Sunday, May 15, 2016

Gildas Picantes – Spicy Anchovy Olive Skewers

A classic Spanish tapa, gildas are simply made with guindilla chili peppers, pitted green olives and little anchovies.

Food Lust People Love: A classic Spanish tapa, gildas are simply made with guindilla chili peppers, pitted green olives and little anchovies


According to several Spanish recipe sites, gilda means lollipop in Spanish. I must confess that I haven’t been able to verify that with a dictionary, online or otherwise. For me, a lollipop is a chupete or chupeta – so I was guessing those were the South American words. So gilda must be lollipop in Spain. Nope! According to the dictionaries, in Spain lollipops are called piruletas. I even searched Basque or Catalan dictionaries, thinking they might lead to a clue of the origin of gilda.  No luck.

Anyway, here I am making some because whatever you call them, these little skewers are tasty. This week my Sunday Supper friends are all sharing tapas recipes in honor of the meal many of us will be eating together at Tapa Toro in Orlando on Sunday evening. I was already in over my head getting ready for the Food Wine Conference but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share this very simple tapas recipe that really isn’t even a recipe. It’s just assembly and anyone can do it!

Make sure you scroll down to see all the other lovely tapas dishes we’ve made.

Ingredients
12 marinated anchovies in olive oil (Mine also had some chili.)
3-4 chili peppers (I used some long local peppers that are spicy but not too spicy.)
12 pitted green olives

Method
Cut the peppers up into 1 inch or 2.5cm pieces. Wrap an anchovy around the pepper and secure it with your cocktail stick.





Skewer a green olive on the end.



Repeat until all of your gildas are assembled. Now, see, wasn’t that easy?



Serve with drinks before dinner.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: A classic Spanish tapa, gildas are simply made with guindilla chili peppers, pitted green olives and little anchovies

Join us for the tapas party and make one (or more!) of these dishes. Many thanks to our wonderful host for this event, Caroline of Caroline's Cooking.

Para Empezar, Las Tapas (Appetizers/tapas)
Postres (Desserts)
Bebidas (Drinks)


Pin these Gildas Picantes – Spicy Anchovy Olive Skewers!

Food Lust People Love: A classic Spanish tapa, gildas are simply made with guindilla chili peppers, pitted green olives and little anchovies


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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Feta Olive Knots #BreadBakers

Feta olive knots are made with salty feta cheese and olives baked in a soft dough, making them the perfect accompaniment to any meal. 

This month our Bread Bakers group is being hosted by Deepti of Baking Yummies. She’s challenged us to bake rolls so make sure you scroll down to see the link list of all the lovely dough, both sweet and savory, that we’ve kneaded, shaped and baked for you today.

In my growing up family, we often had rolls at big family dinners for Thanksgiving or Christmas but they were more than likely those bake and serve ones that come in their own little foil baking pans. Man, I loved those things. All soft and buttery and melt in your mouth. I liked to mash them into small balls so they became almost like dough again and nibble on them.

I’m a grown up now and my tastes have changed. Not that I would reject a soft white roll, but I’m looking for something a little stronger in flavor, something that can stand up to a tasty bowl of soup, for instance. These feta olive knots are perfect! The feta gives the dough a little tang and each bite with an olive delivers a small burst of saltiness.

Ingredients 
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup or 180ml warm water
About 2 3/4 cups or 345g all-purpose flour start with 2 1/2 or 312g
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 oz or 50g feta
1 egg yolk (save white for brushing on rolls)
1/2 cup or 70g pitted, sliced olives (color of your choice)
Olive oil for bowl

For glaze:
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Method
Put the warm water in a bowl with the yeast and sugar and leave to prove. The yeast should turn foamy if it’s active. If not, go buy some more yeast and start again.

Assuming you’ve got foam in your bowl, add in the 2 1/2 cups or 312g of the flour and the salt. You can knead by hand but this will be easier with a dough hook if you have a stand mixer.

Add in the crumbled feta and keep kneading with the dough hook until it’s incorporated.



