PUT IT ON A BUN AND CALL IT A MONTADITO

While I was working through the cocido leftovers last week, I made an Andalusian classic, montadito de pringá, a sandwich made with the cooked meats and fat from the cocido mashed to a kind of pâté.  That inspired a week’s worth of montaditos!

 

A classic--montaditos de pringá--cooked meat from the cocido, mashed with pork fat--on toasted rolls.

Montadito means “mounted,” or “up in the saddle.” A slice of juicy, fried pork loin, “mounted” on bread and topped with strips of red piquillo pepper, is a classic montadito.  You can heap just about anything on a bread roll and call it a montadito—for example, Russian salad, fried fish, sautéed mushrooms or leftover cocido. So, go ahead, invent some montadito combos for yourself.

A montadito isn’t your ordinary sandwich, something slapped between two slices of sandwich bread. The bread—a fresh, crusty roll—is as important as the filling. Montaditos are served in cafeterias for “elevenses,” segundo desayuno, second breakfast, eaten mid-morning. They’re a favorite tapa bar selection and, of course, they make an ideal lunch. Sometimes the bread is toasted or grilled. Some montaditos are served cold, some hot.

On the left, molletes, smooth buns; above them is a chapata, a small ciabatta; next, a whole-wheat barra, or "bar" loaf; the other three are bollos, crusty rolls, each one makes an individual sandwich.

Usual breads for montaditos are bollo, a crusty roll; barra or baguette, a long, crusty loaf that, once filled, is cut into shorter lengths; mollete, a soft, flat bap of a bun, somewhere between a pita and hamburger bun (but, unlike hamburger buns, with no sugar); chapata, from “ciabatta,” with air pockets in the spongy crumb, and pan de país, country bread baked in round loaves and thickly sliced.  

Blood sausage, raisins and pine nuts, heaped on toasts.

Spread rolls with a spicy tomato sauce, add sardines and strips of piquillo pepper.

Pepito--a steak sandwich, with a tangy mushroom sauce.

Kale with walnuts and cheese, stuffed in a bun called mollete.

Leftovers on a Bun

Montadito de Pringá

Use any leftover boiled meats from the cocido—beef, pork belly, chicken, ham, chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage). Shred or chop them. Be sure to include some tocino, fatty cooked salt pork. The fat, heated and mashed, binds the shredded meat and turns the mixture into a spread for the toasted rolls. (The recipe for complete cocido is here.)

The meat mixture probably needs no added salt or other seasoning. 

Use crusty rolls or soft molletes, which are like buns. Split the rolls and toast them. Spread the pringá on the rolls and press the top half down so the bread absorbs the juices. The montaditos can be prepared in advance. Spread the pringá in the rolls, wrap them in foil. When ready to serve, heat them on a griddle or in the oven.

2 cups chopped or shredded meat, fat and chicken
3 tablespoons cocido broth
4 small rolls, split and toasted

Heat the chopped and shredded meat and fat with the broth in a skillet. Mash the fat to make a sort of paste. Heap the hot pringá on the toasted rolls.

Blood Sausage with Raisins and Pine Nuts on Toast

Montadito de Morcilla

Sweet raisins and crunchy pine nuts contrast with rich and spicy blood sausage (also called black pudding or budin noir). Málaga muscatel raisins are the best, but they have to be seeded. Or use any seedless raisin. Use either morcilla de Burgos with rice or morcilla de cebolla, with onion. Use bollos, crusty rolls, or thickly-sliced country bread. These montaditos are served open-faced.

Makes 8 open-faced toasts.

Blood sausage, raisins and pine nuts.

1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts
10 ounces morcilla (blood sausage)
¼ cup seedless raisins
4 tablespoons white wine
2 rolls or 8 thick slices of country bread

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the pine nuts until they are golden, about 30 seconds. Tilt the pan so the oil flows to one side and skim out the pine nuts. 

