Churros

Growing up in Spain, churros are a food that takes me back to my childhood. My sister was visiting me last week and brought a block of 'chocolate de la taza' with her.  We decided making churros was in order.  I'm glad we did.  They were delicious !

125ml water
125ml whole milk
110g butter
pinch salt
2 pinches sugar
150g bread flour
3 eggs
canola oil, for frying

Bring water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to the boil in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a smooth ball.

Mix this ball in an electric mixer and mix on meduim low speed. When most of the steam has evaporated, add the eggs one at a time. Mix until it comes together. It should be thick and smooth.

Transfer, in batches, to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

In a wide pan that has tall sides, fill with canola oil about 3 inches deep. Heat it til a wooden spoon stuck spoon side up in the oil has bubbles around it. Pipe the batter into the oil and cut with scissors. Fry them until golden brown. Remove the churros from the oil and sprinkle with sugar. Serve immediately with spanish hot chocolate.

my birthday dinner ....

it was my birthday a couple of days ago.

my husband planned the most amazing surprise !

you can read about the whole day over on my simple beauty blog but

i'm just going to cut and paste and share the food bits of the story for you here ...

let's start with ... my neighbors coming over with birthday cocktails

i love having neighbors who are such a bit part of our lives !



when rory gets home, he says

'would you be totally disappointed if i told you i've made a reservation for us at a restaurant ?'

ummmm ... let me think about this for a minute ?!

i still don't have to cook ?

i get to go out ?

yeah ... i'm good !

rory got a phone call just as we were ready to leave, from our friend craig

he said 'we've got a present for bonnie,

would you guys swing by and pick it up on your way to dinner ?'

up until that phone call, i had NO IDEA anything suspicious might be happening

after that ... i wondered if all wasn't as it appeared !

but ... i had NO IDEA of the amazing surprise that lay in wait for me

weeks of planning, international conversations, importing of food

so ... we get to C & J's place to 'pick up the present'

and the house is all decorated

and something smells incredible ... (and very familiar)

and then there were shouts of surprise and the faces of other friends i love

rory hands me an envelope and says

'this is my present to you'

inside the envelope is this menu .........



the foods of my childhood !

and VONGOLE !

(my requested birthday dinner every year since we had lived in Italy !)

now ... this is no easy feat ... because in my little girls mind, the vongole (clams)

HAVE TO BE IN THEIR SHELL

well ... you can't get that here ...

in fact, you can't get clams here at all, unless they are in a can

so Rory IMPORTED them from New Zealand

can you believe that ?!



the food was amazing.

APPARENTLY, they had been cooking all afternoon ... I thought Rory was 'working late' !

Here's the Patatas Alioli and the Champinones Al Ajillo con pan (with bread), of course.



And then came the never ending supply of Gambas Al Ajillo ... OH YUM !!



Master Chefs in action ...



Amazing team work ...



And here's the Traditional Vongole ... with homemade fettucine ...

I'll have to find out what recipe he used for this ... he said it was a Jamie Oliver one.



And the Vongole like my Mom used to make, only with a spicy Casa de Ross twist.

And this recipe too, I'll have to write it down and share it with you ... it's a spicy tomato sauce ...

mmmmmmm !!!



Do you know one thing I loved about this night ?

There were so many things I loved ... but here's just one.

I loved that I was the only known clam lover of the bunch but they still cooked this for me !

And (almost) everyone tried the clams ! Some even liked them !

All of these dishes were new to everyone besides me and Rory, and everyone tried them !

And again ... liked (and even loved) them !

I love the adventurous nature of this group of friends !

And I love that they love to celebrate life.

**

Mom ... Rory insisted that I take this photo for you ....

**

Empty shells !!



Cheesecake.

When we were little, it was tradition in our house that all birthday cakes had to be chocolate.

So ... we have gazillions of birthday pictures of us COVERED IN CHOCOLATE !

BUT, once we were old enough to request our own birthday cake preference ... mine was

ALWAYS cheesecake (with cherries on top) !

