3 o 4 al dia

The trendiest tables in Barcelona right now aren't serving avocado toast: they're serving tortilla, bocadillos  and macarrons de l'àvia , grandma's baked macaroni. Bar Bocata, in Gràcia, has helped make this old-school dish fashionable again. This is my home version — not the bar's recipe, just the same idea: macaroni in a tomato and minced-meat sauce, finished with a golden, bubbling cheese crust. Serves: 4  ·  Prep time: 15 min  ·  Cook time: 55 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients (serves 4) 400 g macaroni 400 g minced meat (half pork, half beef) 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 carrot, finely grated (optional, it softens the acidity of the tomato) 2 garlic cloves, minced 400 g crushed tomatoes 100 ml white wine (optional) 150 g grated cheese (Mix Emmental and mozzarella) 3 tbsp olive oil Salt and black pepper A pinch of sugar, if the tomato is acidic A little butter, for the dish Method Start with the sofregit . Heat the olive oil in a wide pan...

Gazpacho is one of the great classics of Spanish summer cooking: a cold, smooth tomato soup with cucumber, pepper, garlic, olive oil and a touch of vinegar. This time I wanted to serve it in a slightly more unusual way, topped with homemade popcorn — the one in the photo. Serves: 4 · Prep time: 5 min · Cook time: 5 min · Difficulty: Easy It may sound strange, but it makes a lot of sense. In Spain, gazpacho is often served with small toppings: croutons, diced cucumber, pepper or onion. Popcorn plays the same role as the croutons, adding crunch and a salty note, but it is lighter and much more surprising. The contrast between the cold, silky soup and the warm, crunchy popcorn is what makes this dish fun. It is a great way to surprise your guests. I'm not going to give you the gazpacho recipe here, as every family has its own. If you're looking for ideas for cold soups, on the blog you'll find Mum's Salmorejo , the thicker Cordoban cousin of gazpacho, and Mazamo...

This past Easter in Osaka I had the chance to try some Mega Fluffy Pancakes (Japanese soufflé pancakes) — the ones in the photo. Serves: 4 pancakes (2 servings)  ·  Prep time: 15 min  ·  Cook time: 12 min  ·  Difficulty: Medium I found this recipe and I hope to make them soon. Ingredients (makes 4 pancakes) 2 egg whites (to be precise, the recipe called for 84 g) 2 egg yolks (34 g) 35 g type 00 flour 2 g baking powder (Royal) 25 g whole milk 25 g sugar Vanilla extract or vanilla. Method To make the fluffy pancakes, first put the egg whites in a bowl and place them in the freezer for 10–12 minutes, until a thin layer of ice forms. In another bowl, put the yolks with the milk and mix well with a whisk. Add the vanilla extract (or vanilla) and the sifted flour and baking powder. Take the egg whites out of the freezer and beat them at low speed, adding the sugar little by little. You want a firm, stable meringue. Fold the whites into the yolk mixture:...

After spending this summer redesigning the blog, today I came across a recipe I want to keep at hand. Last Easter I was in Japan, and among the many food experiences there, a very simple but curious one is the egg sandwich, Tamago Sando: you can find them everywhere and eat them quickly while you keep exploring the country — a great option. Serves: 2 sandwiches (4 halves)  ·  Prep time: 10 min  ·  Cook time: 9 min (+5 min cooling)  ·  Difficulty: Easy Tamago Sando - Japanese Egg Sandwich Ingredients (for 2 sandwiches) 4 medium eggs 4 slices of crustless white sandwich bread 60 g Japanese mayonnaise (or regular mayonnaise) 15 g whole milk 1 teaspoon white sugar salt to taste white pepper to taste Method Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover them with cold water and bring to the boil over medium heat: from the moment it starts boiling, count exactly 9 minutes. Transfer them straight away to iced water, let them cool for at least 5 minutes and peel them. Sep...

