Habas y Morcilla

4 Sep

A few years ago we drove to Yecla, around 3 hours from here, for no other reason than to meet up with our friend James Harland who was attending a furniture exhibition there.  He is a good client to the spanish and always gets invited to various conferences or exhibitions here.  Yecla is full of furniture manufacturers and other than that not really noted for much else to my knowledge.  So we collected James from the exhibition hall and headed back into the smallish town and just happened upon an unspectacular looking, but busy, restaurant. 

We had not been in Spain very long so were still unsure of quite a lot of things on menu’s, particularly in towns which were in the heart of the countryside or mountains, which Yecla was!  Anyhow. we looked at what the local business people were eating and I immediately spotted something delicious looking on the next table so I motioned to our waiter that we would have lots of that please to start.  It was simply the most delicious thing I had eaten in ages and consisted mainly of Morcilla and Habas – black pudding with broad beans.

We scoffed a huge plate between us and I can’t even remember what we had to follow it was so good.  When we returned home I looked in my Moro cook book and to my delight I found the exact recipe.  So here it is for you – even if you think you don’t like Morcilla, give it a go, it is so yummy.  Have it for lunch or supper – it takes 15 minutes to make.  Perfect.

3 tablespoons olive oil

200 g morcilla cut into slices

2 cloves garlic sliced

Half a teaspoon of fennel seeds (you do need these so don’t be tempted to leave them out!)

1.5 kg broad beans – if you haven’t got an allotment just use frozen ones!

100 ml chicken stock

A good handful of fresh mint chopped

sea salt and black pepper

In a pan heat the oil and fry the morcilla on both sides for a few minutes -then remove and set aside

Add the fennel seeds and garlic to the pan and cook for a minute or two.  Add the beans and the stock.  If you can be bothered or have a lot of time on your hands, you can peel the broad beans and discard the skins – quite often I lose the will to live by doing this but the end result is perfection.  Simmer for 4 or 5 minutes.  Then throw in the morcilla and the mint, season with salt and pepper and serve with toasted brioche or some nutty brown toast.  To make this a more substantial dish, you can serve with scrambled eggs. Just divine.

Chiringuito Perichan – San Juan de los Terreros

2 Sep

The Perichan chiringuito is situated a few hundred metres down from the Calypso Hotel at San Juan, 20 minutes from the cortijo.  It is a favourite with Spaniards and English alike and during the summer months it is essential to book for lunch, especially at the weekends.  It is a large airy space, cool inside or if you prefer you can sit at a table outside.

Perichan interior

The staff are friendly and slick and you never have to wait for a drink, some bread and alioli (garlic mayonnaise) and a menu – a winner with me as I hate having to try and attract the attention of waiters who are obviously busy, but refuse to catch your eye!  This way everyone is happy and no-one minds a short wait until your order is taken.  You need time anyway to peruse the vast menu – endless starters of boquerones (fresh anchovies), squid, octopus, prawns, salads to name a few.

Choose between the sea view...

Main courses consist mainly of lovely fresh fish, always fantastic and grilled to perfection, or all kinds of grilled meat and kebabs, burgers if you must and a kind of all day Spanish fry up, good for brunch.  If you are spectacularly hungry, order the mixed fish platter, grilled not fried, and a huge salad, a bottle of Rosado (rose wine) or a cold beer and some agua con gas and you are all set for the next hour at least.

...or the mountain view

There is no hurry here, no kicking you off for the next sitting and no rushing you with dessert and coffee – you are nearly always offered a chupito, a liqueur of the house (sometimes you are offered a drink of your choice if you have had a particularly large meal!) with the bill.  This beach bar is a must during a visit here – the beach is gorgeous too so spend the whole day there and sleep off lunch under a brolly at the Calypso Hotel.

Perichan telephone number: 610 784 360

It’s Margarita time!

1 Sep

Bank holiday Monday evening and Mick and I are alone again (apart from Kevin and Digby of course) – our 10 guests have left and it is eerily quiet – we sit at the bar waiting for a breath of breeze and drop in temperature of a degree or two.  Mick is making me my favourite sundowner – Margarita.  Ironic really as I am unable to drink tequila on its own since 1990 when I had one too many tequila slammers and threw up on Lesley Churnside’s new shoes – things were never the same between us after that.  Anyhow, let’s not dwell on it, dig out your cocktail shaker, smash some ice up and see what is in the drinks cabinet.  For this one you will need:-

50 ml of silver or gold tequila

25 ml of fresh lime (although I use much more than this as I love the taste)

20 ml of triple sec or cointreau

Sling everything in the shaker with the crushed ice, and here’s my twist, add some fresh mint too, it is delicious

Rub the rim of a chilled glass with a wedge of lime and then dip into a saucer of fine salt.

