Halloween Chestnuts

Today is Halloween, and we are going to cook chestnuts especially for this occasion.

According to our tradition on October 31st. we celebrate the Chestnut’s day. It is normal to find street stands grilling chestnuts and also sweet potatoes. It is typical to buy chestnut sachets and eat them while walking when they are still warm. And also after lunch or dinner as a snack.


I cook them in a different way which goes as follows:

First we crack the chestnut as showed in the picture. After that we have to put them in a pot and put it on to heat. We have to add a salt tablespoonful and keep them on the stove about 1 hour, adding more water when boiling if necessary. In this way they tenderize.

After, we take them from the stove and put them in the oven and we will bake it for 1/2 hour, as we want to get them dried.

Once finished we can eat them warm or wait until they get cold. I prefer to eat them warm, especially when it is cold.

Lékué steam case

Kitchen tools are also quite important for us while cooking, that’s why we are going to highlight those tools we find useful or helpful in the kitchen. This is the case of the Lékué steam case. It is a great idea. It makes cooking easy, healthy, clean and quick. We discovered it  4 years ago and we can’t stop using it! It’s really a good thing. We usually use the steam case with meat or fish (raw). We add some vegetables to it (whatever: onion, egg plant, carrot, zucchini, green pepper, tomato, even potatoes) and a pinch of salt and about 1 tbsp. oil spread around. We have tried it cooking only vegetables and they are also delicious. After adding the ingredients you like, you just have to put it in the oven or microwaves, having a look from time to time to control how is it going and wait until it is done.

PROS: It is very healthy, quick and clean…

CONS: just one, the size of the steam cases. We are a couple and we noticed that the steam case recommended for 2 people is not big enough for the quantity we use to eat. For this reason we bought the one sized for 4 people.

Pincho de choricitos (spicy sausages snack)

Sausages are quite typical in our area, you can find hundreds of different types. We use to take these sausages as a snack or appetizer, together with a cold drink. To prepare it you may need spicy sausages (obviously) and white bread slices. You have to cut the sausages in 5cm. (2 in.) pieces and fry them in a pan with oil (1 tblsp).

Eventually if the sausage is quite fatty you can boil it first with cider, and after fry it with oil (cider will give a special flavor to it).Meanwhile, cut the bread in slices. You may need the same number of sausages and bread slices. When the sausages are done, put each piece on a bread slice and prick both with a toothpick (that's what we call pincho).

Meat croquettes

Traditionally we use the stock mixed meat to cook this recipe. When you finish preparing meat broth you have to separate meat and broth. You use the broth as a soup and you can reuse the meat for different recipes.

This is one of them, it's not a healthy dish, this is not either an easy dish, but it is a cheap, and this is a good reason to include it to our list of dishes.

You may need:
- Beef, pork and chicken meat
- 1 Onion
- 3 tbsp Flour

So, you take the cooked meat and make little pieces of meat and take off the bones.

Once you have the meat ready, cut the onion in small pieces and put them in a pan onto the heater with olive oil (5 tbsp). When you notice that the onion is already tender, then add the meat in the pan and wait until it is fried, and add progressively tablespoons of flour to it. You may notice that the mix turns into a kind of homogeneous pastry; it means that it is ready.

After that you have to put it in a container and leave it to stand in the fridge until the day after. Next day, you take the pastry with 2 tablespoons and shape the pastry like a croquette.

When you finish, beat one egg (or two, depending on the number of croquettes), take a big container and add breadcrumbs. Cover the croquettes with egg and then with breadcrumbs. Once you have the croquettes ready, you can give them a proper shape and after, you just have to fry them.

They are really delicious and very cheap, as you have used the same meat to make a complete course (broth and croquettes). We eat them with white bread and you may take it also as a snack. However, we have to admit that this is a quite a laborious dish to prepare.

Mixed Meat Stock

It is a quite simple recipe cooked specially in winter, as it is a warm dish. You may need different types of meat to carry it out.

