Tapas Cooking Class and Dinner Party

Cooking Class and Dinner Party ~

The First of Many

On Friday the 13th of April, we hosted our very first cooking class and dinner party.  

We filled our table of 10 within days of releasing our event.


We felt humbled and blessed to have had the privilege of sharing our story, our food and our Two Spanish Sisters' kitchen with our delightful guests.

Our three course meal was a big hit with our guests.  

We served Gazpacho for entree..

Paella for main.. 

and Flan de Huevo for dessert. Mmmmmm.

Our next cooking class has been released and we are featuring TAPAS.  We love tapas and we want to share our favourites with you!  We have a guest Spanish chef joining us to demonstrate a couple of his favourite tapas with us.

We are very excited to be finally cooking up a Spanish storm. It's getting HOT in the kitchen of the Two Spanish Sisters.

Paella

This well-known Spanish dish is cooked slightly differently depending on the region, city, town and even family in which it is cooked.  The method is essentially the same but what tends to vary, are the ingredients added.

Our mother uses chicken and a variety of seafood when cooking our Paella.  We also love adding Spanish chorizo for added flavour and kick.  However, the 'hero' of the dish is the rice...and the ingredients added, infuses the rice with a flavour that will have you begging for more.

The week in review

Wow what a response to our Facebook page.  Special thanks to all our fans and all of those wonderful coments and feedback.  We are loving your input.

Yesterday, the Two Sisters got together to cook up a storm!  We trialed and taste tested the Sangria, Chicken in Almond Sauce,  Poor Potatoes and Creme Caramel.  Our photographer took some awesome photos to add to our growing collection of possible images to be selected for our book.  We had LOTS of fun!

Please let us know if any of you have cooked any of the recipes we post along the way, and what your thoughts are on them.

Churros are lengths of fried dough often eaten at cafeterias for breakfast (desayuno) or afternoon tea (merienda) with coffee or hot chocolate.

Churros Malaguenos

(Do-dippers from Malaga)

3 cups water

2 cups plain flour

1 cup self-raising flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon sugar

Sunflower oil for frying

Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Method
Place water, oil and salt in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat. All at once, add flour mixed with bi-carbonate of soda and sugar, being careful not to scald oneself with the hot water. 
Mix ingredients quickly with a wooden spoon to produce soft dough.

While still warm, place dough into a piping funnel with a star attachment.

Place enough oil in a deep frypan to cover piped dough (approximately 3 cm deep.) Test the heat of the oil by placing a small amount of churros dough in the pan. When oil is hot enough the dough should sizzle. Pipe the contents of the dough in a spiral shape into the hot oil, starting from the outside of the pan and fry until golden.  Churros dough should be totally submerged in the oil.

Remove and place on paper towels to absorb

excess oil. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

or dip in thick, hot chocolate.


Best eaten immediately.  Lengths of churros dough may be frozen and used when required.

Tea Time Delights. . .

These gorgeous, delicate little cakes are perfect for any morning or afternoon tea.  They are light and fluffy and the Spanish love to dip them in their coffee.
Give it a go!  You will be sure to grab another.

Magdalenas (Madelines)

2 large eggs

1 cup plain yoghurt

1/3 cup light olive oil

2/3 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon aniseed essence (or 15ml Spanish 

aniseed liqueur)

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1 ½ cups self-raising flour

½ cup plain flour

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Vanilla sugar

Method

Pre-heat an oven to 180º C.

Place eggs into a mixing bowl and beat well using an electric mixer. Add yoghurt, sugar, oil, essence and citrus rinds. Mix for about 1 minute on medium speed.

Sift and add flour. Mix until mixture is smooth and thick, being careful not to over mix.

Spoon dough into muffin cases to ¾ full. Place in oven for about 20 minutes. Dust with vanilla sugar while still hot.

Makes approximately 12 muffins.

