GREEN PEAS WITH IBERICO HAM AND POACHED EGG

Peas can be cooked in a variety of methods, making a delicious and versatile vegetable for your table.There are generally three types of peas that are commonly eaten: green peas, snow peas, and snap peas.
Only about 5% of the peas grown are sold fresh(spring season), the rest are sold frozen or canned.
Frozen peas are able to retain color,  texture and  flavor better than the canned peas, so frozen is a better option.
Green peas have a sweet taste and provide us with nutrients, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits, and also are a reliable source of omega-3 fat.
There are several ways to cook green peas, but my favorite one is saute, because provides the greatest flavor and because of of the low heat allows to concentrate the nutrients.
This recipe could be served as a main dish or as a side in smaller portion, anyway is a good choice for our week menu plan.

For this recipe we will need:

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 leek finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• iberico ham diced
• fresh or frozen green peas
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste

ELABORATION

1. Chop the leek roughly and finely slice the garlic.
2. If you choose frozen peas, add water to a pot , set the pot on high, and let it boil.When it comes to boil, quickly add the peas and turn the heat down to medium high. Cook for about 3 minutes(be careful not to overcooked the peas because will lose their green color and flavor).
3. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the leek and saute for 1 or 2 minutes and then add the garlic and cook in a medium-low heat for a few minutes to soften.
4. Add the iberico ham and cook for 2 or 3 minutes.
5. Add the peas and cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly in a a low heat. Set aside
6. Heat  2 cups of water in a pot, add a pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons vinegar and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
7. Create a gentle whirlpool in the water to help the egg white wrap around the yolk.
8. Meanwhile, crack one egg into a small bowl and drop slowly the egg into the water and cook for three minutes.
9. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon, and drain into a kitchen paper.
10. Serve the peas with the poached egg on top
11. Enjoy!!!

ROASTED TOMATOES AND IBERICO HAM GARLIC TOAST

This recipe is so simple but full of flavor and I love how my kitchen smells so good  when I am cooking tomatoes and garlic in the oven.
When tomatoes are cooked in a healthy fat like olive oil, it increases the absorption of the lycopene.
The tomato is the primary food source of lycopene, a naturally red pigment linked to prevent numerous diseases.
Tomatoes also contain significant amounts of vitamin E, fiber, potassium and folate.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as the perfect appetizer in a family or friend gathering.

For this recipe we will need:

INGREDIENTS

4 toast:

• 4 tomatoes
• 4 head garlic
• 8 iberico ham slices
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• thyme
• oregano
•  pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

PREPARATION

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.Meanwhile, hull the steams from your tomatoes and slice a shallow "X" in the bottom.
2. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water and watch for their skins to start to wrinkle and split, for about 1 minute, and scoop them out with a spoon and transfer them to a bowl with cold water.
3. Once cooled, transfer the tomatoes to a cutting board, and use your fingers or a knife to peel back the tomato skins.
4. Slice the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds and cut them in small pieces
5. Preheat the oven at 300F and put the diced tomatoes, the garlic heads(no peeled), olive oil, vinegar, salt, sugar, thyme and oregano in a baking bowl.
6. Roast for about 1 hour.
7. Toast the bread in a toaster or in the grill.
8. Spread the garlic over the toast(the garlic is soft after roasting).
9. Spread the tomato jam.
10. Top with some slices of iberico ham.
11. Enjoy your delicious toast!!!

COCIDO MADRILEÑO

Cocido Madrileño is probably one of the most representative dish of Madrid cuisine. Cocido is a substantial dish prepared with meat, vegetables and chickpeas.
You can enjoy cocido during the winter  but is served all the year round in some typical restaurants in Madrid.
If you are planning to visit Spain, don't forget to visit a typical madrileño restaurant to enjoy this heartwarming dish, but be sure that you are really hungry!!!
Cocido usually is  served in 2 or 3 stages, the first course  is the stock  or caldo, and the second one are the vegetables with the meat  and the chickpeas or the veggies first and then the meat and the chickpeas.
The main ingredient in cocido are the chickpeas, a high protein legume, rich in fiber content and also rich in vitamins and minerals like calcium, magnesium and zinc.
On the other hand, we have the carbohydrates coming from the vegetables to complete this nutrient dense recipe.
Today we will learn how to prepare this wonderful jewel of the Spanish cuisine.

