If your plan to go out this Mother’s Day has been cancelled don’t let it get in the way of celebrating together as a family. We’ve put together some delicious Spanish recipes that are bound to impress! A Spanish Feast to celebrate Mothers Day at Home.
Gazpacho Salad
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
½ ciabatta loaf
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
For the salad:
¼ cucumber – cubed 1 cm square
4-6 small ripe tomatoes, de-seeded & roughly chopped
1 stick celery, thinly sliced
1 roasted red pepper, de-seeded & roughly chopped
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
10 olives – quartered
Handful of basil leaves – torn
Handful of parsley leaves only – finely chopped
For the dressing:
2 tsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
10 drops of tabasco – or to taste
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp smoked paprika
100ml passata
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4.
- Break the ciabatta into roughly 1 cm pieces to make croutons, lay them onto the baking tray just big enough to take the croutons in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt & pepper. Bake for 5 -10 minutes at 180º C until the croutons are just beginning to turn golden.
- Slice the cucumber in half lengthways. Scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon or knife and then cut the cucumber into 1 cm cubes and place into a mixing bowl. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds with a spoon and chop into 1 cm cubes and add to the cucumber. Trim the celery stick and red onion removing the ends and slice as thinly possible, adding to the cucumbers once again. Now drain the brine and oil from the roasted red pepper jar and chop into small pieces and add to the salad.
- Mix the cucumber with the tomato, roasted red pepper, celery, onion, quartered olives, basil and parsley. Set aside.
- Place all the dressing ingredients in the screw-top jar that contained the roasted red pepper and shake well.
- Keep the ciabatta croutons in a bowl and the dressing in a jug separate from the rest of the salad and mix together when ready to serve at the table.
Celebrate Mothers Day at home
Spanish Tortilla
Serves 4
Ingredients:
6 tbsp olive oil
4 potatoes, about 500g cut into 1 cm cubes
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp garlic finely chopped
6 eggs
½ tsp sea salt and ½ tsp black pepper for the potatoes when cooking
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and optional chilli flakes – for egg mixture
1 handful chopped flat leaf parsley
Cooking Instructions:
- Heat 2tbsp of the oil in the frying pan. Add the potatoes and the garlic and cook over low to medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, lifting and turning occasionally. Remove the potatoes and onions with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Keep the pan and oil from the potatoes to one side.
- Put the eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl and beat with a fork. Add the potatoes and onions to the bowl, stir gently, then set aside for 10 minutes.
- Put 2 tbsp of the reserved oil in the frying pan on high heat. Pour in the potato and egg mixture, spreading the potatoes evenly in the pan. Cook for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to medium and shake the pan often to stop it sticking.
- Add half of the parsley.
- When the eggs are brown underneath and the top nearly firm, put a plate the same size as the pan on top and flip the omelette onto it. Add 1 tablespoons of the remaining oil to the pan and slide the omelette back into the pan. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until lightly browned on the other side.
- Garnish with the remaining parsley.
- Serve hot or at room temperature, cut into squares.
Cooks Tip 1: Add some spinach to the potatoes when they are nearly cooked for extra flavour.
Chicken & Chorizo Paella
Ingredients:
75g uncooked chorizo sausage (optional)
1 large onion or 2 medium onions – finely chopped
1 red pepper – finely diced
600ml chicken stock – using 1 stock cube
3 tsp finely chopped garlic (provided pre-chopped)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
200g skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes
A small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley
A pinch of saffron, available at the central station – speak to a chef
150g paella rice
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp paprika
40g garden peas
Zest and juice of 1 lemon plus 1 lemon to cut into wedges to serve
Cooking Instructions:
- Finely chop the parsley leaves and tender stalks only – set aside.
- Peel, halve and finely chop the onion, dice the red pepper and set aside.
- Remove the skin from the chorizo sausage and slice it diagonally into ½ cm thick slices and cut the slices in half. Set aside.
- Place a large wide surface area frying pan (use one that has a lid) on a medium to high heat and add 2 tbsp oil. Add the chicken to the pan, seal and brown it, lower the temperature after 2 minutes then cook it for a further 3 minutes to develop a golden glaze – turning only once.
- Add the chorizo sausage and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Now add the chopped onions, diced red peppers and garlic to the pan and cook for 7-8 minutes on a low to medium heat to soften the onions.
- Add a tiny pinch of saffron, salt, pepper, paprika and parsley, stir and cook for 3-4 minutes to allow the flavours to develop and the spices to yield their flavour.
- Add the rice to the pan; stir well until all the ingredients are combined. Cook for 2-3 minutes until you hear a dry-fry.
- Now add the stock and bring to the boil with a high heat, stirring and scraping all the goodness off the bottom of the pan as you go. When it has reached boiling point, place a lid on the pan and turn the heat down to maintain a gentle simmer and cook the rice for about 20-25 minutes stirring every five minutes or so.
- When the rice is cooked stir in the peas and then grate and squeeze in the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Cook for a further minute or two, taste and season to your preference, add a little water if the consistency is too tight. Garnish with some chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
- Enjoy!
Orange and Almond Cake
Ingredients:
50g plain flour
120g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
250g butter – room temperature
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp grated orange zest
4 free range eggs
For the syrup
80 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
40g brown sugar
1 tbsp marmalade
Handful of sliced almonds toasted
Cooking Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180º c/gas mark 4 and butter a 20cm cake tin.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and ground almonds.
- Whisk the butter, caster sugar and orange zest together in a bowl until pale and then add the eggs one at a time whisking on each addition until they are fully incorporated..
- Fold in the dry ingredients with a metal spoon, then pour the mixture into the buttered cake tin.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked.
- Meanwhile, make the orange syrup whilst the cake is baking.
To make the syrup
- Boil the orange juice and brown sugar together in a pan until slightly reduced. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
- Once the cake is cooled, prick several times with a skewer to the base and pour on the cooled syrup.
- Leave the cake to cool completely before brushing on a little marmalade and sprinkling it with a few toasted, sliced almonds.
Kumud Gandhi is a Nutritional Food Scientist bestselling Author, Broadcaster, and Keynote Speaker on the subject of nutritional health for productivity & performance in the workplace. In 2010 Kumud founded ‘The Cooking Academy’ a cookery school that focusses on cooking for nutritional health and wellbeing. Kumud regularly presents to international audiences on a variety of topics such as ‘Eating for Immunity and a Lifetime of Wellness’. She is an expert in the field of Wellness in the Workplace and works with organizations to create transformational change in employee health & well-being through nutrition and health coaching.
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