BACALAO FOR LENTEN MEALS

Do you observe Lent? Fish on Fridays and abstinence from luxuries and alcohol are some of the observances for the 40-day period preceding Easter (April 20, 2025). Spain, a predominantly Catholic country for the past 500+ years, has hundreds of special dishes and sweets for cuaresma, Lent. They are called comida de vigilia, or meals of abstinence, and include, besides fish, vegetarian and dairy dishes. Heading the list are the many recipes for bacalao, dried salt cod. 

Bacalao is dry salt cod.

Why cod, a fish that is not even captured in Spanish waters? Medieval Basques who engaged on long whaling expeditions, invented the method of salt-curing cod, making it an important food that would keep on long ocean voyages. Salt fish became an important item of trade. Before the days of refrigeration, unless you lived within a few hours by mule from a coastal port or on the banks of a trout stream, salt-cured fish was the only fish available. For observant Christians eating fish on Fridays meant salt cod and other salt fish as the only alternative to meat during Lent. 

Garden chard ready to cut.

Anyone interested in the history of cod should read Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky (Penguin Books, 1998).

My annual tribute to bacalao this Lenten season is an Andalusian potaje of bacalao, chickpeas, and chard. Chard because I am blessed with a small plot of chard (acelga) that needs harvesting right now.  

Potaje, which means “pottage,” is neither a soup nor a stew. It’s soupy and almost always contains legumes and other vegetables, sometimes with meat and sausages, sometimes vegetarian, and, this time of year, often with bacalao or fresh seafood. 

A hearty main dish with chickpeas, potatoes, vegetables, and cod.

A serving of potaje with eggs and crushed croutons.

Lenten Stew with Chickpeas, Bacalao, and Chard

Potaje de Cuaresma con Bacalao y Acelgas

Bacalao is sold whole, in pieces (the thick lomo or loin is the choicest cut), and in migas or scraps. In specialty shops you can find it already desalted and ready to use. 

If you are starting with dry salt cod, allow two or three days to desalt it. Wash the pieces of salt cod to remove surface salt. Place them in a glass container and cover with cold water. Cover the container and refrigerate. Soak the cod for 36 hours, changing the water twice daily during the soaking period. Drain well and keep refrigerated until ready to cook it.

If you’re starting with dried chickpeas: Put the chickpeas to soak in hot water for 8 hours or overnight. If your water is very hard, use bottled water or add a pinch of baking soda to both the soaking water and the cooking water. Add the chickpeas to a saucepan of hot water and bring to a boil. Add a whole tomato and onion. Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer until tender, about 90 minutes. Drain the chickpeas, saving the cooking liquid and the cooked tomato and onion. One cup of dried chickpeas yields approximately 3 cups cooked. Puree the tomato and onion in a blender and use them in the recipe instead of the chopped onion and crushed tomatoes.

Serves 4-6.

1 pound desalted salt cod

12-16 ounces chard

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onion (or cooked onion)

½ cup diced carrot

3 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

Pinch hot pimentón or cayenne (optional)

1 teaspoon cumin

½ cup crushed tomatoes (or cooked tomato)

4 cups drained, cooked chickpeas

5 cups water, chickpeas cooking liquid or fish stock

1 bay leaf

Salt to taste

2 medium potatoes, diced

Croutons of fried bread

Hard boiled eggs to garnish

Chopped parsley to garnish

Cut the cod into 1-inch pieces. Discard any skin and bones. Refrigerate the cod until ready to cook.

Wash chard and separate leaves and stalks. Strip away any stringy fibres from the stalks and chop the stalks. Shred or chop the leaves. 

Heat the oil in a soup pot and sauté the onion, carrot, and garlic until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and cumin. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Cover with the water and add the bay leaf and salt to taste. Bring the water to a boil and add the potatoes and chard. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until potates are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Immediately before serving add the pieces of cod to the pot. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to settle 5 minutes. Lightly crush the croutons with a rolling pin or in a mini food processor. 

Serve the potaje in bowls garnished with quartered egg, the crouton crumbs, and parsley.

More potajes for Lenten meals:

Spinach and Chickpeas with Cod Dumplings.

Chickpeas with Shrimp and Seafood Sausage.

Cuttlefish and Chickpea Stew.

Lenten Fennel Potaje with Beans. (vegetarian)

Spinach with Chickpeas. (vegetarian)

SWEET AND MILKY PUDDINGS FOR SPRINGTIME

 

Catalan custards with burnt-sugar topping.

