Archives

Foodie Alert: You Need to Make Pisto Manchego

When you try this version of Pisto Manchego, you will wonder why this stew was not a regular go to soup for you.

What makes this Spanish dish so amazingly tasty is that it really is a labor of love to complete.  This vegetarian stew takes more than two hours to make.  And guess what?  It is every bit worth the wait.

When I made this stew, I had just run out of olive oil and was waiting for Amazon Fresh to deliver more to me.  I decided to use what I had, so I reached for ghee (clarified butter) as a substitute.  That ended up being the smartest decision I could make as a substitution.  The ghee was the difference to propel this dish to foodie standards.

If you don’t want to use ghee, use extra virgin olive oil.  It won’t taste as good as it would with ghee, but EVOO is a perfect substitute.

Ghee

Ghee is clarified butter, best known as an ingredient in many Indian dishes.  This butter is used in many Whole 30 and Keto compliant recipes.

Because ghee is gaining popularity thanks to new diets and lifestyles, it is becoming much easier to find it on the shelves at local grocery stores.  I recommend finding a local Indian grocer and walking around their aisles to find ghee.

My local Indian grocer has the best produce (better than regular supermarkets), and so many wonderful products.  I would not have seen ghee on the shelves if my brother hadn’t pointed it out to me.  I grabbed a tub and I’m very thankful that I did.

In French dishes, you’ll find that they call for a lot of butter.  Butter just makes everything taste better.  But try ghee…you may find this butter is on a whole other level.

Recipe Notes

This recipe calls for roasted garlic.  If you don’t have any on hand, don’t worry.  It is super easy to make.  All you need is a head of garlic and olive oil.

I recommend roasting your own garlic, because it will add to the overall flavor of this dish.

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Cut off the top of the garlic head and take as much of the outer skin off as you can, leaving at least a layer of skin on the garlic.
  3. Wrap aluminum foil around the garlic, leaving the top portion open (but enough foil to cover the top).
  4. Drizzle a couple of teaspoons of olive oil over the top, covering all of the cut, exposed garlic cloves.  Cover the top of the bulb with aluminum foil.
  5. Place covered clove on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 40 minutes, or until cloves feel soft.
Print Recipe
 Pisto Manchego
A hearty Spanish vegetarian stew.
Course Soup
Cuisine Spanish
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 2.5 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Soup
Cuisine Spanish
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 2.5 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Prepare roasted garlic (per instructions in blog post).
  2. While garlic is roasting, prep ingredients.
  3. After the roasted garlic is done, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a large pot over moderate heat. Add onions, fresh garlic and roasted garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent (8 minutes).
  4. Add bell peppers and zucchini. Cook for 3 minutes. Stir often.
  5. Add white wine and simmer, stirring occasionally, until wine is reduced to 2 tablespoons (5 minutes).
  6. Reduce heat to low. Add tomatoes, simmer for 30 minutes, until majority of the juices have evaporated (leave a little bit of juice, or if you prefer a more 'stewlike' soup, cook until all of the juices have evaporated).
  7. Add salt (season to your liking).
  8. Stir in vinegar, parsley and remaining ghee during last two minutes of cooking.
  9. Transfer pisto to bowls and add shredded manchego cheese on top. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

Share this Recipe

Make This: Spanish Shrimp in Olive Oil (Gambas al Ajillo)


It’s been a long time since I did a country focused post.  I needed to explore a new cuisine I’ve never made (or tried) before.  I asked a friend which country I should focus on this time and she came up with Spain!  So over this last month, I focused on making and trying out several Spanish recipes.  Today, I am going to share my favorite of the bunch, a tapas recipe featuring Spanish Shrimp in Olive Oil (Gambas al Ajillo).

This dish is best served alongside some crusty bread (I sopped up this dish with a Rosemary & Olive Oil loaf).  This dish was so amazingly good, it got Matthew Lucifer’s paw of approval.  He does not like to eat human food often, so it always surprises me when he discovers a dish he likes.  [Although, the boy does love him some sugar.]

Apparently, he loves shrimp.  Who knew?  He won’t eat pork in any way shape or form.  For the longest time, I thought he might be Jewish…until he inhaled all of that shrimp. (Disclosure: Pics below are not from this latest taste test.)

I found this recipe on Food & Wine. I have to say that this recipe is going to be an absolute keeper in my recipe book.

Some modifications…if you can get fresh shrimp…great!  But if you can’t, purchase frozen shrimp with the tails (I used frozen for this recipe).  Also, make your life a little easier by making sure you purchase the shrimp already shelled and deveined.

About Olive Oil

Make sure that you use high quality extra virgin olive oil for this recipe.  It seems like there is a widespread epidemic where it is becoming more and more difficult to find real olive oil in America.  I tried a brand from California for this recipe, but it is nothing like a good 100% Italian olive oil.

