On 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.
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…)
Oranges and almonds for a celebratory post: Mama Ía is 10 years old!
You may have noticed I haven’t posted in a while, and there’s a good explanation for it. But I didn’t want to wait any longer, because Mama Ía blog is having a big anniversary: 10 years since the first post! I still find it hard to believe. And I wanted to celebrate with orange and almond cake, a recipe that pays homage to some of the products grown in my hometown of Onteniente.
The orange and almond cake is absolutely delicious, and like most of my recipes (I won’t get tired of repeating this), easy to make. I love it with my coffee in the morning for breakfast, and it’s perfect for afternoon tea or for a snack between meals. It is gluten-free, another added advantage for the gluten intolerant amongst you.
To accompany this post, (more…)
What could be more appropriate than a roast recipe to accompany a post about the UK? Rosemary and thyme standing beef rib roast with red wine jus is the recipe and Edinburgh, Scotland, the destination!
In the last post, I covered a lot of what we did in London, but it got a bit long before I could even start to tell you about Edinburgh. And Edinburgh deserved the attention! That’s why I am keeping my word and sharing some photos and stories of this historic, fairytale city, the capital of Scotland. If you have visited it, you know what I’m talking about.
But first, about this standing beef rib roast. Standing beef rib roast is not an inexpensive dish, I have to warn you. That is why I’m (more…)
Thanksgiving came late this year, so as I kept basting the turkey every thirty minutes, I was already thinking of recipes for Christmas. With the aroma of the bird roasting in the oven, football on TV as the background sound and the sight of two of my children relaxing on the sofa —a heavenly picture, given that they had not been home since the summer—, my mind kept going back to …yule log!
Strolling through Portobello Market, Notting Hill
For many years, I bought our Christmas yule log at the bakery, and it was good. But last year I decided to tackle it myself. It looked like a huge task, but I faced it in chunks to make it seem easier. I took the cake recipe from one (more…)
The eggs in this recipe don’t look perfect but, who cares! They will be broken up just before serving to blend their flavor and texture to that of the other ingredients in the dish. They are huevos rotos, broken eggs, after all.
Huevos rotos con jamón, broken eggs with serrano ham, are a comfort food dish in Spain. It’s a dish probably made in every household in the country, with different variations between them. In fact, one will usually (more…)
Thanksgiving will be in just a couple of months, so it is not too early to start thinking and planning for it. In my case, it means getting flights for my sons to come home! But it also means starting to think about delicious meals to prepare while they are home. I think they are going to love this chocolate and coffee mousse cake. It could be made for the big day, but also for any of the other few days they will be home, since each of those days will be precious and celebratory.
Castillo de San Marcos, on Matanzas Bay
The chocolate and coffee mousse cake is a Spanish recipe, but not a very traditional one. Still, and like all the dishes that I make, it is a simple recipe that doesn’t take much to put together, yet looks beautiful and tastes delicious. The chocolate cake base, topped with (more…)
I promised in my last post that I would tell you more about trips I did in the spring, so even though it is summer, I will honor my promise. Because how could I not tell you about my first ever trip to Greece?
I thought it very appropriate to accompany this post with the recipe for besugo al horno, baked sea bream, a Spanish dish that is so Mediterranean that it is more than fitting for a post about a neighboring Mediterranean country.
The charming Panaghia Kapnikarea Church in central Athens
I am lucky enough to be able to now find whole fish at my local Costco store, so I hope you can find it in your area as well and make this healthy, delicious and (more…)
What a whirlwind the last few months have been. There’s been travel (a lot of it!), for celebrations, for vacation and for soccer. But most importantly, there have been milestones and “the last of” for my son David. I’ve been able to prepare a few recipes to share on the blog, but for this post, I wanted a sweet one, coca de pasas y nueces, raisins and walnuts cake, because sweet always means celebration.
I will tell you about some of the trips in future posts, but for now, I want to celebrate David. Because my youngest, the “baby,” is wrapping up his life as a minor (he turned 18 this month!) as a high school student (he just graduated!), and (more…)
The 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.
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…)
Citrus 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?
And 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…)
