Cherries in anise

250g cherries
Glass jar with a sealable 1l.
500 ml of anisette or brandy

First we'll enter the open boat and lid in a pot with boiling water so that it completely covers. We'll let boil about 15 minutes to be sterilized. After you remove the tail to the cherries, the well will wash the secaremos and introduce into the pot without touching the inside of the finger. Finally, cover the cherries with liquor up to 1 cm from the edge of the jar and close them right. We have to wait about 3 months to eat them, but will be worthwhile both cherries and resulting liquor.
At the photo still have just over a month so that they are ready. Do not take too many!

A memory of Baeza

First wanted to wish you happy new year, I hope that 2010 brings you everything that you stole the 2009. Secondly I wanted to apologize for all my time without writing. The truth is that what little I like these dates, together with all there is to cook, have made that he could not go through here.

As I asked one of my readers and friends, today I will talk about what we can get into the boats: the pate. And as promised, the recipe is the partridge pate.
I called and Baeza post because it was my home for two years, and it was there where I learned everything I could of gastronomy and history of Jaén, and also many recipes for partridge pate. The one I always do is the following:

Partridge Pate

For the marinade:
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
2 partridges
1 cup vinegar
1 glass of white wine
1 ½ cup water
Peppercorn
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
Salt

For the pate:
2 meat marinated partridges
150 g chicken livers
½ cup brandy
1 apple
1 banana
1 onion, julienned
1 clove garlic, minced
3 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
Black pepper
Olive oil
Salt

Partridges pickle will be easy. First doraremos partridge thoroughly cleaned and seasoned with olive oil and in the same oil sauté a little sliced garlic and onion and sliced carrots. Then add the partridges, pepper, bay leaf, wine, vinegar and water. Oh, and salt. And we'll let it cook about 20 to 30 minutes.

While we can be sautéed, in this order, garlic and onion and peppercorns, bananas and sliced apple, crumbled meat of partridges, chicken livers, salt and brandy (each comma means due time for everything we do). We will pour the brandy thrown right after the chicken livers and Flambe livers should therefore make very little, just browning out. That will give us a pinkish pate later. Finally we add the cream and eggs and mince well. Then to make it even finer, we'll all for a Chinese and adjust salt.
We cook it in various ways, but the easiest is to empty them by boiling 1 hour and a half.

Partridge Pate nougat powder, pomegranate and olive oil picual

Cooking for the coming months

How does one keep? It is much easier than we imagined and is a great way to take advantage of seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as make our own pies and pickles. That reminds me ... I'll show you shortly to make a very rich partridge pâté I learned in Jaén. There, together with the back of keel, is the star dish.
Well, I'll mess. The most important thing is to make the vacuum pot. If you look around the lid of a pot of preserves that we bought, we see that is a bit of rubber. This rubber must be new. When using this lid once the pressure causes the lid from sticking to the glass jar so that the rubber creates a slot will no longer serve us. Therefore the vacuum boat brands also sell separate tops, for the boat but always continues to serve the lid.

Here we go. When we cover the boat and will put it in the boiling water about 15 minutes. Then let it drain until dry, refill up to 1 cm from the edge and closed without much force. In a pot that is taller than the boats we'll enter a kitchen towel on the bottom (so that boats are not broken by the movement of boiling water), enter the boat and cover them with water. In a normal pot as long as we leave the boats will boil 1 hour, but in a pressure cooker we just leave 20 minutes. After we leave the boat in the water cooling and will be ready.
A detail which will tell us if the vacuum has been done well will push the center of the lid. If we see that the lid is a bit buried in the center and not moving, then the gap will be done correctly.

The sun's energy

When he was just a few months I gave my nephew half a cherry tomato. At first, when tested, closed her eyes tightly and thought I had not liked too much, but the latter, as I was still holding the fruit, took my hand and began to eat. Then I said: "Of course you like, in tomatoes is all the sun's energy."
For if the Church forbade its consumption by a fruit considered satanic, that it must be good. The apple of love, as he was known, became popular for their supposed aphrodisiac properties, but until the seventeenth century did not become common in European tables.
Tomato sauce, tomato sauce, crushed, ketchup, gazpacho, tomato jam ... I think I can not imagine what our kitchen before the Spanish conquistadors brought us American. So today I dedicate this space, but I will talk about a way to use tomatoes still apparently has not spread too much: the dried tomatoes or dried.

The dried tomatoes, concentrating on it all its properties, is extremely tasty. Regrettably in our country are very difficult (if you travel to Italy do not forget to buy!). It is easier to find and hydrated and oil ... but you know: if we can make ourselves better.
Dry them is not too complicated, in summer we can harness the sun to dry (sun-dried are much good) but in winter we have to resort to the oven.

How to oven dry tomatoes?

Use a medium-sized tomato. I like pear tomatoes, but there are so many that the issue is just to test. In a baking tray open put all the tomatoes in half and we add a little salt and sugar. We put in an oven at 60 º C and leave them until they are dry. This process is very long (about 4 or 5 hours, it all depends on the size of tomato), so I advise to do too much at once, so take advantage of energy. Where are dry and cold can be used for anything. I like to take 3 or 4 in my tomato sauces before shred or cut into four fish stews.
But a great option is to keep putting them in oil and vacuum. The first thing to do is rehydrate the tomatoes about 15 minutes in warm water to 1 hour in cold water. After the secaremos well, will be entered into a canning pot and we add fresh basil leaves, some oregano, some peppercorns, salt and if you will, a few grains of cumin and a crushed whole garlic (a matter of taste , I love garlic) or the boats we'll enter the water bath for 1 hour after the water begins to boil.

Salad with dried tomatoes, caramelized apple and walnut vinaigrette and ham

Finally I advise you to cultivate your own tomatoes ever, see how they are slowly putting red is a wonderful thing.

I'm staying with my favorite tomato recipe, a good tomato of Los Palacios with salt and Arbequina olive oil. There is nothing good.