Carbayones

                                                                               Receta en Español

'Carbayón' is a typical dessert from Oviedo (Spain). The first time this dessert was elaborated , it was at the I International fair of Gijón in 1924.

José Gutiérrez cooked this cake to represent Oviedo at the Fair.  

This cakes are named after the way Oviedo's inhabitants are known: 'carbayones'. It refers to an old, famous and symbolic oak (carbayu in Asturias) to the city, it standed close to the Campoamor theatre.

It is a tasty cake made of yolk and almonds over a layer of pastry dough, topped  with glazed sugar. 

Ingredients:

•   1 sheet of frozen puff pastry.
•   125 grams of grinded almonds.
•   1 egg.
•   4 egg yolks.
•   125 grams of sugar for the filling.
•   125 grams of sugar for the sugar glaze.
•   1 lemon zest.
•   1 splash of sweet wine or brandy.

Method:

1-   It is healthier to make the dough by your own, in case you don't have time (as in my case) you can use frozen puff pastry.

Let the pastry thaw at room temperature.
Sprinkle a little flour over a plane surface and roll the pastry out.

Cut the pastry the same size as the molds, you can see in the next picture how I managed to cut the pastry.
I used paper molds, it is better to use metallic ones. If you use paper molds the weight of the filling flattens the 'Carbayones' , they should be like rectangular cupcakes.

Put a layer of pastry in each mold:

2-   Now we prepare the filling; put in a bowl the grinded almonds, one egg, 2 egg yolks, 125 grams of sugar, a splash of sweet wine or brandy and zest from half of the outter skin of a lemon.

Mix well with a whisk until you get a dough.

3-   Fill the molds with the mix until the edges , in case you use paper molds don't fill to the edge because it could spill while cooking.

Preheat oven at 180 ºC , put 'Carbayones' into the oven at the same temperature for 20 minutes or until they are brown, take them out of the oven and let them cool.

4-   While 'Carbayones' are in the oven we can prepare the yolk glazing.

First we make a syrup, put 50 grams of sugar and 75 ml water in a saucepan. Boil for some minutes until the sugar dissolves and then put aside and let it cool.

5-   Whisk 2 egg yolks in another saucepan, Once the syrup is cold pour it little by little over the egg yolks, stir constantly . Add the zest from half of the outter skin of a lemon and continue stirring. 

Put the pan at low heat , continue stirring until the mix thickens.

 6-   Now we spread the yolk glazing over the surface of the 'Carbayones'.To do it, we 'paint them' with the help of a brush, make the yolk glazing the more thick you can.

Let 'Carbayones' cool before adding the sugar glaze.

7-   Sugar glazing is the more delicate part of this dessert; Put in a saucepan  75 grams of sugar and 50 ml water.

Put the saucepan at low heat , stir constantly until you see that the mix in getting a slightly white colour.

Now you must act fast, it is time to 'paint Carbayones' with the brush.

The mix gets solid very fast, that`s way you should paint fast.

In case the mix becomes solid, you can add a little water and start the process again.

Once the sugar glazing is solid you can start eating your 'Carbayones'. I made 8 big carballones, depending on the mold you may obtain more cakes with the same measures of ingredients.

My comments to the Recipe

This is not difficult to do, but it takes time. It  has a marvellous taste, the mix of almonds, eggs and lemon zest make them exquisite.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Asturias

Verdinas with cuttlefish and clams

                                                                               Receta en español

The recipe I present today is famous in Asturias, 'verdinas with cuttlefish and clams'. A perfect and surprising mix.

Verdinas  are small beans with a shape remembering a kidney, they are green, that's why they are called 'verdinas' , this name comes from 'verde' (Green in spanish).

These are buttery beans, with a fine and delicate taste. These characteristics make them combine perfectly with seafood and fish.

Verdinas are typical from Llanes in Asturias.

Its greenish color comes from the time of harvest, they are harvested when grain is matured but it is still green. If they are harvested later they become white and their taste is different.

Ingredients:

For fish broth:

• 1 piece of monkfish (for instance).
• 1 piece of onion.
• 1 clove of garlic .
• 1 bay leaf.
• 1 sprig of parseley.
• 1 piece red pepper.
• salt.

For verdinas beans:

• 250 grams of verdinas beans.
• 1 cuttlefish.
• 1 onion.
• 2 cloves of garlic.
• 1 bay leaf.
• 1 parseley sprig.
• salt.
• 1 tablespoon of sweet paprika.
• Fish broth.
• a splash of Natural tomato sauce.
• 500 grams of Clams à la marinière.
  

Method:

1-   Soak verdinas for 12 hours.

2-  If you don't have a fish broth, prepare it. Put fish, onion , garlic , bay leaf , parseley , pepper and salt in a casserole with water. Put at high heat, once it reaches boiling point, reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes.

3-  Once broth is cold, strain it and keep the liquid. (Don't throw the rest , you can make croquettes).

4- Put cuttlefish into a pressure cooker, sprinkle a little salt. Pour the quantity of water you need to cover the bottom of the cooker.

5- Put the heat on high , when steam comes out of the safety valve , put heat on low and cook cuttlefish for 20 minutes.

6- Cut cuttlefish into small pieces and set aside.

7- Chop onion and garlic , pour a little olive oil into the pressure cooker, sautée onion and garlic for 3 minutes at low heat.

8- Add bay leaf, parseley, salt and pepper (sweet paprika) , keep on sautéing for 5 more minutes.

9- Add verdinas beans and stirr with a wooden spoon , keep on sautéing for 3 more minutes.

