It has been over 11 years since I posted the recipe for fideuá. Coincidentally, I think it was also my very first blog post on Mama Ía! Time has flown ever since, and I cannot believe there are over 200 recipes now on the blog.
This is the life!
Onteniente prepares for Saturday night dinners al fresco
Riding around Torreblanca
I make paella and fideuá very often, and you can find some of those recipes in this blog. However, I’ve been told a few times that people (more…)
The recipe I’m sharing today, cucumber salad with mint dressing, is so refreshing and so appropriate for these very high summer temperatures (particularly in Spain) that I wonder why I am publishing it towards the end of August.
Well, I guess one of the reasons is that my vegetable garden, my loved and pampered vegetable garden, hasn’t done very well this year. I don’t exactly know what the reason is – too much rain, or too little sun, or the fact that I wasn’t here for a month to take care of it this summer… Actually, I’ll scratch that last reason, because my (more…)
I owe this recipe, Meyer lemon eclairs, to Jose Andres’ book “Vegetables Unleashed”. Yes, you heard right! This delicious dessert is categorized by the chef as a vegetable, so I’ll go with it! As they say, always eat your vegetables —during or, in this case, after your main meal!
My eclairs are smaller than chef Jose’s, because these days I try to have just small bites of sweets (I know many of you can relate). So my recipe is slightly modified accordingly.
Like Jose says in his book, I, too, had never heard of Meyer lemons before, and they were quite (more…)
It is the Easter season, and my favorite treat is torrijas! They can be enjoyed at any time of year, but In Spain they are traditionally eaten during Holy Week and Easter.
But what are torrijas, you ask? They’re a delicious sweet bread treat, and even though I hate to make the following comparison, this is how I explain what they are here in America when asked: torrijas are the Spanish version of the French toast. Yeah, I know, who knows what came first, the torrijas or the French toast, right? But French toast is popular in America, so that is my best way to explain torrijas.
Cristo de la Palma during the Holy Week Processions (Onteniente, Spain)
Holy Thursday Procession, Maritime Holy Week in Valencia (Spain)
The weather has been incredibly cold and snowy this winter across much of the United States (even in Florida!). And it’s not over yet! February just ended, so there could be even some more snow and cold temperatures in store for us. In these weather conditions, there are some foods that I crave: soups, stews, and rich, filling vegetables, like this braised greens beans in smoky tomato sauce that is so idiosyncratically Spanish, it almost transports me there.
Borrull Palace, Sant Mateu
You can eat it as an accompaniment to any grilled fish, chicken or meat, but you can also have it as a hearty lunch, scooping up the delicious tomato sauce with pieces of crusty bread. Yum!
This cold winter is making me long for summer, and even though it is still a few months away (we just started the season of Lent!), I want to dream of it by writing about the beautiful town of Sant Mateu —San Mateo in Spanish, Saint Matthew in English—to accompany the recipe of braised beans with smoky tomato sauce.(more…)
Come Thanksgiving, and everything is a whirlwind of events, celebrations and parties. The fact that my birthday is in early December adds to it. Not to mention the yearly tradition of attending the Handel’s Messiah concert by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Ginger caramels have become a favorite with my sons at this time of year, so I thought it was time to post the recipe here on the blog.
Making wreaths with Shelby and Ruby Moon Flower Farm
The young ones at Thanksgiving
One of the utensils you will need for ginger caramels (or for any type of caramel) is a candy thermometer. I suggest you get one if you plan on making caramels, because they’re not expensive, and they take the guesswork out of reaching the right consistency for your caramels —not too soft, not too hard, just right.(more…)
If November 2024 started with a trip to London and Edinburgh, November 2025 hasn’t lagged behind in excitement, with a trip to beautiful Maui, in the Hawaii archipelago. A perfect excuse to accompany this post with a celebratory dish, beef shank with wine and pimentón sauce.
But don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying beef shank with wine and pimentón sauce should only be made for a special occasion. It’s just that it’s one of those dishes that looks beautiful on your plate and at the same time, feels comforting — the kind of dish your children coming home for the holidays are craving and will appreciate. (more…)
While searching on my blog, I realized that I don’t have any post about the most important festival in Onteniente, my hometown, las Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos, the Moors and Christians Festival! Many recipes can be related to this post, so it was hard to choose, but I decided on coca de calabaza, pumpkin coca, a sweet torta popular in my region, la Vall d’Albaida and la Sierra de Mariola.
Coca de calabaza is a pretty simple coca, it includes only a few ingredients. It is eaten by itself, like a morning snack or an afternoon merienda, but I also like to eat it as a light lunch —never mind the sugar in it, the pumpkin (more…)
If you’ve been following Mama Ía blog for a while you know (and have heard me say more than once) that the recipes I post are quite simple. Spanish cuisine is not complicated and it doesn’t use a ton of ingredients, relying more on excellent ones cooked without many adornments.
Alcoy at night (photo credit: comunitatvalenciana.com)
Today’s recipe, Alcoy meat cakes, while not hard to make, is a bit more elaborate, so I have to warn you. It also requires the dough to sit in the fridge overnight, so it’s a recipe that you need (more…)
The month of May seems to always be full of events. For Catholics, it is the month of Mary and first communions; in Indiana, it is the month of the Indy 500; for many, it is the month of weddings. And here in the United States, it is also the month of graduations, both college, university and high school. After a number of years celebrating graduations, we are not having any at our house this May.
After attending many graduation parties over the years, I’ve found that one of the most popular dishes to serve at parties —at least in this part of the world— is pulled pork. There are many recipes for pulled pork, and I can tell you right now, (more…)