The Brownie That Started It All

Disclaimer: this brownie is dangerous.  It is THE best brownie you will ever have the privilege to taste.  It is not possible to just have one piece.  I have been (helping) making this brownie recipe with my mom and sisters since I was about 1 year old.  So, this brownie is-shall we say-in my blood.  It's simple, traditional, and absolutely scrum dittly umptious! The smell of the chocolate reminds me of the scene in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory with the chocolate river...mmmm.  So if you're ever craving chocolate (often, for me) than this is the recipe for you.

Living in Spain can be tough sometimes.  It's difficult to come across a real American brownie in a restaurant.  Here, they list them on the dessert menus, but they are decoys! Not real brownies...well, not in the traditional American so-rich-it'll-give-you-a-heart-attack sort of way.  So, I stock up on Baker's chocolate squares and Crisco whenever I go home to California, or whenever Javi has a business trip to Miami, and whenever I'm feeling homesick or just need to lick a spatula covered in brownie batter, I whip out my precious ingredients and just the smell of the chocolate and sugar is an immediate comfort.  I hope this recipe can become something special for you too!

Ingredients: (Number of servings depends on how small you cut the pieces)

2 1oz squares unsweetened chocolate (I've used Baker's my whole life)

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 F or 177 C.

Grease a 8 or 9 inch square or round pan.

Melt together the chocolate and the shortening.  Microwave them together for a minute and a half. 

Transfer to a large mixing bowl using a spatula (doesn't have to be pink and glittery...but makes it more fun in my opinion).

Add sugar and eggs, then the vanilla, baking powder, and salt.

Throw in some flour.

Mix well (if you have a mixer better, if not, then a whisk will do).

Add walnuts (if desired).  I usually don't add them when I make this recipe with my family, but Javi loves walnuts so this time I threw some in.

 Pour the brownie mixture into the greased pan, and level out with a spatula so it's evenly spread across the surface of the pan. 

Pop in the oven for 25 minutes, checking doneness with a toothpick (if it comes out clean, it's done). 

Hard part: let cool for 10 minutes.

Take out your handy brownie cutting spatula (yes, there is a spatula especially designed for such a purpose), and slice the brownie into squares.

Enjoy the world's most scrumptious brownie with a glass of cold milk or vanilla ice cream (haagen dazs is recommendable).

P.S. To make a double recipe (because why wouldn't you want more?!), use a 9 X 13 inch pan, double all ingredients and cook 5 minutes longer.

Rabo de Toro

Rabo de toro, or stewed oxtail is a typical Spanish meal eaten in fall and winter when the weather provokes an appetite for warm stews and soups.  This week here in Logroño we have begun to feel the chill of winter, and so Abuela Pili and I decided to make something warm and cozy for lunch.  This easy, slow recipe consists of the tail of a bull, cut into pieces, and stewed into submission with onions and carrots until the meat is so tender it falls off the bone.  Try it out, you won't be disappointed! 

Abuela Pili and I preparing the sliced onions.

Ingredients: (for 6 people)

3 small white onions, sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 oxtail, sliced into 1 inch pieces

2 cups olive oil

Salt (to taste)

1 cup flour

2 cloves garlic

1 cup water

1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley

1 1/2 cups white wine
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Your rabo de ternera.  I call the recipe rabo de toro but the only difference is that ternera is cow and toro is bull.  This recipe in particular was done with ternera.  In general, using toro makes the flavor of the meat stronger. 

Cut your ternera into pieces.  It should come cut into slices already (if you ask the butcher to do so), but cut apart any stringy stragglers.

Salt and rub both sides of the ternera.  Then, take your flour and thoroughly cover the ternera pieces.

Heat up your frying pan with 2 cups of olive oil until it's sizzling hot.

Add your pieces of ternera and fry them about 3 minutes on each side before you take them off the heat.

In a giant pot, add your onions and carrots, and sprinkle them with salt.

Place the fried ternera pieces on top of the onions and carrots, and add half of the olive oil from the frying pan.

Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and parsley. 

Pour over top the ternera and carrots and onions.

Pour your white wine over top, and sprinkle your peppercorns over top.

Set it on the burner, at the lowest temperature.

Cover it up, and check in on it every half hour or so.  It shouldn't burn on the bottom because it's at such a low temperature and because there should be enough liquid to keep it from doing so, but check in on it every so often to make sure.  It should be done within 2 hours, but check to make sure the veggies are tender and the meat is cooked all the way through.  As I said before, the meat should fall from the bone.  

Buen Provecho!

A Little Taste of Andalucía: Marbella and Ronda

The first time I went to Andalucía I was 19 and studying abroad in Budapest.  During a week-long break in November 2008 my friends and I decided to pop over to Spain to see the sites since I had been dreaming of Spain since I was about 10.  We stayed in Madrid a couple days and then took a bus to Granada to see the Alhambra (which I adored) and then to Málaga for the rest of the week where we slept in a hostel owned by a Frenchman named Ludo who pronounced my name Cahooline...which I kind of loved.  It was a very quick trip and my first glimpse of Spain.  I left feeling like a got a little taste but not enough.  So, almost four years later, as you know, I am living in Spain...but in the North...which is completely different than Andalucía.  I love it here of course, but Andalucía has a special place in my heart.  The weather is warmer, the people are friendlier, and the beaches are so welcoming and beautiful (not to mention you can see Africa across the ocean!).  

