Burnt Basque Cheesecake, by Diane

This recipe really intrigued me, and it felt right to add it as our fourth course for the summer Spain meal. The technique involves pouring a crustless batter into a parchment lined pan to get the shape, and then cooking it at high heat so the outside appears burned (it tastes carmelized not burned). This technique calls for the cheesecake to be still uncooked in the center when the outside is burned, so that it forms a crust when it sits at room temperature and poaches the inside. It is also served at room temperature as well. It tastes like creme brûlée and butter cake had a love child, and it’s delicious!


Ingredients:

2 lbs cream cheese, at room temp
1 3/4 cup sugar
7 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Line a 10” springform pan with parchment paper leaving 2 inches around all sides. Spray the parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray.

2. On low speed or by hand, cream together the sugar and cream cheese.

3. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stream in the cream and add the vanilla.

4. Fold in the flour and make sure no lumps are left.

5. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 60 minutes (50 if your oven runs hot). You want the color to be dark like the photo.

6. When the cheesecake is darkened and the inside still jiggly, remove from the oven and allow to cool until room temp. The cheesecake will fall with puffy edges like in the photo.

7. Serve at room temp.

Pan con Tomate, by Diane

This is one of my favorite appetizers, and the third of our line up of summer dishes from Spain.
It was super quick and easy to make, and definitely takes advantage of summer tomatoes! I used heirloom tomatoes because I like them best. Recipe from: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/09/pan-con-tomate-tomato-bread-spanish-recipe.html


Ingredients:

1 ciabatta loaf, sliced thickly (my store had presliced so I used a wide italian baguette)
2 large tomatoes
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Fine sea salt
Flaky sea salt

Directions:

1. Grate the tomatoes in a large bowl, and add fine sea salt to taste.

2. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle fine sea salt onto the bread slices and broil for 3 minutes or until the edges get browned.

3. Rub garlic cloves on the bread, then spoon tomato mixture and top with flaky sea salt. You can add a drizzle of olive oil here as well.

Gazpacho, by Diane

This is not my photo- I threw the soup out and forgot to take a photo!

This was our next dish for our summer Spain dinner. I have never really had gazpacho before and was excited to try it. We used an Alton Brown recipe, and I have to say I was not a fan of this one either- but my friend who loves gazpacho loved it! So it’s possible I just don’t love gazpacho... either way I’ll stick to salsa :)


Ingredients:

1.5 lbs tomatoes, skinned and chopped and deseeded
1 cucumber, peeled sliced and seeded
1 small red onion, diced
1 small jalepeno, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lime, juiced
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Tomato juice
2 tbsp basil leaves

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients except basil into the blender and pulse on high for 20 seconds. Add tomato juice if desired, and save some of the veggies for a garnish or for a chunkier gazpacho if desired. Chill for 2 hours before eating.

Tuna, Blood Orange, and Avocado Salad, by Diane

Our next country up was Spain, as we thought it would have a lot of cold dishes we wouldn’t have to turn the oven on for. First up was this salad, which seemed good in theory but in actuality the tastes just didn’t really go well together for me. It was supposed to use tuna belly, but I couldn’t find it and had to use canned tuna instead. Recipe from: https://spanishsabores.com/2014/04/18/tuna-belly-blood-orange-and-avocado-spanish-salad-recipe/


Ingredients:

One cup arugula
1/4 cup tuna
1 blood orange, cut in slices
1/2 avocado, cut in slices
10 pistachios, crushed
Olive oil
Sea salt


Directions:

Assemble all ingredients together, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.

Paellalaya, by Diane

I was trying to come up with a mixture of rice and protein for this week's lunches and remembered how much I love paella. So I asked a friend who had learned to make it in Spain and attempted to create the recipe this weekend. Even though I followed all of the instructions, this dish came out tasting less like authentic Spanish paella and more like a fusion of paella and jambalaya- hence the title, paellalaya (it rhymes!). It was good, but I really wished it had more flavor. On the upside, it was quick and easy to make and the recipe made a TON! 

**Update** The leftovers were WAY more flavorful than the night I made this, so good I'm repeating it this week for round 2!!

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cubed

2 tbsp sweet or Spanish paprika

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt and pepper

EVOO

Sausage (any kind, I used smoked turkey sausage)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Spanish onion, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

3/4 cup chopped parsley

1 pinch saffron

1 bay leaf

2 cups short grain rice

1 cup white wine

24 oz. chicken broth

1-2 cups frozen peas, thawed

Shrimp, deveined 

Directions:

1. Mix together chicken, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Let marinate for 1 hour.

2. In a large sauce pan (or paella pan if you have it!) heat EVOO over medium high heat. Cook sausage for 2 min, browning on each side, and set aside. 

3. Add the chicken to the pan, cook through and remove. 

4. Add in garlic and onion, brown for a few minutes. 

5. Add in tomatoes, parsley, saffron, and bay leaf and stir to combine.

6. Add in rice, stirring to coat. Add in wine to deglaze the pan, then add chicken broth. Let simmer without stirring over medium low heat for 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is fluffy.

7. Add in peas and shrimp, stir to combine. Season to your liking.

Paella-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, by Diane

This recipe came from a Rachael Ray magazine, and originally was supposed to use acorn squash. However, right around this time of year I get extremely fed up with cutting squash open and destroying my kitchen and so I opted for sweet potatoes. It was a great choice, and these were SO good and filling! The paella itself was also delicious and would have been great on it's own. I also added saffron to this recipe, because having just gotten back from Istanbul, I bought it there to add to my next paella dish. :)

Ingredients:

4 medium sweet potatoes
1 package chorizo
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup arborio rice
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

2 threads saffron 
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup jarred, drained roasted red peppers, thinly sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped flatleaf parsley, plus more for garnish

 

Directions:

 

1. Roast or steam sweet potatoes until tender. Cut in half lengthwise and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat a medium saucepan to medium heat. Remove chorizo from casing and add, stirring often and crumbling, until browned. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the rice, paprika, cayenne, and saffron; stir 1 minute. Add the stock; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low; cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is al dente, 15 to 18 minutes. Stir in the peppers, peas and 2 tbsp. parsley; season.
3. Preheat the broiler. Turn the potatoes cut side up and mash with a fork to help create room for the filling. Fill with rice mixture, mounding in center. Broil until browned in spots, 8 to 10 minutes.