Gazpacho

Gazpacho andaluz.  The real deal: my grandma's recipe.

INGREDIENTS 

5 large red, ripe tomatos (or 8-9 medium sized tomatoes)*
1/2 cucumber (mediterranean type)

1 green bell pepper

a little less than 1/4 onion (medium sized)
1 garlic clove
1 slice of bread**
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3-4 tbsp vinegar (red wine vinegar or balsamic are the best choices)
salt to taste
cold water (if needed)

*This is the key ingredient.  Get the best tomatoes you can find!
**Skip bread for GLUTEN-FREE.

PREPARATION

Wash all vegetables.
Place the slice of bread in a bowl and add 1/2 cup water.  Reserve.
Peel the cucumber and cut in half (you'll only need one half).
Remove stems and cores from the tomatoes.  Cut the tomatoes in quarters.
Peel the onion and cut in quarters.
Remove stem and seeds from bell pepper and cut in halves.
Peel and mince garlic.

Place tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, garlic, bread, olive oil, vinegar and salt in a large bowl -or food processor- and blend until smooth.  It will take a few minutes.
Add cold water if needed, or if you prefer a lighter texture.
Taste, add more salt or vinegar if necessary and blend.

Strain the puree to remove tomato and pepper peels (trust me, it's worth it).

Place in a proper container and keep in the fridge (3 days).
Serve cold!

How to serve it:

1) in a bowl: you eat it with a spoon. You can garnish it with finely chopped cucumber, pepper, onion, tomato and croutons.  The garnishes are served in small bowls so you can add whatever you prefer (or not).

2) in a glass: add cold water to get a lighter texture and drink it!

Guacamole

I LOOOVE guacamole...  Who doesn't? 

But, do you know how to make a good one? 

Authentic Mexican recipe, courtesy of my husband.

INGREDIENTS

2 ripe avocados

1/2 garlic clove 

2 green onions

3 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves

1 lime juice

1/4 ripe tomato (or 3 cherry tomatoes)

Salt to taste

1/2 red chili (optional)

PREPARATION

Cut the avocados in halves.  Discard pits.
Scoop out the avocado flesh with a spoon.  Place in a food processor or blender.
Peel and slice garlic, add.
Wash and chop onions, add.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth (or blend for as long as you like, if you prefer the chunky consistency).

Serve immediately on a bowl, with corn chips or corn tortillas for dipping.

You can NOT keep this in the fridge!  You'll have to it all of it... but don't worry, it won't be difficult.

Hummus

The most popular Middle Eastern dip ever!

INGREDIENTS

425g cooked garbanzo beans (= 15 OZ canned garbanzo beans)

2 garlic cloves (or just one, depending on how "garlicky" you like it)

1 lemon juice

3 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)

1/2 cup spring water
Salt to taste

Extra virgin olive oil
Ground paprika
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Ground sumac
1 ripe tomato (optional)
Fresh coriander leaves (optional)

PREPARATION

Wash the garbanzo beans with cold water, rinse and place them in a food processor (or blender).
Peel and chop the garlic cloves and add.
Add lemon juice, tahini, water and salt.
Blend it until smooth.

Place the puree in plate and spread it out with a spoon.

Garnishing: pour some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle some spices on top.
You can decorate the hummus with the spices and it will look very pretty
(but as you can see, I was VERY hungry when I made it and took the photo, so I just threw everything on top of it!)

It's really good if you chop a tomato into small cubes for garnishing, as well as some fresh cilantro leaves.
You can also squeeze more lemon juice if you prefer it more lemony.

Serve with warm pita bread (or corn tortillas or chips for GLUTEN-FREE) for dipping.

You can keep this in the fridge in a proper container for 3-4 days.

Salmorejo With Avocado (Andalusian Cold Tomato Soup)

This cold tomato soup is typical from Andalusia, Southern Spain, the land of my ancestors. 

The traditional recipe does not have avocado in it, but I love the creaminess it adds to the already delicious soup.

INGREDIENTS

6 large red tomatoes (sweet, organic, flavorful  -forget about the other ones!)

1 avocado

1 slice fresh bread

1 or 2 garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you like it...)

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (if you have Spanish olive oil, this is the moment to use it)

2 tbsp white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar, if you don't have the wine kind)

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup cold bottled water

Salt to taste

PREPARATION

How to peel the tomatoes:

Prepare a big bowl with cold water and reserve.

Place a large pot with water over high heat and bring it to boil. 

Wash the tomatoes and make a small cut on every one (around the stem part) and throw them in the boiling water for a few seconds. Remove them quickly from the boiling water using a strainer and place them in the bowl with cold water (you don't want to cook them).

Now you'll be able to peel the tomatoes very easily!

Cut them in quarters and reserve.

Wash the avocado, cut it in half, remove the pit and peel it. 

Place the avocado and tomatoes in a food processor and blend. 

Add the bread, tearing it into pieces with your hands and blend.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Place it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.

Serve very cold!

You can keep it in the refrigerator in a proper container for two days.

Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles)

My vegan -and equally awesome- version of the popular Thai dish

INGREDIENTS (for 2-3)

1 pack fresh rice noodles* 

5 garlic cloves

4 green onions

2 red tomatoes

1 large carrot (or 2 small)

6-8 Kailan (Chinese broccoli) stems + leaves and flowers** 

1/2 block firm tofu

1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves

1 tbsp chili paste (or 1 red chili pepper)

Vegetable oil

1/3 cup sweet Thai soy sauce (syrupy consistency)

4 tbsp soy sauce

*You shouldn't put the fresh rice noodles in the refrigerator because they will get dry and hard. It's better to buy them the same day (or the day before) that you are going to cook them, and keep them at room temperature.
Dry rice noodles work too, but try to find the widest possible.


**Regular broccoli also works, if you can't find kailan.

PREPARATION

If the rice noodles are not cut yet, cut them in large strips and use your fingers to separate them easily. Reserve. 

(They don't have to be perfect, they usually are irregular rectangles a little larger than bite size. It's better to separate them before you start cooking, because the cooking process is really fast and you want to have them ready to throw in the skillet).

I recommend having the tofu and vegetables prepared before starting to cook this dish.  The process moves fast and you can get caught chopping one ingredient and overcook another.  The cooking time is very short once everything is prepared.

Wash the tofu in cold water and squeeze it gently. Drain it using paper towels to remove excess water.

Place a skillet over medium heat and add vegetable oil for deep frying.

Cut the tofu into cubes and add. Deep fry until golden (about 10-15 minutes). 

Use a spatula that can drain excess oil to remove the tofu from the pan.
Put tofu on a plate with paper towels below to remove excess oil.
After 2 minutes remove the paper towels and reserve the tofu (if you don't, it will get soggy).

Wash the kailan (or regular broccoli) and cut it into bite size pieces. Boil it in salty water for about 3 minutes. Drain and reserve. This will cook the kailan a little while giving it a bright green color.

Mince the garlic and reserve.

Wash the green onions and cut into bite size. Reserve.

Wash the carrot and peel it. Cut it into bite size, either slicing it diagonally or cutting thin strips (julienne style). Reserve.

Wash the tomato and cut it in slices. Reserve.

If you are using chili pepper instead or chili paste, mince it and reserve.

Wash the Thai basil and reserve.

Mix the soy sauces in a separate bowl and reserve.

Place a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add 5-6 tbsp vegetable oil (mild olive oil works great).

When the oil is hot, add the garlic and chili paste (or minced chili pepper) and stir for about 30 seconds.

Add the green onion, carrot and kailan and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Add the rice noodles, separating them with your fingers while throwing them over the vegetables.

Add the soy sauce mix immediately and stir gently using a spatula. This will prevent the noodles from sticking together.

Add the tomato, tofu and basil leaves and stir. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Turn off heat and serve immediately.

VARIATION: you can make a faster version of this if you don't deep fry the tofu or simply skip it. 

I've also made it with "mock duck" and it's delicious! To cook it properly you have to squeeze it to remove excess water and then fry it in a skillet with 2 tbsp vegetable oil until brown. 

Squash Kaffir Lime Cous Cous

INGREDIENTS (for 2-3)

1 cup bulgur*

1 small butternut squash

2 carrots

1 large zucchini (or 2 small)

1 large onion (or 2 small)

3 red tomatoes

1/2 cup prunes (optional)

3 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp sugar

Salt

Olive oil

Spice mix:
- 1 tbsp turmeric

- 1 tsp ground cumin

- 1 tsp ground coriander

- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

- 3 bay leaves
- 5 kaffir lime leaves

*Many times you'll see this listed as Cous Cous... but Cous Cous is the entire dish, not just the grain. The grain is called "bulgur".

PREPARATION

Mix all the spices in a bowl. Reserve.
Cut the onion into thin strips.

Pour about 8 tablespoons olive oil in a pot and heat over medium heat.
Fry the onion until it begins to brown.
Add spices to pot and stir well for a few seconds.

Peel the squash and cut into cubes. Add to pot. Add prunes. Stir well.
Peel the carrot. Cut carrots and zucchini into large chunks. Reserve.

Grate tomatoes and add to pot. Stir well.

Add vegetable broth, kaffir lime leaves and bay leaves to pot.
Reduce heat, stir well and cover. Let simmer about 15 minutes.
Add carrots and zucchini and cover. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat.

While cooking, place the bulgur in a large, wide bowl.
Salt to taste and add a dash of olive oil (not much, just a little). Stir with a fork.

Put 1 1/3 cups water in a pot and boil.

Turn off heat and pour gradually over the bulgur. Mix with a fork or your hands, separate balls that form. Continue adding water and mixing until it runs out.

Cover the plate of bulgur and allow the water to absorb, about 10-15 minutes.
Uncover the bulgur and make a mound with it, leaving a hole in the middle (like a flat volcano).

Salt the vegetables to taste, mix well.
Pour the vegetables over the bulgur. You can decorate the "volcano" of bulgur with the pieces of squash, carrots and zucchini. Then pour some of the broth on top.

Serve with the remaining broth in a separate bowl with a spoon so everyone can add more broth to their plates (or not), depending on preference.