Remove the skin from the sausage and chop it into small pieces. Add to the frying pan with the raisins and sauté on medium heat, breaking up the sausage pieces, 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook until sausage begins to sizzle again, 4 minutes.

If using crusty rolls, split them open and cut each half in half crosswise. Toast under a broiler/grill.
Divide the sausage mixture between the toasts, pressing it down. Sprinkle toasted pine nuts on top. Serve hot or room temperature.

Mini Roll with Spicy Sardines

Mini de Sardinas Picantes

In the bars in the old quarter of Zaragoza, this tapa is known as a “guardia civil.” Pimentón picante, spicy-hot paprika, gives the sauce its fire power. If you haven’t got this sort of pimentón, use cayenne, but in a lesser amount. Piquillo peppers, sweet and piquant, come canned and ready to use. They are worth a search, but, if not available, use any red pimiento. 

Chopped pickles go into the spicy tomato sauce spread on these sandwiches.

Serves 6.

½ cup canned tomato sauce  (tomate frito) 

1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons hot pimentón (paprika)
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
¼ cup chopped sweet pickles
1 tablespoon chopped mild green chile (guindilla), optional
6 crusty rolls, split and toasted
3 (120 g / 4 oz-) cans sardines packed in olive oil (approximately 9 sardines)
6 piquillo peppers, split, or tinned red pimiento, cut in strips

Combine the tomato sauce in a small bowl with the vinegar, pimentón, onion, chopped pickles and chile, if using. Spread a spoonful on the bottom half of each roll. 

Strips of peppers on the sardines.

Lift the sardines out of the cans, discarding the oil. Carefully split them open lengthwise. (The bones can be removed, if desired, but they are perfectly edible.) Place 3 half-sardines on each bread roll. Top with half a piquillo pepper or strips of pimiento and cover with top of roll. Serve at room temperature.

Pepito Steak Sandwich with Mushroom Ketchup
Pepito de Ternera con Salsa de Setas

So, a guy named Pepe walks into a bar. Says, instead of the usual bocadillo de jamón, ham sandwich, he wants a hot sandwich. Bar guy griddles a beef filete, thin steak, puts it on a roll. Pepe, known to his friends as Pepito, orders the steak sandwich every time. Eventually, everybody justs asks for the “bocadillo como el de Pepito.” 

Pepito--a steak sandwich, here with piquant mushroom condiment.

At its most basic, this is just quickly griddled beef on a bread roll. Sometimes it has fried green Padrón peppers or cheese or mushrooms or a fried egg. 

Use thin “frying steak,” cut about ½-inch thick, for this sandwich—rump steak is fine, though thinly- cut strip steak or butterflied tenderloin is even better. Pan-grill the meat (use a cast-iron skillet or plancha, an unridged grill pan), about 1 minute per side, so it is still pink in the center. PX Sherry vinegar gives the sauce a slightly sweet tang. If not available, use balsamic. 

Serves 4.

Shredded oyster mushrooms.

For the mushroom ketchup:
8 ounces oyster mushrooms
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons PX Sherry vinegar
¼ cup water or beef stock
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Thinly sliced beef.

For the steak:
4 (½ -inch thick) frying steaks, each 3 to 4 ounces
Freshly-ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, sliced
Coarse salt for the grill pan
4 crusty rolls or a 22-inch baguette, toasted if desired
Rucola or other greens to serve.

Tear or slice the mushrooms into strips. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet and sauté the mushrooms on moderately high heat until they begin to brown and crisp at the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Scoop them out and reserve.

Cut onion in half and thinly slice crosswise. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and sauté the onions until they are very browned, about 8 minutes. Season with ½ teaspoon salt, pepper and a pinch of thyme. Add the vinegar and water or stock.

Return the mushrooms to the pan and heat 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley. (Mushroom sauce can be prepared in advance. Reheat it before spreading on the bread.)

Season the steaks with pepper and sliced garlic. Allow to come to room temperature.

Heat a plancha or heavy skillet very hot. Sprinkle it with coarse salt. Pan-grill the steaks until browned on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Remove.

