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Pumpkin coca, coca de calabaza, Mama Ía blog

Coca de calabaza, Pumpkin coca —and fiestas de Moros y Cristianos in Onteniente

Pumpkin coca, coca de calabaza, Mama Ía blogWhile 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.

Moros y Cristianos de Onteniente, Mama Ía blogMoros y Cristianos de Onteniente, Mama Ía blogCoca 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…)

Alcoy meat cakes, Mama ía blog

Alcoy meat cakes, and the city that gives them their name

Pastel de carne de Alcoy, Mama ía blogIf 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, Mama Ía blog

Alcoy at night (photo credit: comunitatvalenciana.com)

AlcoyToday’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…)

Bell pepper, tuna and tomato torta, Mama Ía blog

Coca de pimiento, atún y tomate —Bell pepper, tuna and tomato torta— and Holy Week

Bell pepper, tuna and tomato torta, Mama Ía blogOn this Holy Week, a very appropriate dish, coca de pimiento, atún y tomate, bell pepper, tuna and tomato torta, a dish that is so idiosyncratic of my hometown that I am surprised I haven’t posted the recipe before.

Palm Sunday in Valencia, Mama Ía blogBell pepper, tuna and tomato torta, Mama Ía blog

Coca de pimiento, atún y tomate, bell pepper, tuna and tomato torta, is not only made at basically every family house in my home region, Valencia, and my hometown, Onteniente, but can also be (more…)

Coca de llanda, olive oil lemon cake, Mama Ía blog

Coca de llanda (olive oil lemon cake), a Valencian merienda, after-school snack

Coca de llanda, olive oil lemon cake, Mama Ía blogCoca de llanda is one of the most popular after-school snacks in the region of Valencia homes, what we call “la merienda”.

A walk after la merienda, Mama Ía blog

A walk in the neighborhood after la merienda

Coca de llanda, olive oil lemon cake, Mama Ía blogLa merienda —merendar— is that mid afternoon “tentenpié”, a bite to eat between lunch and dinner, sometimes sweet, sometimes savory, a simple but (more…)

Brascada, Mama ía blog

Brascada, back at University

Brascada, Mama ía blog

This recipe, for a bocadillo called brascada in Valencia, where I grew up and went to university, brings back memories. Bocadillo is what we call in Spain any sandwich made with baguette style bread. Baguette style bread, by the way, is the most common type of bread in Spain, and we call it simply pan, bread. Bocadillos are a common fare at all tapas bars and cafés in Spain, and they’re a popular midmorning snack for many. For us, students, bocadillos were an easy and nutritious lunch, or dinner. One of my favorites, brascada, was a typical and frequent meal in the evening (a few times a week) when I studied at the library of the Old University, a majestic building that, in the XVI century, housed Valencia’s University. After a few hours of studying, my friend and I would take a break at a tapas bar on the adjacent square, Plaza del Patriarca, that made the best brascadas in the city. I now make them at home, and my family loves them.

Universidad de Valencia, Mama ía blog (more…)

Banana nut bundt, Mama ía blog

Banana Nut Bundt, and a Christmas Family Reunion

Banana nut bundt, Mama ía blogI know what my children will say when they see this post: banana nut bread (in any of its forms, like the banana nut bundt recipe I’m sharing today) is not Spanish. I’ll have to remind them then that this blog includes the recipes that I make at home, most of which are Spanish, but some of which are not. If I make it often enough and is part of my repertoire, chances are, it’ll make it to Mama Ía blog. I’ve been living in North America for over two decades, after all!

Christmas 2017, Mama ía blogChristmas 2017, Mama ia blog

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Dinner rolls three ways, Mama ía blog

Dinner Rolls Three Ways, and an Autumnal Tablescape

Dinner rolls three ways, Mama ía blogI hope I get to your table in time for you to make these tasty dinner rolls three ways, because they should be on your Thanksgiving menu. I’m serious! They will be a hit. If you can’t fit them into your cooking and baking schedule for the day, plan on making them the day before, freeze them in freezer bags (I vacuum pack them) and defrost outside of the bags a couple of hours before your Thanksgiving dinner. That’s exactly what I am doing.

Autumn tablescape, Mama ía blog (more…)

Monjavina, Mama ía blog

Monjavina, for “La Merienda”

Monjavina, Mama ía blogMonjavina is a sweet of arab origin, typical of the region of Játiva and of La Vall d’Albaida, where Onteniente, my hometown, is located. You can find it by other names like almoixàvena or monxàvena, but you will very rarely find it in any other regions of Spain other than the ones I just mentioned. My mom, in fact, never made it, as she comes from Seville, and I grew up eating it at the homes of friends. You could say that every household in Onteniente makes it.

The recipe is simple, with few ingredients, and that can mislead as to its result, which is a delicious, light, sugary cake that is best eaten on the day it’s made. My favorite time to have it is mid afternoon, with a glass of horchata (*) if I am in Spain, or an espresso if I am in America. This mid-afternoon snack is usually referred to as la merienda in Spain, a meal that is meant to stave off hunger between lunch and the late Spanish dinner. La merienda is most often also referred to as this meal in the context of children: the meal they eat right after they get home from school.

La Vila, Onteniente, Mama ía blog

La Vila and Carmelites Convent, Onteniente

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Moorish soup, Mama ía blog

Moorish Soup with Tostones, and a Ladies Lunch

Moorish soup, Mama ía blogI don’t know why I don’t make this soup, sopa mora con tostones, Moorish soup with tostones, more often. I grew up eating it very often, as my mom made it regularly. It’s probably the healthiest soup, or as we call it in Spanish, puré (for a soup where all the ingredients are blended). It incorporates a wide variety of vegetables, some spices, and extra virgin olive oil. What could be better?

Ladies lunch, Mama ía blog (more…)

Torrijas de mona de Pascua, Mama Ía

Sugar and Cinnamon Baked Milk Sweet Bread, Oven Baked Torrijas de Mona de Pascua

Torrijas de mona de Pascua

If you read my previous post, with the recipe for Monas de Pascua, Easter Sweet Bread, you’ll remember I mentioned that the Easter sweet bread will last for a couple of days, pretty much like with any bread. And like it happens with bread that is not fresh, you’ll either have to toast it and eat it with jam and butter or your (more…)