Vernon and Friends: October 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Chestnuts

I received an e-mail from Miguel in Spain this morning stating that he hopes to finish harvesting castanas (chestnuts) this weekend.

Below is a photgraph of one of the chestnut trees on his finca (farm). Note the chestnuts on the ground.

Miguel's finca is shown in the center of the photograph below.

Here in America we might see and smell the occasional pan of chestnuts roasted during the Christmas holidays by street vendors.

In Spain, however, Miguel tells me that he will sort his chestnuts by size and place them in bags. He plans to sell four thousand pounds of chestnuts in his two markets!

I have done a little research to find out who buys these chestnuts and what do they do with them.

I discovered that Spaniards eat the chestnuts in conjunction with festivals, such as La Castanyada which occurs at the same time as our Halloween. La Castanyada means the day of the Chestnut and it is celebrated on All Saints Eve. Along with chestnuts the party goers like to eat panellets, sweet potatoes, and candied fruit and to drink they have cava, a sweet sparkling white wine.

Panellets are small round cakes or cookies made of flour, eggs, sugar, almonds and lemons and decorated with pine nuts, cocoa powder, candied cherries, or coconut.

At schools the children like to decorate the panellets and sing songs.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

My candidate in the election

Click on the link below to see who I am voting for.

http://www.aarpvote08.org/index.php?d=VmVybm9uIFJpY2tlcg==

Friday, October 24, 2008

Tortilla de patatas

In the United States we think of a tortilla as a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize. I have recently discovered the Spanish tortilla de patatas which is an omelette made with eggs and fried potatoes. I like to make a simple omelet with eggs and herbs for a light supper. The tortilla de patatas is a nice alternative.

Someday, perhaps, I will be able to make the tortilla as shown above, but for now this is how I make one just enough for me.

I start by thinly slicing one yukon gold potato and frying it in olive oil.

While the potatoes cook I break two fresh eggs in a bowl, salt them, and whisk them with a fork.

When the potatoes are cooked I drain them of almost all of the oil and add the beaten eggs. Some recipes call for onions, garlic, and/or diced peppers but tonight I added just a few pieces of cooked ham. I cook the eggs and potatoes until the eggs have set.

I then invert a plate over the pan and turn the pan over so the tortilla is upside down on the plate.

I slip the tortilla back into the pan and cook for a few more minutes.

Finally I invert my plate over the pan and turn the tortilla onto the serving plate.

It may not be as well formed as the tortilla pictured at the top but it makes a delicious light supper.