Spread mushrooms on baguette, top with steak.

Split the rolls or the baguette. Spread the mushroom sauce on the bottom halves. Top with the steak and a few leaves of rucola. If using a baguette, slice the sandwich into four sections to serve.

Add sliced tomatoes to the steak sandwich. 

 

Kale and Walnut Sandwiches
Montaditos de Kale

 

Pile sauteed kale on toasted buns.

Taking my own advice—"invent some montadito combos for yourself"—I turned garden kale into these sandwiches with chopped walnuts, dried apricots and goat cheese, packed into molletes, buns. 

For a vegetarian sandwich, omit the optional bacon. 

Serves 4,

Toast mollete in toaster.

1 tablespoon olive oil plus more to drizzle on the bread
2 tablespoons bacon (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 cup cooked and chopped kale
2 dried apricots, diced (about 1 ½ tablespoons)
¼ cup chopped walnuts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces soft goat cheese, cut in pieces
4 (3 ½ -inch) molletes (buns), split, toasted and drizzled with oil

Add goat cheese to hot kale.

Heat the oil in a small skillet with the bacon, if using. Add the garlic and shallot and sauté them gently until softened, 5 minutes. Add the kale, apricots and walnuts. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the kale is bubbling. Add a little water if needed. 

Add the goat cheese to the hot kale. Stir to combine and allow the cheese to soften. Remove from heat.

Spread the kale on the split and toasted buns. Serve warm or room temperature.

Garden kale--inspiration for a montadito sandwich.

More sandwich ideas:

Serrano ham and pork loin sandwich; Tuna and roasted pepper sandwich; Fried ham and cheese sandwich. http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2014/06/of-cabbages-and-kings.html

Catalan toasts. http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2010/04/what-i-ate-in-barcelona.html

Another recipe with kale:

Pottage with kale and beans.

OF CABBAGES AND KINGS

Great sandwiches!

The reign in Spain. I’ll admit, this is a bit of a stretch—to rope the coronation of a new king into a food blog—but, I’ll try.

Last week, King Juan Carlos I, who has reigned in Spain since 1976, abdicated the Spanish throne. His son, Felipe, swore fealty to the constitution and was proclaimed King Felipe VI at a ceremony before both houses of parliament. It wasn’t, actually, a coronation, as the symbolic crown is never set on the monarch’s head, but never mind. (For pictures of the ceremony, go to the official page of the Casa Real . )

And, so, as the Walrus said, “The time has come to talk of many things,” among them, cabbages and kings. Hah! Now we’ve got food and kings on the same page! (The poem comes from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll.)

Shortly, the Walrus and Carpenter manage to lure several dozen oysters out of the briny sea.

"A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need.
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed—“

A loaf of bread! This is shaping up nicely. Let them eat sandwiches!  Oyster sandwiches would be a treat, but, lacking those, how about tuna, sardines, cheese, ham, chorizo, pork loin, egg?

In Spain, two words are used to mean sandwich. "Sandwich," as in English, means thinly sliced loaf bread, usually with the crusts removed, between which is sandwiched sliced ham, cheese, chicken, etc. It may or may not be grilled. A bocadillo, however, is more akin to a whole meal. It’s made by splitting a bollo, a roll, small baguette or even a whole crusty loaf and spreading or filling it.

A real bocadillo must be firmly grasped in both hands and the mouth opened very wide. The filling can be simple—sliced chorizo, salchichón, cheese, canned tuna—or more substantial—a thick slab of potato tortilla, for example.

Salchichón on a whole wheat roll.

“The best thing about a bocadillo is that it’s fresh,” said one sandwich maven. “The bollo is the whole point. It’s gotta be crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. The fillings are infinitely permutable.” But, he added, the bread should be cut and the meat, cheese or other filling ingredients should be added immediately before serving.

If bread is not radically fresh, toasting it on a grill pan definitely improves it.

