World Best Travel

Galician Flat Pies with a Pork Filling

Air Travel article brought to you by Scott James

Somehow when you do a little research on the cuisine of an individual country it is quite easy to come up almost with a common theme, a common name for the food for that country. Such as English food, German food but when you consider Spanish food or if you wish to be a bit more accurate about how you look at it, food and recipes that originate from Spain there is a very convincing argument that would say it’s not that simple.

The reason for this is that you could quite easily argue that technically there is no such thing as Spanish food and the reason being for this is that Spain is an amalgam of its constituent parts that is to say it could be described as a political construct which is made up of disparate groups with their own languages, cultures, cuisines etc. These autonomous regions have been slowly amalgamated through a number of different processes throughout history but have all kept their own distinctive features.

The number of autonomous different regions that form what we would nowadays refer to as Spain is 17; they all have their own linguistic variations of the language, in some cases it’s a different sub language entirely and as well as their own cultures most definitely have their own individual cuisines.

One of those autonomous regions comprises the north-western province of Galicia. Galicia is surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and it is pretty understandable to think that for a region that has such an involvement with the sea, its cuisine would also be heavily influenced by the sea.

The above having been said not all of Galicia’s finest recipes are all seafood based and the region can lay claim to quite a variety of dishes all of which are most definitely worth investigating further.

Lets top talking about the food and get down to business. Let’s eat!

So the ingredients we would need would be as follows:

20 g of fresh yeast or 1 teaspoon of easy blend dried (active dry) yeast.
350 g of strong white flour.
125 g of corn meal,, “masa harina” or finely ground “polenta”.
? tbsp salt
Generous 1/3 cup of white wine.
50 g of lard or vegetable fat.
8 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
Water to bind the dough
1 medium egg, lightly beaten to seal and glaze the Empanada.

Again the name of the game here is preparation. Take the yeast with about three tablespoons of hand-hot water and mix it all together to a paste. Take the flour and corn meal and pour into a large bowl and add the salt, the wine, the lard the olive oil, the egg and the yeast paste and add enough water to make it all come together into a soft but not too sticky dough.

Still this mixture well and then start to pull it together with your hands. If there is any dried flower left in the bowl and add a touch more to bring it all together. The thing to remember here is if the dough is too dry it would be too difficult to roll out thinly later on.

Take the dough and knead it together for a couple of minutes until it is smooth and well mixed. Then take the dough put it back into a bowl and cover with cling film or plastic wrap. The important bit here is that you should let the dough rise for at least an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Decide upon what filling you want to include within the empanada and bring everything together. Take out half of your dough and roll it out until it’s about approximately 5 mm thick. Oil your baking sheet and lay this dough on top of it.

Now we turn on attention to getting the filling and in this particular case looking to take a fairly basic pork filling. For our purposes here we are going to need the following ingredients:

150 ml of olive oil
450 g pork loin cuts into fine strips
4 onions finely sliced
1 Red Pepper
1 Green Pepper
2 Garlic cloves – crushed
1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
? tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp tomato puree (in paste form)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

As with all these recipes thing you do is heat your olive oil and take this and add your pork strips. Now be sensible here and don’t add them all at once and allow them to brown slightly and then when ready take them and remove them from the pan.

In much the same way that you cook the pork strips cook the onion in the same way; that is to say gently until the onion is itself almost transparent or has a slight golden touch to it.

Next up is to add the peppers to the onion and continue cooking until these too are also soft. Re introduce the pork strips and take the paprika and the garlic and add these to the mixture and cook for a while so that the ingredients start to blend in with each other and then add the oregano and the tomato pur?e.

Finally season with salt and pepper to taste.

Next take your filling and spread the filling evenly leaving about a 2 cm margin around the age of the dough. Brush the edge of the dough with a little beaten egg.

Take the rest of you at the road at approximately the same size as your original piece and lay this on top of your filling. Take the top and the bottom pieces of dough and start to pinch the edges together and then twist the dough over to make a rope like texture around the edge.

Take the remainder of your beaten egg and brush this all over the empanada and then take a fork and pierce the top of the empanada all over with little holes.

Leave the empanada to rest for about 10 minutes and then leak this in a halt often for between 20 to 30 minutes or depending on your oven the crust is really crisp and golden.

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Hospitality and History – Both in Ourense

Air Travel article brought to you by Stephenmorgan

Galicia in particular and Northern Spain in general have long been considered to be a hidden jewel in the entire Spanish tourist industry and hidden away within Galicia itself are some further jewels and we are going to examine further.

If you look at all of the autonomous regions that make up modern day Spain, Galicia has to be the most remote and hidden away within that remoteness lies.

Historically, always classed as the poorer cousin to some of the other richer regions Galicia had an economy that did not easily lend itself to modernisation and herein lies a paradox in that it is this very reluctance to embrace modernity throughout that gives the region much of its appeal as far as tourism is concerned.

The natives of Galicia if you trace them back far enough have origins very similar to their Celtic cousins in the north and are justifiably proud of their language and culture and these connections no matter how stretched or tenuous give them their sense of regionalism and uniqueness.

