Recipes, Food and Wine from Spain
Hi there! below you will find the most popular posts of July 2007, make sure you have not missed any.
Don´t want to miss a single tip? Subscribe to my RSS Feed!
Posted: August 1st, 2007 under Recipes, Wine.
Comments: none
Knowing how to read properly a spanish wine label is going to give you enough information about the content (and maybe a great deal) of that bottle.
Like a popular saying: You can not judge a book by it´s cover; but when it comes to wine you can judge a wine by its label.
A label provides you information about who made the wine, which year was made and where was made…
Vintage: Very important. Every year is different, you should know if the vintage you are about to select was a good one for that Wine Region. Ex: One vintage can be a good one for a “Rioja” but a bad one for a “Ribera del Duero”. You get the idea??
Denominacion de Origen (D.O) or Wine region: Every D.O has its special character and taste. Trying differents D.O is the only way to educate yourself about wich D.O is your favourite and matches your taste.
Quality of the Wine. In Spain we have minimum of aging in bottle and in oak barrel for a wine to be considered by the spanish laws as Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva. And we are the only country in world who has that classification.
Crianza: A wine labeled as crianza has spent at least one year in oak barrel.
Reserva: A wine which says reserva on the bottle is a three year old wine and at least one of these years has to have been spent in oak.
Gran Reserva: Wines are aged for at least five years, where two years are in oak and three years in the bottle.
I hope you enjoy and find it usefull.
Cheers
samuel
Posted: July 29th, 2007 under Wine.
Comments: 1
I was reading my news last day and I came across with an interesting article about spanish cuisine and mediterrenean diet in general:
Spain launched a drive Monday to win European support for a bid to include the traditional Mediterranean diet on a U.N. list of protected world cultural treasures.
Spanish officials say the cuisine based on olive oil, fish and vegetables should be the first diet on the UNESCO list of traditions, festivals, rituals and crafts from around the world which the U.N. body certifies as part of a unique cultural heritage.”
No diets are currently on the list, but Spain quickly received backing from its Iberian neighbor, Portugal.
It is “a very good idea by a member state with a very good cuisine, just like Portugal, France, Italy and Greece,” said Portugal’s Agriculture Minister Jaime Silva, whose country holds the EU presidency.
Spain wants the diet included when UNESCO updates its cultural heritage list this year.
The U.N. cultural agency’s compilation of so-called “intangible” cultural treasures complements its better-known list of World heritage sites that includes Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Great Wall of China and the Statue of Liberty in New York.
We have high hopes for this endeavor and believe that the characteristics of this exemplary diet will make it clearly deserving of the distinction, which is why we will spare no effort in championing it,” said a document presented by Spain to a meeting of EU agriculture ministers.”
It said medical studies found the Mediterranean diet’s blend of olive oil, fresh fruit, vegetables and fish, combined with a “moderate” intake of wine provides “a quality nutritional model: rich, varied, balanced, healthy and appetizing.”
It leads to fewer heart problems and a longer life, the document said.
It said the diet was “a very important component of the cultural, social, territorial, environmental and gastronomic heritage” of the countries and peoples in the region, “historically forming part of a way of life.”
Source: Yahoo News
Posted: July 26th, 2007 under General.
Comments: none
Probably you are more used to eat this vegetables grilled instead of fried, but I really recommend you to give a try to this way. This way of cooking the vegetables are very common in some mediterranean regions. You can serve it a a side this, tapas or as appetizer.
Ingredients: for 2 Servings
6 Potatoes
1/2 Eggplant
1/4 Green Pepper
1/4 Red Pepper
1/2 Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Bay Leaves
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Procedure:
First peel and cut the potatoes in cubes like 1 cm (0,5 inch) thick. Then do the same with the eggplant. Finally chopped the peppers and onion.
Once the olive oil is hot add everything (including the entire garlic cloves and bay leaves) in the frying pan and fry all together for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes get a little brown color.
Tip: Remember your are frying, you have to put plenty of olive oil. You can use vegetal oil if you want, but is much better and tastier with olive oil. Also I recommend to put paper towel under the tutti-burri to absorve the oil and make it less oily, then remove the paper and start serving
-Samuel
Posted: July 25th, 2007 under Recipes.
Comments: none