Pisto Manchego

As mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to make pisto manchego, a delicious Spanish dish which is something like the French ratatouille.   Then I had a slight hang up and had to make the salsa de tomate frito that goes into it.  Now, however, presuming that in the few weeks since I left you with my recipe for tomate frito you have made it, I present you with the full and delicious recipe for pisto manchego.

Quinoa salad with avocado and lima beans

Don’t be afraid of the title. Lima beans can be tasty. And this recipe proves it. I love quinoa and all year in my co-op, I couldn’t understand why so few people in our house made it.  It’s healthy, it’s easy to make, and it’s a delicious base for so many different meals and side dishes.  As such, for my summer, El Comidista meal, with Summer Lasagna, Roasted carrots and cauliflower with orange, and Arroz con leche, I decided to make a tasty quinoa salad to round out my meal.  I’d had my eye on this recipe for some time, even though it contains those dreaded lima beans.  Rest assured, though, this quinoa comes out delicious and refreshing.

Quinoa salad with avocado and lima beans (adapted and translated from El Comidista)

Yield: Serves 4 people, almost a meal unto itself

Ingredients:  
400 gr. of quinoa
400 gr. of large lima beans (can be frozen)
1 avocado
200 gr. of radishes with their leaves
100 gr. of oak leaf lettuce
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 dried red peppers (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Begin with the dressing. Using the blade of a knife, crush and peel the cloves of garlic. Mix them in a bowl with 8 tablespoons of olive oil, the cumin, crushed red peppers (for a bit of spice), salt and pepper. Set aside.
2) Prepare the quinoa according to the directions on the package. When it’s finished cooking, set aside and allow to cool.
3) While the quinoa cooks, boil the lima beans in heavily salted water for 4 minutes. Strain and rinse with cold water before using your hands to remove the grey skin that covers the beans. (I forgot to do this and the salad was still good)
4) Remove the leaves from the radishes. Choose the good leaves, wash and dry them, set aside. Then, wash the radishes well and cut them into small pieces.
5) Peel the lemon as seen in this video, and put it in the large bowl in which you plan to serve the salad. Add the avocado, peeled and cut into chunks, and coat it well in the lemon juice so it doesn’t turn brown.
6) Combine the lima beans, quinoa, radishes, radish leaves, and the the lettuce in the bowl with the avocado. Remove the crushed garlic from the vinagrette, pour over the salad, and mix. Salt to taste and serve immediately.

Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding)

Rounding out my El Comidista meal of Summer Lasagna, Roasted cauliflower and carrots with orange, and Quinoa salad with avocado and lima beans, I decided to divert from the theme a bit and make Arroz con Leche.  It’s a super easy, tasty dessert which won’t break the bank to make (especially important to me now in Chile).  The only thing I might have to worry about is super picky arroz con leche eaters, though I confess I don’t have too many Latino friends here who might be offended by my less than perfect arroz con leche.

While still a cold dish for my Comidista meal, I found this recipe not on Mikel López Iturriaga’s blog, but in my stash from the cooking school I had gone to in Madrid and from which emerged other delicious Spanish foods like, Tortilla de Patata.  I made this dish earlier in the school year for my first cook in my coop and not really been happy with the result, so I decided to make it again for this cook.  I also wanted to surprise my friend who loves arroz con leche.  While I was still not entirely pleased with the result (I need to make it a bit thinner for it to be true arroz con leche) I was glad to see that my friends really enjoyed it.

However, in order to find the desired consistency next time, I plan to follow the advice of Smitten Kitchen.  She suggests you cook this until a certain amount of liquid has been absorbed, I’d say all but 20 percent, and as it cools it will thicken.  This is especially true when you cool it in the fridge, which I recommend doing along with making it the night before.  That way, the arroz con leche has time to both thicken and cool down so the next day you're not waiting to serve your dessert.  As a final tip, I suggest using a very large pot for this recipe so the milk doesn’t accidentally boil over while the lid is on.  Just a piece of advice which I learned from experience...

Arroz con Leche or Rice Pudding (adapted and translated from Cocina Cayena)

Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice (or other short grain rice)
5 cups of whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup of sugar
1 lemon peel
1 orange peel
1 cinnamon stick
ground cinnamon (for garnish)

Directions:
1) In a large pot, heat the milk, cream, sugar, the lemon and orange peel, and the cinnamon stick.
2) Once the milk boils, add the rice and let it simmer for about 20 minutes with the lid on, until the rice is tender.
3) Remove the lid and allow the rice to cool and absorb the rest of the milk and cream
4) Remove the lemon and orange peel, and cinnamon stick. Divide into individual bowls or cups. Top with ground cinnamon and serve.

No-Bake Summer Lasagna

Finally, time to write. It’s been another several weeks since I’ve been able to post anything and my excuse is: graduation. I can’t believe it’s all over so quickly, and my extra week in California too, but now, I’m on my way back home for a short visit. After that, it’s off to Santiago, Chile to start my life in the real world.

While I’m sad college is over (though don’t get me wrong, I’m soo happy to be done with writing research papers) I’m excited to be moving on to something new and a whole new world of food to explore. Even though most people tell me that Chilean food is nothing to write home about and Santiago is simply not their favorite city, I’m determined to like it. I think it will be adventure to try some of the local cuisine and take advantage of the fresh produce. I was reading on Liz Caskey’s blog, Eat Wine, that she has never seen anywhere with such great fresh produce other than California. As such, when I get to Chile (even though it won’t be summer) I’ll probably be making this no-bake lasagna to make use of the tasty produce. And now that it’s summer in the States, I hope you’ll try it too.

I made this lasagna for my co-op thinking that it would be nice to have a cold meal on a hot summer day and hoping to finally try out some of the recipes on my favorite Spanish food blog, El Comidista. His recipes did not disappoint and had everyone complimenting our food.  If you'd like to see the Spanish version of this recipe, simply scroll to the end or click on the "Para ver la receta en español, haz clique aquí".

No-Bake Summer Lasagna (translated and adapted from El Comidista)

Yield: Serves 4 people
Ingredients:
12 sheets of lasagna pasta
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 zucchini
150 gr. of dried tomatoes in oil
100 gr. of ricotta cheese
50 gr. of grated parmesan
50 gr. of hazelnuts
1 handful of basil
1/2 lemon
White vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Directions:
1) Using a mandolin, a peeler, or a Salad Shooter like the one my co-op bought near the end of the year, cut the zucchini into super thin slices. Mix the lemon juice, with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Then, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the zucchini with the lemon juice and allow it to marinate at room temperature for about half an hour.
2) In a blender, combine the hazelnuts, basil, a tablespoon of vinegar, and 150ml of olive oil. Add the grated parmesan cheese and blend again. If the mixture is very thick, add a bit more olive oil until it’s about the consistency of pesto. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. 
3) Peel and cut the tomatoes into thin slices (I didn’t peel my tomatoes and it was still fine). 
4) With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the ricotta cheese with a bit of olive oil until it is creamy. Salt to taste. 
5) Following the instructions on the package, cook the sheets of lasagna until just al dente. 
6) In a deep dish, begin assembling the lasagna. In the first layer, place four pieces of lasagna side by side and cover with half of the ricotta cheese. On top, place half of the zucchini, tomato, and sun dried tomatoes in pieces. Drop a bit of the pesto sauce on top in small dollops. Cover with another layer of lasagna sheets and repeat the above steps. Finish with a layer of lasagna sheets and cover with more pesto and some sun dried to tomatoes. Serve at room temperature.