Ingredients for 2 people:
- 2 Chicken empty carcasses
- 225 gr. (1/2 lb.) small pork T-Bone
- 225 gr. (1/2 lb.) Beef rib
- 150 gr. (0,33 lb) Fatty salt pork

Preparation is very simple. First of all try to move the fat away the meat (except in the case of the fatty salt pork), then wash the meat with water and put all the parts in a pot; fill the pot with water (not completely, but until the water gets over the meat). Then add a pinch of salt and put the pot on to the heat.

You will have to wait until it comes to the boil, and after that try it often (add salt if it needs so) until you notice it is done. The whole process may take about one hour. Once it is already done, you will have to separate the meat and the broth. The meat may be also useful for other delicious dishes (but we will explain them on another occasion).

You may notice that there is broth enough for some days. We put it in 500cl (17,6 oz) containers and freeze it, so we have broth for several days (very useful when it is cold).We heat it and take it as a hot beverage or we heat it and when it boils we add little pasta pieces like angels hair or smaller.
Once the pasta is cooked it is ready.

Vegetables lasagna

This is not an easy dish and either a quick dish, but it is very healthy and delicious too. The whole cooking process may take about one hour.

You may need any type of vegetables. I took those which are basic...
(For two people)
- 1 medium onion (or 1/2 big Onion)
- A clove of garlic
- 200 gr. (0,44lb) of champignons
- 1 squash
- 1 big eggplant and a half
- 1 tomato

First of all put your oven on and cut an eggplant into slices. Put them in a tray, spread oil on it and salt the slices. When the oven is already warm, put the tray in and select a temperature of 200º, and have a look at them frequently.

After that, cut the onion into little pieces and put the pan in the heater with 10 tbsp. of oil in. Cut the garlic, the squash and the tomato and the remaining half eggplant into little pieces as well. When you realize that the oil is warm, add gradually the veggies you have in the pan until you have it all. Add the champignons (in the case they are fresh must first be washed and then heated in another pan) too. And when you have all the ingredients in the pan, add a little bit more oil (3 tblsp)and salt them.

Then cover the pan and turn the heater temperature down. In the meantime the eggplants may have been tender (at least for one side) before you finish with the veggies mix. You'd have had to turn them over and leave them back in the oven for a while.

Once all that is done, you only have to wait for the eggplants to be tender on both sides. When they are ready, put them in another tray, as they were the base of the lasagna, and cover this base of veggies. And repeat the operation: put another layer of eggplants and cover them with the remaining vegetables.

And that's it. I suggest you to take some white bread and dip it into the remaining yummy juice you got.

Lentils with spicy sausage

This recipe is specially recommended for those winter days when it is very cold, and the body asks for calories and energy. The dish is quite strong, restorative and healthy, although it contains sausage and salt pork. It may take longer than other recipes we've mentioned, but not much, maybe half an hour.
You may need (for 2 people):
- Lentils, about
- 150 gr. (0,33lb) of a spicy sausage
- 50 gr. (0,11lb) of fatty salt pork
- 1-2 bay leaf
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Half green pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika in powder
- 450 cl. (34 oz.) of Water

First chop the onion, the garlic and the green pepper into pieces, then put a pot in the heater and add the 4 oil tbsp. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, the garlic clove and the green pepper in the pot together and fry it. Take care and stir it often to avoid burning it.

In the mean time, cut the lard into small pieces and the sausage too. When you notice that the onion is already tender, add the fatty salt pork, the bay leafs, the paprika teaspoon and the lentils to the pot and stir it for 2 minutes.

After this add the water, the rest of the smoked paprika and the spicy sausage. Stir it for a while and put the lid on the pot.

After that you may have to wait about ½ hour and taste it, In case the lentils are not tender enough, wait again 15 minutes and try it again.

It is really delicious, even in a lunch box and eaten for lunch the day after :)