10- Add a trickle of natural tomato sauce, cover verdinas with fish broth, it should cover 1 cm above the verdinas. (fish broth must be cold).

11- Close pressure cooker, put on high heat, when steam comes out from the valve put heat on low heat and cook verdinas for 10 minutes.

12- Open the pressure cooker and keep cooking verdinas for 10 more minutes , on low heat and the lid ajar.

13- Add to the pressure cooker the cuttlefish and Clams à la marinière  , stirr with a wooden spoon and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
¡Now verdinas are ready!.

My comments to the Recipe

I had never tried beans with seafood. I am delighted with this combination, besides verdinas are soft and buttery , they go perfectly with cuttlefish and clams.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Asturias

Clams à la marinière

                                                                               Receta en Español

Clams à la marinière is a typical dish in North Spain, in Asturias are very popular too. You can eat them as a dish by their own or to accompany stews, to give a sea taste to beans or pasta.

Ingredients:

•   1 clove of garlic.
•   1 Little onion.
•   1 tablespoon of flour.
•   1 cup White wine.
•   Olive oil.
•   Parseley to sprinkle.
•   500 grams of Clams.

Method:

1-   Place fresh clams in a bowl with water and a handful of salt during three hours to remove the sand. Change the water three or four times.

2-   Chop garlic and onion and sauté them in a pan with a little olive oil, sauté until onion turns transparent.

3-   Add flour and stirr well with a wooden spoon.

4-   Now add White wine, clams and parseley. Stirr with the wooden spoon. Clams will be done once they are open. If there is some of them that doesn't open , discard them. They must be rotten.

My comments to the Recipe 

It is easy to cook, and clams are delicious with the wine. It is bette If you make it with fresh clams, I bought them fresh but I froze them after cleaning. I wasn't sure if frozen clams will open but Ican asure you that even frozen clams open when they are cooked.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Asturias

Kiribati Buatoro

                                                                               Receta en Español

Buatoro is a typical dessert from Kiribati, it can also be a side dish or a starter.

The way of cooking this dish is the typical way in Oceania.
You will need banana, taro or breadfruit tree leaves, to wrap this dessert in it.

Banana leaves are the easiest to find in Sapin, in case you don't find them you can use aluminium foil asuming in this case that you will lose the original taste that this kind of leaves provide.

In kiribati Kamaimai is used to sweeten this dish, kamaimai is palm sap cooked until it becomes sweet, there is a similar product in Canary Islands called palm honey wich you can use as a substitute.

Ingredients:

•   930 grams of taro.
•   1 banana leaf.
•   300 grams of brown sugar or palm honey.
•   300 ml aprox of coconut milk.

Method:

1-   Peel and cut taro into pieces, pour a little quantity of water in a pan and cook during 40 minutes. Until taro gets a Little soft.

After cooking the taro, put it in a bowl.

2-   Add sugar to the bowl , mix well wih a mixer.

3-   Add coconut milk litle by little, add just the quantity you need to make the mix soft and to give some coconut taste to the dessert.

4-   To clean the banana leaf ,put it under the tap and after that place it in a pan full of water at low heat. Deep the leaf on both sides, very carefully given it breaks easily.

5-   Place the banana leaf on an oven proof plate, pour over it the mix made in step 3.

6-   wrap the mix into the banana leaf as if it was a parcel, use a string to fix it.

7-   Preheat oven at 180 º Celsius, then cook buatoro for 50 or 60 minutes. 

My comments to the recipe

Taro has a special taste, mixed with coconut and sugar makes a marvellous taste that takes you direct to an Oceanic island.
Besides taro is a healthy food that helps lowing your cholesterol levels.

Where to buy the ingredients

Banana leafs can be found frozen in some stores in Madrid, it is common to find them in asiatic stores. I bought them at 'Super Ventas' , José María Fernández Lanseros 1 ,metro El Carmen .
Taro can be found at fruit stores with latin products.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Kiribati

Africa

Read my recipes for the following african countries:

Angola

Algeria

Benin

Bostwana

Burkina Fasso

Burundi

Cape Verde

Central africa

Comoros

Ivory Coast

Red snapper with Coconut Curry Sauce

                                                                               Receta en español

Fish is a staple food in Kiribati. I wanted to make a recipe of a  kind of oceanic fish  easy to find in Madrid.
After my research I found that red snapper could be found in Kiribati as well as in Spain, so I decided to cook this fish.
It is a delicious fish that goes well with Coconut Curry Sauce, one of the most common sauce in the islands.
They serve it accompanied by Coconut Rice. Coconut rice Pacific way.

Ingredients:

•   1 red snapper.
•   3 lemon slices.
•   380 - 400 ml coconut milk.
•   1 dessert spoon of curry powder.
•   Salt.

Method:

1-   Make three cuts at the back of the fish. Sprinkle a litle salt over the two sides of the fish.
Pour a litle oil in an oven proof dish and place the snapper on it.
Place a lemon slide into each cut at the back of the fish.

2-   Preheat oven at 175 ºC , cook the fish during 45 minutes.

3-   Now is time to prepare Coconut curry Sauce.
Put the coconut milk in a saucepan with a little salt and curry powder, put at medium heat and stirr well. Once the mix is hot you have the sauce ready. It is easy!.

4-   Serve the snapper with a Little Coconut curry sauce on top, accompanied by Coconut rice.

My comments to the recipe

It is easy and fast to cook, it surprises me the good taste of the fish deeped in coconut curry sauce, besides, coconut rice gives an extra delicious and soft taste to the dish.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Kiribati