Spanish First Thanksgiving in America News

Spread the love

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Dishes from Spain will once again be on our Thanksgiving table this year.   And we will toast to all of it with Spanish Rioja and Temperanillo. This is after learning that the first Thanksgiving was actually celebrated in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 as documented by archaeologists at Florida’s Museum of Natural History. AND Robin Sussingham of WUSF radio station did a broadcast on it this year!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5396.jpg
On the menu are: a chestnut soup, Tortilla La Espańola with potato and onion, flavored with wild black garlic.  A cheeseboard filled with specialty items from Spain will be offered so guests can choose from savory Salamanca dry-cured Iberico de cebo pork salchichón;  Idiazabal do (Craw Sheep milk smoked basque, aged 60 days); Spanish green and black olives; quince paste  and a roasted garlic tomato to spread onto barra (like a French baguette), and tomatohazelnuts from Galacia. To choose from on the sweeter side:  a dense fig almond cake; almendra garrapiñada (sugar coated almonds), black dried raisins and fresh grapes.

The news this year products associated only with Spain are coming from elsewhere. Our wonderful quince paste came from Melissa’s Produce (imported from Mexico) and is delicious! It is smoother and clearer than the more rustic paste from Spain we always used.

Melissa’s Produce Quince Paste

Looking like an apple or a roundish pear and tasting a little like both, quince has been cultivated in Asia and the Mediterranean for over 4,000 years. Today, the quince is also found in Latin America, the Middle East and the United States.

The quince fruit purée, Known as “dulce de membrillo” in Spain, is sweetened with sugar, and thickened with pectin. When cooked, raw quince transforms into a pink-red, sweet-tart treat with notes of honeysuckle, rose, and vanilla. The quince paste from Spain has cane sugar as its main ingredient.

El Quijote quince paste from Spain has quince, sugar as its main ingredients, plus thickeners and preservatives.

Quince paste desserts start with quince paste smoothed into puff pastry for tasty Spanish empanadas.Lush and straightforward, quince paste pairs perfectly with crusty bread and Manchego cheese. It’s a welcome addition addition to any cheese platter or grazing board. We love it as a snack, cut into stick sizes alongside an equal-sized sheep-milk cheese.

Melissa’s Produce Quince Paste slices with Spanish cheese, red walnuts and quince squares; El Quijote “rose” dollop
Melissa’s Produce quince paste the centerpiece of a fruit and cracker plate

Fine olive oils should only be used as the finishing touches to dishes. They also should be poured when cool because the flavor of the oil changes when heated.  Regal García de la Cruz presents offers its early harvest olive oil in an exquisite bottle.  The full citrus green color reflects the fullness of the fruit at harvest time. We love using it to give an added oomph to these homespun classics.  

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 32B347D2-D2B5-402E-AA98-9AC6E9BE872B.jpg
A layer of García de la Cruz olive oil over the roasted tomatoes, homemade mayonnaise and pesto gives it an instant, added vibrancy

Roasted Tomato  (www.wimpy vegetarian.com,  via shockinglydelish

All you need to make these roasted tomatoes in a bottle are tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil,  salt, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and garlic. This is more to a cook’s taste than exact amounts. Because the tomatoes are being roasted, it is better to use firm, older one.

Simply slice tomatoes and drizzle them evenly with the rest of the ingredients.  Roast at 350 degrees until they look crisp around the edges.  Cool and bottle.

Homemade Mayonaise

  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
  • 1 cup grapeseed oil
  • generous drizzle of García de la Cruz extra virgin olive oil
  • lemon juice, optional

Place the raw egg in a food processor and pulse for 20 seconds. Add the mustard, vinegar, and salt, and process another 20 seconds.

Scrape down the bowl sides in the food processor.  Slowly add ¼ of the oil in drops to emulsify. Once emulsification begins, gently stream in the rest of the oil.  Scrape and process an extra 10 seconds.  Taste and adjust with seasonings and lemon juice for taste. 

Pesto

  • Cup of fresh basil leaves
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
  • 1/3 cup olive or grapeseed oil

Combine basic, garlic, pine nuts and Parmasan in the food processor bowl. Season with a slow stream of oil until emulsified.  Season to taste.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 41B49F21-BA95-4C5C-BABE-C6562B96D9D4.jpg
The García de la Cruz inspired tart with a drizzle of the extra virgin olive oil on top. Spanish chorizo lends heat to the potatoes, , shallots, garlic and parsley

García de la Cruz Tart

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5319.jpg
Spanish Sweet paprika gave the country’s chorizo its characteristic and now world-famous color.

For the García de la cruz tart filling

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 leafy sprigs sage (about 10 medium leaves)
  • 8 ounces basque cheese
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tablespoon parsley leaves, chopped
  • black pepper to season
  • 5 small potatoes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon hazelnuts, chopped

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet until hot but not smoking. Add onion and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until softened and golden brown, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat. Strip the leaves from one of the sage sprigs, chop the leaves, and stir into the onions. Set aside.

Combine the basque cheese cheese, ricotta cheese, garlic, and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with black pepper.

Slice the potatoes thinly. Place another tablespoon of olive oil and salt into a bowl and stir in the potato slices, making sure they are all coated with oil.

Roll out the chilled dough to 1/4-inch thick and trim any uneven edges until you get a circle about 14 inches across.  Place the dough circle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the cooled onions evenly over the dough, leaving a 3-inch outer border. Spoon the cheese mix over the onions and fold up the edges of the dough, tucking and pleating as you go a bit rustic.

Arrange the oiled potato slices  close to each over the visible cheese mix, overlapping slightly (the crostata will expand), and brush some of the previously reserved egg white, thinned with a splash of cold water, evenly over the crust.

Bake the crostata 40–45 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the potatoes are cooked through. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on the baking sheet before serving. Chop the leaves from the second sprig of sage and sprinkle over the finished crostata. This is quite rich, so I like to serve it with just a simple green salad.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 0542D211-B4F1-4F10-9FD2-8716072E20FE.jpg
Our Wild Basque Tart with wild mushroom, black wild garlic, pearl onion, Cabrales, orange preserve, chestnut, hazelnut

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons plain flour
  • 3.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • a pinch of salt
  • 10 small pearl onions
  • 1 large Melissas’s wild black garlic clove
  • 4 cups mixed Melissas’s wild mushrooms
  • 2 ½ Melissa’s steamed, peeled chestnuts
  • 3 tablespoons orange preserves with peel, sweetened with grape juice
  • 1/4 cup Cabrales (Asturian strong blue cheese)
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme

Method
Finely slice onions and mushrooms, mush garlic and chestnuts into a soft, flat paste.

Heat 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add onions, stirring constantly until caramelized. Add garlic, mushrooms, thyme and chestnuts, cooking until mushrooms are golden brown. Season to taste and cool.

For the shell: We used the JOY OF COOKING (p. 692) ruff pastry, mixed with ground Mrs. Cubbison). Blind bake at 350 degrees. Cool for five minutes.

Add the mushroom mix to the pastry shell and bake 20 minutes 350F

For the perfect finishing touch, drizzle with García de la cruz extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with thyme. 

Comida Feliz!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5399.jpg
Accompany your Spanish Thanksgiving with a hearty temperanillo from Spain and a cream sherry with dessert
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5402.jpg
Chestnut flan with hazelnut garnish and in the Nutella couli finishes off a Spanish Thanksgiving feast

T


Spread the love