Potatoes Riojana’s style
1.5 k Potatoes – 250 g Chorizo – 1 Onion – 2 Garlic cloves – 1 Green pepper – Sweet paprika – 1 Bay leaf – Virgin olive oil – 1 Chorizo pepper – Salt.
Elaboration
Poach the finely chopped onion in oil in a saucepan. Once the onion is stewed, add the peeled potatoes and “cáscalas”, cut them roughly in this way they will release part of the starch to make the sauce fat.
Sauté by turning it with the wooden spoon.
Add the green pepper and the minced garlic along with the paprika, the bay leaf and the chorizo pepper.
We cover everything with water and rectify the salt point. Bring to a boil and after ten minutes we put the chorizo cut into slices about two cm thick. Cook everything for another twenty minutes, moving the pot gently.
We let it rest for ten minutes so that the potatoes release the starch and the stew binds better.
Lamb stew
1 Kg of chopped lamb (if it is arm, better) – 2 Kg of potatoes – 1 onion – 3 garlic cloves – 1 Green pepper – 1 Red pepper – 1 Leek – Parsley – 1 Natural tomato, crushed – Sweet paprika – 2 Bay Leaves – Olive oil – Salt.
Elaboration
We cut the vegetables into cubes. In a mortar we mash the minced garlic with the parsley. We peel, wash and peel the potatoes. It is very important to shell them so that they release part of the starch and make the broth thicken. Season the chopped lamb with salt and pepper and reserve. In a classic black cast iron pan with two high handles, pour a good jet of oil and brown the pieces of lamb over high heat until they are well sealed on all sides.
Once the lamb is browned, add the vegetables and cook over medium-low heat together with the garlic and parsley mash.
We rectify the salt point and add the tomato. Let it cook for three more minutes. We add a glass of white wine and let the alcohol evaporate. Next we add the potatoes and cover with water. Add the bay leaf and cook for about twenty minutes over low-medium heat. From time to time the stew must be stirred to prevent the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan, to bind all the flavors and to make the sauce plump.
Let it rest for at least ten minutes so that all the ingredients are well integrated and the sauce thickens a little more.
Artichokes with ham
2 Dozen artichokes – 200 g of chopped Serrano ham – H arina – ½ Head of garlic – Extra virgin oil – Salt – Parsley.
Elaboration
To clean the artichokes we remove the outer and hard leaves with a knife, we cut the birth of the outer leaves. We add them to a saucepan with cold water so that they do not rust. We put another casserole with water, salt and a drizzle of oil on the fire and add a tablespoon of flour.
When it begins to boil, add the artichokes and cook for twenty minutes over medium heat. We drain them and cut them in half. We put them in the bottom of another casserole with great care. We reserve the broth.
In a frying pan we will put three tablespoons of oil and brown the sliced garlic, together with the chopped ham. Sauté for a couple of minutes and add a tablespoon of flour without stopping to stir with the wooden spoon. Add the broth from which to cook the artichokes, salt and let it cook, stirring without stopping until it reaches the desired texture.
Finally, we pour the sauce over the artichokes and let it cook for about five minutes all together over a low heat. Sprinkle the chopped parsley shortly before removing from the heat.
Cod a la riojana
4 Cod fillets— 1 Onion— 300 g of homemade tomato sauce— Virgin olive oil – 4 Garlic cloves – 3 Chorizo peppers – 1 Green pepper – Salt.
Elaboration
In a saucepan with oil we prepare a sauce with onion and half of the garlic and season.
On the other hand, in a frying pan we lightly brown the cod only on the side that does not have skin and add it to the sauce with the skin facing down to release the gelatin. Add the homemade tomato sauce and some rehydrated and chopped chorizo peppers. We let everything cook together for five minutes.
Finally, the rest of the garlic slices are fried with abundant green pepper and we put it on top.
Cook for a few more minutes and serve.
Garlic mushroom
650 g of Mushrooms – ½ Head of garlic – Virgin olive oil – 1 Cayenne chilli – Parsley – Salt.
Elaboration
We clean the hat of the mushrooms with a damp cloth and cut the stem and then into slices.
We will put three tablespoons of oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add the finely chopped garlic and the cayenne pepper. When the garlic is about to brown, add the mushrooms, raise the heat to maximum power and cover the casserole with the lid so that they sweat and thus cook in their own juice.
