It has been a while. I purposely intended to take a little break, enjoy the events that were happening in my life at a leisurely pace, then come back with new recipes. But the break kept getting longer, and longer, and even though I kept up with Instagram posts, the blog, and the recipes, (more…)
The origin of tarta de Santiago, or rather, why the famous Spanish almond tart is named after the apostle Saint James, patron saint of Spain, is unknown. But for centuries, the cake has been adorned with the cross of the knights of Saint James in confectioners sugar, and visitors to the city of Santiago de Compostela, where the apostle is believed to be buried, buy it as a souvenir of their visit to the pilgrims’ city, or arrival through the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James.
Are you looking for a weeknight dinner recipe that pleases everybody, and it’s complete and nutritious? Or are you looking for a party recipe that everyone will talk about, and will look beautiful on presentation? Then look no further, roast chicken with chickpeas, leeks and lemon is that dish.
The trick for a super tasty and moist chicken is the spice rub, letting the chicken absorb all the spice flavors for a few hours before placing it in the oven. Then, while roasting, (more…)
I’m finding it very hard these days not to long for what was. And this blood orange puff pastry tart was. It was (more…)
And with this one, I reached 100 posts. 100 recipes! I find it hard to believe, it has been such a joy to write all these posts and recipes, cooking and baking and enjoying every dish. A cake was in order for such milestone, and I chose this Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Cake.
When I asked my husband if I should translate this recipe, calamares rellenos, as stuffed squid or stuffed calamari, he immediately responded stuffed calamari, “Americans are grossed out by the thought of eating squid”. I had to laugh, but I think he’s probably right, since his American/Canadian perspective is always more accurate than mine. So here it goes, stuffed calamari.
Madalenas caseras, classic madeleines, are very popular in Spain, and even though they might look like muffins, they have one major difference, they use olive oil instead of butter. And here I am, watching the news while sipping an espresso and having a madalena, a madeleine, savoring the sweet and lemony treat, and thinking about what to write about for this week’s post, when it suddenly hits me. Sometimes I have a preconceived subject I want to write about, but for the most part, my post is usually about “that thing that won’t leave my mind”. And today, that thing is women.
It wasn’t until March 9, 2018 that I came to realize what March 8 represented. For years I felt International Women’s Day was a celebration (more…)
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.
I 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!
Do you have the feeling that the Christmas and winter holiday season was ages ago? I certainly do, not so much because a long time has passed, but because so many events and activities have happened since. And I’m not talking about out of the ordinary or amazing events. In fact, January is probably one of those months (September would be another one) when everything goes back to normal —the restart of old routines, the beginning of new projects; but more than anything, a month of inwardness, of restarts, of cleaning and organizing, in literal and figurative terms. In one word, January is a month of resetting. This lentil and butternut squash soup, that I make often during winter, seemed appropriate for this time of year (a particularly cold January).