Roscos de Vino ~ A Christmas Family Favourite

Muscat wine is naturally sweet and derives from sun-ripened Muscat grapes. Their juice is only partially fermented. This sweet and fragrant wine possesses a floral aroma deriving from this variety of grape.

Malaga Muscat wine (Vino Moscatel de Malaga) is produced on the hills around the city of Malaga, the cherished birthplace of the Santiago and Martin family.
.

Roscos de Vino ~ A Christmas favourite

Roscos de Vino

(Muscat Wine Cookies)

4 1/2 cups plain flour

½ cup almond meal

½ cup corn flour

1 ½ cups sugar

30ml sweet Spanish aniseed liqueur (or 2 teaspoons aniseed essence)

300ml light olive oil

250ml Muscat grape wine

2 dessertspoons sesame seeds

1 teaspoon whole aniseed

Grated lemon rind of 1 lemon

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 ½ cups icing sugar

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180º C.

Place olive oil in a frying pan and heat until sizzling. Add sesame seeds, aniseed and lemon rind. Heat the ingredients for about one minute. Set aside and allow cooling.

Sift flours into a large bowl and add other dry ingredients. Mix to combine. Slowly add cooled oil, wine and essences/liqueur, mixing gently until a soft dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead lightly. Roll out to about 1 ½ cm thickness. Cut circles out of the dough using a round pastry cutter that is about 5cm in diameter. Then using another smaller cutter (about 2 cm in diameter) cut circles into the middle of the larger circles to resemble donut shapes.

Place in a moderate oven for 15 minutes. The Roscos will harden slightly as they cool. Toss generously with icing sugar when cool. Store in a cool place in an airtight container and theRoscos will last a couple of weeks.

Serve at room temperature with coffee and a shot of your favourite Spanish liqueur.

Makes approximately 30 cookies.

PERFECT Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.

Alongside tapas, you will find 'raciones' which are often just a larger portion of the tapas of the day at a Spanish ‘bar’, big enough for two or three to share.

Raciones are most often on the bar menu and if you order something from this side of the menu you will get a basket of bread and often a side salad, plus enough forks for the party present at the table - you can specify whether the ‘racion’ is for two or ten! Of course, the main difference is that a ‘racion’, unlike a tapa is not complimentary. Yes! In the 'bares' of Granada, tapas are still complementary with the purchase of a drink!

Ordering a ‘racion’ is a fantastic way of socializing with friends around a table without the expense of paying for a formal meal. They are often the best way of sampling the best local cuisine as the most popular dishes make up the ‘racion’ menu. They can include everything from simple serrano ham and cheese with olives, to mini paella portions or even Albondigas con Tomate.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

(Albondigas Con Tomate)

 

Ingredients

Meatballs:

500g veal and pork mince

1 slice white bread

¼ cup milk

2 tbsp. chopped Parsley

2 tbsp. chopped Oregano

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp tomato paste

½ cup flour

Olive oil for shallow frying 

Tomato Sauce:

700g pureed tomatoes

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp. chopped basil

Salt

Method
Pre-heat oven to 150°C

To make the meatballs, soak slice of bread in milk until all the milk is absorbed and the bread soggy. Place the mince and all other meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Place in the fridge for about half hour.

With floured hands, form spoonfuls of meatball mixture into small spheres and lightly coat in seasoned flour.  

Place a generous amount of olive oil in the bottom of a frypan, enough to cover the base. When hot, fry the meatballs in small batches, turning as needed to brown all over. They don’t have to be cooked all the way through at this point, as they will finish cooking in the oven in the tomato sauce. Place in an earthenware dish and cover with alfoil.

To make the tomato sauce, place a small amount of olive oil in the bottom of a frypan and sauté the diced onions until soft. Add the tomato puree and all other ingredients. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Check seasoning.

Finally, pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs and place in the oven to warm through for about half hour.

Serve on warm plates with crusty bread and your favourite accompaniment. We love them with a creamy celeriac and potato mash and a tomato, red onion and feta salad. Yum!!

Serves 4-5