This week's haul |
For the past few weeks I've walked by a vendor who with grey hair, black mustache, rugged plaid button down and all beckons market goers to his stand with a deep, resounding call that would be the pride of any rhetoric teacher. He's been selling mostly cauliflower lately, but since I had Yolanda's at home for a recent coliflor al horno recipe, I haven't had any need. I had noticed a lot of recipes in my Murcian cookbooks calling for ajo tierno, and via vocab charades Enca was able to explain that they're what we call green onions. When I passed by the booth this week it was piled high with them and I stepped right up, but since we're leaving for Granada this weekend to celebrate the holidays I knew I didn't need much.
Made these.. |
I should have known from the vendor's steady bray of "uno, un euro-uno, un regalo!" (one for one euro and one as a gift) that he means business when it comes to offloading his bounty. As I was attempting to ask if I could get two bunches rather than the standard four tied together at the top, the old woman next to me was actually handing back the extra celery the vendor had put in her sack, but gave up when he responded with the equivalent of "no, no, take it, it's for your boyfriend!" She smiled over to me when she realized what I was hoping for and with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head confirmed that there was no use in in trying.
With this.. |
But after some very selective purchasing, I had picked up what I needed for lunch plus a little Manchego from Isidro and a small container of spicy green olives with garlic from Paco, a few ounces of marconas and the cheapest apples I could find. I then passed by an underclothes vendor who was pulling a pair of tights over both his beefy arms and up to his chest, gesturing to a potential (and very pregnant) customer with his girded hands and showing her just how stretchy his wares could be. With the lure of cheap leggings at my back I pressed on to my last stop. When I held forward a single lemon the vendor looked down and asked "algo mas?", puzzled at the notion of someone coming to the weekly market and only getting enough citrus for one day. When I shook my head no and then tried to pass him some coins, he held up his hand, leaned back on his stool and replied to my "oh, gracias..Feliz Navidad!" with a little nod and a faint grin.
and that |
We all sat down and went to work finishing off the chickpea salad--leftovers weren't an option. I'm continuing to make my way through our excess garbanzos and there are more destined for the stovetop today.
Champiñones Murciana
Yield: Side dish for 2
Ingredients
1 ñora pepper
Hot water
Extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 inch thick slice of chorizo, finely diced
1/2 of a small onion, finely diced
6 cloves of garlic, ends cut off, smashed with the flat side of a chef's knife and peels removed
About 8 large white button mushrooms, sliced
Salt
-Cut the ñora pepper in half and place in a small bowl
-Pour hot water over the pepper just to cover and let soak for about 20 minutes
-Heat the chorizo in a pan and when some of the fat has rendered and the pieces have crisped up, add a bit of olive oil
-Add in the onion and cook with the chorizo until the onion has browned, then set aside the chorizo and onion
-Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in the same pan and add in the smashed cloves of garlic, cooking over medium-low heat until they start to brown
-Add in the mushrooms and cook for a couple minutes, then add back the chorizo and onion and continue cooking over medium-high heat for several minutes, until the mushrooms have released their moisture and have browned well
-Meanwhile, remove the ñora peppers from the water, but do not discard the soaking liquid
-Remove the stem and seeds from each half and then, using the back of a butter knife or spoon, scrape out the now soft flesh from the inside of the pepper and then run your knife through the pulp a few times
-Reserve about half of the soaking liquid for another dish and add back the pepper flesh into the remaining water
-Pour into the pan to deglaze and continue to cook until the water has almost all evaporated
Chickpea salad
Yield: Side dish for 3
Ingredients
A small handful of finely diced green onion
A small handful of chopped parsley
A small handful of chopped fresh mint
A small handful of small black cuquillo olives (or other black olive variety), chopped
Juice from half a lemon
Zest from half a lemon
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 16oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, (if using dried chickpeas, soak about 8oz. for 12 hours, then boil with a bit of salt for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until tender)
1 red bell pepper, roasted, with skins and seeds removed, liquid reserved and cut into thin strips
-Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (including the liquid reserved from roasting the pepper)
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