Galicia always seemed to be a very closed and inward looking area being fiercely resistant to any formal external invasion and in many ways this degree of isolation was very much driven by the geographical location of the region.

Slowly but surely in the 20th century, Galicia began to develop and today traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with modernity throughout the region whilst at the same time the region has lost none of its more traditional culture and within the tourism economy this is starting to show real benefits.

The less well known town of Ourense is the provincial capital of Galicia’s innermost province and can be known in this over the region on the main road leading eastward into the country from the port of Vigo.

According to popular tradition than name Ourense is derived from the Hot springs that can be found there and much loved by the Romans who called the town Aquae Urentes (warm waters).

The town retained its importance both politically and geographically down through the centuries in various guises leading to the fact that it is one of the four provincial capitals that make up the modern day region known as Galicia.

Again likely to one of the most striking visitor attractions within Ourense ease the cathedral. The building work on the Cathedral de San Martino was started in the 12th century and as a result most of its features are very traditional in a style that has been described as late Roman and Early Gothic. The interior of the cathedral is quite big and long and has been described as quite gloomy by a great many visitors.

Ourense is one of those towns that very much still follow the original roman architecture and design with regards to town planning and layout.

Other parts of Ourense that are worth taking note are the Praza de Magdalena which is just off the main square and is characterised by beautiful overhanging buildings and flowers. This square is dominated by yet another church as well as the cathedral and this time the church is the Iglesia de Santa Maria Madre which is an attractive church of Baroque design that is built on the site of an earlier 11th Century original.

South of the old town you will find the original hot springs which first attracted the Romans to settle the area. They still pump out water at a healthy 65 degrees so don’t keep your hands under the water for too long!

All in all Ourense is definitely well worth a visit.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Ferrol and The Northern Coast of Galicia

Air Travel article brought to you by Stephenmorgan

Galicia in particular and Northern Spain in general have long been considered to be a hidden jewel in the entire Spanish tourist industry and hidden away within Galicia itself are some further jewels and we are going to examine Ferrol further.

If you look at all of the autonomous regions that make up modern day Spain, Galicia has to be the most remote and hidden away within that remoteness lies Ferrol.

Historically, always classed as the poorer cousin to some of the other richer regions Galicia had an economy that did not easily lend itself to modernisation and herein lies a paradox in that it is this very reluctance to embrace modernity throughout that gives the region much of its appeal as far as tourism is concerned.

The natives of Galicia if you trace them back far enough have origins very similar to their Celtic cousins in the north and are justifiably proud of their language and culture and these connections no matter how stretched or tenuous give them their sense of regionalism and uniqueness.

Galicia always seemed to be a very closed and inward looking area being fiercely resistant to any formal external invasion and in many ways this degree of isolation was very much driven by the geographical location of the region.

Slowly but surely in the 20th century, Galicia began to develop and today traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with modernity throughout the region whilst at the same time the region has lost none of its more traditional culture and within the tourism economy this is starting to show real benefits.

Ferrol can be found on the northern coast of Galicia and is mid way between the coastlines known as the Rias Altas and the Costa da Morte. It is located on the northern shores of the Ria de Betanzos.

Ferrol is perhaps better known for one of the towns most famous (or infamous) sons, a certain Francisco France y Bahamonde who later on in life became better known as just simply General Franco, leader of Spain between the between the 1930’s up until the ate 1960’s and extremely influential up until his death in 1975.

Perhaps it is something to do with the local approach to the whole General Franco association but Ferrol is very much a town that has possibly a schizophrenic approach to itself and its history.

As a naval port, Ferrol lost most of its influence (and Spanish fleet) in the peninsular war of the early 1800’s but it still retains quite some influence us fall as being a port is concerned and evidence of the Spanish Navy can be found throughout the town.

Sadly as an area of quite high unemployment many would view that Ferrol’s greatest days are behind it, however the streets around the harbour would tend to suggest otherwise.

Sadly the outskirts of the town have been described as some of most depressing urban landscapes in all of Spain but don’t let this distract you from visiting the city centre is this still retains a certain charm.

Yes, the waterfront is mostly dominated and taken out by naval buildings and dockyards but if you walk along the waterfront you can get a good idea of just how large Ferrols natural harbour actually is.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Holiday in the Rias Baixas

Air Travel article brought to you by Stephenmorgan

Galicia in particular and Northern Spain in general have long been considered to be a hidden jewel in the entire Spanish tourist industry and hidden away within Galicia itself are some further jewels and we are going to examine Costa da Morte further.

If you look at all of the autonomous regions that make up modern day Spain, Galicia has to be the most remote and hidden away within that remoteness lies Costa da Morte.

Historically, always classed as the poorer cousin to some of the other richer regions Galicia had an economy that did not easily lend itself to modernisation and herein lies a paradox in that it is this very reluctance to embrace modernity throughout that gives the region much of its appeal as far as tourism is concerned.

The natives of Galicia if you trace them back far enough have origins very similar to their Celtic cousins in the north and are justifiably proud of their language and culture and these connections no matter how stretched or tenuous give them their sense of regionalism and uniqueness.

Galicia always seemed to be a very closed and inward looking area being fiercely resistant to any formal external invasion and in many ways this degree of isolation was very much driven by the geographical location of the region.

