better if we add just the necessary quantity of water from the beginning  ,this way we will not lose the vitamins that remain in the broth.

Talking about the taste of the dish, great! . Ham and bacon go very well with broad beans.

 

 

Álava