GARLIC CHICKEN

This chicken recipe is a typical Spanish one.
You need:
-Four thighs of chicken
- salt
-olive oil
- 6 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
-2 bay leaves
-3 tablespoons of vinegar
-1 glass of water

Heat the olive oil and fry the chicken things on all sides until they acquire a dark golden colour.  Put the chicken aside.

Wait for a while until the oil cools down. Then fry the garlic slices for a minute or so until they start getting a pale golden colour. Add the vinegar and let it bubble for another a few seconds. Then add the water and bay leaves. Let it all bubble for a minute. Add the chicken to this sauce, lower the heat and let it all bubble for 20-25 minutes until the chicken gets tender. Serve with crusty bread or with rice.

You have to be a bit careful with the kids when you prepare this dish as the chicken splatters a lot when you fry it. Also, the vinegar can produce a very strong smell while it looses its acidity and kids might dislike this.

TUILES

You need:
- 2 egg whites
- 110 gr sugar
- 80 gr plain flour
- 60 gr melted butter
- 100 gr sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix well the butter, egg whites, sugar and flour. Then add the almonds. Cover a baking tray with baking paper. Put spoonfuls of the mixture on the tray extending them well with the back of a spoon so that they are very thin. Bake them for 7 to 8 minutes until they become golden. As you get them off the oven peel them carefully with a spatula and put them on a rolling pin or bottle so that they get curved. This only takes a couple of minutes.

NUNS' SIGHS

This is a  typical treat by Spanish nuns who often used to make a living by selling cakes and sweets. They are very light, as light as the sigh of a nun, hence their name.

You need
 - 3 egg whites
- 125 gr sugar
- 125 gr powdered almonds
- grated zest of half a lemon
- little muffin cases

Preheat the oven at 220 degrees.

Whisk the egg whites. Add the sugar in little bits and continue whisking until the mixture becomes glossy. Fold in the almonds and then the lemon zest.

Spoon the mixture into the cases. Bake until golden - they often take 10-12 minutes, but it depends a bit on the size of the paper case.

STRAWBERRY MOUSSE

This is a great recipe.  Really fresh and subtle. We were in a rush when we took the picture so it probably does not do justice to the recipe. Just trust us on this one. You need:

- 350 gr strawberries
- 70 gr sugar
-  5 leaves of gelatine
- 2 egg whites
- 125 ml double cream and 125 ml single cream

Blend the strawberries in a food processor or with a hand held mixer. While you do this, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water, then get rid of the excess water and put the gelatine in a cup and into the microwave (at high temperature) for 15 seconds. Add the gelatine to the strawberries and mix well.

Separately combine the single and double cream and beat it until you get soft whipped cream. this takes only a couple of minutes. Then fold the strawberries mixture into the cream taking care so that you do not lose any air.

In a different bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Then add the sugar ( in little bits) until the egg whites become glossy. Fold this mixture into the strawberries and cream one taking once again lots of care so that you do not loose the air.

Spoon the mixture into ramekins or little glasses and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Children like to help through it all as it involves plenty of blending and beating. Oddly they made no reference to the pink colour.

You can make it one day in advance but remember that this contains raw egg so do not keep in the fridge for more than 48 hours.

BACON SALAD

This is not really a proper recipe, but my kids like it.

You need:
- 100-140 g of bacon cut into small cubes
- 1 tin of sweetcorn
- 1 cucumber - also into small cubes

Mix all the ingredients together. Add a pinch of salt, 1 table spoon of oil and half a table spoon of vinegar  (all to taste). if you are serving this to adults you may want to add also some chopped avocado.

MEATBALLS

You need:
- 500 gr mince meat
- 1 egg
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs
- 1 and a half tablespoons of chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon of wine vinegar
- 2 pinches of salt

- flour (plain) - around  100 gr
- 1 egg - beaten with a tablespoon of milk
- olive oil

- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 1 glass of white wine
- 1 glass of water
- another clove of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of parsley (chopped)
- one bay leave
- a bit more salt

Mix the mince meat, egg, vinegar, breadcrumbs and salt. Separately mince the garlic and the parsley (both together) in a pester and add them to the mixture. Mix well with your hands.

Take handfuls of the mixture and shape them into balls ( the size of a golf ball more or less). Put a dish with the flour and another one with the beaten egg. Heat the oil ( over medium heat).

Now, take a meatball, coat it in flour, then coat it in the egg and then fry it ( do not overfly them, you just need to get them a little bit brown on all sides). Keep doing this with all the other meatballs ( you should be able to fry 6 or 7 at the same time)

Separately heat a bit of olive oil, fry the onion slowly until it becomes translucent (7-8 minutes). In a pester mince the garlic with the parsley. Add the white wine to the garlic mixture and put it all into the pan with the onions (increasing the heat to high). Add the water and the bay leave. Heat until you see bubbles come up. Add the meatballs, lower the heat to very low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Eat with plain rice or crusty bread. My grandma used to add little cubes of fried potatoes that she added to the simmering pan for 3-4 minutes so that they would get soft and catch the flavour of the meatballs.

FRIED PEPPERS

You need:
- 1 glass of olive oil
- 4 peppers cut into matchsticks
- salt

Put the oil into a small deep pan. Heat the oil (under high heat) until it is about to produce smoke. Add the peppers. Reduce the heat to medium and fry the peppers for 3-4- minutes (or until the edges start getting black) As you take them out put them on a piece of kitchen paper to get rid of any excess oil. Sprinkle with salt.

Keep the oil as it adds great flavour to eggs or tortilla.

The fact that the colours of the peppers are the colours of the winners of the European Championship is pure coincidence.