Springtime brings wildflowers, rain showers, baby lambs, strawberries, and Lent.  It is the season for sweet and milky puddings. 

Traditionally, spring lambing season meant an abundance of milk (from cows and goats as well as sheep). During Cuaresma, the Lenten period of abstinence from foods such as meat, dairy foods were a stand-in. Here is a round-up of typical puddings that continue to be favorites during Lent, Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Easter. Or any spring day, rainy or bright.

Catalan Custard with Burnt-Sugar Topping (Crema Catalana, Crema de San José). Pictured above, these sweet and rich custards are typical for the festivities of Spanish Fathers' Day, San José, (March 19) as well as for Lenten meals. The recipe, with instructions for caramelizing the sugar topping, is here. 

Creamy Rice Pudding (Arroz con Leche) in the traditional style is made with milk (often goat's milk) infused with cinnamon and lemon peel. Other versions might be flavored with vanilla or rum; have cream or butter incorporated, or be sweetened with honey or molasses instead of sugar. Restaurant renditions often have a burnt-sugar topping, similar to the above custards. The recipe for old-fashioned Spanish arroz con leche is below. Here is another version Rice Pudding with Cherries and almonds.

Custard Pudding with Meringue (Natillas con Merengue). Natillas is a simple homemade pudding, typical in rural areas where fresh milk and eggs are plentiful. In La Mancha it is made with warmed sheep’s milk (Manchego cheese is a sheep’s milk cheese). The custard is poured over tortas, sponge cookies, somewhat like ladyfingers, then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. In Andalusia natillas is made with goat’s milk and served with crispy galletas, plain cookies. The pudding is especially good with fruit. It can be topped with baked meringue made with leftover egg whites. Get the recipe for Natillas here.

Honey with Fresh Cheese (Mel i Mató). So simple it is not really a pudding--a fresh, unsalted cream cheese, in Catalonia called mató, served with honey or fruit in syrup. The recipe for serving is here. 

"Burnt" Cheesecake (Quesada al Estilo de Cantábria). This is a cheesecake with no crust, more of a baked custard, made with soft, fresh cheese. Should you have a surplus of milk, you can easily make the cheese yourself. The recipes for both cheesecake and cheese making are here.

Mango Pudding with Fresh Cheese (Pudín de Mango con Cuajada). Cuajada is a sort of “custard” with no eggs. In Spain you can find cuajada in individual cups in the dairy section of grocery stores. Cuajo, an enzyme (rennet or junket), sets the custard. Cuajada is, basically, the first step in cheese making. But, instead of cutting the curds and draining off the whey, the thickened milk is poured into cups and allowed to cuajar, set. Serve it with honey, fruit and nuts, an old-fashioned traditional dessert especially in Euskadi (Basque Land). For this pudding the cuajada is mixed with fruit, sugar, and whipped cream. The recipe for the pudding is here.

Caramel Custards (Flan con Caramelo). Old-fashioned flan is as Spanish as sunshine! Baked in caramel-coated molds, the custards are easy to prepare and can be made in advance of serving. The basic recipe is here.

Dark Chocolate Cream Custards (Crema de Chocolate). Perhaps these rich custards are a bit too decadent for Lenten abstemiousness, but joyous feasting of Easter is near, when chocolate is very much on the menu. The recipe for Chocolate Custards is here.

Creamy Rice Pudding

Arroz con Leche

Serves 4-6.

6 cups whole milk

1 strip lemon peel

1 (2-inch) cinnamon stick

½ cup medium-grain rice

Pinch salt

1/3 cup sugar

Ground cinnamon, for dusting

Place the milk in a pan with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Bring just to a boil over high heat, then remove the pan from the heat and let the milk infuse 10 minutes. Strain the milk, discarding the cinnamon and peel.

Add the rice and salt to the milk. Heat over medium heat until the milk begins to barely bubble. Cook, stirring frequently, until the rice is very soft and the milk thickens, about 45 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly so the sugar doesn’t scorch on the bottom.

Ladle the hot pudding into dessert cups or a pudding bowl. Allow the pudding to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving time. The pudding will thicken as it cools. Sprinkle generously with ground cinnamon before serving.

FROM GARDEN TO TABLE

 

Garden fava beans.

A heap of fava beans landed on my kitchen table, picked by Ben from the kitchen garden. A little later, a handful of shelling peas, broccoli, and some stalks of chard arrived. Two hours later, I had dinner on, a vegetable menestra. 

