Carne

We're back at it after a long stretch of inactivity. It doesn't mean we stopped cooking tasty things during all those months, but laziness sometimes wreaks havoc... However, as a good friend once said, you have to defeat laziness. So, with the intention of picking up this little recipe collection again, Pics&Cakes is back in action. That said, since our official photographer is pretty busy these days, the photos might not do justice to the delicious things we'll be making. Apologies in advance.

And without further ado, today a traditional and simple recipe for homemade meatballs.

What do we need?

• 500 g (1.1 lb) ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 slices of whole wheat sandwich bread
• 100 ml (about 1/2 cup) milk
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Flour and olive oil (for coating and frying, respectively)
• 2 onions
• 4 carrots
• 1/2 glass (about 120 ml / 1/2 cup) white wine
• 1 tablespoon flour
• Salt and Provençal herbs

How do we make it?

1. Place the ground beef in a bowl and add the bread (previously soaked in milk), the egg, the olive oil, the crushed garlic, and salt to taste. Mix well with your hands.
2. Shape into balls the size of a ping-pong ball, or whatever size you prefer. Lightly coat with flour and set aside on a plate.
3. For the sauce, chop the onions and carrots and sauté them in a pan with a little olive oil and salt.
4. Once they get a bit of color, add the flour and the white wine. Stir and lower the heat. Let cook for about 20 minutes, adding water if needed.
5. Heat oil in a pan and fry the meatballs until they're golden on the outside. They don't need to be fully cooked through, because we'll finish cooking them later in the sauce. Transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.
6. To finish, blend the sautéed vegetables with a hand blender or food processor so it comes together as a sauce. Add the meatballs and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.
7. Sprinkle in Provençal herbs to taste and adjust the salt.

Tips:

– You can make the sauce with any vegetables you like and have around in the fridge. In our case, we had a surplus of carrots...

– You can serve them with French fries. For those, I recommend frying them in two stages. First over low heat until they're soft on the inside (poke them with a kitchen needle) and transfer them to a plate. Set them aside until your meatballs and sauce are ready. Then, reheat the oil from the fries and brown them over high heat for a couple of minutes. They'll come out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Everyone who visits Turkey says that the kebab there is nothing like the ones we eat in Spain, so at this point I'm not entirely sure what to call this. In any case, what I can promise you is that it's delicious and the preparation couldn't be simpler. We discovered this recipe thanks to the YouTube channel Recetas de Cocina, which is always worth a visit. Give these kebabs a try and let us know how it goes.

What do we need?

• 400 g (14 oz) lamb leg chops
• 400 g (14 oz) chicken thighs
• 4 teaspoons garlic powder
• 4 tablespoons Ras el Hanout (a North African spice blend)
• Salt and pepper
• Lettuce (chopped or julienned)
• Sliced tomato
• Sliced or finely julienned onion
• Pita breads

For the yogurt sauce:

• 2 Greek yogurts
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 1 pinch of cumin
• Salt, pepper and fresh parsley

How do we make it?

1. Cut the lamb chops and chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2. In a bowl, combine 6 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of Ras el Hanout and mix well. Add the chopped chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle in two teaspoons of garlic powder.
3. Mix well so all the meat is fully coated and let it marinate for at least 1 hour in the fridge (the longer it sits, the more flavor it will pick up).
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the chopped lamb.
5. While the meat rests, let's prepare the yogurt sauce. Mix the yogurt with the mayonnaise. Then add the crushed garlic, the sugar, the cumin, salt, pepper, and finally the lemon juice and chopped fresh parsley. Mix everything thoroughly (no blender needed) and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
6. Once the meat has had enough time to marinate, you have two options: cook it in the oven, or in a frying pan or on a griddle.
   a) For the first option, line a baking tray with parchment paper and spread the pieces of meat out separately. Bake at 200°C (390°F) until they look golden. When you take the meat off the tray, drain off any excess oil.
   b) If you prefer, you can sauté them in a pan or cook them on a griddle. There's no need to add oil since the marinade is enough. This option is faster since there's no oven preheating and the cooking time is shorter.
7. All that's left is to assemble the kebabs. In a pita bread, layer meat, lettuce, tomato, onion and yogurt sauce to taste.

Tips:

– You can adjust the yogurt sauce to taste, but it's better to go light than to overdo any one ingredient, especially garlic and salt, which are hard to fix once you've added too much. I recommend adding little by little and tasting as you go.

– It's better to cook the meats separately so people can choose whether they want their kebab with just one type of meat or mixed. Lamb tends to have a much stronger flavor than chicken, which not everyone enjoys.

– The meat quantities are just a guide. Adjust them depending on how many kebabs you want to make.

Today we bring you an adaptation of the fideuá from Spain’s eastern coast, which is mainly made with fish and seafood. Everyone knows my dislike for fish, so when my mom made this dish, swapping the fish for pork secreto, I jumped right on it.

What do we need?

• 200 g (7 oz) pork secreto

• 200 g (7 oz) fideuá pasta

• Water

• Mushrooms

• Saffron

• Salt

• Olive oil

• Paprika

• Garlic

• Parmesan cheese

How do we make it?

• Pour a splash of olive oil into a large pot, sauté the garlic, add the meat and mushrooms with a pinch of salt, and cook everything together. Add a bit of paprika.

• Once it’s nicely sautéed, toss in the noodles and stir everything together so they pick up the flavor.