I arrived on a Tuesday night to Porto Banus, just near the city of Marbella, in Málaga, where Javi's parents have a newly bought apartment.  After an eight hour road trip, needless to say we were exhausted, but near to the apartment a restaurant was hosting a flamenco show...and I couldn't miss it.  So, we arrived at 8pm and did a quick wardrobe change and off to the show.  Over fresh seafood and a class (or three) of verdejo, I marveled at the art of flamenco dance...something not so common in Northern Spain.  The first time I saw flamenco was in 2008 in Madrid, and I don't remember being all too enthralled by it, but this time I was completely captivated; by the music, the movement, the costumes.  I was even brought up by the male flamenco dancer as a volunteer (I was forced) to dance in front of the audience.  Javi may or may not have a video of this which I refuse to post here because I am not the most coordinated of dancers.  So, flamenco was amazing! Here are a few pics...

 

 

On Wednesday we went to the beach just 3 minutes from the apartment, and spent the day in the sand.  On Thursday we woke up to a foggy not-so-beach-friendly day and decided to head up to Ronda, about 45 km North, and hidden by mountains and rolling hills covered in olive trees.

Ronda is especially known for its bullfights. 

Matador....maybe?

Plaza de Toros.

In the main plaza with my apple tart...yummy.

Catedral.

Amazing view from the bridge.

Castillian garlic soup.

The courtyard of an everyday apartment....amazing, right?

The next couple days were spent going to the Saturday Mercadillo, which is a Saturday morning swap meet, where you can find flamenco costumes, clothes, trinkets of all sorts.  Our last night in Marbella we went to a Sevillan guitar show.  It was absolutely amazing.  I felt like I was in the guitar scene from Vicky Christina Barcelona.  I love Spanish guitar...I wish I had the time to take lessons!  


I can't wait to go back to Andalucía.

El Umm

"El Umm" is a new age gastrobar about four blocks from our apartment here in Logroño.  Not just because it's located so conveniently close to our home, Javi and I frequent this restaurant because of the quality of their delicious tapas/plates that they prepare always with an innovative style.  Though I I find it hard to decide, this is quite possibly my favorite eatery in Logroño.  

Logroño, this years capital of gastronomy in Spain, is busting with new locales to eat, not including their famous pintxo streets La Laurel and La San Juan.  When people come to La Rioja, they come for the wine, the beautiful landscapes, and...of course...the FOOD.  So, back to "El Umm".  I'd say Javi and I go to this restaurant 3-4 times a month.  We love it! And it's constantly packed with people, which means it can't be bad.  We've tried almost everything on the menu and we have our favorites, so let me share with you some of them.  

First of all, the wine.  My favorite wine of all time is a Spanish verdejo.  It's white and fruity, but not sweet.  Before I visited the Marques de Riscal bodegas in El Ciego (close to Logroño), I thought that this wine was a sweet, fruity white.  But it tricks you.  You smell the peachyness of it and you take a sip and you think, oh this is sweet, but it's not.  It's a fruity white wine, but it's actually dry.  Anyways, I love it, and Javi and I always order a bottle when we go to "El Umm".  You can imagine that the waiters know us by name...well, almost.  The service is rather good by Spanish standards (not to say that the service here is bad, but compared to the United States it's a different concept of service, but that's another blog post in and of itself).  So before we even sit down, our waiter has the wine cooler out and the bottle opener movin'.  This wine is well-paired with fish, chicken, vegetables, or...croquetas.
 

Second of all, the croquetas...a pillar in Spanish tapas.  I have eaten many croquetas, seeing as they are everywhere, and usually you can't find a bad one.  But hands down, "El Umm" has THE BEST croquetas I have ever had (maybe better than Javi's grandma...shhh don't tell!). 

Poke your fork in and savor it or just pop one in your mouth. The creamy bechamel melts on your tongue and leaves a hint of Joselito ham lingering in your palette, while the outer crust crinkles and buttery breadcrumbs mix in.  How can you pass that up?

  
If you have never tried Joselito ham, it's known as one of the best Iberian cured hams in Spain.  A certain fascination has grown around Spanish cured ham. 

 

"El Umm" does a "pintxo de la semana" special, which we usually try every week (well, every time we go).  Every week, you can try a different pintxo.  This week we tried their "tomatitos al horno rellenos de hongos y boletus".  Let me translate...roasted cherry tomatoes stuffed with various mushrooms and boletus.  It was scrumptious!  I even recommended to the chef that they keep this one on the permanent menu.  I also once told the chef that their so-called brownie was not in fact a real brownie and that it should either be changed or renamed...but they didn't listen hehe.  Hopefully they'll listen to me this time!

The next dishes we ordered were a gourmet hamburger and chicken caesar salad (not the typical chicken caesar salad however).  I promise to include these items in a further post but seeing as I don't have photos of them I will not describe how they taste now. 

To finish off, if you are in the area and are looking for a modern, slightly more expensive pintxo experience then try out "El Umm".  

Here they are on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Umm-Food-and-Drink/153620314668098