Another day a small basketful of assorted peas was the bounty. The peas are confusing: seemingly on the same vine are snow peas or mange touts, perfect for stir-fries, and non-edible pods with tiny baby peas. Some I eat raw--those wee peas are ever so sweet. The remainder get tossed in hot oil with pieces of ibérico ham. There are hardly enough at one picking to be more than a starter.

"Menestra" means a vegetable mixture. Although the word is similar to Italian minestrone, this is not a soup but a stew that can be served as a starter or, with the addition of meat, ham or bacon, a sturdy main dish. 

The menestra from Tudela (Navarra, northern Spain) is classic. It consists only of white asparagus, artichokes, peas, and fava beans, all cooked separately and combined in a light sauce. Sometimes the sauce is slightly thickened with flour. In Bilbao (Euskadi/Basque Country) menestra often accompanies braised lamb. For the Basque version, some of the cooked vegetables (such as chard stems, cauliflower florets) are floured, dipped in beaten egg, fried, and served on top of the menestra.

Mixed vegetables in a light sauce.

Medley of Garden Vegetables

Menestra de Verduras

This menestra depends entirely on what late-winter/early-spring vegetables you’ve got in the garden or can find at the farmers' market. For example, if you’ve got a cache of wild mushrooms, use a pound or two of them and only a cupful of peas. 

I’ve used fava beans, peas, chard, artichokes, carrots, and potatoes. I included smoked panceta (pork belly) and pieces of leftover cooked lamb, but the menestra can just as well be vegetarian, an excellent Lenten dish. 

Each vegetable is cooked separately then combined in sauce to finish cooking.

Use a light stock made from chicken and/or ibérico ham bone or, for a vegetarian version, vegetable cooking water from carrots, peas, cauliflower or white asparagus. Don’t use the cooking water from artichokes, favas, or chard as it tends to darken the mixture. Although tomatoes are not in season in the winter-to-spring garden, it’s fine to add canned tomatoes or paste to the cooking liquid.

Choice of vegetables:

Artichokes

Asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths

Broccoli, florets

Brussels sprouts

Cardoons, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

Carrots, peeled and sliced

Cauliflower, florets

Celery, sliced

Chard, stems cut into 2-inch lengths, greens shredded

Fava Beans, shelled

Garlic cloves or green garlic shoots, chopped

Lettuce hearts, sliced

Mushrooms, sliced

Onion or leek, chopped

Peas, shelled

Potatoes, cut in 1 ½ -inch chunks

Panceta (pork belly)

Extra virgin olive oil

Panceta or bacon, cut in strips

Canned crushed tomato (optional)

Light chicken stock or vegetable cooking water

Chopped parsley, fennel or mint to garnish

Hard-boiled egg to garnish

If you are using fresh artichokes, cut off the stems and trim off the tough outer leaves. Cut the artichokes in quarters. Cook them in boiling salted water with a squeeze of lemon juice until a leaf pulls off easily, about 12 minutes. Drain. Scrape out the fuzzy chokes. 

Cook each of the vegetables separately in boiling, salted water until tender. Asparagus and chard cook in 5 to 6 minutes. Tiny peas and baby favas need to be blanched only about 1 minute. Carrots and potatoes, which can cook together, take about 12 minutes. Drain and refresh the vegetables in cold water.

Heat the oil in a skillet or cazuela over medium heat. Add the pieces of panceta, the chopped onion, garlic, and mushrooms and sauté until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato, if using, and the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Return the cooked vegetables to the pan, saving a few to garnish the top. Simmer them all together for 5 minutes, adding additional stock if needed to keep the vegetables saucy. Serve hot garnished with reserved vegetables, chopped herb, and quartered eggs. 

Baby Peas with Ham

Guisantes Lágrimas con Jamón

Tiny peas sautéed with ham and a poached egg.

Lágrima means “teardrop.” These tiny baby peas, a seasonal delicacy in the Basque Country, are so-called for their delicate oval shape. They hardly need cooking at all. For this recipe use any variety of very small pea, preferably straight from the garden! 

Don’t cook the serrano or ibérico ham because heat toughens it. Add ham to the peas and immediately remove the pan from the heat.

Use the fresh pods to make a light caldo, or pea broth, to serve alongside the dish of peas with ham.

Use pea pods to make caldo, pea broth, to go with the peas.