• Add twice as much water as pasta (or a bit more if you want it slightly brothy).

• Let it cook for about 15-20 minutes, adding a pinch of saffron and a little more paprika along the way.

• When plating, shave a few slices of parmesan cheese and lay them on top.

Tips:

• We used shiitake mushrooms, but it turns out great with any kind of mushroom.

• If you don’t have pork secreto, you can use any tender cut of pork.

• The original recipe calls for ñoras (dried sweet red peppers), which are crushed and added to the sofrito. If you can find them (and don’t get scared off by the price), they give the dish a special touch.

*[English version] FIDEUÁ ** *Ingredients:

• 200 g (7 oz) pork meat

• 200 g (7 oz) fideuá pasta

• Water

• Mushrooms

• Saffron

• Salt

• Olive oil

• Paprika

• Garlic

• Parmesan cheese

• Gently fry the chopped garlic with a bit of olive oil in a cooking pot. Add meat and mushrooms, some salt, and cook. Add paprika.

• When it is slightly cooked, add the pasta and gently fry all the ingredients together to mix the flavors.

• Add the water (twice the amount of pasta. For instance, if you used 2 cups of pasta, add 4 cups of water. You can add a bit of extra water if you like a soupy dish.)

• Add some saffron and a bit more paprika and cook for around 15-20 minutes.

• Slice parmesan cheese and place it over the fideuá before serving.

Tips:

- We used shiitake mushrooms, but any kind of mushroom will be delicious.

- The original recipe uses ‘ñora’ (dried red spicy pepper). You can use it if you like spicy flavors. Add it when slightly frying all the ingredients (step 1).

Comments

la enana (2013-03-04 13:40:11):

The recipe was delicious! I made it the other day and we loved it! I used paprika instead of pimentón because I haven’t been able to find it around here, and although the result was very good, in my opinion the flavor pimentón gives is even better.

Good and freezing morning. Today we’re bringing you a really simple recipe, the kind that even Jesús will be able to pull off without having to call twenty times :p The thing is, I’m a huge fan of making burgers at home. They’re usually way better than the ones you eat out, plus you make them to your own taste and load them with the ingredients you like best. This time we made the burger with blue cheese mixed right into the patty.

What do we need?

(For each big-eater burger)

• 200 g (7 oz) ground beef

• 25-30 g (1 oz) blue cheese

• 1 egg

• Pepper

• Salt

• Breadcrumbs

• Tomato

• Lettuce

• Onion

• Burger bun

How do we make it?

• Take the ground beef and dump it into a large bowl, since you’re going to be getting your hands in there.

• Add the egg, a bit of freshly ground pepper, salt to taste, and a little breadcrumbs to give the meat some consistency.

• Mix everything together with your hands.

• Once all the ingredients are well combined, add the blue cheese cut into cubes. Try to work it into the meat but without pressing too hard so the cheese doesn’t break apart.

• Wrap in cling film and shape into a burger.

• Let the burger rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.

• When you’re ready to eat, put a frying pan with a splash of oil over the heat and, while it’s warming up, start chopping the rest of the ingredients.

• Cut the onion into rings, the lettuce into fairly large leaves (that way it’s easier to eat), and the tomato into slices.

• Once the oil is hot, lower the heat a bit so the burger doesn’t burn on the outside while staying raw inside. Cook it to your liking (I like mine rare).

• When it’s done, set it aside, wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper, and toast the bun for about half a minute.

• Build your burger and enjoy.

Tips:

• If you’re not going to use all the ground beef you bought, you can keep the formed patties in the freezer.

• For me, as I said, I really enjoy a good burger, so 150 to 200 grams (5-7 oz) of ground beef is the “standard” size. Yes, that’s on the generous side, but hey, it’s a burger. Obviously you can make it with less.

• If you want, you can dust the patty in flour before cooking it.

• As my dad says when we play tute, “side dish requested.” A good beer or a cold Coke with fries (homemade or store-bought) is a must.

[English version] **Ingredients:

(For each big hamburger)

• 200 g de minced meat

• 25-30 g de blue cheese

• 1 egg

• Pepper

• Salt

• Bread crumbs

• Tomato

• Salad

• Onion

• Hamburger bun

• Place minced meat into a large bowl and mix well with your hands.

• Add the egg, a bit of salt and pepper and some bread crumbs.

• Mix well all ingredients.

• Then chop blue cheese into small squares and add to the meat mix. Try to ‘knead’ the mix integrating the cheese but keeping it into pieces.

• Make a ball, wrap in cling film and and flatten it with your hand to have hamburger shape.

• Leave for a couple of hours in fridge.

• Then, pour a bit of olive oil in the frying pan. Let it get warm and start preparing your fresh ingredients (onion, tomato and salad).

• Cut onion into rings, tomato into slices and salad (lettuce) into big parts (it will be easier to eat).

• Cook the hamburger according to your preferences (well done, medium or rare).

• When it’s ready take it out from the pan, clean the frying pan with kitchen paper and toat the bread bun.

• Prepare you hamburger sandwich with all the ingredients and enjoy it.

Tips:

• You can freeze the prepared raw hamburgers and you will only need to defrost and cook in the pan whenever you need it.

• This amount of minced meat is for a big hamburger but it’s up to you the size of your hamburger.

• You can coat in flour the raw hamburger before cooking it.

• It’s a must to serve the hamburger with a cold beer and chips or fries.