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GERMAN supermarket chain Aldi has announced a major expansion plan for Spain in 2024, with its distribution centre in Sagunto (Valencia province) set to open next month and a another one on the cards for the north.
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But ahead of Easter weekend, what has been disappearing the fastest is not exactly a conventional item on the lockdown list. Not alcohol. Not pre-packed pizzas. Not even chocolate footballs and chocolate rabbits – but flour.
It seems boredom levels may be scaling new heights: Plenty of members of the human race are fond of baking, for pleasure or for economy, yet it seems that right now, making bread, cakes and pastries has become the new Facebook. Everyone's at it, having seemingly run out of ideas as to what to do.
For those who prefer their food straight off the shelf and effort-free, lots of other ideas are out there to fill up the empty hours – check out our articles on top spanish artists you can check out online to plan a visit later to one of the country's most famous galleries, on great reads by Spanish novelists to lose yourself in, and which are available in English if you prefer, on some of the most famous films to come out of Spain for a marathon popcorn-and-sofa session, on how to keep the kids amused and out of mischief while they're off school, and if you missed any of today's and yesterday's Teruel Online Fest, it's now out there as a full playlist on YouTube for you to catch up on.
On the other hand, there's a flour-coated bandwagon out there, so you may as well jump on it. And if that's what you're determined to do, we've got some great news: Valencia's top chefs have shared with us their 'secret' recipes for popular Easter dishes for you to make at home, all of which involve ingredients that are not hard to find (the flour might involve the odd fight in the aisles, though – but make sure you stand at least two metres away from your opponent).
So, a big gracias to participating restaurateurs – and here's what they suggest.
Carmelite potage by Miguel Ángel Mayor of Restaurante Sucede
Good Friday traditionally involves eating fish, although the main reason for this is not thought to be, as you might have believed, anything to do with the legend of the feeding of the five thousand, nor about fish rumoured to have been served at the Last Supper; it's just that the Easter tradition dictates abstaining from meat until the Sunday, when Jesus Christ rises from the dead and this once again becomes a major ingredient on the family dining table. It is said to represent the Messiah's body, and the huge Easter Sunday feast is in celebration of his resurrection.
Fish is, therefore, probably just eaten as a meat substitute rather than for itself, and in Spain in particular, white fish such as cod or maybe hake – typically because of its very mild flavour and the fact it is one of the cheapest – is often used in meals made on Good Friday and Easter Saturday.
This is because the world is in collective vigil, mourning the death of Jesus and awaiting his resurrection, and 'humble' is the key theme for anything eaten during this period.
Also, Lent isn't over yet, so we're not ready to indulge.
Combinations of chickpeas, potatoes, spinach and cod are very traditional for Easter Saturday, and Restaurante Sucede's version is relatively cheap and easy, filling, and a great winter warmer for the months leading up to Easter.
Its name comes from the fact it was customary to eat it in the run-up to Easter Sunday in convents and monasteries.
You could use ready-cooked chickpeas in a jar and drain them, but if you use dried ones, soak them for 24 hours. You'll need half a kilo of them. Then, place them in a deep frying pan with about 1.25 litres of water, add a few parsley leaves, two laurel leaves, a finely-chopped onion, three cloves, a pinch of salt and a generous dollop of olive oil. Cover and simmer until the ingredients are soft.
Finely chop another onion and poach it in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil. Boil three eggs for 15 minutes, then separate the whites from the yolks.
Mash up the yolks, 50 grams of the chickpeas and a small amount of the liquid they have been simmering in. Mash it all up together, and pop it into the main pan, then leave to simmer for another 15 minutes.
At the last minute, having chopped the egg whites into small chunks, add these. Blanch 300 grams of spinach, mould it into small balls, roll them in flour and deep-fry them at a medium heat.
Mix a few strands of saffron with the cod, previously chopped into small pieces and de-boned, and fry them with abundant oil on the low heat.
Pop them into the chickpea and herb mix, add the spinach balls, and pour out and serve immediately.
Fried cod-balls, by Restaurante Pelayo Gastro Trinquet
Another recipe involving cod that's ideal for any time of the year, especially as a tapas. Curiously, the word trinquet means 'handball court' in the regional language, valenciano, so it's kind of apt that the recipe released to the public involves something spherical. And it's not as if any other hobbies involving balls are happening right now, given that every sports ground is shut until further notice.
Anyway, where were we? Cod, potatoes, garlic, flour (yes, sorry) yeast, olive oil and beer are needed for this one, plus squid ink to give it the 'Pelayo Gastro' touch.
You'll need 50g of salt cod, chopped up finely, then soaked in water for 12 hours to reduce the saltiness. Then, boil two potatoes, in their skins, for about 40 minutes, and leave to cool before peeling.
Pour 100g of olive oil into a deep frying pan with the chopped, soaked cod and three chopped-up garlic cloves, and slow-fry them on a very low flame for 40 minutes.
Separate the cod from the garlic, liquidise it along with the potato – previously grated – until you get an even mix. Slowly add the remaining oil from the pan until you get a creamy texture.
Leave the mixture to cool, then roll it into balls once it's cold enough to do so, and set aside.
Make up a tempura batter with a teaspoon of yeast, 60g of flour, 200ml of beer, and as much or as little salt as you think you need, and mix until you get an even texture. For the 'Pelayo Gastro' touch, add squid ink (normally sold in small sachets in supermarkets; put anything up to a whole one in to get the colour).
Liberally coat the potato-and-cod balls in the tempura – either tempura-coloured or black from the squid ink – and deep-fry them at 180ºC. Once the outside is golden in colour, remove them with a draining spoon, and serve whilst still warm.
