Spanish Cooking & Culture Fiesta

Our small military church congregation was invited to celebrate Pioneer Day (July 24) with the local congregation. They graciously hosted a Spanish cooking and cultural fiesta and we had the best night. We arrived about an hour after the scheduled start time because we had to come from late swimming lessons, but that that we were just about on time! The party was just getting started.

The kids were happy to jump in the pool with the other kids right away. I flashed back to one year ago when had just arrived... We had been in Spain a few days and were still jet lagged and overwhelmed. We decided to go to the beach and let the kids unwind and play for a few hours. A little Spanish boy came over and wanted to kick a ball around with Ashtyn and Avery and they were completely lost. They didn't understand a word he was saying and couldn't speak back to him. We decided right then that we needed to send Avery to school (which we hadn't originally planned on doing) so that she could learn Spanish and communicate when, where and how she wanted to. Now flash back to the party tonight with our other American friends who also have their kids in Spanish schools and all whom speak the language fluently. There was no division among the kids, they had the best time playing and were so happy. It made me proud of all their work over the last year and amazed, yet again, how far they have come in such a short amount of time.

 

Back to the party...

We watched and listened to demonstrations on how to make three Spanish specialties: salmorejo, paella, and tortilla de patatas.

Salmorejo is a creamy tomato soup, similar to gazpacho, that is typical in Andalucía. It is made from fresh tomatoes with lots of garlic, and of course, olive oil. We were surprised to learn that the soup is actually thickened by adding stale bread into the mix with an immersion blender! 

  

Spanish Salmorejo Recipe

• 1 lb / 450 g tomatoes
• 1 / 2 clove(s) of garlic
• 2 oz / 50 g white bread
• 1-2 tbsp vinegar
• olive oil
• sea salt
• diced Serrano ham
• hard-boiled egg

Clean, skin and core tomatoes before liquefying them with a blender. Incorporate garlic, salt and vinegar. Soak bread with water until soggy and wring out excess liquid. Add half the bread to the mix and blend until smooth. Slowly incorporate remaining bread and olive oil into the mix and continue blending until reaching a smooth, creamy consistency. Chill the soup and serve in a shallow dish with a ham or egg garnish and fresh bread.

It was so informative to watch the paella process! For starters, paella pans are huge! They have their own set up on a stand with gas burners running all over underneath the pan. When we arrived, they had finished cooking the chicken pieces with garlic and onion and had removed them from the pan to be added later. There were mainly four women making the dish who didn't leave the pan for probably 3 hours or more!

  

The second step was sautéing the vegetables and onions in lots and lots of olive oil. When the vegetables were cooked, they added a few different kinds of sea food- mussels, squid, mollusks, and a few other mysterious things I don't know the names of! Next, they added broth and a special paella seasoning mix along with the special bomba (short grain) rice. They topped the whole thing off with lots of whole, giant shrimp and covered the pan to allow the rice to cook.

  

The kids (Blake included!) devoured the paella. Could have been that it was after 9 pm when it was finally finished cooking and they were super hungry, but more likely that it was so delicious they just couldn't get enough! They love seafood and are fearlessly adventurous in trying new things.