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| Dinner featuring New World ingredients: from the top, salad with avocados, corn, tomatoes, and chiles; fries of sweet and white potatoes; sauté of squash and green beans, and turkey scallopini with Catalan picada made with chocolate. |
In 1492 America wasn’t even a gleam in Columbus’s eye or a glimmer in the imagination of Spain’s Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand. When they sat down to dinner, whether royal fare or monk’s frugal repast, there was not a potato, bean, pepper, or tomato in sight. These and many other now-familiar foods were unknown in the “Old World.”
Two years later, on November 4, 1492, Columbus’s party, exploring the eastern end of what is now Cuba, found great expanses of tilled land sown with a sort of bean (Europeans knew broad beans but not the haricot); a grain the natives called mais, “which tasted well made into flour”; and what was identified as a “gourd” called calabaza, which today we know as squash or pumpkin.
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At a feast hosted by the king of the island of St. Thomas, Columbus was served several varieties of sweet potatoes, called batatas, from whence comes our word for potatoes. Columbus probably brought sweet potato plants back to Spain, for they were growing here by 1493. The actual white potato was several years down the line, discovered around 1530 by Pizzaro’s men near Quito, Ecuador. Potatoes were cultivated by monks in Sevilla by 1539 and are said to have arrived in Ireland around 1586, possibly from ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked on the Irish coast. For many years though, the potato was regarded with suspicion, thought to be poisonous or to cause leprosy.
Pictured, clockwise from upper left: green beans, avocados, squash/pumpkin, tomatoes, corn/maize, cocoa, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, chiles/peppers, and cranberries.
Early chroniclers really believed that Columbus had reached the Indies, the spice islands to the east where the treasured spice, pepper, came from. So when served a fiery spice on his food, Columbus naturally called it “pimienta,” “pepper,” thus confusing the issue for centuries. The pepper of the New World is the capsicum, from which comes the chile, the sweet bell pepper, and the spice pimentón.
It was on his fourth voyage in 1502 that Columbus discovered in Nicaragua the cacao bean, which was duly brought back to Spain. It aroused little interest at the time. It wasn’t until 1519 that Hernando Cortés tasted it, prepared as a drink by the Aztecs, flavored with vanilla—the fruit of a native orchid—and sweetened with cane sugar, which Columbus had brought to the New World and planted there in 1494. Spain and Portugal enjoyed a century-long monopoly on chocolate, which became exceedingly popular.
Columbus did not find tomatoes in the Caribbean. They were probably brought from Peru or Mexico to Spain around 1520 and passed on to the kingdom of Naples, which came under Spanish rule about the same time. The Italians were early pioneers in the use of the tomato in kitchen, while other Europeans shunned it for another 200 years. It wasn't until the 20th century that most people dared to consume tomatoes raw.
There were no beans in al-Andalus, Moorish Spain, the Islamic kingdoms of Iberia between 711 and 1492. These legumes, of the family Phaseolus vulgaris, native to Mexico, were brought back to Europe on Columbus’s second expedition to the New World in 1493.
The avocado, aguacate in Spanish, was first described in l519 by Martín Fernández de Enciso, who discovered it in Colombia. The name comes from ahuacatl, derived from the Aztec word meaning “testicle tree."
Nor did Columbus enjoy that native American bird, so important to feasting on both sides of the Atlantic, the turkey. A chronicler of Cortés, around 1519, reported seeing turkeys in Mexican markets and said they were cooked daily for Montezuma’s table. About a century later, turkey was one of the foods served at the pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving feast, celebrated at Plymouth, New England, in November 1621. The colony had survived a bitter winter of near starvation, saved by a cache of Indian com - maize - discovered near their camp. In the spring, native Americans taught them to plant maize, the food which, along with beans, sustained civilizations the length and breadth of North and South America.
I created my dinner menu featuring Spanish recipes using New World foods—avocado-corn salad, a main dish of turkey scallopini with a Catalan picada with chocolate, sauté of squash and beans, fries of sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, and a Galician cake made with cornmeal.
