Churros (a spanish doughnut)

Introduction

Churros is a bit like doughnuts, in that the recipe is very similar, but instead of a pre-formed shape, Churros is piped into hot oil and thus takes the profile of the piping nozzle. Churros is traditionally served hot at breakfast and made to order, with thick hot chocolate. For those like me, it will fill you up and you are likely to leave lunch until the late afternoon.

Ingredients

Olive oil for frying

Vanilla caster sugar and icing sugar for dusting

Dough:

100g self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

55g butter

3-4 eggs, beaten

Method

Gently heat the butter in 175ml of water until the butter has melted, then bring quickly to the boil. Immediately remove from the heat and quickly add the flour in one go and beat vigorously until smooth. Return to the heat for around 30 seconds, still beating. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Gradually beat in the eggs until mixture is a smooth, thick glossy paste.

Using a deep fat fryer or a deep frying pan, heat the oil to the point that a drop of dough mixture, when dropped in, will rise to the top and fry rapidly (around 190 oC).

Spoon the dough mixture into a piping bag, with a nozzle of choice (ideally no wider than 1 cm) and pipe a length of mixture into the hot oil, using a knife to cut off the mixture at the required length. Be adventurous in the shapes formed with each length: spirals, rings even horseshoe shapes. Fry for about 3 minutes, turning over once, until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to drain off the excess oil and dust with the sugar mixture. Serve hot.

Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice)

Background

Arroz con Pollo is a typical spanish dish, you could say it's a staple dish for a spanish family, and is commonly found in spanish restaurants. This dish should really be seen as the foundation on which to build up on, adding a wide range of ingredients to create ever exotic dishes. Spain's best export, Paella, shares this same foundation adding various seafood like squid, mussels and prawns, but the composition can change depending on the region.

It goes without saying that the perfect accompany with this dish, and dishes derived from it, is a good ice-cold Jerez sherry, a dry Fino or an amontillado. If sherry is too much for your palette, it is around 20% alcohol by volume, then a regular dry white wine will suffice.

Ingredients

1 Spanish Onion (finely chopped)

2 Cloves of Garlic

4 Large Chicken Breasts (halved) or Chicken legs

1 Large Red Peppers

1 Tablespoon of Paprika (smoked or normal)

1 Teaspoon Turmeric

1 Can of chopped tomatoes

350g Risotto rice (paella rice, arborio rice)

1/4 Teaspoon Saffron threads, crushed

1 1/2 Chicken Stock

150g Frozen Peas

Method

Using a large flat frying pan, cook the chicken in a little oil for around 10 minutes, until golden brown all over. Remove and set aside. Add the onion, garlic and pepper to the pan and gently cook for around 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft but not burnt. Stir in the paprika and slowly add the tomatoes over a medium heat.

Add the rice to the pan and on top of the rice add the turmeric and slowly pour in the stock. Quickly bring the mixture to the boil and add the saffron. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer until the rice is just tender and the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add the peas. Once cooked, remove for the heat and cover and leave for about 5-10 minutes for the rice to re-absorb the liquid.

Variations

This dish works particularly well with spain's finest meats, like Chorzio sausage and Serrano ham. For a seafood variation, prawns and other things that swim in the sea can be added. Because these ingredients are quite delicate and so could become ruined during the cooking of the rice, its best to add them after the rice has been added and when the dish is simmering.

Experiment! try different ingredients like broad beans and different seasoning.

If you are drinking a good Jerez sherry to accompany this dish, then one common variation that works well with seafood, is to add a splash of sherry to the stock during cooking. The salty taste in the sherry adds that 'seafood' taste to the dish.

Spanish Hot Chocolate

2 cups Full Cream Milk

4oz 70% Cocoa Chocolate

1/2 teaspoon Instant Coffee

Pinch of Nutmeg

Add all the ingredients to a saucepan over a low heat. Once the chocolate has melted the heat can be turned up because the milk needs to reach boiling point so it can be frothed. Remove from heat and whisk it strongly till frothy. Heat again and then whisk again - it should be frothier this time. Serve in a couple of mugs.

This is a lovely drink during those cold winter nights. It must be stressed that you need to use proper FULL cream milk, the fat helps develop the texture of the drink. Cinnamon can be used instead of nutmeg