CHICKPEAS WITH EGGS

In the past, during Lent time many Spanish families used to each chickpeas on Fridays. Now we still eat it sometimes more out of tradition than religion. The best known recipes are with spinach and or salt cod (you can find the recipe here http://www.mumandsons.com/2015/04/easter-chickpea-and-spinach-soup.html) but my grandma used to make chickpeas with egg (basically because she had often had a surplus of eggs in her farm).

You need:
- one and a half onions (chopped very thinly)
- a tomato ( grated)
- a clove of garlic ( minced)
-olive oil - three tablespoons
-200 gr chickpeas
- 2 more cloves of garlic
- handful of parsley
- 15 almonds (blanched)
- a teaspoon of sweet paprika
- a bay leaf
- salt
- water (this should be cold water - if you boil the water first the chickpeas will 'get scared', as they say in Spain, and as a result they will contract and be hard, no matter how long you boil them)
- 3 eggs

The night before you are going to make this put the chickpeas in cold water and let them soak overnight.  I have prepare this recipe with chickpeas from one of my aunts, Loli. They are a real delicacy - so tender than you do not even need to soak them. But difficult to get chickpeas of this quality in the supermarket.

Put the olive oil in a pan, bring it to medium heat, add the onions, tomato and garlic, lower the heat, add the paprika and bay leaf and let it all fry for 10 minutes until it gets mellow. Then add the chickpeas, cover with cold water (there should be three centimetres of water over the chickpeas more or less) and let it all simmer for 1.30 to 1.40 hours.

Meanwhile boil the eggs. Take them off the shells and cut them in little bits (the easiest way to do this is with teh back of a fork).

Toast the almonds by putting them on a pan over medium heat for a minute or so.

Out the almonds, parsley and clove of garlic in a mortar and crush it all with the pestle (you can put a bit of salt  so that it is easier to mash it all)

When the chickpeas are ready add the minced eggs and also the almond, parsley and garlic mixture to the chickpeas pan. Correct the salt if needed (chickpeas often require more salt than you think). Stir it all well, let it rest (off the fire) for five to ten minutes and serve.

CHICKPEAS WITH TOMATO

This is a really good dish for a really cold day. You need:

- 100 g of chorizo (cubed)
- 60 g of serrano ham or bacon (cubed) - this is better with ham
- a tin of chickpeas (400 gr)  - you can also boil the chickpeas yourself, but this naturally adds time.
- a glass of water
- an onion (sliced thinly)
- a garlic clove (minced)
- half a glass of tomato sauce (see our recipe - you can also do this with chopped tomatoes from a tin)
- a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)
- 5 piquillo peppers (cut them in thin stripes)

Heat the chorizo and ham/bacon in a pan under low heat (do not add any oil as they will release a lot of fat - if you are on a January diet then get rid of a bit of the fat they release with a spoon). After three minutes add the onion and let it fry gently for 5-6 minutes until it gets golden. Then add the tomato and minced garlic (if you are using tinned tomatoes let it bubble for 5 minutes, but if you are using sauce there is no need to wait). Add the chickpeas (do not add the brine - I actually wash the chickpeas to get rid of the brine salt, but you may not feel this is necessary). Then add the water and peppers and let it all simmer for 15-20 minutes so that you send end up with a gooey stew. Since the bacon and chorizo are salty I do not think this needs any salt, but if you wish then add some. Sprinkle with the parsley just as you are going to serve it.

You can prepare the day before you are going to eat it. Children find it very easy to help with this dish, as indeed it is a simple dish.

LENTILS SALAD

New Year and five years doing our blog. We actually celebrated two New Years yesterday: one at 23.00 eating twelve grapes with the sound of the clock at Puerta del Sol in Madrid and then at 24.00 watching the fireworks in London. So hope that brings double good luck. Italians say that what brings good luck is lentils, so this is a lentils salad to go with meat (especially duck) or blue fish. You need:

- 200 gr of lentils, half an onion and a bay leaf. Or alternatively two tins of already cooked lentils.
- grated rind and juice of one and a half lemons.
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt
- a generous amount of a mixture of herbs: basil, mint, parsley and coriander, chopped as thinly or coarsely as you like.

