We will be running two four-night courses at the start of the year.
Comida de Cuchara; "Spoon-Food" Spain's comfort Food!
Our winter landscape: the chestnut trees are bare and sometimes cold winds do blow.
We love Spanish spoon-food - comida de cuchara - it's comforting on cold winter days. What is better than a deep bowl of soupy rice with fish, or butter beans with tomatoes and clams? Or a traditional cocido, with plenty of chorizo and chick-peas, and chopped chard or spinach leaves, and a spoonful of smoked sweet paprika from la Vera? Salt cod is delicious when flavouring a dish of potatoes and onions with turmeric; sometimes we add a few green beans if there are any to be had fresh from the coast.
In the autumn we get plenty of wild mushrooms, some of which we dry, and freeze and the are then available for us to throw into our soupy stocks to form a flavoursome basis for our barley or rice dishes. Rabbit bones make an excellent stock, as do those of quails or chickens, so we may start the course with some roasted birds or rabbits or a paella, and afterwards learn to make our light stocks from the bones and fresh vegetables.
It's healthy, economic food, delicious, honest and filling. We will also be baking our own sourdough breads or quick wholemeal seeded breads to accompany these winter delights.
Our Spanish Spoon-Food course is running from 25th - 29th of January; Cost €900 includes all tuition, lodging wine and food, and pick up and drop off from Seville
Our second 4 day course will be running in February
Cerdo Ibérico, learning to cook with Iberian pork: and how to appreciate good quality Jamón Iberico de Bellota.
We live in the heart of the Iberian pig country with its beautiful wild landscape, where the Iberian pigs roam free from November to March, and gorge themselves on the sweet acorns of the holm-oak trees.
We will be visiting one of the top ham producers of the area, and lunching on a farm to see the animals in their natural environment. We will watch a demonstration of how to carve a ham, and we will taste different parts of a leg to see how the flavour changes.
We will be learning how to prepare slow- cooked Iberian pork cheeks in white wine with bay-leaves and peppercorns, on a bed of root vegetables chopped and softened in Olive oil.
We will be preparing the fillet mignon or solomillo of Iberian pork, with butter and sage or sweet roasted peppers and sherry. The meat is best served slightly underdone, as unlike ordinary pork it is a red meat, and can even be eaten raw as a carpaccio, with a tiny spoonful of homemade mayonnaise on the side perhaps, but it is so delicate you won't want to overwhelm the flavour.
The liver is often served fried and cut into thin strips as a salad in a vinaigrette made of sherryvinegar and olive oil. Pieces of crispy fried garlic are dropped into the salad and a sweet confit of onions is also good. Serve with a bunch of watercress or rocket.
Our Iberian Pork and Jamon Iberico de Bellota course is running from 8th - 12th February 2017; Cost €1200 includes all tuition, excursions, lodging wine and food, and pick up and drop off from Seville.
Please get in touch via our contact page if you are interested in either course!