INGREDIENTS
                                                           

Serves 6

• 14 oz.chickpeas
• 4 carrots
• 1 onion
• 2 leek
• celery
• turnip
• 1/2 cabbage
• 4 potatoes
• ham bone
• beef bone
• 1/2 pound organic beef stew meat
• 1/2 organic chicken
• iberico ham tip
• bay leaves
• olive oil
• salt

PREPARATION

1. Soak the chickpeas in warm water the night before(at least 8 hours) with some salt.
2. In a large stockpot put the meat, the bones,  and iberico ham tip, cover with 2 liters of water and bring to a boil.
3. Discard any scum that rises to the top of the water.
4. Add the chicken, chickpeas, carrots, turnip, onion, leek and cabbage and salt.
5. Simmer for about 2 hours on the lowest heat.
6. Peel and wash the potatoes, cut in half and add to the pot after two hours aprox.
7. Check pot often and add water if you need it.
8. After  aprox 3 hours the boiling time is completed. 
9. Remove the meats from the pot and slice them.
10. Prepare a warm soup with the stock or caldo.
11. In a bowl  serve the meat with the chickpeas and in another bowl the vegetables and potatoes.
12. Drizzle the vegetables with vinegar and olive oil and the meats with olive oil
13. Enjoy!!!

HOMEMADE IBERICO HAM AND MANCHEGO CHEESE BURGER

Is there anybody who doesn't like hamburgers? So, if you are a fan of them, you probably begin salivating at the mention of iberico ham and Manchego cheese in a tasty homemade burger

This is a simple hamburger, elevated into something that goes beyond "gourmet", and is the result of high quality ingredients  arrange in a way that brings pleasure to whoever taste it.
I have created  a burger featuring two of my absolute favorite tapas staples, Iberico ham and Manchego cheese ... Wow factor!

Serves 4 burgers

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 pound organic ground pork
• 1/2 pound organic ground beef
• 1 egg beaten
• 4 Manchego cheese slices
• 4 Iberico ham slices
• 4 burger buns
• 2 cups fresh arugula
• garlic salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• unsalted butter
• homemade mayonnaise

PREPARATION

1. In a bowl, marinate  ground pork and ground beef  adding one beaten egg, garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper, knead the meat with your hands for a few minutes, cover and reserve in the fridge at least 30 minutes.
2. Shape the meat into 4 equal-size patties and brush them with olive oil.
3. In a medium cast-iron skillet, cook the patties for 3 minutes on one side and flip to the other side and place the  Manchego cheese slice on the top of the already cooked side.
4. Meanwhile, in another skillet brush the buns with butter and place them, cut side down, over medium-high heat until nicely toasted, for about 2 or 3 minutes.
5. In the same skillet place the iberico ham slices to warm them.
6. Spread homemade mayonnaise onto the bottom half of each butter bun.
7. Place fresh arugula,  cheese melted burger patties and iberico ham on the top.
8. Serve hot and enjoy.

ZUCCHINI SOUP AND IBERICO HAM

Zucchini and leeks combine to make a delicious creamed soup, whose flavor is heightened by the iberico  ham.
This soup could be served hot or cold( depends on the season), but anyway it's a great choice as a main course.
I also included potatoes and cheese for creaminess and texture and the result is a light, healthy soup that you will add to your favorites family recipes.
Zucchini are low in calories and contains significant quantities of potassium, folate and vitamin A and also has a high water content and very rich in fiber.
The recipe takes about  40 minutes to prepare so you don't need to spend hours in the kitchen.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 or 2 leeks chopped
• 3 zucchini chopped
• 1 or 2 potatoes peeled and chopped
• 2 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water
• 3 oz. sharp cheddar cheese diced
• 4 iberico ham slices
• salt , to taste

PREPARATION

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute the leeks until soft for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the zucchini, potatoes and vegetable broth or water. Cover and bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25 or 30 minutes, until vegetables are soft.
4. Add the cheese and puree the soup with a blender.
5. Season to taste with salt.
6. Next prepare the crunchy iberico ham, preheat the oven to 375F and lay the iberico ham on to a baking tray over parchment paper and roast them for about 5 minutes until crisp.
7. Serve the soup in bowls topped with iberico crunchy strips and a dash of olive oil.
8. Enjoy!!!

