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Tapas To Go

Humble, honest, reliable foods. How my family made Spain Australian.

By JosiePublished 3 years ago 9 min read
2
My Grandfather carries my Grandmother into Australia, 1963

“Some foods are so comforting, so nourishing of body and soul, that to eat them is to be home again after a long journey. To eat such a meal is to remember that, though the world is full of knives and storms, the body is built for kindness. The angels, who know no hunger, have never been as satisfied."

-- ‘Cinnamon and Gunpowder: A Novel’ Eli Brown

My favourite dishes, with recipes that can be changed to suit how you feel and what you crave, came from faraway but will always mean home to me.

Soft Arborio rice with four cheeses and truffle oil blended with spices. Large duck eggs with fat pumpkin-coloured yolks whipped into a mix of milk and grated Parmesan. Panko breadcrumbs, fried then baked then fried again to create the perfect satisfying crunch between your teeth. Minced kangaroo meat mixed with almond meal, then rolled into balls. Rich tomato sauce to dip crusty bread into. Fried chorizo buried in chopped potato and whipped egg.

Croquettes.

Albondigas.

Tortilla.

These foods are the quintessential stay-at-home tapas foods in my house. My Spanish grandmother, the matriarch of my little Aussie family, considers it her solemn duty to feed and educate her four children and nine grandchildren in what she sees as the only proper food: Spanish food. My grandmother, a little olive skinned woman, came to Australia from Spain when she was in her early twenties. She and her Icelandic husband made a striking combination as he carried her down the gangplank of the boat they came on to the surprise and delight of awaiting photographers. Together, they made Australia their home. It didn’t come without it’s challenges, but my Grandparents brought a liveliness and vivacity to their small slice of Australia that we’re all the better for.

Despite having lived here, in Australia, for over fifty years my Grandmother has never lost her Spanish accent, never stopped loving the culture of her home, and never stopped extolling the virtues of Spanish food and cooking to her family. Through her food, I can see her homeland, and taste the country that will always have her heart. Although my grandmothers tapas recipes reflect her Castilian-Basque parentage to her, they will always taste like Australia to me.

My Grandparents at home in Sydney, Australia in 2015

When my Icelandic grandfather convinced my Grandmother to start a new life with him in Australia in 1963, it was a hard move for her (if you want to read more about their story you can see it on the article here). But, loving my Grandfather as she did, she left her vivid social life, wildly emotional Spanish family, and job as nurse in Madrid to discover the land down under. It was hard. 1963 Sydney Australia was a xenophobic, rascist, white-bread country - nothing like the vibrant multicultural hub it is now. My Grandmothers brown skin, which goes darker still in the summer, and strong accent made her stand out in the homogeny of 60’s Sydney. Cooking became a way to preserve her heritage and her small protest against that blandness. In Spain, food was a way of life. It had particular significance in the provinicial town where my grandmother was raised (Briones about 2 hours south of Bilbao in the heart of the famous wine region the Rioja). The Spanish Civil war had sowed hunger and famine into small communities like the one which my grandmother was raised in, and to her smuggler father, my great-grandfather, many foods became illicit goods the smuggling of which he could be executed for if it was discovered he was trafficking in them.

The traditional cooking ingredients my grandmother would have used in Spain weren’t available to her in Australia. So, the Spanish tapas she was accustomed to had to be modified for the Australian way of life. These recipes have changed and evolved after being passed down over the years. Food meaning one thing in my grandmother's hands has become something entirely else in my mothers hands and something new again in mine.

I want to share the triumphs and heartaches of my family in food with my three favourite tapas recipes:

Croquettes.

Albondigas.

Tortilla.

Now, fair warning, those tapas snobs out there who’ve sampled the tastes of Barcelona and Madrid will probably hate the recipes I’m about to offer. These recipes are bastardised versions of traditional Spanish foods. If you’ve come for the purely authentic taste of Spain you’re in the wrong place. But, if you want a taste of Spanish migrant food coloured by an Australia lifestyle and ingredients and created with lots of love, then that’s what you’ll get. Without further ado, I give you ...

THE HUMBLE CROQUETTE

In my family a croquette can be the centrepiece of a meal or a last minute entree thrown together with yesterdays leftovers and a little bit of béchamel or mashed potato. The one I'm going to give you is the simplest of the croquettes: the mash-potato/leftover croquette.