Avocado-Corn-Tomato Salad
Ensaladilla de Aguacates, Maiz, y Tomate
Field corn is grown throughout Spain. It is considered animal fodder, not people food. But Galicia, in the northwest corner of the peninsula, and the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic, both use maize flour, cornmeal, in traditional cooking. Elsewhere, canned or frozen corn kernels are appreciated as a salad garnish. Corn-on-the-cob turns up in some markets. (More about corn in Spain and a recipe for Canary Islands stew with corn is
here.)
This salad puts together several New World ingredients—corn, chiles, tomatoes, and avocado.
1 cup corn kernels
¼ cup chopped scallions
1 clove garlic, minced
3 guindillas (mild green pickled chiles), chopped
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large avocado, diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Corn chips to serve
In a bowl combine the corn, scallions, garlic, chiles, tomatoes, and avocado. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt. Stir in parsley and oil. Serve with corn chips.
Pumpkin and Green Bean Sauté
Salteado de Calabaza y Judías Verdes
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| What a colorful vegetable dish! Squash, green beans, and red peppers get pepped up with chile. Olive oil was unknown in pre-Colombian Americas, but it's the best oil for this sauté. |
Use pumpkin or butternut squash for this recipe and whatever type of green bean—flat romanos or skinny haricots.
Serves 4-6.
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups diced pumpkin
1 clove garlic, chopped
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
Chile, to taste, minced
½ teaspoon oregano, crushed
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pimentón (paprika)
¼ teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons Sherry vinegar
¼ cup water + more as needed
1 cup cooked green beans, cut in short lengths
Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the pumpkin on medium heat, 5 minutes. Add the garlic, bell pepper, and chile. Sauté gently 2 minutes. Add the oregano, salt, pimentón, cumin, vinegar, and water. Cover and cook until pumpkin is tender when tested with a knife, 5-10 minutes, adding more water if needed. Add the beans and heat thoroughly. Serve hot or room temperature.
Sweet Potato Fries
Boniatos Fritos
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| Sweet potato fries are good combined with regular fries. Recipe is here. |
Turkey Scallopini with Catalan Picada
Solomillo de Pavo con Picada
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I haven’t roasted a whole turkey in quite a few years! But I eat a lot of turkey in parts. This recipe is for turkey tenderloins (solomillo), or “tenders,” that thick strip of flesh beneath the breast of the bird. Cut in medallions, or scallopini, it is sauced with a Catalan picada that often includes chocolate. Reminds me a lot of Mexican mole! The sauce is usually made with almonds, which were unknown in the Americas pre-Columbus. Hazelnuts and walnuts were natives and can be used instead.
Serves 6
2 pounds turkey tenderloins
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cornstarch
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 slice day-old bread, crusts removed
2 cloves garlic, 1 chopped
½ cup walnuts, blanched almonds, or hazelnuts
1 medium onion, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
½ cup dry Sherry
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Pinch of saffron threads
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
Chopped parsley
Slice turkey into ½-inch medallions. Flatten them slightly with the side of the knife blade. Season the medallions with salt and pepper and sprinkle them lightly with cornstarch.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet. Fry the bread, 1 clove of the garlic, and nuts until bread is toasted. Skim them out and place in a blender container.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Fry the turkey, in two batches if necessary, until lightly browned on both sides. Remove them from the pan.
Add remaining tablespoon of oil. Sauté the chopped garlic and onions until softened, 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and turn up the heat. Fry the tomatoes until they begin to reduce. Add the Sherry, 1 cup of stock, bay leaf, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover and simmer the sauce 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf.
Add the saffron, cinnamon, and cocoa to the blender container. Ladle a cup or more of the pan sauce over the contents of the blender and let sit a few minutes to soften the bread. Blend until smooth. Stir this mixture back into the pan. Cook 5 minutes, adding additional stock as needed to make a sauce the consistency of cream. Return the turkey to the pan and simmer until turkey is cooked, 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley.