Give the cocktail shaker a good old shake and strain into the glass.  Sublime.  Happy bank holiday.

San Juan de los Terreros

31 Aug

The last Saturday in August and I am thinking “Can it get any hotter?” I am rushing through my chores, the rooms, clearing up breakfast and doing a bit of preparation for dinner tonight as we have a houseful – 10 including 4 under the age of 7!  The littlies are having lasagne at 7 pm so that their parents can enjoy a relaxed dinner later.  They are all allowed to stay up tonight for the outdoor cinema – they are on holiday and they don’t want to go to bed, even the littlest 2 year old! 

By two o’clock we are just about ready to head off to one of our other lovely beaches at San Juan de los Terreros – only a 20 minute drive away.  So we head off for the pleasant short drive there, a windy road through lots of hilly countryside and nothing on the road because is it lunchtime, something, rather like the French, Spaniards take great pleasure in though it is a rather less formal affair. 

We go to our favourite chiringuito, Perichan, which is packed but they find us a table for two.  Even though there are dozens of people the service is great – they take your drinks order immediately and bring them back with bread and garlic mayonnaise and leave you to peruse the menu, taking the pressure off them and you not waiting!  I order grilled sepia with salad (squid) and Mick orders a hamburger because I am cooking fish tonight!  The menu is huge so there will be something for everyone but as we on the sea, obviously fish is the choice of the day.  You can have huge platter of mixed seafood or fish to share, a bottle of vino and a salad for under 20 euros a head.

San Juan Calypso hotel

Then as we are a bit pushed for time today, we head back down the beach to our favourite spot, in front of the Calypso hotel.  There are beds and brollies for hire, an air conditioned bar for those who wish to escape the heat and a great restaurant too but you need a bit of time to linger over lunch here.  We nap and read a little, and then just before coming home at 5.30, I go for a delicious swim.  The waves are up and I leap around to keep above them and enjoy the feeling of being on holiday, albeit only for a short while.  We wish we could stay till sunset, and next week when we are by ourselves we will.

Introducing Digby

24 Aug

For those of you who know us you will also know that we lost our beloved little Scrappy dog in June – thankfully we have been very busy so that has kept our minds of how much we miss him.  Last week, Pat (the lovely lady who dog sits occasionally for us) emailed us saying that she had a little Jack Russell cross who had been left at her gate.  She has 8 girl dogs of her own and so can’t take a male.

She said she knew it was a bit soon after Scrappy, but that this little chap was just gorgeous – very good with people and other dogs and immediately thought of us as I had said I would consider having another small dog in the future and she knew how heartbroken we were at losing Scrappy.  She said that there was no pressure on us as if we didn’t think we could have him, he was going in a vehicle to Holland on Sunday with one of the charities here (lots of them go to Holland – they must be really kind over there.  I emailed back saying that we would give it some serious thought that we felt it was a bit soon, but that we knew we were in a position to take in another little hound.

Once Mick and I had discussed the fact that we were indeed considering taking him we kind of knew what would happen next!  We went to visit him on Saturday and one look at his little face and the deal was pretty much done, on the basis that if he fit in with Kevin the Pointer and us we would keep him.  So we brought him home for the rest of the weekend to see how things went.  He is absolutely adorable, very very good and even Kevin seems to like him.  So we emailed Pat to say that things were going very well, we loved him already and to cancel his place on the lorry!  So we are back to a full complement of dogs again – Digby (the new one pictured) has not replaced Scrappy, but we knew he wouldn’t mind sharing. I hope he has a happy old time with us.

Arista (Roast rack of Pork)

23 Aug

Sunday and Mick and I have a precious day alone.  We have a little bit of work to do for the arrival of more guests on Monday but generally it is a day of pottering and some lazy time in the morning to decide what I will cook for dinner.  I always cook from scratch even if there are just the two of us and so I sit with a coffee and a wonderful cook book which my sister bought for me sometime after we moved here.

It is called Twelve – A Tuscan Cookbook by Tessa Kiros.  But that’s not Spanish I hear you cry.  No it isn’t but of course the climate is very similar and so are the ingredients.  I love it – it is seasonal too so that really helps sometimes.  However, I really fancied a roast type dinner tonight and so went straight to February!