Boil the lentils in water with the half onion, salt and bay leaf for 30 minutes. Drain them well.  Heat the oil in a pan and fry the lemon rind (just 20 seconds, but keep watching it as it burns very easily). Pour the lemony oil on the lentils. Add the lemon juice, more salt and sprinkle the herbs on top. Done.

CHICKPEAS WITH SQUID

I was served this dish earlier this week at a business working lunch in Madrid. I was dying to ask the waiter for the recipe, but did not dare to do it out of concern that asking for a recipe at a business lunch where everybody else was male would make me look fluffy... I know... all that talk about feminism… Still, I have tried to replicate the recipe and tested it on some female friends (who are as 'up there' on gender rights as I am, but agree it is not OK to ask for recipes at business lunches...though they actually think it is OK to talk about football!)

You may think I am being immodest, but this is even better that the dish I tried.  So perhaps not asking for the recipe was not a bad idea after all...

You need:
- 200 gr chickpeas (soak them in water overnight)
- two table spoons of oil plus more oil for frying the garnish squid.
- half a green pepper
- a tomato (peeled)
- an onion (quartered)
- a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika (pimenton)
-900 ml fish stock (I do not often use stock but it actually makes a big difference here)
- a bay leaf
-a teaspoon of parsley
- two squids (cut it in mouthful pieces)
- 3 tablespoons of flour (or even better, 1 tablespoon of plain flour and 2 of chickpeas flour)
- salt

Put the stock, green pepper, tomato, onion, bay leaf, parsley and oil in a pan and heat it until it gets warm. Then add the chickpeas and salt. Let it boil and then simmer for 1.30 hours.  Take the tomato, onion, pepper and a cup of water out of the pan and blend it. Put it back into the pan and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Separately heat a pan (do not add any oil). Reserve the 'legs' of the squid and two squares of squid per person for the final garnish. When the pan is hot add all the squid except for the garnish and wait for  2-3 minutes so that they get a hard consistency. Add the squid to the pan with the chickpeas and boil for 10 more minutes.


Finally heat olive oil, coat the squid with the flour/s and fry them until they are golden on all sides (3 minutes in total)

Serve the chickpeas in bowls and add the fried squid on top of the soup as garnish.

The children liked seeing the change of texture of the squid when they are put on the pan. And my little ones never fails to enjoy any blending.

BEANS WITH CLAMS - ALUBIAS CON ALMEJAS

This is a very typical dish from Asturias, one of the most stunning regions in Spain where we go every year on holiday. The logo of Asturias is 'a natural paradise', and it is one of the few places where you can find proper alpine-like mountains just forty minutes away from a gorgeous coast line.  If you like outdoor activities and sport, look no further. 

The dish is also the only way to make my youngest son eat clams. 

You need:

-       500 gr white beans 

-       1 onion (cut in two)

-       half a green pepper

-       2 cloves of garlic

-       a pinch of paprika

-       a bay leaf

-       water  - enough to cover the beans, around 1.5 l and then a couple of additional glasses of water (though if you have good fish stock this will be even better)

-       a pinch of saffron

-       a quarter of a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)

-       salt

-       800 gr good clams

-       2 tablespoons olive oil

Soak the beans in water overnight. Then put them in a big pan with the water and salt,  green pepper, onion and garlic cloves (all vegetables should be whole) the olive oil and the bay leaf. Let it come to the boil and then reduce the heat to minimum and let it simmer. After on hour throw in the paprika, saffron, salt and also a glass of cold water (in Asturias this is said to ‘scare the beans’ and makes them softer). Add another glass of cold water after another half an hour. After that time take the pepper, garlic cloves and onion out with a bit of the cooking liquid and blend it. Then put the blended liquid back into the pan. Normally the overall cooking time is 2 hours (though it can take up to 2.45  hours depending on the size and quality of the white beans. As you can see in the picture ours were gigantic. In any case the final result should be silky beans, as soft as butter.