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Cornmeal Cake
Bica de Millo (Bizcocho de Harina de Maiz)
I set out to make Galician cornbread, a yeast bread made with both cornmeal and wheat flour and sometimes rye as well. In searching for a recipe, I came across this recipe for an unusual cake, using yeast as well as baking powder and with both wheat flour and cornmeal. It is quite delicious.
(Recipe is adapted from La Cocina de Frabisa.)
This cake is not overly sweet, fine for breakfast and tea-time as well as dessert. Following the New World theme, I served it with cranberry sauce. Chocolate sauce would be good too. Or, thinking ahead to holiday menus, a
pumpkin compote (pictured at right).
Galicia is a leader in the production of butter (and almost no olive oil). In traditional baking, clarified butter (manteiga de vaca) is favored. It gives a slightly nutty flavor to this cake. You can buy clarified butter at many grocery stores in the U.S. or make your own. Melt the butter on medium heat, cook until it begins to bubble and foam on top. Remove from the heat and skim off and discard the foam. Pour the butter into a bowl, preferably glass). Chill overnight in the refrigerator. Remove and keep the solidified butter—clarified butter—and discard the liquid at the bottom. Have the clarified butter at room temperature when mixing the cake.
This cake recipe requires making a starter dough with yeast and letting it ferment 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge).
A stand mixer is best for mixing the heavy batter. As for baking pans: the recipe from which I adapted mine calls for a 25X25-centimeter pan—that’s approximately 10X10 inches, larger than most standard baking pans in the U.S. I used a rectangular pan, 29X17 inches. If you haven’t got a large enough pan, I suggest baking the cake in two 8-inch pans (adjust baking time). Unless you have silicone pans, be sure to butter the pans and line them with baking parchment.
Makes about 24 (2-inch) servings.
2 cups all-purpose or bread (wheat) flour
2/3 cup very warm water
2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon for baking
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
1 cup clarified butter, room temperature
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Confectioners’ sugar (optional)
To make the starter dough. Place the wheat flour in a medium bowl. Stir the yeast into the warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir the yeast water into the flour and mix thoroughly. Cover with a dampened kitchen towel or plastic wrap, place the bowl in a warm, draft-free place, and allow the dough to rise until about doubled in size, about 2 hours.
To prepare the cake batter:
Uncover the starter dough and stir to deflate it.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter baking pan and line it with parchment.
Combine the cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Place the brown sugar and clarified butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat them together until fluffy. Beat a large spoonful of the starter dough into the sugar mixture. Continue adding spoonfuls of the starter dough until it is all incorporated. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating the egg into the batter before adding another one. Beat in the lemon peel.
Beat in the cornmeal mixture in three parts. Combine well.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan(s). Sprinkle the top with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Bake until a skewer comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold onto a rack (turn it topside-up so rack doesn’t leave indentations on the surface) to cool completely. If desired, sprinkle the cake with confections’ sugar before serving.
Store the cake wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, in the refrigerator or freezer.
Cranberry Sauce
Salsita de Arándanos
Although hardly any cranberries are grown in Spain, the fruit is imported. Dried cranberries have become common in many stores. The cranberries generally have some sugar added, so I have not used sugar in the sauce. Vanilla is another New World flavoring that goes exceptionally well with cranberries.
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup water
Sugar or honey (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon anise liqueur or Cointreau (optional)
Combine the cranberries, water, sugar if using, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes, until cranberries are soft. Remove from heat and stir in the liqueur, if using. (The sauce can be pureed in a blender if desired).
Happy Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Feliz Día de la Hispanidad!
Let's turn Columbus Day into a holiday commemorating and celebrating food, and the growing and cooking of food, as it migrated across oceans and continents following the discovery of America in 1492. The “Columbian Exchange” brought new crops, livestock and people from the New World to the Old, and from the Old to the New. It was the most significant ecological event of a millennium.
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Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. (Hippocrene Books)
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