BIRTHDAY PARTY

A superb 100 percent ibérico ham from Extremadura, ready to share with guests for my birthday party. (Photo by Marina Caviese.)

 

This birthday seemed an occasion for something special. For me, the “something special” was ibérico ham, 100 percent ibérico de bellota, from a free-range pig, finished on acorns in the dehesa of Extremadura. 

Once the ham was ordered and on the way, I decided I should have a party to share the goodness. I invited old and not-so-old friends and family from near and far. As this is olive-picking season, I said on the invitations that it was an “olive picking party.” I planned a merienda de aceituneros—an olive pickers’ lunch. 

The menu:

Ibérico ham from Cárdeno, Fuentes de León, Extremadura. (Not coincidentally, I have been up close and personal with these ibérico pigs, back in 2006, on a visit to the dehesa while doing an article about ibérico ham. It is fabulous ham.) I served the ham with bread, grated tomato and olive oil so guests could make a typical pan con tomate y jamón.

Not everyone eats ham!

Cheese board with fresh goat cheese, aged sheeps’ milk cheese, membrillo (quince paste) and crackers.

Dips and dippers:

Atascaburras, a La Mancha dish of mashed potatoes, salt cod, garlic and olive oil, and chopped walnuts. (Recipe here.) Served with regañás, crunchy olive oil crackers. (Recipe for regañás.)

Blue cheese dip with yogurt and Sherry, served with endive leaves and carrot sticks.

Zeilouk, an eggplant dip that’s not baba ghanoush. This Moroccan salad (recipe here.) with cumin and lemon is good with pita crisps (recipe here.). Plus, two kinds of olives, nuts, etc.

I served the dips outside on the patio. The sun was so strong we had to move the table into the shade! (Photo by Marina Caviese.)

To accompany the ham:

Patatas aliñadas, a potato salad with olive oil and Sherry vinegar dressing (recipe here.) The only extra I added was fennel pollen, gathered from wild fennel that grows around my olive grove.  (I decided against that Olive Pickers’ Potato Stew that I featured here a few weeks ago. It was much too warm for a hot dish.) (Photo by Marina Caviese.)

Pipirrana de Jaén, a chopped tomato salad from Jaén, the Andalusian province that is the largest olive oil producing land in the world. This pipirrana (recipe below) is a little different from the one I’ve published here before. If my party had a theme, it was definitely olives and olive oil.

Remojón, a salad of sliced oranges, cod, onions and olives, dressed in olive oil. We added bits of pink grapefruit to the oranges and used (packaged) smoked cod instead of the usual salt cod. (The recipe for orange and cod salad is here.)

Sautéed piquillo peppers. Inspired because I had several cans of piquillos in the cupboard. They were sautéed in olive oil with onions and slivered garlic. 

Lentil salad (above) with walnuts, green onions, tomatoes, lemon, dill and olive oil. We garnished the salad with ruby-red pomegranate, which is in season right now. (The recipe is from The Turkish Cookbook by Nur Ilkin and Sheilah Kaufman). This dish and the potatoes were vegetarian--not everyone eats ham!

I had help in the kitchen in preparing the food for the gathering. Three friends came from the U.S. to spend the week in Mijas with me. 

Party prep in my kitchen. From the left, Donna Gelb, Amanda Clark, Donna Ellefson and myself. Amanda and Donna E are friends from college days (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 1960). Donna G, a cookbook author and recipe developer, and I met through the International Association of Culinary Professionals. We've been travelling and cooking together for quite a few years. (Photo by Leo Searl.)

I couldn't have done it without these guys, grandson Leo on the left and my son, Ben Searl. (Photo by Marina Caviese.)

Ben is becoming an expert ham slicer! He's following instructions in the illustrated book, Slicing Spanish Ham by Pilar Esteban. 

Josh shows daughter Selma how to spread tomato and olive oil on the bread before topping it with thinly sliced ham. 

The kids at the party have a go at thrashing olives off the trees. (Photo by Louise Cook.)

Siena and Selma show me the olives they've helped to pick. Good work! (Photo by Donna Gelb.)

Time for cake! This one is a sugar-free, olive oil fig spice cake. My friends have decorated it with flowers instead of candles. (Photo by Marina Caviese.)

What a happy birthday! (Photo by Donna Gelb.)

Chopped Tomato Salad, Jaén Style

Pipirrana de Jaén

This rustic country salad—typically made by olive pickers—can be made with fresh tomatoes or, if tomatoes are not in season, with canned tomatoes (preferably, home-canned ones). If using fresh tomatoes, peel them before chopping. I easily peeled a quantity of tomatoes with a vegetable peeler. You also can drop them into boiling water for about 1 minute, then slip the skins off. 

The salad is usually made in a dornillo, an olive-wood bowl. Otherwise, make the dressing in a mortar and mix the salad in a bowl. 

1 teaspoon coarse salt

2 cloves garlic

2-3 small green peppers (Italian frying pepper)

3 hard-boiled eggs

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

3-4 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled

Canned tuna

Place the salt in a mortar or wooden bowl with the peeled garlic. Crush the garlic to a paste.

