Arroz a Banda

[HELENE]

Eric & Henriette, I am sooooo glad that you haven't put this recipe onto the board: Arroz a Banda. I went into your peublo web site yesterday after your E-mail letter, and found it very interesting. I will pass on the above recipe (rice with squids ink) yuck! But the Migas -( bread fried with garlic & spicy sausage), and Encebollao -(onion dish), sound like good ones, any chance of printing them up please?
I love the name for the people of Felix - Felisarios.

[Julie Davis]

Rice with squid ink? yuk! The other recipes sound good though.

Hi Helene and Julie,

This is Henriette writing here, Eric's "better half". I just saw your posts from a few weeks ago about popular recipes of Felix. I don't know how they got arroz a banda (rice and squid) for this village as I've never seen it here. Eric would never eat it anyway. In Madrid we were invited to a Spanish friends home for dinner and she served squid in it's own ink. I had never seen Eric's face turn so white. All the colour completely left him. He likes to be a good guest and try whatever is served but on this occasion I could see the very sight of the squid was going to make him sick if he tried to eat it. So he apologized and passed. Fortunately our host didn't take offence. For myself it was the first time to try this dish and I found it delicious.

The migas is a very nice dish although a little on the plain side. By plain I mean its taste is not strong. It is usually served with other food, as you can see in the photo I shall try to attach. The migas is in the big frying pan. I will also put the recipe for migas and encebollao below. The only bad thing about the migas is that it takes a lot of constant stirring before its finally ready.

The ajo blanco is a soup in some parts of Spain. But in our region it is a very tasty beige coloured paste of almond and garlic that we dip our unbuttered stick bread into. It often precedes the main course in restaurants along with the ever present salad. I will also include the recipe for this in case you are interested.

I hope you both get a chance to try some of these recipes. If they don't work out for you, come over here and I will show you how to make them using local ingredients.


MIGAS (FRIED BREAD CRUMBS)

1/2 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1/2 litre water
1/2 kilo of semola or a stick bread
salt to taste

Break up the bread and soak in water, add salt.
Fry the garlic in the olive oil until golden. Add bread and water mixture to olive oil and stir non stop until done. This may take half an hour. The mixture should be a bit dry but not gummy when done. Serve along with other dishes such as with meat (especially sausages), fish and salads.


AJO BLANCO (WHITE GARLIC)

150 grams almonds
3 garlic cloves
300 grams bread crumbs
1/4 litre olive oil
vinegar to taste
salt to taste

Soak the bread crumbs in the water then add the soaked bread to the blender with the almonds, olive oil, vinegar and salt. Blend it all until it forms a paste. You can add or subtract water to make the paste the thickness you desire, but normally it should be thick enough to stay on the bread that is dipped into it. Put in refrigerator for a few hours before serving.


BACALAO ENCEBOLLAO (COD WITH ONION)

800 grams salted cod
1 large onion
1 garlic clove
1 sprig of parsley
1 teaspoon of oregano
4 tablespoons of tomato paste
5 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Soak the cod to desalt most of it. Break into small pieces. Cut and chop the onion and garlic. Cut the parsley into very small pieces. Heat the oil in microwave for two minutes. Fry the onions. Add the cod, oregano, and a tiny bit of salt, cover with tomato paste, garlic and parsley. Cook for eight minutes. Serve hot in the same dish.

[Spotty's people]

Hey, awsome looking recipies! Especially the dip one.... love garlic.
Will give these a try.... Not the squid, though... sorry!
s.