Day 36

I love when my pictures turn themselves like maybe they are possessed. This is one of my favorite pictures. I love the color of the choke in the artichoke heart. Have you ever tourneed artichokes? Its the worst job. Ever. Its a bitch, really. The payoff is for sure the flavor and texture of the fresh artichoke vs. canned. It can't be beat.

We simmered our hearts with the lemons to help them from turning black until they were tender when pierced with a knife. They then got chopped into about 8 pieces.


We also chopped Serrano ham and parsley and garlic. The artichoke hearts get a fast, hot saute and then in goes the ham, parsley and garlic. Tapas are served!

These were soooo good. It would not be the same with canned/jarred hearts. So the awful tournee was I guess worth it. I will have to make these many times more.

We next made tortilla espagnole. It looks in the picture like mac n cheese. Its not though. Its potatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, and beaten eggs. It gets browned on one side, baked to cook through, and then flipped. We flipped it using a plate and sliding it back into the pan to brown the other side on the stove top.

Look how nice the layers are. Like strata. Its great warm or at room temp. I like to eat it in the morning like a breakfast frittata situation. It takes a lot of seasoning to make it flavorful. We seasoned both the potatoes as they went in and the beaten egg mixture.

We will be continuing our journey through Spain by making more tapas, chorizo/chicken braise, lamb stew, gazpacho, and aioli. Hopefully drinking Spanish wines too. Great values. Cheers.