Mussels with white beans and tomatoes, Mama Ía blog

Mussels with white beans and tomatoes —and the revenge of the land

Mussels with white beans and tomatoes, Mama Ía blogThe recipe I am sharing today, mussels with white beans and tomatoes, combine products from the primary sector, fishing and farming, many of whose purveyors are demonstrating on Europe’s streets and highways as we speak. And I have to say, with good reason.

Mussels with white beans and tomatoes, Mama Ía blog

Tracxtores en Puerta de Alcalá, Mama Ía blog

Tractors demonstrating at Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid (photo credit Info Bierzo)

Manuel Pimentel, agricultural engineer, farmer, editor, author and former Minister of Labor of Spain, has recently published a book entitled “La venganza del campo”, the revenge of the land, where he explains some (more…)

Lemon marmalade, Mama Ía blog

Lemon marmalade, Spain eating habits and la merienda

Lemon marmalade, Mama Ía blogCitrus marmalades are my favorite ones and since I already featured the recipe for orange marmalade  (one of the blog’s most visited posts!), today is the turn for lemon marmalade.

If you like very sweet marmalades, I have to warn you, this one may not be the one for you. It is citrusy, therefore, more tangy, but obviously, also sweet – otherwise it wouldn’t be a marmalade, right?

Lemon marmalade, Mama Ía blog

Lemons, Mama Ía blogAnd with this recipe, it’s time to address the beloved and most idiosyncratic meal in the Spanish culture: la merienda.

I could translate la merienda to something like the afternoon snack, the (more…)

Galette des rois, Mama Ía blog

Galette des Rois, the Feast of the Epiphany French style

Galette des rois, Mama Ía blogGalette des rois is not, as the name implies, a Spanish treat but a French one.  Usually made and enjoyed on the feast of the Epiphany, I thought this was a good moment to make it. 

Galette des rois, Mama Ía blog

Catedral Fort Wayne, Mama Ía blogThe feast of the Epiphany, celebrated on January 6, commemorates the visit of the Three Kings, the Three Wise Men, to baby Jesus in Bethlehem. In Spain, the feast is widely celebrated, marking (more…)

Spice and rosemary pork roast, Mama Ía blog

Spice and Rosemary Pork Roast with Onions, and the festive awaiting of Advent

Spice and rosemary pork roast, Mama Ía blogThe preparations, the excitement, the arrival of loved ones to spend the holidays together. I want to help you out by offering a recipe that looks and tastes extra special but that it’s easy to make and will not break the bank: spice and rosemary pork roast with onions.

Spice and rosemary pork roast, Mama Ía blogThanksgiving Mama Ía blog

The weeks leading from Thanksgiving to Christmas are some of the busiest of the year and yet, when Advent starts, they should become some of the most still and serene. Easy to say but hard to achieve, right? And if you’re (more…)

Shortbread sandwich cookies, Mama Ía blog

Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Lemon and Coffee filling—and the First Circumnavigation at the IFLTA Conference

Shortbread sandwich cookies, Mama Ía blogChristmas is just around the corner, and nothing says Christmas more than Christmas cookies! This is at least the case in this part of the world where I live, where cookie exchange parties are common—and where shortbread sandwich cookies will be on our menu this year. Of course, they will share the dessert trays with chunks of turrón, polvorones in their silky wrappers, cute mazapanes, marzipan figurines, and the always present homemade nanaimo bar. Our three nationalities are always represented at our Christmas table.

Shortbread sandwich cookies, Mama Ía blog

IFLTA 2023, Mama Ía blog

Our exhibit table at IFLTA 2023 in Indianapolis

Thanksgiving weekend was the start of it all. After the yearly longed for and always warm gathering with our friends and family around the table, the long weekend allowed us to get started on the Christmas spirit. In a series of (more…)

Revuelto de setas, scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms, Mama Ía blog

Scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms, Revuelto de Setas —and the walled city of Avila

Revuelto de setas, scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms, Mama Ía blogIn my aim to make the most of my time, I love it when I can make two different dishes out of one. Wild garlicky mushrooms with sherry that I made as a side dish for an entrée, become today one of the main ingredients in revuelto de setas, scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms.

Wild garlicky mushrooms, Mama Ía blog

ralla de Avila, Mama Ía blogToday’s recipe for scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms is simple, because it uses the previous post’s recipe. This is one of those comfort food, rustic dishes that are made all over Spain, but are specially popular in central Spain, in the Castiles. 

Last summer, I had the chance to taste some of those dishes during my trip to the cities of Salamanca, Avila and Segovia in the region (more…)

Wild garlicky mushrooms, Mama Ía blog

Wild garlicky mushrooms with sherry—and Salamanca part II

Wild garlicky mushrooms, Mama Ía blogThis is in a way a continuation of the last post, where I talked about the centers of knowledge in the Spanish city of Salamanca, the University of Salamanca and the Pontifical University of Salamanca (you can check this post here). The recipe I’m sharing with it, setas al ajillo con jerez, wild garlicky  mushrooms with sherry, seems to go very well with it, not only because we are in the season of fall (and it finally feels and looks like it) but because they are somewhat color complimentary (I will explain).

Wild garlicky mushrooms, Mama Ía blog

Salamanca Cathedral, Mama Ía blog

Apart from its universities, Salamanca has an extraordinary collection of historical buildings that not only makes it a popular destination for visitors, but also granted it to be (more…)

Fried eggplant sticks, Mama Ía blog

Fried eggplant sticks —and the university city of Salamanca

Fried eggplant sticks, Mama Ía blogI never imagined when I planted two small eggplant plants in my vegetable garden that they would grow to give such generous production for our family. I get 2 to 4 eggplants every couple of weeks, just enough to supply us with produce to make some of the dishes we are familiar with, like pisto, (check the recipe here) or fried eggplant sticks. Soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, they are so addictive that you will not be able to stop at just a few!

Eggplants, Mama Ía blogUniversidad de Salamanca, Mama Ía blogI leave you with a few photos of the eggplants in the garden, used to prepare today’s recipe, fried eggplant sticks. But I wanted to add some more to this post. Today is National Teaching Spanish Day, and I couldn’t help talking about it. Why? Because (more…)

Meat barbacoa parrillada, Mama ía blog

Meat barbacoa, parrillada

Meats barbacoa parrillada, Mama ía blogIt’s only fitting that today’s post be a follow-up to the last one, Cooking a la Plancha, Seafood the Spanish Way!, given that that’s a customary cookout when we are in Spain. It’s common with meats too! On this long, Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer and a popular weekend for cooking outdoors, try meat barbacoa, parrillada! 

Meats barbacoa parrillada, Mama ía blogBarbacoa, Mama ía blogOnly the temperatures outdoors indicate that summer is still here, because the Fall routines started a few weeks ago with the start of school. Granted, not very many (more…)

Cooking seafood a la plancha, Mama Ía blog

Cooking a la plancha —Seafood the Spanish way!

Cooking a la plancha, Mama Ía blogI’ve been wanting to write a post about cooking a la plancha for the longest time. In fact, I started it a couple of years ago, only to shelve it and pull it out again the following year, with new photos of our family gathering for a la plancha cooking in Spain in the summer. Then I put it aside once more, and here we are, the summer of 2023, with new photos but the same gathering —same people, just a little bit older. Because no matter how many years go by, a la plancha cooking is a given and a favorite in our summer gatherings.

Cooking a la plancha, Mama Ía blogA la plancha is a type of cooking that is light, flavorful, intense and generally regarded as healthy. The secret is la plancha, which loosely translates to “the griddle.” Unlike the stainless (more…)