We let them boil for five minutes. Season to taste and add chopped parsley.
We lower the heat to medium power and let them cook for a maximum of fifteen minutes.
Chops with vine shoots
1 kg of suckling lamb chops (better if it is a chamarita breed) – 1 Sheaf of vine shoots – Coarse salt.
Elaboration
We make fire with the branches and we take advantage of their flames to burn the grill and clean it with paper.
Once burned we spread the embers, by then the chops will have been placed on the grill.
We place the grill on the embers and wait a few minutes until they brown a little on that side, we turn the grill over and add the salt on the golden part.
After a few minutes we turn the grill over and add the salt to the other side of the cutlets.
We take care that they do not burn or overcook and serve hot at the table.
Cardo With Almonds
1 fresh thistle – 40 raw almonds – 3 garlic cloves – flour – milk – virgin olive oil – salt.
Elaboration
We wash the thistle well and peel it. We chop it and put it in boiling salted water for an hour in the pressure cooker or two hours in the casserole. In a frying pan, fry the garlic with the almonds over medium heat for five minutes.
We drain the garlic with the almonds, put them in the mortar and crush it.
To the oil in the pan we add a tablespoon of flour, stir well and add half a glass of milk.
Without stopping stirring with the wooden spoon, add the minced almonds and garlic.
Carefully pour the broth from the thistle little by little while stirring with the spoon until we obtain a sauce with the desired texture. Next we add the chopped and drained cardoon.
Let it cook for five more minutes over low heat so that it takes in the flavor of the sauce.
Pochas
500 g of Pochas – 1 Green pepper – 1 Chorizo pepper – 1 Onion – 1 Tomato – 3 Cloves of garlic – Virgin olive oil – Salt – Chilli peppers in vinegar.
Elaboration
We strip the beans, stripping them of their pods and reserve.
We chop the garlic cloves and the onion into small pieces, to make a sauce that will be the base of our bean stew.
We do it over low heat and add the tomato cut into quarters, the green pepper and the chorizo.
We incorporate the beans and cover them with cold water and salt, covering a couple of centimeters.
We let it cook over a low heat, keeping a slight gurgling in the water but without letting it boil violently so that the beans do not break. After forty minutes, the beans should be tender, we remove the vegetables and a few beans with some broth and remove the meat from the chorizo pepper, which we also add to the blender glass to blend everything.
This mixture is incorporated into the casserole and thus a sauce with a good thickness will be left.
If we accompany them with some pickled chillies, the combination is exquisite.
Peppers stuffed with meat and boletus
12 roasted piquillo peppers – ½ kg of minced pork and beef – 300 g of Boletus – 1 Leek – 2 Eggs – Flour – Salt – Black pepper – Virgin olive oil – Butter.
Elaboration
In a casserole, add a little olive oil with a tablespoon of butter and add the finely chopped leek.
Sauté for about five minutes over low heat and add the minced meat.
When the meat is very loose, add the mushrooms cut into small squares and stir for another five minutes.
Add a glass of broth with a teaspoon of cold mixed flour.
Sauté and spread the dough in a source to let it cool.
We stuff the piquillo peppers. We coat them with flour and beaten egg and fry them in hot oil.
Peach with wine
10 large peaches – 1/2 liter of young red wine – 1 stick of cinnamon stick – 1/2 kg of sugar.
Elaboration
We peel the peaches, cut them in half and remove the pit.
We spread them in a source, sprinkle them with sugar and put the cinnamon stick on them.
We reserve them in the refrigerator for thirty minutes to release their juice.
After that time we add the red wine and let it marinate for four hours in the refrigerator so that the peach is impregnated with the aroma of the preparation.
Torrijas
1 Loaf of bread spread from the day before – 1 liter of milk – 1 Cup of sugar – 2 Sticks of cinnamon sticks – 3 Eggs – Flour – Virgin olive oil – Sugar – Ground cinnamon.
Elaboration
We boil the milk with the cinnamon stick and the sugar. Once boiled, remove the cinnamon sticks and let the milk warm. Cut slices of bread about two cm thick, place them in a source and pour the boiled milk over them, letting the bread soak well.
We coat the slices in flour and egg and fry them in plenty of hot oil.
We take them out of the pan and sprinkle them with sugar and ground cinnamon.