IBERICO HAM CROQUETTES

Croquetas in Spain are typical "tapas" dishes, usually filled with ham, chicken, fish like cod, but nowadays, many restaurants are offering different versions of croquettes with other fillings as ingredients like boletus(mushrooms) or different cheeses(brie, parmesan…) or even shrimps.
Croquette has the origin in France , but many countries in the world have their varieties and ways to prepare, like Germany, where the main ingredient is potato.
Croquetas, is a small fried roll , delicious inside because of the béchamel and the fillings and crunchy outside.
We can enjoy croquetas any time of the day like an appetizer , a side dish or even as a tapa.

To prepare iberico ham croquetas we will need:

 INGREDIENTS

• 1onion
• 1/2 pound iberico ham chopped
• 4 oz.butter
• 14 oz. iberico ham broth
• 20 oz. milk
• 1 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• olive oil(for deep frying)
• eggs(to cover)
• bread crumbs(to cover)

PREPARATION

Fist we will prepare bechamel:

1. Heat  butter in a saucepan and sauté  onion finely chopped and  iberico ham for about 5 minutes at low-medium temperature
2. Meanwhile, heat milk and  iberico ham broth to warm both liquids(we need these two liquids warm to make the béchamel)
3. Add  flour to the saucepan with  onion and iberico ham and stir everything with a wood spoon until the flour is well mixed 
4. Add  both warm liquids(milk and ham broth) , little by little,  to the saucepan, stirring constantly.
5. Stir for about 10 minutes in a medium-low temperature ( we can't stop stirring during these 10 minutes)
6. Add pinch of salt (usually it doesn't need too much because of ham broth) and pinch of nutmeg
7. Poured  béchamel into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill until next day in the fridge

Second we will shape croquette mixture:

1. Beat 2 or 3 eggs in a bowl and put bread crumbs in another bowl
2. Roll  mixture croquettes into oval shape( you can use an ice cream scoop)
3. Roll  croquette into bread crumbs, dip into eggs and again into breadcrumbs to coat well
4. Transfer to a parchment paper baking sheet and repeat with remaining croquette mixture
5. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and fry croquettes in batches until golden brown
6. Transfer to a paper towel to drain the excess of oil
7. Serve hot and enjoy!!!

HAM BONE AND VEGETABLE BROTH

Is there anything better than  having a hot cup of soup in a cold day?

Many of us go directly to the grocery store to buy chicken or meat broth and we add the broth to enrich our food, but there's something really better…we can make this broth at home. Bone broths are easy to prepare at home and very inexpensive.

Bone broth has incredible and numerous health benefits, and today we will prepare our both from the iberico ham.

Iberico ham broths are nutrient-dense, easy to digest, and very rich in flavor and contain protein and minerals in forms that your body can easily absorb like calcium, magnesium, silicon and phosphorus. Also broth coming from bones contain chondroitin sulphates,  glucosamine and collagen that are beneficial for our joint health and our immune system.

Today we will need for our broth:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 or 3 celery stalks 
• 1 leek
• 3 carrots
• 1/2 onion
•  1 or 2 iberico ham bone(depending of the size)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• water (2,5 litres or 10 cups)

PREPARATION

1. First we need to blanch the ham bone from the impurities that could contribute to  give our broth a bitter flavor
2. Place bones into a large stock pot and cover with water, bring to a boil so the bones will pull out impurities
3. Discard this water, we can repite this operation twice
4. Fill  the stock pot with clean cold water and put the clean ham bones
5. Now it's time to add  celery, leek, onion, carrots, bay leaves and apple cider vinegar
6. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for  about 2 or 3 hours
7. Sometimes while is simmering there may be fat or scum on  top , we can remove it with a wood spoon
8. Low and slow cooking is necessary to fully extract the nutrients and also the apple cider vinegar helps to pull out minerals from the bones.
9. After cooling we need to remove the fat layer that it will appear on  top of the broth
10. Enjoy this wonderful broth to prepare soups or to enrich other recipes with a delightful flavor