Good apricots are hard to find, and ones with the aroma of the old days are now completely impossible. The other day I bought some fairly good ones and made jam. I adapted a recipe I had written down to my own taste. Here it is — it makes about 3 jam jars, hehe Serves: about 3 jars  ·  Prep time: 15 min (+2 h resting)  ·  Cook time: 30–40 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients: 1 kg apricots 500 g sugar Juice of one lemon 1 cinnamon stick 1 strip of lemon peel Method: Wash the apricots, remove the stones, weigh them, cut them into sixths and put them in a pot that can go on the heat. Add the sugar (half the weight of the fruit), drizzle with the juice of one lemon and leave to rest for 2 hours, stirring from time to time, without heat. You'll see the fruit releasing its juice and the sugar dissolving, leaving the fruit in a fairly thick syrup. Now it's time to turn on the heat, not too high, and add the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel; if you don't want...

This recipe is a classic, and now my son Pau loves flans, so I'm leaving it here to keep it close at hand. Ingredients: Makes 6 flans Serves: 6 flans  ·  Prep time: 20 min  ·  Cook time: 50 min (+ overnight in the fridge)  ·  Difficulty: Medium 100 g granulated sugar 115 g white sugar 60 ml water 2 eggs and 4 yolks (6 eggs) a few drops of vanilla extract 500 ml whole milk cinnamon peel of 1/2 lemon Method: Ideally you'll have 6 aluminium or silicone flan moulds. Make a golden caramel with the 100 g of sugar and the water. It should turn a deep amber. Beat the rest of the sugar with the eggs, the yolks and the drops of vanilla extract in a bowl until you get a smooth cream. Put a saucepan on the heat with the milk, the lemon peel and the cinnamon, and bring it to a gentle boil. Pour the caramel into the bottom of the moulds and let it cool completely. When the milk has cooled a little, slowly add it to the egg and sugar mixture through a sieve, whisking ...

I cooked this dish several times when I lived in Italy. It's delicious and not as well known as the classic potato gnocchi; it looks a little like them, but not too much. Serves: 4  ·  Prep time: 25 min  ·  Cook time: 10 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 700 g spinach 200 g ricotta 90 g flour 70 g grated cheese 1 egg 40 g butter Method Boil the spinach in plenty of water, cool it, drain it and chop it very finely. Mix the spinach with the ricotta, add two tablespoons of Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano), an egg and the flour, season with salt and pepper and mix everything well with a fork. Shortly before serving, use two spoons to shape the irregular gnocchi (malfatti, 'badly made') however you like. Once shaped, drop them into salted boiling water. They should boil for about 2 minutes; conveniently, that's just when they float to the surface. Take them out of the water and leave them on a plate or a cloth for a few seconds to drain off the excess water...

One of the purposes of this blog is to serve as a recipe database, so that wherever I am I can find the recipes I might need. A classic is yogurt cake, ideal for breakfast and afternoon snacks, and it can also be the base for other desserts. The curious thing about this recipe is that all the quantities are proportional to the yogurt: in fact, you measure everything with the yogurt pot. As I said, a classic. Serves: 8  ·  Prep time: 15 min  ·  Cook time: 35–40 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 3 eggs 1 plain YOGURT (you can try other flavours) 2 measures of sugar (measured with the yogurt pot) 3 measures of flour 1/2 measure of oil 1 sachet of baking powder Grated lemon zest (optional, like fog lights) Method Whisk the three egg whites to stiff peaks. Separately, beat the yolks with the sugar until pale (you can add a little milk to make it creamier), then add the yogurt and the oil to the mixture. Next add the flour and baking powder, and gently fol...

I'm leaving the recipe here to keep it at hand: La Viña-style cheesecake, made in individual portions in the air fryer (in my case, a Xiaomi). Serves: 4 individual cheesecakes  ·  Prep time: 10 min  ·  Cook time: 30 min at 160ºC (+ chilling)  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 280 g cream cheese, i.e. Philadelphia. 2 eggs. 150 ml cooking cream. 110 g sugar. 10 g flour. (yes, only 10 g) Beat everything well with a whisk or a hand blender. Some people add the eggs one by one, but I just did it all at once and it turned out perfect. In my case, I poured it into 4 large individual flan-style moulds, which happened to fit perfectly in the air fryer. One is missing from the photo because we'd already eaten it at the first tasting. Cooking time: 30 minutes at 160ºC. This way it's well done, and it rises quite a bit, so don't fill the moulds too much. If you prefer it creamier, try reducing the time a little. If you make it in a bigger mould, increase the cooking ...

