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 :)

Broccoli with bacon

This is another easy and quick dish to prepare. You just need some broccoli and bacon to carry this out. Quite simple, isn’t it?

For two people you may need:
- A broccoli
- 5 slices of bacon

Firstly, wash the broccoli and cut it into pieces, after that boil it for a short time (5 minutes is enough) adding a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of oil to the pot.

In the meantime, cut the bacon into small pieces and fry it in a big pan adding a tbsp of olive oil to it. When the broccoli is ready, strain it and mix it together with the bacon in the pan. And that's it, easy to cook and healthy.

Spinach and Mushrooms omelet

You arrive late at home, you are not in the mood to start cooking French haut cuisine...You need to cook something quick and easy, without getting the whole kitchen dirty. This is your dish.

Ingredients for 2 people:

- 1/4 kg. Spinach

- A can of mushrooms

- 4 Eggs

You take the spinach (either frozen or fresh, frozen is quicker) and put them on a pot with water and a pinch of salt. Heat them until they boil. In the mean time you beat the eggs in a container adding a pinch of salt as well. Make sure that the container is big enough for the eggs, the spinach and the mushrooms. After that open the can and empty the mushrooms in a colander, wash them with some water and wait until the water is strained. Then add the mushrooms to the colander. When the spinach is ready, put it in the colander too and wait until the water is gone (you have to insist pushing it with a slice as spinach keep a lot of water). Then you mix it together with the eggs and the mushrooms. 

 Put a fry pan on to heat and add a tablespoonful of oil on it, wait until it is warm and spread it over the fry pan. Then, add the mix of eggs, mushrooms and spinach and wait until you think that the lower part is done. After that you have to turn the omelet. Use a plate to turn the pan and add again the omelet the other way round. Wait until you think it is ready, and here you have...

It may not take longer than 20 minutes.