For 1 or 2 servings

1 pound peas in the pods or 1 cup (about 4 ounces) shelled baby peas 

Salt 

Pea pods

2 cups light chicken broth

1 cup pea cooking water

Slice of onion

Freshly ground black pepper

Lemon juice

1 large egg

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped spring onions

Diced or slivered serrano or ibérico ham

Shell the peas and save the pods. There should be about 1 cup of shelled peas. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil. Blanch the peas for 30 seconds if they are tiny, “teardrop” peas. For mature (or frozen) peas, cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, saving the cooking water. 

Place 1 cup of the cooking water back in the pan with the chicken broth and onion slice. Add all of the reserved pea pods. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until reduced by half. Pour through a fine strainer. Discard solids. Season the pea-pod broth with salt to taste, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.

Egg in plastic wrap to poach.

Line a small cup with plastic wrap. Add a few drops of oil. Crack the egg and drop it into the cup. Gather the corners of the plastic wrap together and twist them to enclose the egg. Tie with kitchen twine. Bring a small pan of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the egg wrapped in plastic. Poach the egg 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to lift the egg out. Leave it enclosed until ready to serve.

Heat the oil in a small skillet and sauté the chopped onions on medium heat until softened, 5 minutes. Don’t let them brown. Add the blanched peas and sauté on medium-high for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the diced ham and immediately remove the pan from the heat.

Reheat the pea broth and serve it into demitasse cups. Serve the peas with ham on a plate. Snip the plastic wrap to release the poached egg. Place it beside or on top of the peas.   

More recipes with fava beans and peas:

Fava Beans in Their "Britches"

Fava Bean Cream

Fava Bean Salad with Mint.

Tortilla with Fava Beans and Potatoes

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish

Vegetarian Stew with Peas, Favas, and Dumplings (Pipeo)

BITTER ORANGES ARE TRENDING

 

My blog stats show that a post about how to use bitter oranges has been the most viewed in the past few months. (Followed by “ways to serve smoked trout,” all about that “pink fish called rosada,” and rising fast, “searching for the best tomato.” Falling from top position is one of my earliest posts, “clay pot cooking, cazuela edition.”

The season for bitter oranges—or as I prefer to call them, sour oranges—is coming to an end. The orange trees on the streets of Sevilla are beginning to blossom. I’m picking what’s left on my tree. So I’m in sour-orange mode, using them in lots of different ways. (See the links at the end for more recipes using sour oranges.) You can use sour orange juice pretty much in any way you would use lemon juice or vinegar, in uncooked dressings such as ceviche, escabeche or adobo as well as in cooking. If you haven’t got sour oranges and want to mimic their citric flavor, use equal parts sweet orange juice and white wine vinegar.

This week I swapped sour juice for sweet orange juice in a marinade for roast pork (that recipe is here). I made a quickie sauce, more of an aliño or dressing. It was brilliant with the pork as well as with broccoli and sweet potatoes.

This tangy orange sauce complements meat, vegetables, sweet potatoes.

Sauce is picante--spicy-hot--with chiles. Adjust the amount to your tastes.

Sour Orange Sauce

Aliño de Naranja Agria 

Add chiles (or chile crisp) to taste. 

¼ cup packed parsley

3 tablespoons cilantro

1 clove garlic

¼ cup chopped scallions

1-2 chiles, stems and seeds removed

½ teaspoon grated (sweet) orange peel

¼ cup sour orange juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

In a mini food processor finely chop the parsley, cilantro, garlic, scallions, and chiles. Add the orange peel, juice, and oil. Process until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Store refrigerated but bring the sauce to room temperature to serve.

More about using bitter/sour oranges in cooking:

Turkey Breast with Sour Orange Mayonnaise.

Bitter Orange Marmalade.

Fish Soup with Sour Orange.

Beer-Battered Fish with Sour Orange Sauce.

Duck Breast a l' Orange

Coleslaw with Sour Orange Vinaigrette.

Sour Orange Sponge Pudding.

CARNAVAL! LARD PASTRIES TO CELEBRATE

 Between the downpours of rain, Carnaval is in full swing! Folks are in the streets with zany costumes, bawdy songs, drum banging, and cavorting. It’s a week-long crazy-fest that starts on jueves lardero, or “fatty Thursday,” the last Thursday before Lent begins (this coming Wednesday). Cádiz and the Canary Islands stage the most famous Carnavales in Spain, but they are marked with appropriate frivolities in every part of the country.

