A Taste of Spain

Why Spain? When I started this journey, I knew I wanted to “bake Spain” sooner than later.

I chaperoned a small group of students to Spain and France a few years ago. During the Spain portion of this trip, we spent some time in Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, and Zaragoza. While all cities/towns were wonderful in their own way, I fell in love with Toledo. Maybe it was the beautiful day, the quiet quaint city far from the hustle and bustle of life, or because we took a cooking class on the top floor of a restaurant surrounded by windows looking out over the beautiful town; regardless Toledo left a lasting impression. Since that trip I have wanted to replicate the meal we had that day. Now I have a reason…

The preview picture from last week was taken from the balcony of the following picture where we spent our noon time preparing lunch.

Why the chosen dishes? On this charming cooking day in Toledo, you can see in the picture that each station has bowls of potatoes and onions. This was the day we learned to make the traditional Tortilla de Patatas (Potato Omelet). This dish is a specialty of the Iberian Peninsula (the southern part of Europe that includes Portugal, Spain, and Andorra, small country between Spain and France). As a tourist… it’s a must-eat dish if visiting Spain.

During this trip, we ate a lot of tapas (small bites of most any dish usually served on bread). Tapas make a great lunch or snack, thus I wanted to make a simple bread that could be the base of any tapas. That led me to Pan Rustica (simple rustic bread). Locals consider the Pan Rustica the most authentic type of Spanish bread and is still made using the same basic recipe that has been followed for centuries.

Just close your eyes and imagine breaking bread with Spaniard Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus (0388), Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon (1474), Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547), or Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881). Let’s throw in Spanish actress and singer Charo for good measure. Now that’s a dinner party I wouldn’t want to miss!!

The potato omelet is served at any meal and often with a salad. Since we were eating this dish for dinner, I decided to put more effort into it than making a salad… something more traditional… thus Pisto Manchego (stewed vegetables). This dish originated in “La Mancha” region of Spain (central), hence the second half of the title… Manchego… of which many of us know as yummy Spanish cheese.

Now the bake…

The Pan Rustica… As one of the oldest breads in Spain, you can’t bake Spain without including this bread. Olive oil is the differentiating ingredient. The recipe is basic and includes bread flour, water, salt, and yeast… it’s the olive oil that keeps it moist and adds a unique flavor. Thank you to foodlove.com for the recipe that made 2 loaves. The website picture is so much prettier than mine. I’ll touch on this in my final comments… don’t make the same mistakes I did. 😊

Final comments on the Pan Rustica… I followed the recipe linked above. The actual preparation went very well. I was pleased throughout the process. It tasted as we expected, a simple bread with a hint of extra virgin olive oil… great to accompany a stew or used as a tapas base.

What did NOT work for me…

1. I scored the bread too deeply (should only be ¼ to ½ inch deep). I watched a video on how to score bread prior to doing so, but the key is practice, practice, practice… I’ll be doing more of that.
2. I really wanted that floured top look that you see in the bakeries. Although, I felt like I floured the loaves well before allowing them to rise, it wasn’t enough. Next time… more flour to dust the top!

The accompanying dishes…

Tortilla de patatas (click on the title for the recipe), not the Mexican flour tortilla. This is known as a Spanish omelet, like a frittata from Italy without the cheese. The basic recipe is sliced potatoes cooked in olive oil, onions (highly debatable in Spain, but my cooking class included them), eggs, and salt. I followed the recipe, but my picture isn’t as pretty as it could be. The dish itself was flavorful from the olive oil and salt and a nice change from a standard omelet or frittata. It was good to have a side dish of veggies. Since I thinly sliced the potatoes as directed in the recipe, the omelet seemed more like a potato gratin (scalloped potatoes) because of the layers of potatoes.

What I would do DIFFERENTLY…

1. Use a 10-inch skillet because my omelet was thinner than I thought it would be; I used a 12-inch skillet. I’ve made frittatas before in a 10-inch skillet and that was just the right size.
2. Drain well the oil from the potatoes before adding them to the eggs. I ended up spooning out some of the oil as the omelet was cooking; there was too much.
3. You can see from the photo that one side did not brown… my skillet was partially off the burner… oops!!
4. Consider cutting up the potatoes into thin chunks so the egg can be dispersed more.

Pisto Manchego (click on the title for the recipe) reminds me of the French ratatouille (stewed vegetables) with a slice of Manchego cheese on top or a fried egg added upon serving (I added the cheese instead since I had an egg dish to accompany it). This dish included lots of veggies and you could taste the individual veggies since they were cooked somewhat separately (peppers / onions together and eggplant / zucchini together). I used onion, green pepper, red pepper, orange pepper (instead of another green), eggplant, and zucchini. These were all cooked in olive oil. Crushed tomatoes, a bit of sugar, and salt to taste rounded out the dish. Since this dish was light, it was an appropriate side to the heavy omelet.

Final comments on the accompanying dishes… We enjoyed another meal that allowed us to focus on a different part of the world and gave me an opportunity to reflect on my trip to Spain. With my third week into this adventure, I’m reminded, yet again, that quality is the key to good food. So many countries have basic, inexpensive ingredients in traditional dishes that are flavorful and good for the soul (as they can take you back in time, connect you to others, or remind you of an experience).

What makes this adventure meaningful for me is to connect these dishes with a little history. As we eat, we think about the people long before us who created these historical dishes and their influence of other countries and cultures at the time. For example, the Pisto (stewed veggies) was influenced by the Moors when they ruled the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) and since has become such an iconic dish of Spain. In fact, modern day Spanish cuisine was influenced by Arabic flavors.

My takeaway for Spain…Without our connections to the world and other cultures (past, present, and future), think about what we might have missed or could be missing that makes us who we are and will become.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment, like, or consider following my blog as I continue to move through the world and learn more about cuisine and culture. Check back this Friday for a clue (or two) as to where my next adventure will take us!