The pork here is fantastic – really good quality and I never seem to go wrong with it.  Actually I didnt’ have a rack of pork – I had a solomillo or fillet to you.  But I knew it would work just as well, just a little less cooking time (do watch it though as the fillet will cook fairly quickly so check it 30 minutes after the browning bit).   So you will probably need to go to the butcher and ask for a rack of pork (just like a rack of lamb).  Ask the butcher to chine it for you otherwise it makes carving difficult.  You can also look up chining on Google if you feel like having a go yourself!  If you can’t be bothered then do as I did and just get a lovely fillet of pork – the size you get depends on how many you are cooking for but around 1.5 kg will feed 5-6 with some leftovers.  If you are using a fillet, it is easier to judge by eye how much you will need as you will be slicing it up.

Ingredients

1 fillet or rack of Pork

zest of one lemon

Some slices of bacon, pancetta or palma ham

1 onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

2 celery stalks in pieces

A good slug of white wine – a couple of glasses

Half a cup of olive oil infused with sage, rosemary, thyme and garlic all chopped up and left for a while in the oil

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C/400F/Gas mark 6

Rub the fillet all over with the oil and herbs – just do it with your hands

and scatter the lemon zest over

Wrap up in slices of bacon or whatever you are using and secure to the bones by tie-ing with kitchen string

Give a good grinding of pepper but no salt as the bacon is enough

Drizzle olive oil on to a roasting dish and place the pork in

Put the vegetables around the meat

Brown the meat for 10-15 minutes each side and then slosh in the wine and reduce the heat to 180c/350 f/Gas mark4 and continue to cook for up to an hour, turning occasionally and basting with the juices – you can add a cup or so of water if it looks like it needs it as it doesn’t want to dry out

Then remove from the oven and stick a skewer through to make sure it is cooked through – the juices must be clear.  Leave to cool and then carve if a rib or slice if a fillet.  I must say if you are not a confident cook then use the fillet as it is so easy and looks and tastes fantastic.  If you have the rib just cut into chops as you would a rack of lamb.

Mini Hollywood – Oasys – Tabernas

22 Aug

Almeria is known for its history as a film location not just for spaghetti westerns, but many other epic Hollywood films had scenes which were filmed here.  2001: A space odyssey was not filmed here but the moonscape scene seen through the window of the spaceship is actually Almeria!  Hence there is a great park here called Oasys – formerly Mini Hollywood.

Spain's most wanted man

It is near the Tabernas dessert around an hour from here and is a fantastic place to visit for a day out.  There is a western film set where they do a couple of shows a day with horses, wagons, shootings, hangings (all good family stuff!), a vast zoo where there are many many beautifully cared for animals in decent sized habitats, with rocks, waterfalls etc and immaculately kept, and a couple of decent sized swimming pools to cool off when it gets too hot (so take your togs with you and leave them in the car).

Zoo time

There are plenty of ok places to have lunch, or you could pack a cool box with a picnic and leave it in the car til lunchtime and then take it to one of the swimming pool areas and relax for the afternoon.  It really is an enjoyable day out but quite a lot of walking is involved so take pushchairs for toddlers if possible and plenty of coffee stops for the older generation.  I guarantee though everyone will have a good time.

Enjoy!

Telephone: 950 365 236

La Posada del Candil – Seron

17 Aug

Sometimes, when we’re feeling a bit ‘desert-ed out’ we say ‘let’s go and find somewhere new’  which generally means inland as we have driven quite a distance along our coast.  On one of these days, Mick remembered a place that he had read about called Seron so we thought we would head off there.  It is around an hour’s drive from the house but as always driving here is a doddle as there is virtually never any traffic on the motorway and the roads thereafter.

Seron is set high upon a hill and is an ancient little town which seems to sell nothing but, well, ham!  There is the ham factory, the house of ham, the family ham shop and ham interiors (well I made that bit up).  But seriously this is obviously what Seron is famous for.  It is a lovely little town though and provides cool relief in the summer and a good little excursion with a beer at the end of it.

We came across a fabulous Casa Rural – a sign for which we came upon when heading up to Seron itself.  To find it, you take the turning before the town and drive up and up and just when you are thinking “where the bloody hell is it?” you are on top of it – literally.

It is called La Posada del Candil and has undergone major renovation – I mean big time.  They have obviously spent a fortune as it is very very classy and immaculate. The view is astonishing and puts one in mind of being in an Alpine forest in Switzerland rather than dusty Spain.

