Albondigas

Not to be confused with my earlier recipe of Almondigas, this is one of your regular tapas bar staple. Albondigas means meatballs lightly fried in oil then simmered in tomato sauce, wine, and spices. I made this specifically for the wine tasting meet I had with several charming London food bloggers which the lovely Jeanne and Nick generously hosted in their East London house. Stupidly, I forgot to bring my camera so you'll just have to head over to the other participant's blogs for the pictures. Gosh, I missed taking pictures of all the wonderful food and wine we had.

As for this, the original recipe (adapted from Easy Tapas by Julz Beresford) called for lots of ground cloves which I discovered I wasn't particularly fond of. So I adjusted it to have that as optional afterall the sauce was marvellous what with that wine, paprika and lots of garlic and onions infused in the tomato sauce. This is usually serve warm in tapas bars and it reheats very well. Distribute around forks or toothpicks for a little pica-pica and have a red Rioja with it. Fab!


Albondigas
(Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce)

150 g  minced veal or beef
150 g  minced pork
1/2 small onion - finely chopped
2 garlic cloves - finely minced
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves (optional)
30 g  dried breadcrumbs
1 egg - beaten
1 Tbsp single cream (light cream)
1/2 tsp ground sea salt
freshly ground pepper
plain flour for dusting (optional)
2 Tbsp olive oil

*Sauce:
1 x 400 g  can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
2 garlic cloves - finely minced
1/2 small onion - finely chopped
1/2 tsp smoked sweet Spanish paprika
1 bay leaf
ground sea salt

1. Combine the breadcrumbs, cream, and beaten egg in a bowl. Leave for about 10-15 minutes until the breadcrumbs has softened and absorbed the liquid.
   Add in the meats, lemon, onion, garlic, parsley, nutmeg, cloves, salt and pepper. Mix well.
2. Form into 1-inch sized balls, roll in the flour (if using), and pan fry in batches in a pot with hot olive oil. Brown the meatballs on all sides.
3. When you've fried them all, you may have to clean/wash the pot if you used flour for dusting most of which would most likely to be a little burned by now and you don't really want a burnt taste in your sauce. Otherwise, just carry on - adding more oil if needed.
4. *For the sauce: briefly saute the onion and garlic in the same pot where you fried the meatballs. Add the rest of the ingredients including the fried meatballs.
5. Bring to boil then lower heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring from time to time to prevent scorching at the bottom. The sauce should be quite liquid so add more water a little at a time if needed. Serve warm.

Prosciutto Quail Egg Rolls

One of the finger foods that I prepared for my aborted participation in the last London Food Blogger's picnic at the Henley Regatta is this scrumptious quail eggs wrapped in prosciutto. Lovely melding of flavours with the spiky tang of the lime zest contrasting with the creamy and a bit salty cream/smoked cheese mixture serving a nice foil to the blandness of the quail eggs while the chewy-citrusy prosciutto completes the melange of flavour. This was a lovely surprise and one that I will definitely make again. Next time I will try it without the smoked cheese or probably choose one that's not too salty.

I love air dried hams such as the Prociutto di Parma or the Spanish Jamon Iberico or Jamon Serrano. They are just so yummy to have very thinly sliced on sandwiches, cheese or just eaten on their own. Steep prices of these is the only thing stopping me from having them all the time.


Prosciutto Quail Egg Rolls

12 quail eggs
40 g  cream cheese
2 Tbsp finely grated smoked cheese
1/4 tsp grated lime zest
1 tsp chopped fresh basil
6 slices prosciutto di parma (parma ham)

1. Hard boil quail eggs by lowering in a gently simmering pan of water. Cook for 4 minutes. Drain and cool immediately by plunging into cold tap water. Peel and cut in half lengthwise.
2. Combine cream cheese, smoked cheese, lime zest, chopped basil in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Cut prosciutto in half lengthwise then cut in half again crosswise making 24 pieces.
4. Spread cream cheese mixture in each strip then wrap each of the quail egg halves in it. This can be made about 6 hours in advance.

Bruschetta

Everytime we have a dimsum lunch we tend to order too much - not that I'm complaining. So we usually have a very light dinner afterwards or none at all. Last Saturday was one like this, me and my husband were still partially full and we couldn't possibly have our usual dinner. I decided to fix something light with the ciabatta I picked up from the supermarket earlier.

Bruschetta is a favourite starter in Italian restaurants. In essence, it's garlic bread with toppings like tomatoes or anchovies or aubergines, etc. Although this garlic bread uses olive oil instead of butter. The one I made that night is the standard bruschetta you find in restos with tomatoes and basil leaves on top. Very easy to make though quite refreshing to have. Biting on the combination of crusty garlicky bread soaked in olive oil with fresh tomatoes and basil on top is simply divine.


Bruschetta

slices of crusty bread (ciabatta, baguette, etc.)
olive oil
ripe tomatoes
fresh basil leaves
garlic clove - peeled and sliced in the middle
salt and pepper

1. Halve tomatoes crosswise. Scoop out the seeds, discard. Chop roughly.
2. In a bowl, put the tomatoes and season well with salt and pepper.
3. Tear basil leaves and mix with the tomatoes.
4. Toast, grill, or broil the bread until well browned on both sides.
5. While still hot, rub the cut side of the garlic on the toasted bread.
6. Drizzle or brush olive oil on top.
7. Spoon mounds of tomatoes on top of the toasted bread. Serve immediately.