For those who don’t know, there are a lot of fake olive oils on the market.  Read the back of the label.  Sometimes you’ll find that there are several different types of oils in that “olive oil” packaging, plus food coloring.  That is not olive oil.  It is fake olive oil.  The Italian Mafia have been sending over a lot of fake olive oil and selling it on the US market to even the most well known food distributors in America, passing it off as if it is the real thing.  Many of the major name brands are guilty of being fakes.  It’s a billion dollar con.

The only legit olive oil I’ve been able to find is at the olive bar at my local Food Emporium in Manhattan.  I usually put a few olives in the container and then ladle up as much of the olive oil as I can.  Weird, I know.  Other good places to get olive oil are shops that specialize in olive oil.  That way you can sample the olive oil before you purchase.

According to this article, if you find olive oil from Australia or Chile, buy it.  They are the most stringent countries putting out the best and purest extra virgin olive oil.

Print Recipe
 Spanish Shrimp in Olive Oil (Gambas al Ajillo)
This recipe is originally from Food & Wine.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Spanish
Servings
Ingredients
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Spanish
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, toss the shrimp with 1 teaspoon of salt. Let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a cast iron skillet, combine garlic and olive oil, cooking over moderately LOW heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is very fragrant and just starts to turn brown (8-10 minutes). Add chile and cook, stirring until fragrant (15-30 seconds).
  3. Add shrimp to the skillet, stirring and turning the shrimp occasionally, until barely pink (5 minutes). Stir in parsley, sherry, lemon zest and a generous pinch of salt. Remove from heat. Let stand until shrimp is cooked through (3-5 minutes). Serve in the skillet with crusty bread.
Recipe Notes

Share this Recipe

Mouth Watering Slow Cooker Portuguese Ribs

I’ve been wanting to share this recipe for such a long time. Amazon Prime put three racks of ribs into my hands last week, and I knew it was time to share my recipe for Slow Cooker Portuguese Ribs.

First, for those who are Amazon Prime subscribers and live in or near a major city, sign up for the Amazon Treasure Truck texts [signup is located at the top of the linked page].  The morning the Treasure Truck is in town, they will send you a text with their current deal.  If you want the deal, just click on the special link in the text, select the time and location that works for you based on where the truck will be, checkout, then meet up with the truck.

Before Halloween, their special deal was a 160 piece bag of candy and a pumpkin of your choosing for $8.  The candy alone usually goes for $18, the pumpkin for $13.  Talk about an excellent deal!

Last Friday, I got three racks of ribs for $15.50.  That is a great price considering they usually go for $8+ per package.

So with three racks of ribs, I decided to finally share this recipe.  I took one picture of the ribs before Surita (Matthew’s 19 year old sister) destroyed the set.  Matthew came running in after it happened.  He’s usually a great set assistant, not so much on recipe days.  Surita devoured the ribs.  As skinny as she is, I have no idea where she puts it.

Luckily, I did get to try it before she ate them.  So mouth watering good!

The Original Recipe

I found this recipe for Portuguese Dry Rub Pork Spare Ribs and Spicy Sweet Piri Piri BBQ Sauce a few years ago from Tia Maria’s blog.

In the original recipe, Tia Maria bakes the ribs.  So if you want to go the old school method, or throw them on the grill, follow her recipe.  If you want to go the slow cooker route, follow the recipe below.


The Slow Cooker Recipe

Unlike most slow cooker recipes, this isn’t a dump into the crock pot, wait a few hours and then it’s done.  This is a process (but very simple).  What you’ll wind up with in the end is the juiciest, mouth watering, meat falling off the bone, best pork spare ribs you’ve ever tasted.

This recipe is adapted for the slow cooker from Tia Maria’s original recipe.  Only the BBQ sauce stays true to her recipe.  Please note that if you want to bake or grill, please follow Tia Maria’s recipe in the link.

Print Recipe
 Slow Cooker Portuguese Ribs
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Portuguese
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Portuguese
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. [Prep ribs]. Place ribs in crock pot. Pour wine over the ribs and rub the chopped garlic over the ribs. Place cover over the crock pot and let the ribs marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
  2. [Mix the seasonings]. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix the salt, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper and Piri Piri (or Tabasco sauce), until you have a paste. Set aside.
  3. After the ribs have marinated for an hour, take the ribs out of the refrigerator, and rub the spices into the spare ribs using your fingers.
  4. Cook ribs on the High setting.
  5. [Prepare the BBQ Sauce]. Mix together the ketchup, brown sugar, sugar, worcestershire sauce, piri piri and white vinegar. Put aside.
  6. At the 1 hour and 15 minute mark, add the BBQ sauce to the ribs.
  7. Cook for another 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours (or until the meat is falling off of the bone).
Share this Recipe