Croquttes frying in ricebran oil develop a golden crust

Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 large potatos, peeled
  • 1/2 cup of grated manchego cheese
  • 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
  • A large pinch of salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup of flour
  • 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs
  • 40 grams of butter
  • Any desired leftover food you have
  • 1 - 1/2 litre of Ricebran oil

Method:

  1. Before you do anything else, soften you potatos in a microwave or boiling pan of water. Once softened, add your butter and mash your potatoes until soft and creamy
  2. Allow your potatoes to cool slightly before you crack an egg into the mash potato. Mix your egg thouroughly through your mash before you add your parmesan and manchego cheese, salt and pepper, and any leftover food you have (this might include fish, peas, corn, or proscuitto). Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
  3. Now, roll handfuls of your mash potato mixture into a rough egg shape. Set aside four plates, one with your second egg whipped onto it, the other with your flour, the next with your panko breadcrumbs, and leave the last empty. Now roll your mash potato ball in flour, then dip it in the egg, and coat it in panko breadcrumbs. Set your croquette aside on the clean plate. Repeat until all the croquettes are coated.
  4. Fill a large skillet with ricebran oil, and set on high heat until the oil is very hot. Deep-fry your croquettes in the boiling oil, turning them every so often until the croquettes have a crispy golden-brown skin.
  5. Place your croquettes on a paper-towel clad plate and allow them to cool a little. Serve and then stand back.

THE HONEST ALBONDIGAS

Many confuse Spanish Albondigas with Italian meatballs. The key difference is that Albondigas are smaller, and served on their own in a soup of tomato sauce as opposed to being served with a pasta. I personally believe that Albondigas are also far tastier, no bias.

Albondigas swim in rich tomato sauce under a layer of parmesan

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams of mince meat (I recomend kangaroo, lean beef, or goat)
  • 1 cup of almond meal
  • A large pinch of salt and pepper
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cube of chicken stock
  • 3 or more cups of tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)
  • 1 cup of grated parmesan or manchego cheese

Method:

  1. Mix together your mince meat, almond meal, salt and pepper, egg, and chicken stock in a bowl until completely combined. Form the meat mixture into 3 cm wide balls.
  2. Cook your meatballs in a pan, turning them until they are lightly browned on each side.
  3. Place your meatballs and tomato sauce into a large saucepan and simmer on low-medium heat for fifteen to twenty minutes.
  4. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.

THE RELIABLE TORTILLA

The tortilla, or 'Spanish omelette', is the epitome of Spanish peasant food and one of my all time favourite Spanish dishes. You can add different flavourings to it with onion, peas, or spices, or just keep it simple with a pinch of salt and a little bit of chorizo. It's an incredibly versatile food and works just as well for breakfast, or sandwiched between two slices of bread at lunch, as it serves as dinner.

Soft golden potatos wait to be thrown into a delicious tortilla

Ingredients:

  • 3 large potatos, peeled
  • 10 0.5 cm thick slices of Chorizo
  • 4 large eggs
  • A generous pinch of salt
  • A drizzle of olive oil

Method:

  1. Begin by slicing your peeled potatoes. The thickness of the slices depends on your taste. You can use a mandolin to slice the potatoes very thin, however I personally prefer my potatos to be sliced to approximately the thickness of steak fries.
  2. Now, fill a microwave proof bowl a quarter way up with water and place the potato slices into the bowl. Microwave the potatos until they are soft enough that a knife easily slides through them.
  3. In a medium to small skillet fry your chorizo slices in a dash of olive oil for a couple of minutes on each side or until crispy. Set the fried chorizo aside in a small bowl.
  4. In another bowl crack your four eggs and whip them with a fork until they are fully combined. Sprinkle your pinch of salt into the egg mixture.
  5. In the empty skillet drizzle a little olive oil and arrange your potato slices and fried chorizo in layers. Pour the egg mixture over the potato and chorizo and gently shake so that the egg mixture spreads through all the potato layers. Add a little more olive oil to soak down the inside of the pan and ease the tortilla from sticking to the skillet.
  6. Now, allow the tortilla to cook on low. How long you choose to cook it depends on how crispy you want the tortilla to be. When the tortilla is cooked enough that it easily holds its shape you can (carefully) flip it onto a plate then slide the tortilla back into the skillet to cook the top side however I recommend cooking it until it is nearly done then finishing it under a grill until the top is lightly browned
  7. When completely cooked to your liking, place a plate over the skillet and using thick oven mitts (extremely carefully) flip the pan allowing the tortilla to slide onto the plate and serve while still warm. In summer a cold tortilla makes a delicious accompaniment to a crisp salad.

Tapas will always represent a food of migrant culture, Australia, Spain, and family to me. I hope that you can take these recipies and find your own sense of home and kinship in them. Maybe, like me, you can use these foods as a way to travel to distant restaurants in the heart of Spain from the safety of your kitchen. Feel welcome to take them and make them your own.

My grandmother, mother, and grandfather on my mothers wedding day.

I wrote this for you, Brian. My wonderful Icelandic grandad, who understood me so well. Our family loves you and misses you very much.

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About the Creator

Josie

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