TWEAKING THE TRADITIONAL

I am all about traditional Spanish cooking, home cooking, which, although often inspired, is seldom fancy. Variations on family dishes are legion, with every housewife adapting recipes to availability, but innovations are few. No one would dream of putting basil or chile into gazpacho, let alone of making a jellied variation with shrimp or turning it into ice cream or foam or smoke.

But, sometimes even the tried and true needs a little tweaking, just for fun. So after I decided on a very traditional Málaga recipe to make this week—potaje de jibia con garbanzos—cuttlefish and chickpea stew, a traditional dish for Lenten meals in which cuttlefish takes the place of the meat and sausage in typical legume stews —I dreamed up some variations to jazz it up a bit.

A traditional Lenten stew with chunks of cuttlefish, chickpeas, chard and potatoes.

Potaje is a sturdy, one-pot family meal--

Same potaje with the addition of shrimp and an inky alioli sauce.

I served the original stew in small portions molded in a disc and embellished them with a garlicky alioli sauce colored black with cuttlefish ink.  The kids thought it was a hoot. I loved the way it looked—right up until I stirred the inky sauce into the chickpea stew, turning it a weird grey! See what you think.

Cuttlefish (jibia, sepia, choco) is a cephalopod, like squid and octopus. It is exceptionally meaty, making it a good choice for this stew. However, either squid or octopus could be used instead. Squid is not so thick as cuttlefish and needs less cooking time. Octopus should be cooked whole for 30 minutes, then cut into pieces to continue cooking in the stew.)

Traditional stew.

Same stew, jazzed up. Serve it as a starter.

Cuttlefish and Chickpea Stew
Potaje de Jibia y Garbanzos

Put the chickpeas to soak a day before cooking the stew.

Char-roast the head of garlic over a gas flame or under the broiler until blackened. Rub off outer skin, but leave the head of garlic whole to make it easier to remove from the stew later.

Serves 6.

Meaty chunks of cuttlefish.

1 pound chickpeas
Hot water
2 bay leaves
1 onion
2 cloves
10 peppercorns
1 tablespoon salt
1 ¼ pounds cleaned cuttlefish, cut in bite-size pieces
1 head garlic, char-roasted
1 green frying pepper, stem and seeds removed
1 medium tomato
1 tablespoon pimentón (paprika, not smoked)
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ cup olive oil
2 cups chopped chard
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
Sprigs of fresh mint to serve

 

The day before cooking the stew, put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with hot water to 1 ½ their depth. Soak overnight.

Drain the chickpeas and rinse them in warm water. Fill a large pot with 10 cups of water: Bring it to a boil and add the chickpeas. When water again comes to a boil, skim off the froth that rises to the top. Add the bay leaves, whole onion stuck with cloves, the peppercorns and salt. Simmer, covered, 40 minutes. (Chickpeas will be about half-cooked.)

Add the cut-up cuttlefish, the whole head of garlic, green pepper and whole tomato. Mix the pimentón and cumin with the oil and stir into the pot.  Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, 40 minutes. 

Squeeze pulp from garlic cloves.

Use a skimmer or slotted spoon to remove the onion, garlic, pepper and tomato. Discard the cloves and put the onion in a blender. Slip skins off of the pepper and tomato and place them in the blender. Squeeze the garlic cloves into the blender. Blend the vegetables, adding a little liquid from the pot, as needed. Stir the blender mixture back into the pot. Add the chard and potatoes. Bring again to a boil, reduce heat and cook, uncovered, until potatoes and chard are tender, about 20 minutes.

Allow the stew to settle 5 minutes before serving with a sprig of mint in each bowl.

Molded tower has collapsed!

Variations

Mold the well-drained stew in ring molds or oiled flan cups. (You can make a disc mold by removing both top and bottom from a 3-inch diameter tuna-fish can.)

Use ink sacs from fresh cuttlefish or packets of frozen cuttlefish ink to color the sauce. Ask your fish vendor for the packets of ink or look for them in the frozen foods section.

Cuttlefish and chickpea stew
Rainbow chard
18 cooked and peeled small shrimp
For the inky alioli sauce:
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 clove crushed garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 or 4 (4-gram) packets of cuttlefish ink

Make the stew as in the preceding recipe, using rainbow chard. Use a slotted spoon to separate 6 cups of the cuttlefish, chickpeas and vegetables. Drain off as much of the liquid as possible.

Place a small ring mold on a plate. Fill it with about 1 cup of the cuttlefish and chickpeas, pressing down slightly to pack the mixture. Blot any liquid that runs off with paper towels. Carefully lift off the ring. Continue to mold the remaining 5 servings.

Place 3 cooked shrimp on top of each mound. 

Squeeze ink from packets.

Make the ink sauce. Stir the mayonnaise until smooth. Add the garlic. Beat in the oil little by little so the sauce emulsifies. Stir in the lemon juice. Squeeze cuttlefish ink into the sauce and stir.
  
Use a spoon to dribble and trail the sauce around the mound of chickpea and cuttlefish stew. Serve room temperature. 

VEGETARIAN OPTIONS

Chard and cheese pie for a vegetarian meal.

A friend recently asked me for suggestions for Spanish vegetarian dishes. Uh, well, hmmm. Oh, yeah, tortilla de patatas, potato tortilla (eggs, potatoes, olive oil). Truth be told, I couldn’t think of another dish that vegetarians would find everywhere in Spain.

