Gazpacho and Frittatas - Two Spanish Food Recipes to Impress

Gazpacho and Frittatas - Two Spanish Food Recipes to Impress

Do you remember that Seinfeld episode with the bubble boy? George and the bubble boy are playing Trivial Pursuit, and one of the questions that comes up is about who invaded Spain in the eighth century. George and the bubble boy get into a terrible fight over whether it was the Moors (according to the bubble boy), or the Moops (according to George). George was wrong, of course; but did you realize who the Moors were? Spain was such a colonial superpower for centuries that it's difficult to imagine that for a long time in its history, Spain was a Muslim colony, and partially converted to Islam. Islamic rule however was not bad for Spain; the invading Muslims were great scientists and were industrious, and brought wonderful lessons for the Spanish to learn. Some of which influence you'll see in most Spanish food recipes these days.

Let's look at a particularly popular one, the frittata. A frittata is basically an Iranian omelette. But what with all the contact among the two civilizations over the centuries, the frittata is an all-Spanish and all-Italian recipe today. Let's look at a couple of Spanish food recipes now, one for the frittata, and one for the Gazpacho.

A frittata can actually be a great thing to have up your sleeve, to take up lots of kinds of leftovers in the fridge; and it can be a delicious quick meal to rustle up when you're in a hurry. So let's start with it. You need at least two large eggs, a little low-fat milk, some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. To begin, beat the eggs properly in a bowl, and add in the milk, the salt and pepper. You'll need a filling of some kind to go with it, and this is mostly up to you. Heat up the olive oil in a heavy skillet; when it's hot enough to sizzle, pour in the egg mixture you just made, and swirl the skillet around to make sure that the eggs and the filling spread around evenly. A nonstick skillet should be a good idea; after about a minute of sizzling cooking, use a spatula to lift up the edges so that any runny egg left over can go under the edges. You don't need to cook it too long either - the top needs to be somewhat runny. If you have a slightly larger frittata, put the skillet under a broiler for a couple of minutes, loosening the edges from time to time. It keeps well in the fridge, and it should make a great school lunch too.

But there is more to Spanish food recipes than the frittata of course. Here's a good one for hot summers - the Gazpacho cold soup. As exotic as it is, it should be a great way to persuade your children to include a few healthy options in their diet - in brown bread, olive oil, and lots of vegetables raw. Okay, here goes - the ingredients you need will be 3 pounds of ripe fat tomatoes, half an onion, half a cucumber, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a long and thin green pepper, two large spoons of vinegar, and ice cubes. Make sure you set aside a little bit of those vegetables diced up to garnish your soup with later, and see if you have some croutons.

Boil the tomatoes for about a minute and peel them. Throw them in the blender, and if you need to, strain it to get the seeds out. Really, gazpacho is best with the seeds left in. Chop up all the vegetables coarsely, and throw them in the blender. You don't want to blend things too smooth. You need to leave some pieces in. Add in water to make a nice thick soup, anmd don't forget to put in the ice cubes, and garnish with all the leftover vegetables and croutons. There is a certain exotic pungent quality to all Spanish food recipes; and this one is no exception.