(c) Dorine Houston, 2006
After publishing my A and B contributions to Around the World in 27 Recipes, I got stuck on C. I know other Gatherers who are much better equipped than I to publish recipes for Canada, Cuba and Denmark than I am, and I have no clue about the cooking of Cameroon. Then I realized that the alphabet might well include cities and regions of countries. Therefore, I return to the group Around the World in 27 Recipes with my C contribution, Cordoba, Spain.
Cordoba, in Andalucia (southern Spain), is one of the most ancient cities in Spain. It dates back to the Roman Empire, and was the birthplace of Seneca. Under the Moors, it was the home of Maimonides. During the Reconquest, between AD 711 when the Moorish armies overran Hispania and overthrew the Visigoth king Rodrigo in his capital, Toledo, until 1492 when the Catholic Kings took Granada and finally expelled the last of the Moors from Spain, (have you read the Moorish poem, Ay de mi, Alhama!?) Cordoba was an important city in the Ottoman Empire, which had taken over Moorish territories peacefully (more or less). It was at that time that a great mosque was built. It had the simple horseshoe arches of the classical period in Moorish architecture that preceded the lobulated ones characterizing later decadence and breakdown. The arches were painted in broad red and white stripes. After the Catholic Kings recaptured Cordoba for Christendom, the mosque was turned into a church. Gothic additions came afterwards. Visitors to Cordoba can still see the section with the red and white horseshoe arches and the later Gothic additions. The building is one of the great sites in world architecture.
Cordoba has a rich cuisine as well, deeply rooted in that of the Celtiberic tribes that Rome conquered, layered over with first a Roman sauce and then an Islamic one, then finally the main dish of Christian Hispanic foodways. I have written elsewhere of the gazpachos of Andalucia (here), including salmorejo, but thought this group might enjoy salmorejo.
To eat in the style of a family in Córdoba, serve the meal in separate courses. For the appetizers, arrange a platter with pieces of serrano or prosciutto ham, manchego cheese, slices of Spanish (*not* Mexican--the taste is very different!) cured chorizo and assorted olives. Gather the family around the table to enjoy with glasses of sherry.
The first course can be salmorejo and the main course chicken thighs sautéed with olives and garlic accompanied by saffron rice and broccoli rabe sautéed in olive oil. All courses must be accompanied by good French style baguette (because it is also Spanish) and Spanish wine. Dessert can be fresh pomegranates or grapes followed by good, strong expreso. No sweets; they are not customary except on special festive days such as All Saints, when the de rigueur sweet will be small marzipan tubes stuffed with pumpkin jelly known as "saints' bones".
If you want to enjoy the main dish version of salmorejo, make the appetizers the same. The first course can be a simple paella containing a cubed filet of hake or cod and a handful each of clams, mussels and shrimp followed by or instead an abundant salad of romaine (no iceberg please!), cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes, onion, flaked tuna, maybe anchovies, and a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil and white wine or sherry vinegar. No balsamic, please. Clear away the earlier courses and bring out the salmorejo, and after that the dessert of fresh fruit.
Cakes, tarts, ice cream and other heavy sweets are never eaten in conjunction with meals in Spain. They are reserved for merienda (between dinner and supper, usually consisting of coffee and small sandwiches and/or only one kid of dessert). Merienda is not an everyday experience; tapas and wine are the other choice between dinner and supper, and considerably more popular. Spanish women do very little baking, but they put a great deal of time into making soups and stews from scratch.
Salmorejo Cordobes
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 palmful salt
1 very large sweet green bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 thick slices from a baguette
500g/ 18 oz. Roma (plum) tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped
250ml/1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Place garlic and salt in mortar; use the pestle to mash to a paste. Add green pepper and mash. Add and mash bread; stir all well. Mash in the tomatoes. Beat the mixture while slowly drizzling in the oil, so it will emulsify. Chill.
Alternatively, do it all in the blender.
Serve topped with halved hard-boiled quail eggs, slivered serrano ham, fried anchovies, tuna chunks or steamed mussels.
For a full main course, top with breaded fried rabbit.
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Comments: 8
This was an area of Spain I did not get to visit........hopefully there will be a next time!
All my aphabet is and will be published in the group Around the world in 27 Recipes.