ROPA VIEJA (OLD CLOTHES)

Spain has always been a country with tradition, and with many delicious dishes to enjoy. We still cook as our grandmas did, and they cooked as their grandmas before them did. "One-pot" meals are never finished in one sitting. New recipes, like this one, are born of the leftovers.

Our dish today is called Ropa Vieja (literally "old clothes"), and it is cooked with the Cocido leftovers.

*Please see my Cocido recipe that can be found on this same blog*

It is mainly a dish that you will be able to find in Madrid and both Castillas. In other regions of Spain other things are cooked from the cocido leftovers.

Ingredients:

- Cocido leftovers

- Garlic, loads. The more the better.

- Tomato sauce (not ketchup)

-Olive oil.

Before we start we need to makes small pieces with all the big chunks we can find in the cocido leftovers: shreed the chicken, cut the potates, dice the chorizo, etc.

In a pan we dice in small cubes the garlic, and fry them with the olive oil until they are golden. 

We add the previously prepared cocido leftovers. When it is hot just add the tomato sauce. Leave it cooking together at very low heat for about 10 minutes, moving it every now and again to stop the food from sticking to the pan.

Ready to eat!

ROSQUILLAS

This is a traditional sweet dough, that we usually take with our tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Quite easy to prepare, and you can make it as sweet or not as you would like. I am not so keen on sweet things, baking is not really my thing, this is why I prefer less sugar.

Also, you can change the anise on this recipe for orange juice.

Ingredients:

• 500 gr of wheat flour
• 1 sachet of baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 100 ml of olive oil (you can use sunflower oil, but I prefer olive oil)
• 150gr of sugar (but I only used 100gr)
• 100 ml of anise (or orange juice)
• some lemon zest

Wash the lemon a prepare the zest.

Mix together the eggs and the sugar until it gets a whiteish color. Then we add the olive oil and the anise and the lemon zest. The mix it properly and thoroughly.

In another bowl we put the flour and baking powder and mix it well. Little by little we will incorporate the liquid ingredients, whisking the mixture very well.

We need to mix it until the dough is not sticky any more. We might need to add some more flour.

Put it in a clean bowl and cover it well so air can not enter, the easiest way is to use plastic wrap. Let it rest for about half an hour on the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 190º both up and down. Take the dough out of the fridge and make rolls with your hands, not too thick but not too thin either. If they are too thick they might not cook properly inside, and if they are too thin they will be too dry.

Made the rolls into a doughnut, they do not need to be perfect, but leave enough space for the "hole" as when the rosquillas cook in the oven the dough will become bigger and will make it disappear.

Place them on a baking tray on top of baking paper. Make sure they are separate one from the other so they do not end up sticking together. You might need to do more than one batch.

Leave them in the over for about 10 minutes. If you see they are done before you can take them out, or leave them 5 more minutes if they are still too soft.

You can also fry the dough, but it a lot fattier.

Then you can sprinkle icing sugar on top if you have some, or just normal white or brown suggar.

Enjoy!

 

CHICKPEA "MEATBALLS"

This recipe is very easy to prepare and it is the perfect if you are tired of always cooking the same old meatball recipe. It is also perfect for vegetarians and vegans.

And best of all: a meal for 4 will cost you approximately 1€!

The ingredients are as follow:

- 1 chickpea jar from supermarket

- 2 carrots

- 1/2 onion

- a bit of leek, as much or as little as you would like

- 3 garlic cloves

- a bit of flour

- olive oil

- salt and pepper

- bread crumbs, finelly crumbed.

Remove the chickpeas from the jar and clean them. Place them in a bowl and mash them.

Grate the rest of the ingredients, as it will make easier to mix them and also will help to not find any chunks.

Mix together the chickpeas with the grated vegetables, and add a bit of flour to give consistency to the dough. Add also any salt or pepper that you would like.

With your hand form little balls, the size of a golf ball. Roll them onto the breacrumbs and then onto some flour.

Heat the olive oil in a deep pan and fry the balls until they are golden.

You can add any sauce of your liking, such as tomato sauce, or cream.

Delicioso!