La Posada del Candil

When we arrived it was clear that they had a massive party arriving any time soon – the tables were all beautifully laid out inside and there was lots of activity going on in the kitchen.  We were starving by this point and so I sought out an official looking dude and fell at his feet asking please for a menu and a small table.  He laughed and said that if we wouldn’t mind eating on the “porch” (actually the fabulous terrace with the view!) then he could provide a simple meal for us.  Our rubbish spanish came in very useful as not a word of English was spoken, as you might imagine.

The view from our table

We ordered delicious wine by the glass, ham (of course) and then another load of stuff which we weren’t entirely sure what we would be getting!  But we kind of knew that this was a pretty special place and that it would all be good.  It was – fantastic skewers of meat, sausages, chorizo, lamb chops – all done on an outside barbeque in the car park – a meat fest really so if you are vegetarian I wouldn’t recommend it unless you aren’t hungry and only want to look at the view and drink!

Buena vista!

Another clever little touch is that on their card they include the co-ordinates of the location so sat nav is easily done and numpties like me won’t get lost.  It is rather remote to say the least.  They have rooms here too which I would say is a must if you choose to go for dinner – the drive would be very dark and a bit scary and it is too far to go for dinner.  Lunchtime is a different matter though.

As we drove down the hill again, we were met by a string of cars containing the party – I think it was a wedding party as they were all glammed up to death.

Anyhow, check out their website in addition to our pix shown here.  Another visit is definitely due.

La Posada del Candil telephone number: 696 388 561

Las Brisas – Villaricos Playa

16 Aug

Placido Domingo or Lazy Sunday to you!  We went down to our nearest beach at Villaricos to meet some friends for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Las Brisas.  It is a charming chiringuito that serves fantastic food at lunchtimes.  6 or 8 choices of fresh fish, prawns, salads, and a decent choice of meat, steaks, lamb chops and pork dishes.

Lovely Sunday lunch

If you want the traditional lunch of Paella, you need to telephone the day before (apparently it is naff to have paella at any other time of day though goodness knows why!).

Paella - order the day before!

After a two hour lunch (pathetically short) it is down to the sea 10 yards away for a refreshing dip – the waves knock us off our feet and all hope of looking like Ursula Andress emerging from the surf goes out the window!  We don’t care – we have the rest of the afternoon ahead of us.  The beach here is under 15 minutes drive from the Cortijo so even if you just want a swim and a beer for an hour during the day it is no hassle.

Villaricos Playa

It is a lovely natural beach, with no umbrellas or beds – you take your own.  There is a natural lagoon so the water is always really warm at this time of year and the shore is flanked by lots of local Spanish families coming down to enjoy their regular family day out.  They bring everything but the kitchen sink with them and sit right on top of the water’s edge so nipping in and out of the waves is not too much effort!  They won’t leave untl sundown, but I have to get back to cook dinner for my guests but luckily I have prepared most it in the morning, so only a bit of last minute cooking to do.  I won’t get to bed before midnight as the kids have requested ‘The Hangover’ in the outdoor cinema after dinner.  There will be plenty of time for early nights in the autumn and if I am lucky I will get a short siesta in on Monday afternoon.

Las Brisas telephone number: 639 600 949

Harissa Dressing

15 Aug

I use Harrisa all the time – this recipe is from Delia’s summer collection and is put in my blog especially for Janet Wood, one of my lovely guests staying at the moment.

It is dead easy, cheap as chips (unlike the ones you can now buy in supermarkets) and you can obviously make as much or as little as you need.  I sometimes put in a small slug of vodka for no other reason than it gives it a tiny alcoholic kick (oh dear).

It will keep happily in the fridge for a week so if you have a bit left over it is lovely with barbequed or grilled fish such as Bream (Dorada as we in Spain call them), or even with a good rib eye steak.  Normally I will use it on a roasted vegetable cous cous salad – throw in some melting brie and some leaves on the top and you have a great dish for vegetarians.

To make enough for a huge dish of cous cous use:-

4 oz good olive oil

Juice of two limes (lemon is good too if you don’t have

limes in the house – why does one always have lemons, but not limes)

2 tablespoons of cumin – absolutely essential for this, so if you don’t have any you will have to go and buy some!

A teaspoon of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons of tomato puree

A pinch of sea salt

I just throw everything into a clean jam jar and give it a good shake – then leave for a few hours for the flavours to develop.

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