My sweet friend Donna recently learned this about me and though she had never made one

before, she baked me the most wonderful birthday cheesecake ! with berries ! oh my !



and Jodie made cupcakes

that I have yet to try

but some came home with us and I will be having one for breakfast !



I was crowned 'birthday queen' and actually wore my 'crown' for a good hour.

Not the mask though ... it was way too hot for that !



Spoiled ? Yeah ... I can't disagree.



I have an amazing, thoughtful, selfless husband,

kind, encouraging and giving children,

enthusiastic, creative and (SNEAKY!!) friends,

an extended family like none other,

friends all over the world (thanks to the Navy and now facebook !) that i love

AND

to top it all off ....



my very own website !!



I cannot wait for you all to see it !

Well ... you can sort of see it here but I've crossed off it's name (which you are going to LOVE)

because I don't want you to go there just yet.

I'll let you know when you can !

Craig and I are going to play with it a bit more first ...

by the way, Craig ... who is a music lover, not a web guru, designed this !

Look out world !

**

All in all ... this has been my best, most favorite birthday ever.

Thanks to everyone who was a part of it !

~ bon ~

Chunky Spanish Garlic Bread

I thought I had posted this previously but when I went to find the link for a friend I discovered that I had, in fact, NOT posted this here at all. It's a crime, really. The world needs to know about this bread. I learned how to make it from my Mom ... I think there is a story about how she learned to make it but I can't remember it right now.

Mom ... is there a story ?

All you need for this is ... some yummy bread.
I usually use a french stick but that
wasn't available this time so I
used a loaf and man
was it good !
We will
use
it
from
now on ! As
well, you will need
heaps and heaps of garlic.
Seriously ... heaps and heaps and heaps.
Also ... olive oil, and butter. I used both but you
could use one or the other ... it's totally up to you and your
taste buds. So ... chop up your garlic. Then heat your butter/oil in
a small fry pan. Cook up the garlic til it's a soft brown. Don't burn it.
Pour the butter/oil and the garlic onto the bread that you have
chopped into big fat chunks and placed on a baking tray.
Put the tray into a pre-heated oven. I think I had it
on about 180 since I'd just pulled the lasagnas
out. You don't need to leave it in too
long. Just long enough to make
the bread go a bit crunchy
on the outside and
warm on the
inside !!

mmm, mmm, goood !

you can see we
don't put as much
garlic on the kids as we
do on ours. they pick it off
and we figure ... no use wasting
good garlic when we could be eating
it ourselves !! when you are ready
to eat the bread, get your fork
and push the garlic and
yummy butter bits
down into the
bread !!

Pimientos de Padron - aka "Dancing Peppers"

Ok ... here we go.

Recipe number one for Spain ... a month late but too bad ... I should get through all of them before the end of Feb. Don't worry, I'll be doing Indian as well ... I'm cooking the first one on Sunday !

So ... here's what you need for this simple and delectable dish.

Olive oil
Little Peppers (see photo !)
Coarse salt - I used Himalayan Rock Salt

1. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat until very hot.
2. Add whole peppers (I chopped the stems off) and fry until browned on all sides.
3. Remove from skillet; drain on paper towels.
4. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Serve.
6. Try not to eat the whole plate without sharing ! I dare you !!

Have you got a great Spanish recipe you'd like to share ??
Post it to your blog and then come back and leave us a comment - we'll stop by and check it out !

Or if you'd prefer to share Indian ... we've got a Mr. Linky up for the month of Feb !!

Back on Track ... Tapas to Follow

Remember my "Foods of the World" idea ? We had some great posts but then I went on vacation ! For six weeks ! and didn't post a darn thing between the 22nd of November and the 16th of January !! But now, I'm back and I'm excited to finish up January posting Spanish recipes !

While I was home, we had a tapas night that was to die for ! Seriously ! I'm going to tantalize you with some photos of the recipes that are to come ... You're going to love it !!

More on Tapas

The beautiful hosts of the Tapas party. And a good view of the yummy table of food!








Just so that your mouth is definitely watering...here's another view of the table! :-)