I had this recipe from an Italian cooking website that no longer exists, incucina.tv  Pasta all'arancia, 'orange pasta'. I had already made pasta al limone, which my friends really love. Now it's orange. Serves: 4  ·  Prep time: 10 min  ·  Cook time: 12 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 350 g pasta (I used fettuccine) 125 g ricotta (similar to mató cheese) 1 courgette (zucchini) 1 orange 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper Method Put 3 litres of water in a pot; when it boils, add salt and the pasta, along with the courgette cut into rounds. Meanwhile, carefully remove the orange peel and chop it finely, then squeeze the juice. Keep a few pieces aside for decoration. Put the ricotta in a serving bowl, loosen it with half a glass of hot water (from the pasta water) and work it with a wooden spoon until creamy, then add the orange juice and peel and mix well. Add a little salt and 4 tablespoons of oil, a little white pepper and mix...

I saw this recipe on El Comidista. I'm copying it here to have it at hand, which is the founding idea of our blog: having recipes at hand. I made ajoblanco this summer after a long time without making it. It's a great dish, so I'll make this 'version', Mazamorra. The photo with this post is of an ajoblanco I made at least 15 years ago; I understand mazamorra should be much thicker. To understand the dish, you could say that Mazamorra is to Ajoblanco what Salmorejo is to Gazpacho. Serves: 4  ·  Prep time: 20 min  ·  Chilling: at least 2 h (ideally overnight)  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients (serves 4) 100 g raw almonds 75 g toasted almonds (or raw almonds toasted in a pan until golden) 75 g fried almonds (or raw almonds fried in a pan with oil) 150 g bread crumb (the soft inside of a 'telera'-type loaf) 90 g Picual extra virgin olive oil 400 ml water 10 g garlic (a small piece) 10 g salt 30 g aged (reserva) vinegar 60 g peeled Granny Smith apple Method C...

I took this recipe from the book 'La cuina dels llegums' (Cooking with Pulses) by Fundació Alícia. Serves: 4 (as a snack)  ·  Prep time: 15 min (+30 min chilling)  ·  Cook time: 12 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 250 g chickpea flour 80 ml hot water 60 ml olive oil 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 tablespoon of spices Salt Method In a bowl, put the flour, baking powder, oil, salt and pepper and mix well until you get a smooth dough; you can use your hands (clean ones, of course). Then add the hot water and work the dough until it forms a compact but flexible paste. Place the dough between two sheets of baking paper and roll it out very thinly with a rolling pin. Let it chill in the fridge so it firms up nicely, for no less than 30 minutes. Remove the top sheet of baking paper and sprinkle with the spices and salt. You can press the dough lightly with your hands or the rolling pin so the spices stick well. Cut the dough into triangles (like nachos) with a...

You can call it Baba Ganoush, Mutabal, aubergine cream or even aubergine hummus; the point is that it's very easy to make and delicious. Serves: 4  ·  Prep time: 20 min  ·  Cook time: 40 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients for about 4 people 4 black aubergines (eggplants) 1 lemon 80 g tahini 1 spring onion 2 salad tomatoes Parsley Different kinds of bread, to taste. Vegetable sticks (crudités) Method Cut the aubergines in half lengthwise and score them diagonally so they cook better and faster. Place the aubergines on a tray and bake for 40 minutes in an oven preheated to about 200ºC. Once cooked, let them cool a little and scoop out the flesh without breaking the skin; a spoon works well for this. Set the flesh aside in a sieve so it releases some of its juices (they can be slightly bitter). Finely chop the tomatoes; peeled is better, but not necessary. Do the same with a spring onion. Chop parsley with a knife, to taste (the original recipes use quit...