You can add a bit of all i oli – or, as they do at the restaurant, make your own garlic mayonnaise using black garlic – on the top of the cod balls for extra variety.
Cod and cauliflower paella, by Restaurante Alejandro del Toro
This chef's eponymous restaurant in Valencia's Cabanyal neighbourhood does a roaring trade in cod-and-vegetable paella over Lent, and it's one of the recipes he inherited from his grandmother.
And you can't say you've tried Valencian cuisine unless rice has been included somewhere in it.
Chop up a carrot, an onion, half a leek, and a garlic clove, add a kilo of cod, place in a pan with cold water, bring to the boil, and leave to boil for seven minutes before draining and setting aside.
Place 60g of finely-chopped cauliflower, 80g of diced cod, and a generous dash of olive oil in a pan, flash fry and remove from the pan. Add a gram of sweet paprika, 10g of finely-chopped garlic, three strands of saffron, and 5g of chopped tomato, plus 400g of short-grain rice, to the original pan, and place back on the heat. Add the boiled vegetables and cod, and cook on a high heat for five minutes, then a low heat for 15 minutes. Once the liquid has almost vanished, gradually add in the diced cod and cauliflower, then leave to simmer.
Serve up with a side dish of all i oli.
Torrijas (Spanish-style French toast)
These are among the most traditional Easter desserts in Spain, so we'll give you the original recipe first – then the gourmet one.
Take a baguette loaf – ideally at least a day old – and chop into slices. You'll need a litre of whole milk, which is then flavoured with vanilla – typically, an empty vanilla pod is used, but these can be expensive, so you could just use vanilla essence and add a few drops. You'll also need a cinnamon stick and the grated rind of half a lemon. Add these extras after bringing the milk to the boil and then taking it off the heat, then leave to infuse for at least five minutes. The milk should be cold or at least tepid before using it.
Pour the milk into a large bowl, add 100ml of port and beat well. Beat five medium eggs separately, until they start to froth, add two tablespoons of the milk mix, beat again, and set aside.
Pour abundant oil into a pan and place on a medium heat, whilst soaking the bread slices in the milk mix.
Then, dip the bread into the beaten egg and place them straight into the sizzling pan.
Fry on both sides until golden-brown, then dab with kitchen roll to remove excess oil.
Fill a bowl with 300g of icing sugar and about six teaspoons of ground cinnamon and mix well.
Coat the bread liberally in the icing sugar mix, and eat them hot or cold (most Spaniards recommend leaving them overnight, until the next day).
Another method is to add some of the icing sugar to the milk mix, so the sweet taste penetrates the bread, but separating the two gives a more authentic flavour.
For a proper Valencian touch, try the Restaurante Vaqueta version: Cut up an entire brioche into rectangles or circles, beat two egg yolks, 100ml of horchata (sweet tigernut milk – a very popular drink in the Valencia regio) and 25g of icing sugar together, coat the brioche slices with it and then leave them for eight hours. Later, press the brioche slices to 'squeeze' out the excess liquid and coat well in sugar or icing sugar. Place a pan on the heat with a dash of oil and flash-fry the brioche bits on both sides until the sugar caramelises, and serve either as they are, or with a dollop of vanilla or horchata-flavoured ice-cream.
Monas de Pascua
Traditional Easter cakes eaten mainly on the Mediterranean coast, monas can be found in supermarkets at this time of year (from Tuesday, they'll probably be at a reduced price, so it'll be a good time to stock up). They come in loop-shapes, made with doughnut or teacake-type cake, sprinkled with sugar and hundreds-and-thousands, with a colourfully-painted hard-boiled egg in the middle. These are the authentic ones; less-authentic are the versions with a foil-covered chocolate egg instead of a hard-boiled one (normally half-white chocolate, half-milk chocolate, with a Kinder-Egg-type do-it-yourself plastic toy inside). Even less authentic, the ones that fly off the shelves the quickest have the chocolate egg in the centre and the entire cakes are coated with cooking chocolate and sprinkled with hundreds-and-thousands.
Or for the others, grill and butter the cake bit once you've picked off all the chocolate and eaten it separately (because we know that's what you'll do, so don't bother denying it).
Given that they're stacked on supermarket shelves at around €1.70 each, you might think, why bother making your own? It probably even costs more for the ingredients. But as they're quite a regional 'delicacy', you may be unfortunate enough not to find them near you, so the Marina Alta Cultural Network (MACMA), based in the northern part of the province of Alicante, offers its own instructions.
If you can find it, use self-raising flour, and if you can't, use three kilos of plain flour and 200g of yeast. Add 900g of sugar and mix in a litre of water, then 10 to 12 beaten eggs, the grated rind of two lemons, and mix well. Gradually add in up to half a litre of oil until you get a dough that's fine and elastic in texture. Leave it for a few hours, covered up, in a warm location (not in the fridge; room temperature will do). Later, mould into loops or cottage-loaf-type shapes, glaze with beaten egg and coat with 100g of sugar, then cook on a medium heat in the oven for half an hour.
Some people swap half the water for whole milk, says MACMA.
Once cooked and cooled, it's then up to you whether to pour on melted cooking chocolate, sprinkle with colourful hundreds-and-thousands and pop a chocolate egg in the middle, or to leave as they are, or to paint the shells of some hard-boiled eggs and pop in the middle.
Photograph 2: Restaurante Sucede, Miguel Ángel Mayor
Photograph 3: Restaurante Pelayo Gastro Trinquet
Photograph 5: Monas de Pascua in their different guises, by Mercadona supermarkets
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