VEGETABLES CAKE

This is a nice and easy starter. We got the recipe  from my mother over Christmas. She had got it from the internet (since she has finally discovered it!) but I am afraid she could not remember the source.

You need:
- 15 french beans
- 2 carrots
- one large onion
- one courgette
- 2 eggs
- 210 ml of cream (we use single cream)
- salt
- black pepper
- 2 table spoons of olive oil

For the sauce:
- a bowl of mayonnaise ( see our 2 minutes mayonnaise recipe)
- 2 piquillo peppers

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees.

Dice all the vegetables (see size in the picture below). Parboil the beans and carrots during 6 minutes in boiling water. In a separate pan heat the oil and fry the onion for 5 minutes under low heat, then add the courgette over medium heat for another 4 minutes and then get rid of the oil.

Beat the eggs, add the cream,  the add all the vegetables and the salt and pepper. Put the mixture into a loaf tin covered with baking paper (no need to grease it) . Bake 5for 40-4 minutes at 170 degrees.  When you take it off the oven wait until the cake gets cold before you un-mould it.

For the sauce, blitz the mayonnaise with the piquillo peppers either in a food processor or with a hand held blender.

'SQUID IN ITS INK' (CALAMARES EN SU TINTA)

New year special: one of our favourite dishes. Though children may initially dislike the colour of this dish, they just need to taste one mouthful and it will easily become one of their favourite foods. Try it with plain rice. Or with lots of bread. But whatever you do, do not show to the kids the inside of the squid, nor the ink, or they might be put off from squid for ever.

You need:
- 500 gr squid (clean and cut into mouth-bite pieces)
- the ink of each squid (ask the fishmonger to give you the ink- they come inside a kind of white bag, like a little sausage). If you cannot get the natural ink, some fishmongers sell small plastic sachets of artificial ink which tastes very good too (and makes the dish even darker)
- tomato sauce ( see our recipe - 8 table spoonfuls)
- olive oil
- a clove of garlic
- parsley
- half a glass of white wine
- a tiny bit of hot water

Put a couple of olive oil spoonfuls in a pan. Add the calamari and let them fry (over high heat) for 4-5 minutes. They will release some water - wait until all the water evaporates. Add the tomato sauce. Then mash the garlic clove with the parsley (with the pester and mortar), add the wine and pour it all over the squid.
Now, put the ink bags into a small colander, pour a bit of hot water on them and mash with the back of a spoon so that the ink falls on the squid.
Let it all simmer for 15 minutes over low heat.
This dish keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge ( and it is probably better the day after you prepare it)
Do not add salt to the squid as they are naturally salty.

JAM SNAILS

All you need is:

- shop bought puff pastry
- jam (we did this with home made damson jam which is very dark, but any jam works well)

Heat the oven at 200 degrees. Spread the puff pastry (a rectangle) with the jam. Roll it as a swiss roll (along its shorter side). Cut it into slices (around 1.5 cms tick) Cover a baking tray with baking paper and put the slices on top, flatten them a bit. You can paint them with egg yoke, but we found that the jam already gives them a gloss, so we missed this step. Bake for 17-18 minutes until the pastry gets golden and the jam makes them look nice and messy.

FLAPJACKS

This works well for winter cake sales or food presents.
You need:
- 500 gr rolled oats
- 250 gr butter
- 250 gr sugar
- 175 gr golden syrup
- 100 gr desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan and melt it. Take it off the heat, add the rolled oats and finally the coconut. Put it all on an oven tin (grease it beforehand or cover it with a silicon mat). Leave it in the oven for 20 minutes. Then take it off the oven and wait for 10 minutes. Score it into squares and then wait until it is completely cold. Cut it into squares and eat.

TORTILLA DE PATATAS (SPANISH OMELET)

I have been trying to avoid adding this recipe to the blog as there is something a bit too obvious about Spanish people cooking tortilla. But a tortilla with a glass of beer and good company on a sunny day is hard to beat. And a hot  'bocadillo de tortilla' (omelet inside a piece of crusty bread) on a cold day is pure indulgence.

There are as many recipes of tortilla as Spanish people: some like it with onion, some with leeks, some with just potatoes and eggs, some prefer it 'blonde' some 'dark', some 'runny' some 'dry'…just try a few times and find the recipe that you prefer.  My advice: do not add chorizo, nor peppers- a tortilla with that is just a bit of a mess. Be generous with the salt. Also, you need a good non stick (medium size) pan and very hot oil.

You need:
- 500 gr potatoes
- 5 eggs
- lots of olive oil
- salt
- an onion

Chop the potatoes into really thin slices (by hand or with a food processor). Cut the onion into small squares. Mix the onion and the potatoes and add salt. Put a really generous amount of olive oil in the pan ( medium heat), add the potatoes and onions, lower the heat to its minimum setting, cover with a lid and let it fry the until the ottos are golden and soft ( more or less twenty minutes). When the potatoes are done put them into a colander to get rid of the excess oil (but keep this oil).

Beat the eggs. Add the potatoes to the eggs and add a tiny bit more salt.

Put three spoonfuls of oil (you can use the oil from the potatoes) in the pan and heat it under it is very hot. Add the eggs and potatoes mixture and lower the heat to medium/low. Once you see bubbles on the surface (10-ish minutes) turn the tortilla around. This really seems more difficult than it is - you can do it with a big plate or a lid  (I do it over the sink just in case some of the eggy mixture falls down) Let the tortilla cook on the other side (another 8 minutes more or less). You can eat it hot or cold.

RED CABBAGE

This has a sweet-ish taste, so it is a good way to get children to eat cabbage. It works very well with roast pork or beef.

You need:
- one red cabbage (cut it into thin slices)
-2 onions (chopped thinly)
- one apple (peeled and chopped)
- salt
-two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil (three tablespoons)
-half a glass of water

Heat the oil in a pan (medium heat). Add the onion and fry it until it becomes golden (light) - this will take 5-6 minutes. Add the red cabbage and the apple and let it fry for 5 minutes. Then add the salt, balsamic vinegar and water. After 4-5 minutes reduce the heat and let it all simmer for 50 minutes until the cabbage is soft.

MUSHROOM SOUP

Since my children finally approve of mushrooms we have revived an old recipe for mushroom soup. You can do this with any sort of mushrooms really. We did it with porcini, which makes the flavour more intense, simply because we had friends for lunch and wanted to make something a bit more special, but it tastes very nice too with fresh mushrooms only (we used chestnut mushrooms but white cup mushrooms work well too). You need:
- 500 gr mushrooms (sliced)
- 30 gr porcini
- water (for the porcini) - 2 glasses
- 2 onions (diced)
- 1 clove of garlic (sliced)
- olive oil ( 3 table spoons)
- a knob of butter
- a sprinkle of chopped parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 750 ml stock (or water if you do not have any stock)
- 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche
- salt

Heat the oil and butter in a deep pan. Pour two glasses of boiling water over the dried porcini and let them rest until they become soft)  Add the onions and garlic and let it cook over slow heat until they become soft and translucent. Add the sliced mushrooms, then the porcini (without the water)  and the parsley and let it all cook for 10-15 minutes. Add salt, the bay leaf and the stock and let it all boil for 20-25 minutes. Add the creme fraiche and mix with a hand held blender. We fried slices of mushrooms and served the soup with them on top.