COOKING FOR A HOUSEFUL

This year my extended family spilled over the boundaries. Counting beds and heads, we realized we needed to rent additional space for all—sons, grandsons, the grandsons’ girlfriends, inlaws. We had a nearby step-grandmother too, with extra beds. At least once they all gathered at my house for a meal. 

Table is set for seven, awaiting the arrival of son, Daniel, and his inlaws, Juana and Jorge, who have just completed a week walking the Camino de Santiago. They picked up Daniel's wife, Eli, and their son, Lucas, who just flew in from Atlanta. My other son, Ben, returned from a day's work at Puerto Banus. 

I grilled four small chickens in the late afternoon and will serve them room temperature, accompanied by homemade mango chutney and garden salads. 

Green beans from the garden, canned kidney beans and corn kernels for one salad. The other is patatas aliñadas or potato salad with dressing on a platter with tomatoes from the garden, torn basil leaves and pieces of fresh goat cheese. (Recipe for the potato salad is here. How-to for grilled chicken is here.)

I de-boned the leftover chicken and added it to a spicy Moroccan stew with garden zucchini, carrots and dates to serve with couscous for another meal. (Recipe for Couscous with Vegetables and Dates.)

One morning the whole gang meets for breakfast at the casa de jubilados, the senior center in the pueblo, where elders like me get a 15 percent discount. Everybody ordered a serranito, a sandwich with griddled chicken breast, ham and green peppers on a small bun or whopper viena roll. (Recipe for serranito is here.) 

Gathering of the clans! Twelve for dinner on the terrace.  For starters I served salmorejo, a gazpacho alternative, with a topping of grilled corn kernels, avocado, scallions and green peppers. (Salmorejo recipe here.) 

We grilled pinchitos, small kebabs with spicy marinade (recipe is here, although the kebabs pictured above are of turkey, not lamb). 

The pinchitos were served with pita bread and tahini, cucumber raita, saffron rice, and zeilouk, a spicy Moroccan eggplant salad. (Recipe for zeilouk is here.)

And, always, a jug of gazpacho in the fridge. Perfect after a day on the beach. Those tomatoes and peppers are from the garden. We like gazpacho thinned to pouring consistency and served in drinking glasses. It's also terrific in bowls with garnishes of chopped vegetables and croutons. (Classic gazpacho recipe here.)