GAZPACHO

Gazpacho is one of the most traditional Spanish dishes. It is considered a cold soup, although it is not a description I like. Gazpacho is gazpacho, and that is a definition in itself.

And you can find as many gazpacho recipes as households are in Spain. I do not know 2 people that prepare gazpacho in the same way. And, although the main ingredients are tomatoes, the rest can vary. My advise is that you search for a few different recipes, try them and then adjust the recipe to your own personal taste.

So, this is MY gazpacho recipe.

Ingredients for 1.5 litres of gazpacho: 500 gr of beef tomatoes, 1 lemon, half green pepper, salt, 1 clove of garlic, tiny amount of onion, olive oil and water.

As you can see I do not add bread to my gazpacho. If you would like the gazpacho to have a thicker texture then just add more tomatoes instead of bread.

Add to the blender the tomatoes cut in halves or quarters, the half pepper, the garlic, the amount of onion that you would like, the peeled lemon (make sure you take all the seeds out), 1 soup spoon of salt, about 2-3 fingers of olive oil, and cover it with water up to the 1.5 litres mark.

Simply switch on the blender and leave it mixing until all the ingredients become liquid.

A hint, the color has to be orangey, then you will know it is ready.

If you add some ice to it becomes a really refreshing drink. If you add a diced boiled egg and some Spanish ham then you have a main dish.

FALSE ELVERS

Have you ever wanted to try elvers but couldn't because they are so extremely expensive? I have the solution for you: my false elvers recipe!

Ingredients: crab sticks (the more the merrier), garlic (a lot), a pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil and a pinch of cayenne (optional)

For this particular recipe that you see on the pictures I used 16 crab sticks per person and a whole garlic head.

Peel and mince the garlic: dices, slices, ... however you fancy

The "difficulty" of this recipe is that you have to strip each and every one of the crab sticks, and that takes a while. If the sticks are frozen make sure they are completely defrosted, otherwise it will take you twice as long to strip them. Do not try to make the strips by cutting them with a knife, as strip won't be as thin and you will end up stripping them manually anyway.

Once everything is ready, put a base of olive oil in a big enough pan and start frying the garlic. Once the garlic acquires a golden colour add the strips of crab sticks and a pinch of salt (not much because the sticks are already precooked with salt). You can add a touch of cayenne to give the dish a spicy twist.

You will need to stir them constantly until the sticks start taking some colour, but do not overcook them or they will burn quite quickly. The dish will be ready in about 5 minutes.

The dish must be eaten hot, so it is best to have the table already set so you can eat as soon as the food is off the pan. In order to keep the dish warm as long as possible it is a good idea to present it in clay plates.

Absolutely delicious!