Carnaval is also an occasion for gluttony before the abstinence of Lent. Many kinds of sweets, especially sugared fritters, are typical (see a list at the end of this post). Lent marks the end of the hog-slaughtering season, so everything porky—especially sausage—is consumed with gusto.

I just happened to have a pound of lard in the freezer, so I’m making tortas de manteca, yeast pastries with lard, that are typical of La Mancha. 

Lard pastries are crisp when freshly baked with a soft interior crumb.

The pastry disks are not sweet but are liberally sprinkled with sugar.

Crispy Lard Pastries, La Mancha Style

Tortas de Manteca Manchega

Yeast. If you are using active dry yeast packaged in small envelopes, you will need approximately one envelope plus ½ teaspoon of a second envelope to make 3 teaspoons called for in the recipe. 

Lard. Use non-hydrogenated, white leaf lard, sometimes called “baker’s lard.” If you can get fresh lard from a butcher, chop it finely, heat it until melted and strain it. 

The pastries are perfect with breakfast coffee.

Bread flour is best for these pastries, but all-purpose flour could be used instead. The dough can be prepared in a mixer with a bread hook.

The crispy cookies are not sweet. They contain only a spoonful of sugar to activate the yeast. Sprinkle them generously with sugar before baking. If you prefer a savory cracker, sprinkle with coarse salt, pepper, and sesame seeds instead of sugar. If you happen to have chicharrones, pork-skin cracklings, sprinkle them on top of the disks. 

When freshly baked these pastries have a slightly crispy exterior and a soft crumb. Heat them on a grill pan or sandwich grill to restore crispness. They freeze well. 

Serve the tortas for breakfast or snack time with coffee or tea. The savory version goes nicely with cheese or salchichón. 

Lard for baking.

Makes 8 (6-inch) pastries.

1 cup very warm water

1 teaspoon sugar + additional for baking

3 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 ¾ + ¼ cups bread flour

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon aniseed (optional)

1 cup leaf lard, softened

Combine the water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Allow to stand 5 minutes until the yeast begins to bubble.

Place 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast water. Mix with a wooden spoon to combine the flour with the water. Cover the bowl and let stand until the mixture is spongy and bubbly, 30 minutes.

Use a wooden spoon or hands to mix in the remaining 1 ¾ cups flour, the salt and aniseed, if using. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it 5 minutes or more. It will be stiff and very dry, but gradually become more malleable. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a cloth or bowl and let it rest 30 minutes.

Spread lard on dough.

Pat the dough out into a circle. Spread 2 tablespoons of the lard on it. Fold the dough over on itself and knead the lard into the dough. Sprinkle a little of the reserved ¼ cup of flour on the work surface. Pat the dough out and again spread lard on it. Knead the lard into the dough. Continue until all the lard and flour are used. Stretch the dough and gather it into a compact ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Pat dough into disks.

Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and press it down. Divide into 8 equal-sized pieces and roll them into balls. Pat one of the balls into a disk. Fold the top edge into the center, the bottom edge to the center, the sides to the center and gather into a ball. Pat the ball into a disk and place it on the baking sheet. Use fingers to stretch the dough into a circle or oval approximately 6 inches in diameter. Press the dough firmly with the fingertips to make indentations. 

Sprinkle with sugar.

When all the balls of dough have been shaped, sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar on each. Cover the sheets with plastic film or kitchen towels and let them set 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place sheets on oven racks and lower oven temperature to 375ºF. Bake 10 minutes. Change position of the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are golden on top, 15 to 20 minutes longer.

Cool the pastries on racks. 

More foods for Carnavales:

Crispy "Ears" for Carnavales

Sweet Rolls with Lard (Ensaimadas)

Galician Pancakes (Filloas)

Fried Pumpkin Puffs

Buns with Hard-Boiled Eggs (Monas) These buns appears for Carnaval in some towns and in others are typical for Easter.

Bread Pudding with Fruits and Nuts. A typical pudding in Galicia for Entroido, Carnaval week, as well as for other holidays.

Andalusian Vegetable-Sausage Pot (Berza)

Confit of Pork Loin in Red Lard.

FEBRUARY: EATING THE “WHOLE 28”

 Did you have a vegan January or no-alcohol  month? Maybe you dieted and lost 10 pounds. For me, January zoomed by with dinner guests and plenty imbibing. Here it is February, a slow month, so I’ve signed on for the Whole 30 diet. It’s a 30-day elimination diet but, as February is the shortest month, I’m doing 28 days! 