Now add the egg yolk and knead again with the dough hook until it is incorporated. It's kind of like adding butter to brioche dough or eggs to choux pastry. These ingredients loosen the dough and it looks like they'll never mix in. Just keep mixing and they do!



Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few good turns by hand, adding just a little more of the flour if necessary.

Press the dough out into a rectangle and spread the sliced olives all over it.

Worst rectangle ever. I straightened it out after I took the photo, I promise. 


Fold one third in from the right and then fold the other third in from the left. Turn the dough so it is horizontal to you again, and press it out slightly. Repeat folding it over in thirds.



Make one more turn so it is horizontal to you and press it out again. Repeat folding it over in thirds. In other words, you are going to do the "fold, fold, turn" three times. The olives should be fairly evenly distributed by now.

Oil your mixing bowl and put the ball of dough in. Turn it over to coat with oil. Set aside in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.



Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a floured surface.

Cut it in quarters and then cut each quarter in three equal pieces to make 12 rolls. Roll each piece out until it’s about 8 inches or 21cm long. Cross the ends of each piece and tuck one end through the loop.



Place the knots on baking pan lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Whisk the egg white with the water and use a pastry brush to glaze the knots.



Leave in a warm place to rest for about 15-20 minutes and preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.

Bake in your preheated oven 18-22 minutes or until they are puffy and lightly browned all over.



Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little before serving.



Enjoy!



Such beautiful rolls, we've baked for you this month!
BreadBakers
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.


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Sunday, May 8, 2016

Green Mango Sambal

Side dish or condiment? This green mango sambal goes great with Balinese-style grilled fish or any dish that could use some perking up with chili peppers and sharp green mango.
 
 

Just over a year ago, I shared a recipe for Ikan Bakar Jimbaran or Bali Spicy Grilled Fish, a whole grouper that had been marinated in a spice paste, then cooked over a charcoal fire and basted with kecap manis or sweet soy sauce.

It is properly served alongside a spicy side dish called sambal matah, made from lemongrass, purple onions and chilies, with shrimp paste or ground dried shrimp. I changed that up and used tart green mango in place of the lemongrass, creating a dish that is less of a condiment, more of a salad. I rounded the meal out with another Indonesian recipe, recently shared here, long beans with coconut.



This week the Sunday Supper theme is Spice is Nice and Some Like it Hot. In Indonesian, we can differentiate between heat hot – panas – and spicy hot – pedas. In fact, many languages have this distinction. Why English, with its huge vocabulary, does not, is a mystery to me. This recipe is definitely pedas or spicy hot!

Ingredients
2 green mangoes – about 11 2/3 oz or 330g whole
2 small purple onions – about 5 1/3 oz or 150g
Juice 1 lime – about 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons crispy prawn chili sambal
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Salt to taste

Can't find crispy prawn chili sambal? Sub:
1 oz or 28g dried shrimp
4-5 small red chilies
2-3 teaspoons coconut oil

Method
Peel and thinly slice your onions. Put them in a bowl big enough for the whole dish and squeeze the lime juice over them. Give it a stir and leave to marinate while you cut the mangoes.

Peel one side of your mangoes. Cut each into tiny strips by carefully hitting one side of it with the blade of your knife.


Then thinly slice a layer off. Repeat until you get down to the mango pit, then peel the other side and repeat the process.



Add the mango, the crispy prawn chili sambal and fish sauce to the onions.

Mix well. Taste the dish and add a little salt, if necessary.



If you can’t find crispy prawn chili sambal, use a mortar and pestle to grind the dried shrimp into a fluffy powder. Add in the chili peppers and keep grinding until they make a thick paste with the shrimp powder. Add in enough coconut oil to loosen the paste a bit. Once you've added this to the mango and onions and stirred well, don't forget to add the fish sauce too.

Enjoy!



Not every dish that has spices is necessarily spicy hot! Check out this great list of recipes from my Sunday Supper group. Many thanks to our host today, Susan from The Chef Next Door.

Aromatic Appetizers
Distinctive Drinks
Daring Desserts
Masterful Mains
Seasoned Sides
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