Serranito
Serrano Ham and Pork Loin Sandwich

Un Serranito--pork loin, serrano ham, fried pepper.

Easy marinade for pork loin.

Marinate thinly sliced pork loin with salt, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, a pinch of pimentón (paprika) and a squeeze of lemon for 30 minutes. Quickly fry the slices in olive oil. Use the oil and drippings in the pan to dribble on the bread rolls.

Use thin green frying peppers, one per sandwich. Fry them, whole, in olive oil until browned and limp. Remove the stem and seeds and lay a pepper on each sandwich. (More about frying peppers here .) 

For 1 sandwich:
Bollo or baguette, split open lengthwise
Sliced tomato
Slices of fried pork loin
Thinly sliced serrano ham
Fried green pepper
Alioli (optional)
To assemble, place sliced tomatoes on the bottom slice of bread which has been drizzled with oil from the frying of the pork.. Add a layer of fried pork loin, then serrano ham. Top with fried green pepper. Add a few blobs of alioli, if desired.


Capote con Atún
Tuna and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches

Chunks of tuna, roasted peppers and a garlicky sauce.

Chapata is the Spanish version of ciabatta, a slightly flattened loaf with a light, airy crumb. 

Short cut: Buy ready-roasted peppers.

Makes 6 sandwiches.

1 large green bell pepper
1 large red bell pepper
1 (9 oz) jar light tuna in olive oil
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon finely chopped spring onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon drained capers
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pinch of cayenne
3 small chapatas (ciabattas)

Place the peppers on a pan and roast them under the broiler until charred on all sides, about 25 minutes total. Remove, cover the pan and allow to stand until cool. Peel the peppers and discard stem and seeds. Cut the peppers into wide strips.

Drain the tuna, saving 2 tablespoons of the oil.

Place the mayonnaise in a small bowl and whisk the reserved tuna oil into it. Add the chopped onion, minced garlic, capers, lemon juice and cayenne.

Split the chapatas in half. Toast them lightly, one side only, on a grill pan. Spread the bottom slices with the mayonnaise. Divide the chunks of tuna between the three sandwiches. Top them with strips of peppers. Cut each sandwich in half to serve.

Split chapatas in half to make two sandwiches.

Emparedados de Jamón y Queso
Fried Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

These ham and cheese sandwiches are dipped in egg and fried.

These are a dream version of a cheese toastie, fried instead of grilled. Use cooked ham, serrano or ibérico—your choice—and Manchego or smoked Idiazábal cheese for superb flavour.

Makes 4 sandwiches

6 ounces thinly sliced serrano ham
6 ounces sliced cheese
8 slices day-old sandwich loaf
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
Olive oil for frying

Layer the ham and cheese on four of the bread slices. Top each with a slice of bread and press them together. Trim off the crusts and cut the sandwiches diagonally in half.

Dip each piece into milk, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. Heat enough oil in a frying pan to cover the bottom and fry the sandwiches, a few at a time, until browned on both sides. Serve hot.

Oh, and for the cabbage, try this version of slaw. Fit for a king.

Cole Slaw with Toasted Garlic
Ensalada de Col

Pour hot dressing over raw, shredded cabbage for an unusual cole slaw. The smoked pimentón makes this especially good with grilled foods. In the early fall, when pomegranates are in season, their ruby-red seeds are used to garnish this salad. Otherwise, use a little chopped apple.

Serves 6.

½ cabbage, finely shredded (4 cups)
¼ cup chopped red onion
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
¼ teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon water
Pomegranate seeds or chopped apple to garnish

Place the cabbage and onion in a salad bowl and sprinkle with salt. Mix well and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes

Heat the oil in a small skillet and sauté the sliced garlic and cumin just until garlic is lightly golden. Remove from the heat and stir in the pimentón. Add the vinegar and water. Bring the dressing to a boil and pour it over the cabbage. Toss well.

Let the cabbage marinate at least 30 minutes before serving or cover and refrigerate and serve the following day. Garnish with pomegranate or apple