Top Spanish Tapas...

Catalan rabbit or "Conejo con San Feina". This recipe is 4 generations old that we know of and the first time we got involved making it with some Spanish friends. Even the local vultures overhead seemed to be interested...



Feeds a whole "barrio" or a lot of friends and neighbours!

Ingredients: (serves 12)

4 medium onions
4 medium aubergines
4 medium red peppers
6 medium green peppers
400g pumpkin
12 ripe tomatoes
2 bulbs of garlic
2 rabbits (cut into pieces)
Large glass of Brandy
Salt and pepper
8 tablespoons of Olive oil



How to cook:

1.Prepare the vegetables in advance, better the day before as it can take some time. All of the vegetables except the garlic need to be chopped/diced as finely as possible. When the vegetables are chopped, set aside in containers until ready to be cooked.

2.Separate the garlic into individual cloves (or teeth as the Spanish say), remove the excess outer layers but do not peel.

3.Heat the oil in a large paella pan and add the garlic. Cook gently for 5-6 minutes or so then add the rabbit pieces. Cook the rabbit slowly for 10 minutes until lightly golden, add the brandy, cover and continue coking for a further 20 minutes very slowly until cooked through. Remove and set aside.

4.Heat a little more olive oil in the pan, add the onion and cook, stirring until translucent. Add the aubergines and peppers and cook for 10-12 minutes or so then add the pumpkin and the tomatoes. Cook very slowly for about an hour, stirring occasionally until everything has reduced and you have a rich sauce.

5.Return the rabbit and garlic to the pan stirring well to cover the meat with the vegetable sauce. Season to taste, cover and continue cooking for 20 minutes until the rabbit has taken on the flavours of the sauce.

6.Serve with lots of fresh bread.



Fabulous dish and a real opportunity for a get together given the prep time. Best cooked in a paella pan either over the open fire/BBQ or on an outdoor gas burner.

Its always very strange at the end of August when almost overnight everyone who has come from all over Spain for their holidays return home. The fiestas in the village come to an end and September looms taking us into the Autumn.



As usual and in fine style our neighbours held one big fiesta in their cave for the locals and as is what happens every year we prepare a little something just for them the day before they leave. This time Gayle (as always) excelled in the kitchen by preparing an enormous lasagne. Tapas consisted of foie gras with a muscadet white wine and piquillo peppers with pitted manzanilla olives.



A good night was had by all, looking forward to the next time in the winter where it will be card games, cognac. and what our neighbours call "the hell" - our woodburner which kicks out quite a bit of heat!



Coming in September:

A Catalan recipe from Barcelona to feed an army
A very red paella from Seville
A mountain of tapas
...and Sangria.

To finish, a slide show of tapas dishes. What a great August it has been.

August in Andalucia in fiesta time! Orce village is no exception with the first two weeks of the month jam packed with all kinds of events - many are geared towards the children with recently released films being shown on a big screen within the castle grounds and many other types of parties.



Orce village is also home to many cave dwellings which are rented out for the holiday season, with so many people you certainly know its holiday time! With this you get your typical "street scene" with tables and chairs spilling out onto the roads. Tapas are served with cold beers and the atmosphere becomes more and more lively towards evening time..



One typical dish served up in the sunshine is tomato and pepper salad:

Ingredients:

8-10 vine tomatoes
1 jar pequillo peppers
Extra virgin olive oil
Alioli (garlic mayonnaise)
Chives
Queen olives

A very simple salad but with a twist - after arranging the tomatoes on the outside of the dish with the peppers in the middle add some olive oil to the alioli and thin the mayonnaise down so it becomes a dressing. Add the olives and sprinkle with chives.

A fresh local salad to serve around 6 persons.

There is nothing like a Spanish paella for entertaining guests! The paella is a very good alternative to the traditional barbeque and much more filling.

Here we have (in Spanish) a traditional paella being made... music's not too bad either! Recipes below..



Homemade seafood paella (stage by stage photos)

Homemade serrano ham paella

Homemade rabbit & pork paella (made and photographed outdoors)

More to follow...