Cut one of the peppers into pieces and add to the mortar. Grind and crush until it becomes a paste. (This is easier if the pieces of pepper are placed skin-side down, so you’re crushing the fleshy inside.) Separate the yolks from the cooked eggs (save the whites). Add the yolks to the mortar and crush. Gradually stir in the oil to make a smooth dressing.

Peel the tomatoes and chop them. Chop the remaining green peppers and the reserved egg whites. Combine in a bowl with the dressing. Add additional salt to taste. Cover and refrigerate until serving time. 

Garnish the salad with chunks of canned tuna before serving.

I'm perched in an olive tree, picking olives, a few days after my 80th birthday. Tomorrow I'll take all the olives to the mill and, hopefully, come home with new olive oil. That makes it a happy birthday!

A RUSTIC STEW FOR OLIVE PICKERS

 

I’ve invited some friends to come round and help me with the olive picking. I plan to serve a merienda de aceituneros, olive pickers’ lunch. In advance, I’m trying out some easy, rustic dishes that I can serve to a crowd. 

In bygone times, when transport was on foot or by mule, olive pickers would spend the whole day in the olive groves, pausing for a midday meal cooked outdoors. Cured foods such as sausages and dry salt cod were packed along with bread and oil. 

That’s what inspired this potato stew. The traditional La Mancha version of this stew is made with salt cod. 

I’m going to serve ibérico ham as the centerpiece of the lunch, so I want this dish to be vegetarian. I sure don’t want to be stirring the pot while everybody is out picking and drinking wine, so I’ll cook the potatoes the day before and reheat them at lunch time. This is my rehearsal. What do you think?

Potatoes cook in a sofrito with onions and peppers. Eggs are added right before serving.

A bowl of vegetarian potato stew. 

Olive Pickers’ Potato Stew

Pote Aceitunero con Patatas

Let whites set, then cut eggs into the potatoes.

On my first attempt at this dish, following the original recipe, I stirred the eggs into the hot potatoes. They thickened the sauce nicely, but I didn’t think they looked very appetizing. I liked the presentation better when the eggs were allowed to set on top of the potatoes, then broken up to serve (as for huevos rotos, if you’ve ever tried that terrific tapa dish). The runny yolks combined with the broth of the stew create the sauce. 

The best potato for this dish is para freir, a variety best for frying such as Agria, Kennebec and MonaLisa. You don’t want potatoes that will fall apart with reheating. Take care not to overcook them, as they will cook 5 minutes longer when the eggs are added.

Serves 4 as a main; 8 as a side.

2 pounds potatoes

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced onions

1 cup green pepper, cut in strips

4 cloves garlic

1 dried red chile (optional)

1 teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

½ teaspoon cumin

½ cup peeled and diced tomato

¼ cup white wine

2 cups water or stock + additional for reheating

Pinch of chopped fennel leaves or fennel pollen

Sprig of thyme or pinch of dried thyme

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3-4 eggs

Chopped parsley to garnish

Chopped scallion greens to garnish

Peel the potatoes and cut them in bite-size chunks. Place them in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak the potatoes 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Drain them well and pat dry.

Fry potatoes in olive oil.

Heat the oil in a deep skillet on moderately high heat. Add the potatoes and carefully turn them in the oil. Allow them to fry without turning until they begin to brown on one side, about 1 minute. Turn and fry until slightly browned on the other side. The idea is to fry just enough to make a crust on all sides of the potatoes.

Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to lift the potatoes out of the oil and into a cazuela or pot. Add the onions and green pepper to the oil. With the side of a knife, lightly crush the cloves of garlic and add them, whole and unpeeled, to the oil with the chile, if using. 

Sauté the vegetables until onion is softened, 4 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and cumin. Immediately add the tomato. Let the tomato cook until it releases its liquid. Add the wine and cook off the alcohol. Add the water, fennel, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce heat and let the potatoes bubble gently, uncovered, until they are nearly tender, about 10 minutes. There should still be some liquid left.

Break eggs on top of the potatoes.

If the potatoes are to be served the following day, transfer them to a covered container, cool and refrigerate. Let them come to room temperature before finishing the cooking.

Place the potatoes in a pan, adding enough water or stock so they are juicy. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are thoroughly heated. Carefully break 3 or 4 eggs on top of the potatoes. Cover the pan and continue cooking until the whites of the eggs are set, but the yolks still runny, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat. 

Sprinkle the eggs with a little salt and pimentón. Garnish with chopped parsley and scallion greens. Immediately before serving, use a knife and fork to cut up the eggs. Let the yolks mix with the potatoes. 

The stew is accompanied by cracked, brine-cured olives with garlic, fennel and thyme. These are the last of the previous year's olives. This year I haven't yet picked any for curing because I'm still waiting for a good rain to plump them. It may not happen---- The olives to be picked by my invited crew will be taken to the mill and exchanged for new oil. 

Related recipes:

Olive Mill Breakfast (Desayuno Molinero).

Olive Pickers' Stew with Cod.

Curing Olives.