In your own kitchen, it’s easy to adapt Spanish recipes to a vegetarian diet. All those great legume stews, rice dishes, vegetable-based soups—all you have to do is omit the meat or fish.

But, for a tourist traveling in Spain and dining out all the time, apart from dedicated vegetarian restaurants, the pickings are slim. There are some seriously good vegetable dishes—fava beans, spinach, green beans—but they are invariably cooked with bits of ham or sausage. And the wonderful legume soups/stews, with chickpeas, lentils or beans, almost always contain meat, pork fat, sausages, ham bone, just for the flavor they contribute.

During Lent, cuaresma, observant Catholics in Spain (as well as those who honor traditional foodways) abstain from eating meat. But, rather than consume vegetarian meals, they are more likely to replace meat with bacalao, salt cod, or other seafood.

The section of the menu that most reliably includes vegetarian possibilities is Eggs. Besides the classic potato tortilla, other omelets, with cheese or vegetables, are good choices (assuming, of course, that the vegetarian diners are not vegan). Another category of egg dish is the revuelto, a sort of egg scramble with mushrooms, asparagus and garlic. Although revuelto often includes ham or shrimp (as do the versions I’ve published before on this blog), because it is made to order, it may be possible to order it without the meat/fish. 

A great tapa bar dish, huevos rotos, eggs “broken up” with fried potatoes, usually comes with ham, but can be ordered without. Another, patatas a lo pobre, “poor folk’s potatoes,” is often served as a side with fish or meat, but makes a great vegetarian entree.

Gazpacho is vegetarian as is traditional sopa de ajo, garlic soup, made with water, not stock.  One great dish that is not only vegetarian, but vegan, is espinacas con garbanzos, a pimentón-flavored soupy-stew of spinach with chickpeas, a tapa bar specialty in Sevilla.

Here are links to the spinach-chickpea recipe and some other vegetarian recipes that have appeared on this blog.
Espinacas con garbanzos, spinach with chickpeas  (the vegetarian recipe appears alongside one for a stew chock-full of sausages!)

Pisto, vegetable medley (somewhat like ratatouille, with eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and onions cooked in olive oil).

Patatas a lo pobre, "poor folk's" potatoes (potatoes layered in a cazuela with peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, parsley, olive oil).

Paella, vegetarian paella (my version is with brown rice, legumes and lots of veggies).

Nuts and raisins add texture to the chard.

The vegetarian menu at my house this week features Chard and Cheese Pie,  a recipe from COOKING FROM THE HEART OF SPAIN, FOOD OF LA MANCHA. The cheese is actually requesón, similar to ricotta. In La Mancha, where Manchego cheese comes from, it would be made with sheeps’ milk requesón, but any ricotta, feta or well-drained cottage cheese may be substituted.

Flaky, olive oil pie crust for the pie.

I’ve used a really easy, all-olive oil pastry dough for the pie. It makes a rich, flaky crust. No reason you can’t substitute store-bought pie crust.

Pie has a layer of requesón cheese (like ricotta) in the middle.

Chard and Cheese Pie
Torta de Acelgas con Queso

If you are making the Flaky Pastry (recipe follows) using two egg yolks, use the whites with one whole egg in this recipe. Otherwise, use two whole eggs.

Serves 8.

Chard from the garden.

1 recipe for flaky shortcrust pastry dough (below)
2 pounds chard, stems and leaves chopped (12 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts or slivered almonds
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 egg + 2 egg whites or 2 eggs
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons raisins
1 ½ cups (10 ounces) requesón (ricotta)

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Flatten the pastry dough to make a disk. Place it in a 10-inch tart pan with removable sides. Press the dough firmly to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Prick the bottom of the dough all over with a fork.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes and remove from oven.

Lower oven heat to 350ºF.

Cook the chard in boiling, salted water until tender, 15 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain very well, pressing to eliminate all liquid.

Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the pine nuts or almonds until they are lightly toasted. Skim them out and reserve.

Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and sauté until onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the chard to the onions and sauté a few minutes more.

Beat the egg and egg whites in a bowl with the pepper, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Add the chard, raisins and half the pine nuts. Combine well.

Spread requesón on the chard.

Pour half of the chard mixture into the crust. Spread the requesón on top. Cover with the remaining chard. Scatter the pine nuts over the top and press them gently into the chard.

Bake the pie until pastry is lightly golden, 35-40 minutes. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Release the crust from the sides of the tart pan. Remove the outer ring. Serve warm or cold.

Flaky Shortcrust Pastry Dough
Pasta Quebrada

Use this dough for empanadas and both sweet and savory pie crusts. Be sure to let it rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour. The dough works well whether the crust is filled with raw ingredients and baked, or baked “blind” and then filled with a cooked filling. The dough freezes well. Thaw completely before rolling out on a floured board.

Makes enough dough for a 10-inch pie crust.

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling out dough
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons water

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.

Mix oil and egg into flour.

Make a soft dough.

Combine egg yolks and the oil. Make a well in the flour and pour in the yolks. Use a fork to blend the flour into the yolks. Add enough of the water to make a soft dough that can be patted into a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a pastry board and knead it very briefly. Cover and let it stand at room temperature for at least one hour. (The dough can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before continuing.)

Roll out the dough between two sheets of wax paper or press it into the pie pan.

As starter or main, chard pie is a lovely springtime dish.