Elimination means not eating/drinking any of these categories of foods: No sugar (that’s easy—I don’t use sugar or honey anyway) and no sugar substitutes; no dairy; no grains or grain look-alikes (the list includes wheat, oats, quinoa, rice, corn); no legumes—beans, lentils, chickpeas, soy products, peanuts—(green beans and peas are exceptions); no baked goods, pasta, pancakes (not even if made with alternative flour or vegetables), chips nor fries (unless you make them at home); no alcohol, not even in cooking. And no weighing-in until 30 days are up. 

The “whole” signifies a whole month but it also means wholesome foods. No processed stuff, no labels with dozens of ingredients. 

Why? Eliminating foods can help you figure out what ails you by identifying food sensitivities. At the end of the 30-day elimination period, you reintroduce one type of food at a time and pay attention to whether any symptoms return. 

Is it easy? The regimen requires attention. Meal planning is rigorous with so many foods eliminated. But, I love a challenge when it comes to food. Divising ways to use the acceptable foods—fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, nuts, and olive oil—has been engrossing. I’ll share with you some of the dishes I’ve enjoyed.

These recipes are perfectly suitable for family members who are not on the diet. I tell them to cook their own rice or pasta to accompany my main dish.

Breakfast timbale with zucchini, spinach, eggs.

Breakfast, my biggest stumbling block. Without my usual non-fat yogurt with fruit, I don’t know what to eat in the morning. Eggs are allowed on the diet, but I sure don’t want to eat eggs before heading out for aerobics. Besides, if you eat eggs for breakfast, you can’t really eat them for lunch or snack as well. 

I made a pan of my favorite zucchini-spinach timbale. A slice of timbale is perfect for breakfast or segundo desayuno—a mid-morning snack. I make the timbale with almond milk instead of dairy milk and omit the cheese. 

Sauté a chopped zucchini, scallions, and spinach in olive oil. Beat 6 eggs with 1 cup almond milk. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped herbs. Bake in an oiled baking dish until eggs are set.

 

Chicken-zoodle soup for lunch.

Lunch. February is soup month, so lunch is easy: chicken-zoodle soup (pictured above), curried squash soup with coconut milk, fish and vegetable chowder, minestrone with green beans instead of cannellini, alioli instead of cheese. Zoodles are zucchini ribbons microwaved until crisp tender then added to any favorite chicken soup. For the zoodles, use a vegetable peeler to cut thin slices, then a knife to cut them into noodles of any width.  By the way, the technique works with potatoes and squash too. Pick the longest potato you can find.

Cauliflower fritters with mayo.

Snacks. I miss cheese so much! And I crave crispy crackers to put the cheese on. Nuts of all kinds somewhat satisfy the craving. I make guacamole to dip with endive leaves; black olive spread (recipe below) to scoop with red pepper strips, and homemade olive oil mayonnaise to go with cauliflower fritters.

Black olive spread.

I looked at the label on my preferred mayonnaise: soy oil, vinegar, egg plus sugar, starch, coloring agent, and antioxidant. That's why I made it homemade--egg, extra virgin olive oil, Sherry vinegar. 

To make 20 cauliflower fritters, combine 1/2 cup mashed potato and 1 cup cauliflower "rice" (see below for how to make the rice) with 2 tablespoons chopped scallions, 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin and hot pimentón, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 2 tablespoons almond flour. Chill the mixture. Scoop up by teaspoons and drop in hot oil. Fry until browned.

Happy hour. Much of eating is habit: at 7:45, while dinner is cooking, I pour a glass of wine and sit down to watch a cooking show on TV. No wine this month! Instead I enjoy grapefruit juice spritzer (with agua con gas (seltzer), hibiscus punch or a virgin Mary, half and half seasoned tomato juice and bubbly water. A handful of pistachios and I have a happy hour.

Málaga-style seafood stew.

Dinner. Mostly I've been adjusting favorite dishes to comply with the diet rules. For my Málaga fish stew (above) I needed only to eliminate the bread and use almonds to thicken the sauce (recipe follows). Potatoes are allowed! They are my main carbohydrate this month. 

Chicken curry with mango served with cauliflower "rice."

I get a lot of mileage from a roast chicken, using leftovers for curry or stir-fry. To accompany chicken curry with mangos, I prepared cauliflower “rice” (shown above). 

