Chickpeas and Swiss chard stew, Mama Ía blog

March 26, 2022

Potaje de Cuaresma, Chickpeas and Swiss Chard Stew, for Lent — and Fallas!

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews comfort food, Cuaresma, Fallas, legumes, Lent, platos de cuaresma, vegetarian

Potaje de Cuaresma, sopa de vigilia, caldo de Cuaresma, are all names that refer to the same dish. The name would translate literally to “vigil stew” or “Lent stew” in English, but we’ll call it chickpeas and Swiss chard stew for the purposes of this blog.

Valencia’s Fallas 2022, celebrated as it was before the pandemic

The original or most typical version of it in Spain also includes cod. However, I omitted it today and made it a more simple dish, not only appropriate for Lent but also for a vegetarian diet.

The origin of this dish, like many other Spanish dishes, can be found (more…)

March 22, 2017

Soupy Seafood Rice, and thinking of Las Fallas

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews, Rice, Grains and Pasta, Fish Fallas, fish soup, Las Fallas, mussels, rice, seafood, seafood rice, seafood stock, soup, soupy rice, Valencia

If you subscribe to Mama Ía blog, or if you’ve been following it, by now you’re probably familiar with Spain’s dry rice dishes, like paella in all it’s varieties, or arroz al horno (click here and here and here). But there’s a different category of rice dish in Spain, which is not as familiar outside of the country as paella is. In Spanish we call it (more…)

March 17, 2016

Thick Hot Chocolate for “Las Fallas”, Valencia’s Festival

Natacha Sanz Caballero Desserts and Sweets, Drinks, Events & Travel chocolaste con churros, chocolate, Fallas, hot chocolate, hot drink, Las Fallas Festival, thick hot chocolate, Valencia

This is a very special week in my home city of Valencia, Spain, where every March, Spring and Fallas seem to arrive together. From March 12 to March 19, the city stops its daily business to celebrate this festival. In a ceremony called la plantà, the setting, 700 colorful statues are mounted throughout the city, in every square and street crossing. Fallas is the name of the festival, but it’s also the name of these statues, real works of art, built each year for the occasion. There are 368 children’s fallas and 370 full-scale fallas. These can stand as tall as 90 feet, and they portray popular characters, like celebrities and politicians. The children’s fallas represent cartoon characters. With the unusual political situation that Spain is living at present, many fallas this year portray our most popular politicians, in very humorous situations. Thick hot chocolate for La Fallas is the drink of choice, particularly when accompanying it with buñuelos, sweet fritters (click here for the recipe for apple fritters).

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February 2, 2015

Churros, a Spanish staple

Natacha Sanz Caballero Breads, Desserts and Sweets breakfast, churros, churros con chocolate, dessert, Fallas, Spanish staple, winter

Growing up in Spain —where it was years before I ever saw snow for the first time—, makes me ever excited to see the first winter snowflakes fall in Fort Wayne. For my children, the sight means the anticipation of a school cancellation the next day. For me, it’s a reminder that the time of year has come to live more indoors than out, that the homey cooking season has arrived, the time of stews. Of churros for breakfast on Sunday mornings. (more…)