Zurracapote
2 liters of red wine – 1 glass of water – 300 g of sugar – 3 sticks of cinnamon sticks – 2 lemons – 2 oranges.
Elaboration
We put a glass of water in a saucepan, add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved; thus we get a syrupy mixture. In a pot we pour the wine and add this mixture together with the lemons and oranges cut into quarters or slices with skin. Cook the cinnamon sticks in 1/4 liter of water, about three minutes.
We drain and put them in the wine to give it more flavor.
We leave it to marinate between five and seven days and we try until it is to taste.
The longer the maceration time, our zurracapote will present a higher alcohol content and less sugar.
Easter fasting stew with chickpeas and cod
1/2 kg of chickpeas – 250 g cod (desalted) – 1 onion – 1 carrot – 1 leek – 1/2 bay leaf – 200 gr of spinach – 1 hard-boiled egg – 2 cloves of garlic – 1 ripe tomato – Extra virgin olive oil from La Rioja – Salt.
Elaboration
We leave the chickpeas to mojo in warm salted water from the day before.
The next day we change the water and cook them in a pot with plenty of cold water.
Add the onion, carrot, leek and half a bay leaf and let it cook slowly.
Meanwhile we cook the spinach in a separate casserole, drain and reserve.
We cook the eggs, peel them and in a mortar we crush the yolks in a little broth and reserve.
In a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil, lightly brown the cod in small cubes and reserve. In the same oil, brown a couple of garlic, poach the chopped onion with the peeled and trimmed tomato.
Once the chickpeas are cooked, we remove the onion and the leek. We cut the carrot into slices to add to the stew.
To finish, we add the cooked spinach, the crushed yolks, the cod and the sauce to the casserole, stir carefully and add the chopped egg whites.
Before serving, rectify the salt and let everything cook together for five more minutes, we must ensure that this stew is soupy.
Menestra riojana
2 kg of different vegetables of the time: artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, borage, green beans, asparagus, thistle and chard – Extra virgin olive oil from Rioja – 150 gr of Serrano ham from La Rioja – 250 gr of chamarita breed lamb shoulder – Flour – 1 onion – Salt – Chopped parsley.
Elaboration
Green beans, thistle, chard, carrots and borage are chopped and it is important that all of them are cooked separately since they have different cooking points.
In a separate casserole we add oil and in it the chopped onion, when it becomes transparent we add the lamb and the ham in small pieces.
Sauté everything for a few minutes and if we want to thicken the stew a bit, add a tablespoon of flour, turning it over with a wooden spoon.
Then we add the different vegetables already cooked to the casserole together with a little of the cooking broth of the green beans and keep it on low heat for a few minutes in order to mix the flavors of the different vegetables with that of the prepared sauce.
Season with salt and sprinkle with a little chopped parsley, leaving the dish ready to serve.
Some people like to coat some of the vegetables – chard, thistle or artichoke spears – and fry them in oil once they are cooked before adding them to the casserole, which we will always do just before serving.
Cauliflower with besamel
Calahorra Cauliflower – Garlic – Flour – Onion – Milk – Butter – Grated Cameros sheep cheese for gratin – Extra virgin olive oil from Rioja, salt and pepper.
Elaboration
The chopped cauliflower is cooked and once boiled, drain, season with fried eyes and leave it on a baking tray while we make the besamel.
In a frying pan we put butter to sauté the chopped onion until it is soft and we add the flour, turning. We incorporate the milk little by little so that there are no lumps and it is seasoned.
We cover the cauliflower with besamel and sprinkle the grated cheese along with a few pinches of butter. We let it gratin until it is golden brown and we can now enjoy a delicious dish of Riojan cauliflower.
Peppers stuffed with meat
12 roasted peppers – 200 gr of minced beef – 200 gr of minced pork – Garlic – Parsley – Onion – 2 tablespoons of flour – Milk – 2 beaten eggs – 1 glass of Rioja white wine – Nutmeg – Ketchup – Salt.
Elaboration
Mix and knead the minced pork and beef with our hands, in equal parts, adding garlic and parsley. We put a frying pan with a little oil on the fire and sauté the meat dough in it, add a couple of tablespoons of flour, a little milk and stir with a wooden spoon.
