Spanish Meal

Roxi sent Tim a cookbook called Savoring Spain and Portugal and we thought that since the temps had dipped to single digits we'd warm up with some sangria and tapas. This recipe for pork kabobs was delicious:

Pinchos Morunos (moorish pork kabobs) serves 8
1/2 C olive oil
3 T ground cumin
2 T ground coriander
1 T sweet paprika
1 1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t oregano
1 t salt or to taste (I left it out)
1/2 t ground black pepper
2 lb pork, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 T minced garlic
1/4 c flat-leaf parsley
1/4 c lemon juice

In small frying pan combine oil and spices through pepper. Place over low heat and warm through about 3 minutes until fragrant. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Place pork pieces in bowl and rub with spice mixture. Add garlic, parsley, and lemon juice and toss well. Refrigerate overnight (or for a few hours. Don't you hate it when you make a recipe and you realize as you are making it that you were supposed to have thought of marinating or chilling many hours before you actually got to the task–who is that organized!)

Thread the meat on skewers and place on broiler pan or grill rack (or george) and cook about 4 minutes on each side (or 4 minutes on the george).

Serve with lemon wedges

We also made Pataas Bravas ("fierce" potatoes) but we didn't have most of the ingredients so they turned out more like spicy roasted potatoes. serves 8

Olive oil for frying
2 lb potatoes, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 T flour
1 t sweet paprika
1 c beef stock
2 T red wine vinegar
1/2-1 t red pepper flakes
1/4 c tomato sauce
salt to taste.

In large frying pan fry potatoes in boiling oil until tender 20-30 minutes.

Drain off all but 1 T oil and add flour, paprika and stir over low hear for a couple minutes. Add stock stirring constantly. Add vinegar and red pepper flakes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in Tomato sauce. Pour sauce over potatoes and toss to coat.

So here's what we did. Cut potatoes and set aside. In cast iron skillet follow second part of recipe. (We used catsup instead of tomato sauce.) After simmering sauce, add potato chunks, cover, and place in preheated 400° oven. Stir once or twice to get the goo all over potatoes. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until done.

We also made Favas com Coentro a Portuguesa (fava beans with cilantro)
The recipe calls for shelled fava beans, bacon, onion, garlic, bay leaf, pepper, and cilantro. We only had the onion, garlic, pepper, and cilantro so we used lima beans and left out the bacon. Not too bad!