Separately (and after the beans are cooked) heat a frying pan, add the clams (clean them well beforehand) and half a glass of white wine. Wait until the clams open up (discard those that do not), put the clams on top of the beans and also add the clams liquids to it (put it though a sift first as sometimes clams have a bit on sand in them). 

Serve immediately.

Trust me on this one: it really is paradise food.

HUMMUS WITH PEPPERS

This recipe comes from the BBC food website, which apparently is a 'waste of resources' that makes the BBC 'imperialistic', according to some. One would have thought that cooking is a basic skill that deserves some public resources. In any case, bit cheap to criticise the BBC for this. Most countries would simply die for having anything equivalent to it. The most powerful diplomatic tool that this country has - by far (and I say that having spent many years working on foreign relations, including at the FCO itself)  Lack of vision does not even begin to cover how stupid it is to seek to damage it.

Now this is the recipe (which we have changed a little). You need:

- a can of chickpeas

- 3 table spoons of olive oil

- half a teaspoon of ground cumin

- half a teaspoon of ground coriander

- half a teaspoon of 'pimenton' (sweet paprika)

- juice of half a lemon 

- 5 'piquillo peppers'

- a pinch of coarse salt

Blend all the ingredients together. Before serving it drizzle a bit of olive oil on top. As simple as that. 

EASTER CHICKPEA AND SPINACH SOUP

This is a traditional Spanish soup for Easter. It is often made with salted cod, but since we did not have any we did the vegetarian version of it which is still very good. It is very filling though.

You need:
- 200 gr dried chickpeas
- two onions (one whole and another one sliced thinly)
- a bay leaf
- a carrot
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 200 g spinach
- one garlic (minced)
- 1 onion (sliced thinly)
- half a teaspoon of powdered cumin
- a teaspoon of smoked paprika ('pimenton' -  they sell this in most supermarkets now)
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- salt
 
The night before you are going to prepare this soak the chickpeas in cold water (cover them completely) and leave them overnight. The following morning get rid of the water.

Put the chickpeas into a pan, add boiling water (not too much, just to cover them), salt, a peeled carrot (do not dice it), the onion (whole) and the bay leaf. Boil for an hour and a half to 1.45 hours.

While the chickpeas are simmering heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and mince garlic and let it fry over low heat for 10-ish minutes until they are soft. Then add the cumin, pimento and finally the spinach leaves. Wait for a couple of minutes until the spinach leaves wilt. When the chickpeas are ready add all this to them. Then dice the whites of the two hard boiled eggs and add them to the pan.

This tastes better the day after you have cooked it.

BEAN QUESADILLAS

My middle son has been asking me to do this ever since he tried this dish at Wahaca (great place by the way). Since in Year 3 he did a project at school on a Mexican village called Tocuaro, he has a fascination with all things Mexican. In fact Tocuaro is a village of 600 people, so after a couple of weeks doing the project it felt as if we all knew by heart the name and family name of every single inhabitant  of Tocuaro.

You need: (for two quesadillas)
- a packet of Mexican tortillas (they sell them in all supermarkets)
- 100 g of black or red beans
- an onion
- a bay leaf
- a clove of garlic
- half a teaspoon of cumin
- half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- half a teaspoon of origin
- two handfuls of grated cheese
- coriander (around a teaspoon of chopped coriander)
- salt
- water
-two tablespoons of olive oil

The night before you are going to cook the quesadillas put the beans in a bowl and cover them with water (if you bought the beans some time ago add a pinch of bicarb or salt). Leave the beans in the water overnight. The following day get rid of the soak water and put the beans with a couple of glasses of (new) water in a pan. Add the bay leaf, salt and half an onion and boil it first at high heat and then lower the heat and let it simmer for 1.5-1.45 hours. We did this in the pressure cooker so it only took half an hour. In any case, drain the beans and discard the onion and bay leaf.If you want to skip this step altogether just buy a tin of red beans (in fact I only did this process to show to my son how to soften the beans so don't bother with it)

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil. Chop thinly the remaining half onion and fry it (under low heat so that it becomes soft and translucent). After 3-4 minutes grate the garlic and let it fry for 3 more minutes, then add the cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano. Then after one more minute add the beans and two table spoons of water. Mash the beans a bit with the back of a fork or with a potato masher. Increase the heat to maximum and after two or thee minutes (when the water has evaporates) the beans are done.