With the resulting dough once cold, we fill the peppers, for this we take portions of the dough with a spoon, we open the peppers and introduce the dough through the mouth, close with light pressure, then we pass them through flour and beaten egg, frying them to then in a frying pan with plenty of olive oil and set aside.
In that same oil we sauté half a chopped onion, when it is transparent we add minced garlic and when browning we add a few tablespoons of flour, sauté turning with the wooden spoon and add a glass of white wine, chopped parsley, some grated nutmeg, Tomato sauce and water or broth, rectify the salt and let it cook for about twenty minutes.
The sauce thus prepared we pass through the Chinese to make it finer and we pour it over the peppers. To finish we let it do everything together for about twenty minutes, moving continuously to prevent it from sticking.
Rabbit with snails
1 rabbit 1.5 to 2 kg – 1 large carrot –
1 onion – 1/2 kg of snails – 200 gr of Serrano ham bacon from La Rioja – 1 ripe tomato – Extra virgin olive oil from La Rioja – Flour – Salt – 1 bay leaf – 1 sprig of thyme – 1 glass of white Rioja wine.
Elaboration
Clean and chop the rabbit, then brown it well in a pan with plenty of oil. We take it out and reserve. In the same oil, fry the sliced carrot and onion over low heat, until it is transparent.
Putting the liver aside, put the rabbit back in the pan, add a tablespoon of flour over the rabbit, let it cook and add the glass of white wine, letting it cook over a low heat, add water if necessary.
Crush the liver in a mortar, sauté it a little and add it to the stew along with a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme.
In a separate casserole, cook the snails, drain them and add them to a frying pan where we will have fried a few squares of ham bacon, add the tomato in squares previously peeled and devoid of seeds.
We leave the snails to cook for about ten minutes and finally, we add salt and we add them to the rabbit for another five minutes.
Riojan rice
6 cups of rice coffee – 1 kg of chamarita breed milk lamb – 1 dl of Rioja white wine – 100 gr of Riojan chorizo – 1 cup tomato sauce – 1 large onion – 3 garlic cloves – 1 dl of extra virgin olive oil from La Rioja – 13 coffee cups of water or broth – Salt – 2 najerano peppers roasted in strips – 2 boiled eggs.
Elaboration
We add the olive oil to the low pot or paella.
When the oil is hot, add the lamb meat, seasoned and in rather small pieces.
We brown the lamb well on all its parts without stopping to stir with a wooden spoon and add the finely chopped onion and later the finely chopped garlic cloves.
When the onion is transparent, add the white wine and let the lamb cook over low heat.
Once the wine is reduced we add the rice, the chopped chorizo and the tomato sauce. We raise the heat and sauté everything well without stopping to move with the wooden spoon.
Once this is done, add the water or broth, add salt to it and wait for it to boil. Then let it simmer until the rice is done (approximately twenty minutes).
Ten minutes before finishing, we garnish with the roasted peppers in strips and the hard-boiled eggs, cut in half or in quarters.
Before serving the rice, it is advisable to let it rest covered for a few minutes.
Pears in wine
8 pears from Rincón de Soto – 1 liter of young red Rioja wine – 1/2 liter of water – 150 gr of sugar – 2 cinnamon sticks.
Elaboration
We peel the pears whole, respecting the tail if possible.
We put them in a saucepan, pouring the liter of red wine and water over them.
We put the casserole on the fire, at which point we will add the sugar together with the cinnamon stick.
Cover the casserole and let it cook. When the pears are done, about an hour and a half later, we remove them from the pan, placing them in a bowl next to the cooked wine.
Before serving, let it cool in a cool place.
Fried milk
1 liter milk – 6 tablespoons sugar – 3 envelopes of flanin – 3 eggs to coat – Flour – Sunflower oil (for frying) – Sugar and ground cinnamon mixed.
Elaboration
We put on the fire in a casserole 3/4 liter of milk with the six tablespoons of sugar.
We dissolve the flanin envelopes in the milk that we have reserved.
When it starts to boil, add the milk with the well-dissolved flanin and leave it until it boils again.
Pour the mixture into a previously buttered mold and let cool.
Turn out onto a flat surface and dice.
Pass the dice in flour and egg and fry in plenty of oil. Drain them well.
Sprinkle a source with the mixture of sugar and ground cinnamon and place the fried cubes. Sprinkle on top with the mixture.
