Mussels with white beans and tomatoes —and the revenge of the land
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…)
At the same time, I am still enjoying orange season —and winter is orange season. The recipe I’m sharing today, mandarina stuffed salmon with thyme, takes 
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.
With the end of the season of Lent and the beginning of that of Easter, I bring you a Spanish treat typical of this season, pestiños. Don’t ask me to translate it, because I would have a hard time doing it. You’ll have to call it by its original name, and I will help you pronounce it: pehs-teen-yohs.
I don’t know if it’s happening to you, but for me, time is flying. Can you believe Lent starts this week? I had another recipe planned for this post, but I’ll postpone it, because I know you will be looking for fish recipes that are tasty and easy to make. These salmon steaks with majado are it: tasty, healthy, delicious looking and easy to make.
It’s a weird sensation these days, isn’t it? We wake up every morning wondering what the new limitation will be for the day ahead —whether we’ll be able to go out freely for a walk in the neighborhood, whether we’ll be able to fly next week to see a loved one. COVID-19 has turned us upside down as in the most dystopian of stories.
Routine tasks we used to do without giving them a second thought now become a highlight of the day – leave the house for a moment to pick up the mail; take the garbage to the curb. A trip to the grocery store 
If I were in Spain, this dish would be made with hake. But you know the chances of me finding hake in the Midwest are zero, zip. And yet, as always, I can’t go without enjoying the dish. Filetes de merluza al horno con patatas becomes oven baked tilapia over potatoes. It is a very tasty dish, and yet, easy and relatively quick to make, which makes it 
I’m multi-tasking as I write this, trying to get tickets for our trip to Spain as well as writing this post. I’m looking forward to our trip, and as they say, getting there is half the fun! This includes trying to make sense of the dates available for every member of our family, accomodating summer jobs, work, soccer camps and