It had been a long time since I made roasted red pepper vichyssoise. I really wanted to make it and enjoy it again; it's fantastic. Serves: 6  ·  Prep time: 20 min  ·  Cook time: 1 h 30 min (+1 h chilling)  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients: 7 red tomatoes 100 g sugar 1 kg red peppers 125 ml olive oil 25 ml sherry vinegar 1/2 l water 125 ml single (liquid) cream salt and pepper Method : First, roast the peppers in the oven (much better if you can roast them on a barbecue or similar, although they turn out very well in the oven). Brush them with oil and roast in a hot oven at 180ºC for 20-30 minutes, depending on the oven, the peppers, etc., so keep an eye on them. When they're done, the skin comes off easily. Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking tray. Season them with sugar on top, black pepper and a drizzle of oil. Let them confit in the oven at about 100ºC for an hour or an hour and a half; in my case, I turned the oven up to 1...

For about 10 years I've had a cast-iron waffle iron, the kind that goes straight onto the flame, and I love it. This morning we made waffles. I'm leaving the ingredients here because they turned out really well; these quantities make about 10-12 nice thick waffles. The recipe is simple: mix all the ingredients well, pour the batter into the waffle iron, which should be very hot and greased with a little butter so the waffles don't stick, and give them one minute per side. Serves: 10–12 waffles  ·  Prep time: 10 min  ·  Cook time: about 2 min per waffle  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 300 g flour. ½ litre milk. 70 g sugar. 100 g butter. 2 eggs. 1 sachet of baking powder. A pinch of salt. Method There's no secret to it: mix the ingredients well, except the butter, which we use to grease the waffle iron so they don't stick. Time? Keep testing. Every waffle iron is a world of its own, and if it's like mine and goes straight onto the flame, there are lots o...

I have some cookbooks at home that I can't remember where they came from. Among them is 'El arte de la cocina española' by Alicia Ríos and Lourdes March, in the edition sponsored by BBVA. The design is a bit off-putting and the photos could be better, but there are many traditional recipes that are surely worth it (worth putting up with the book's design and photos). Among them, I want to bring here, to always have it at hand, the recipe for 'Tocinillos de Cielo' (literally 'little bacon from heaven'), which I've seen can be called 'Flamets' in Catalan. Besides the recipe, the book also tells a little of its history. It seems this sweet treat comes from the Jerez area, where large quantities of beaten egg whites were used to clarify the region's wines. With the leftover yolks, the nuns invented this fantastic dessert. Without further ado, the recipe. Serves: 6–8  ·  Prep time: 20 min  ·  Cook time: 30 min (+ cooling)  ·  Difficulty: M...

Having lived in Italy for almost 3 years in the mid-90s, I really like pizza, but I like the cocas made in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands even more, because they carry an ingredient that for me is key in cooking: memory, recollections. That's why smells and flavours transport you (and us) through time in a magical way. This coca is a version of the typical Majorcan Coca de Trampó, but it also recalls the 'Coc de tomata' made in southern Catalonia and northern Castelló. Serves: 6 (one baking-tray coca)  ·  Prep time: 30 min (+30 min resting)  ·  Cook time: 25–30 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 60 ml olive oil 70 ml mild beer 200 g flour (roughly; as much as the dough takes) 1 courgette (zucchini) 1 green pepper 1 large onion 1 ripe tomato Salt and pepper Obviously, choose the vegetables you like; what is very important is to cut them small so they cook well. These quantities make one large coca the size of a baking tray; from there, it...

I never thought I'd make rice with the Thermomix, but this 'recipe' I'm sharing today is ideal for a side-dish rice: it turns out very well and you don't have to worry about anything, since quantities, time and temperature are all controlled. Serves: 4 (as a side)  ·  Prep time: 5 min  ·  Cook time: about 22 min  ·  Difficulty: Easy The point of putting this recipe on the blog is to have it at hand (quantities, speeds, temperature), which is more or less the founding purpose of our blog. Ingredients 50 g olive oil 800 g water 350 g rice A little salt, to taste Method Remember that for this we use the Thermomix simmering basket. Add the oil, water and salt and mix briefly, for example 5 seconds at speed 6. Put the basket inside the Thermomix bowl and bring the water to the boil, programming about 7 minutes, Varoma, speed 4. Pour the rice into the basket (you can do this through the lid opening without opening the Thermomix) and program 13 minutes, Varoma...