Heat a non-stick pan. Put a tortilla on top of the pan (no need to add any oil). Add half of the beans mixture, then put a handful of grated cheese on top of the beans and finally sprinkle with coriander. Put another tortilla on top. Wait for 2-3- minutes until the bottom tortilla is golden and turn it around (with the help of a turner or a spatula). Let it get get golden on the other side (a couple of minutes) and serve it  (cut it in fourths).

It is very delicious especially if served with guacamole or salsa.

LENTILS AND TOMATO SALAD

This is a very easy (no cook) side dish. You need:

- a tin of lentils ( you can also cook them from scratch but tinned lentils and chickpeas are really good nowadays)
- 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce
- a pinch of salt
- two tablespoons of olive oil
- one and a help tablespoons of wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with any pork or poultry dish.

CHICKPEA SALAD

This is a very a very simple summer salad.
You need:
- one tin of chickpeas
- 3 spring onions ( cut into slices)
- 150 gr of chorizo cut into small squares
- 100 gr feta cheese cut into small squares
- 1 spoonful of chopped parsley
- half a clove of garlic
- olive oil
- wine vinegar

Mix the chickpeas, spring onions and feta cheese. Fry slightly the chorizo cubes and add it to the salad. Grate the clove of garlic and mix it with the vinegar and one table spoon of olive oil. Mix it all well. Sprinkle the parsley on top. We do not add any salt as the feta is naturally salted but add some if you wish.

CHICKPEAS

This is a very simple dish that works well for lunch with a salad or as garnish for most meats.

You need:
- one tin of chickpeas
- 150 gr of serrano ham ( or any other fired ham; you can also use bacon if you prefer it)
- one clove of garlic
- a little bit of parsley
- olive oil
- salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan (medium heat). Add the garlic chopped into small bits. When the garlic starts getting golden add the ham. Wait for two or three minutes. Take the ham out and reserve. Add the chickpeas, let them fry for 5 minutes, add salt if needed (be careful as the ham is naturally salty) add the ham back, sprinkle with the parsley and done.

You can also add a tablespoon of vinegar as you are frying the chickpeas.

LENTILS SOUP - 'LENTEJAS'

This is a very typical Spanish dish. Most families in Spain eat 'lentejas' once a week during the winter. It is rather heavy (a bowl would be more than enough for lunch) but also very healthy - and cheap too.
You need:
-250 gr of lentils (you may be able to find 'lentejas pardinas' in the supermarket; otherwise Puy lentils are fine too). Ideally you should soak them in water for a few hours.
-1 leak (sliced thinly)
- half a red pepper and half a green pepper (no need to cut them)
- 2 carrots cut in small cubes
- 100 gr green beans (sliced thinly)
- 4 cloves of garlic (sliced thinly)
- salt
- 2 table spoons of olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- half a teaspoon of sweet paprika
- a little bit of parsley (cut thinly)
- water - around 750 ml
Heat the pan with the olive oil (medium to high heat). When the oil is hot add all the ingredients and fry them for 4-5 minutes. Add the water (enough to just cover all the ingredients). Let it all boil and then reduce the heat. Let it simmer for 30-40 minutes until the lentils are tender. If you do this in a express pan ( I use this a lot) it will be ready in just 10 minutes.
Once it is ready take out the peppers and a few lentils (half a cup) and  blend  them (with a hand held mixer or in a blender). Put the blended peppers back in the pan, and mix them well with the rest of the lentils. That is all there is to it.
Best manner to eat the lentils is to serve them very hot with a tablespoon of good red wine vinegar.
Kids like it with a few small cubes of chorizo sprinkled over the lentils (you will need to  fry the chorizo first for a couple of minutes or to cook it in the microwave for just 20-30 seconds)
The children helped to mix all the ingredients and to throw them into the pan. They liked the hand held blender but it is very dangerous so you should hold the blender with them if you allow them to use it.