To make cauliflower rice, cut out and discard the center stalk of the cauliflower. Cut the cauliflower into florets. Place them and small stems in a food processor and pulse until they are chopped to about the size of grains of rice. Place them in a microwave-safe bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir. Microwave for 1 or 2 minutes more until cauliflower is crisp tender. Add salt. The "rice" can be prepared in advance and reheated in the microwave or in a steamer.

Meatballs with zoodles.

These chicken meatballs in a Southeast Asian curry sauce (shown at right) are served with zoodles, those aforementioned zucchini noodles, instead of rice noodles. In place of bread, the meatballs are mixed with chopped onions and mushrooms.  

Stir-fry with cauliflower "rice."

More leftover chicken in this stir-fry served with cauliflower "rice." Luckily snow peas are exceptions to the no legume rule, as I have lots of snow peas in the garden this month.  Instead of soy sauce (not allowed on the diet), I smash some anchovies into the stir-fried veggies and chicken. 

Sweet potato mousse with walnuts.

Dessert. A piece of fresh fruit is always good. Or sliced mango embellished with grated ginger and a spoonful of thick coconut milk. I got fancy with this sweet potato mousse.

Soak 2 pitted and chopped dates in ¼ cup almond milk, then blend until smooth. Mash 1 medium cooked sweet potato with the date milk. Stir in 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and cardamom, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon grated orange peel, and 1 tablespoon orange juice. Separate 1 large egg. Mix the yolk with the sweet potato. Beat the white until it holds stiff peaks. Fold it into the sweet potatoes.  Spoon the mixture into 4 oiled oven-safe cups. Place them in a pan with boiling water and bake in preheated 375ºF oven until set, about 20 minutes. Serve with chopped walnuts.

Seafood Stew

Cazuela de Pescado

I used fillets of gallineta, rockfish, for this stew. Monkfish or grouper, both firm-fleshed, would be good also. Add squid, clams or mussels if you like.

Serves 2 to 4

Firm-fleshed fish fillets for the stew.

1 pound fish fillets

Salt 

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ cup almonds

½ cup chopped onions

½ cup chopped green pepper

½ cup peeled and chopped tomato

½ teaspoon pimentón (paprika)

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in pieces

1 cup + fish stock or water

Shelled peas or blanched snow peas

12 peeled shrimp

Parsley to garnish

Cut the fillets into 2-inch pieces, salt them lightly and allow to come to room temperature.

Heat the oil on medium-high in a cazuela or deep skillet. Fry the garlic and almonds until they are golden. Skim them out and reserve.

Add the onions and green pepper to the pan. Sauté, stirring occasionally, on medium heat until onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and continue to fry a few minutes.

Place the fried garlic and almonds in a blender with the pimenton, ¼ cup of water, and vinegar. Blend until smooth. Stir this mixture into the pan. Add 1 cup of the stock. Bring to a boil and add the potatoes. Lower heat and cover the pan. Cook until potatoes are tender, 20 minutes. Add the fish and shelled peas to the pan. Cook until fish flakes easily, 10 minutes. Add the snow peas, if using, and the shrimp. Cover and remove the pan from the heat. Allow to set 5 minutes. Serve garnished with parsley.

Black Olive Spread

Olivada Negra

Make this umami-rich spread with the wrinkly kind of salt-cured black olives. (Mine are home-cured Manzanillas.) If Spanish ones are not readily available, substitute Kalamata olives. You will need to pit the olives. Serve the spread with crudités for dipping—I like endive leaves and red pepper. It also goes well with hard-boiled eggs. Or, obviously, toasts or breadsticks if you are not avoiding bread.

Umami-rich ingredients for the olive spread.

1 cup pitted black olives

2 pitted prunes, dates or figs

1 clove garlic

3 sun-dried tomatoes

3 anchovy fillets (from a can)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons walnuts

1 tablespoon drained capers

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of dried thyme 

Endive leaves to serve

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until nearly smooth. Store refrigerated but bring to room temperature to serve. Serve with endive leaves.

Endive leaves with black olive spread.

Fish and vegetable chowder, no flour, almond milk instead of milk or cream.

 

Pan-fried fillets of sea bass, dipped in beaten egg and dredged in almond flour.

Curried squash soup with apple and coconut milk.

Beef stew with artichokes, carrots, and potatoes. A touch of Sherry vinegar replaces the wine. (Original recipe is here. )