Slowly but surely in the 20th century, Galicia began to develop and today traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with modernity throughout the region whilst at the same time the region has lost none of its more traditional culture and within the tourism economy this is starting to show real benefits.

Located between Cabo San Adrian near Malpica in the North and the Cabo Fisterra in the south west lies the Costa da Morte which as you would expect roughly translates into the “Coast of Death” so names because of the large number of shipwrecks that had been smashed to pieces on the rugged shoreline and also found offshore.

How much of this is actual fact and how much is embellished fantasy it doesn’t matter, as they say, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The one fact that is inescapable is the fact that the coast is extremely wild, windswept and rugged. It also has another grim and foreboding aspect to it and these are a series of stone “cruceiros” and also gigantic “borreos” which do tend to add a degree of solemnity bordering on the morbid to it.

That having been said however there is more to the Costa da Morte than just wild rugged scenery and huge Celtic crosses.

The first stop on the coast as you travel southwards from Coruna is Malpica which has been described as a large friendly fishing town that depending upon the day you arrive may or may not be awash with Sea Gulls aplenty!

Next further down the coast is Corme. The town can be reached by a small side road off the main coastal road and is located in a small gentle bay that is used to farm and cultivate shell fish.

Further down the coast from Corme can be found the towns of Ponteceso, Camarinas and Muxia and actual evidence that there is more to see on the Coast da Morte than one would initially think.

There is more to see on the Coast da Morte than one would initially think and it is most definitely an interesting part of any visit to Galicia.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Holiday in Southern Galicia

Air Travel article brought to you by Scott James

Galicia in particular and Northern Spain in general have long been considered to be a hidden jewel in the entire Spanish tourist industry and hidden away within Galicia itself are some further jewels and we are going to examine Northern Galicia further.

If you look at all of the autonomous regions that make up modern day Spain, Galicia has to be the most remote and hidden away within that remoteness lies Northern Galicia.

Historically, always classed as the poorer cousin to some of the other richer regions Galicia had an economy that did not easily lend itself to modernisation and herein lies a paradox in that it is this very reluctance to embrace modernity throughout that gives the region much of its appeal as far as tourism is concerned.

The natives of Galicia if you trace them back far enough have origins very similar to their Celtic cousins in the north and are justifiably proud of their language and culture and these connections no matter how stretched or tenuous give them their sense of regionalism and uniqueness.

Galicia always seemed to be a very closed and inward looking area being fiercely resistant to any formal external invasion and in many ways this degree of isolation was very much driven by the geographical location of the region.

Slowly but surely in the 20th century, Galicia began to develop and today traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with modernity throughout the region whilst at the same time the region has lost none of its more traditional culture and within the tourism economy this is starting to show real benefits.

Northern Galicia covers an area north of a line to drawn from Santiago de Compostela in the West and Lugo and the Reserva Nacional De Os Ancares in the East.

If you include Santiago de Compostela in this region along with Coruna you actually have two of the biggest Cities of the region and two of the major tourist areas, the Costa de Morte and Rias Altas.

As has been mentioned, Santiago is the regions major tourist attraction and in many ways is the centrepiece of the entire region with regards to the “Way of Saint James” having routes leading to it literally from not only all of Galicia but from all of the Spain and beyond.

Other interesting towns and tourist destinations in Northern Galicia would consist of Lugo, Betanzos and Mondonedo. There is a nice coastal drive along the northern coast and the Rias Altas starting at Ribadeo in the East and travelling through Foz, Burela, Cervo, Viveiro, Ortigueira, Cediera and Ferrol finally arriving at Coruna in the west. As had been mentioned, this drive takes in the entire Rias Altas which is a beautiful area of the region in itself.

Heading westwards from Coruna you would then take in the area known as the Costa de Morta – the Coast of Death, so called because of the many shipwrecks found offshore.

The drive from Coruna takes in Caion and then leads slightly inland to Carballo before you arrive in Malpica. From there you would head south via Laxe and Camarinas arriving at the most westerly part of the Galician coastline in Cabo Fisterra. This drive is characterized by a wild and windswept landscape and the scenery is characterized by steep cliffs and a rugged coastline. Quite awesome natural beauty but also this has a strange feature in that at periodic intervals throughout the journey you’ll find quite distinctive Cruceiros or Celtic crosses that indicate various stations of the Cross and in relation to this coastline where accidents and shipwrecks have occurred.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Fresh Mussels – Galician Style

Air Travel article brought to you by stephenmorgan

Somehow when you do a little research on the cuisine of an individual country it is quite easy to come up almost with a common theme, a common name for the food for that country. Such as English food, German food but when you consider Spanish food or if you wish to be a bit more accurate about how you look at it, food and recipes that originate from Spain there is a very convincing argument that would say it’s not that simple.

The reason for this is that you could quite easily argue that technically there is no such thing as Spanish food and the reason being for this is that Spain is an amalgam of its constituent parts that is to say it could be described as a political construct which is made up of disparate groups with their own languages, cultures, cuisines etc. These autonomous regions have been slowly amalgamated through a number of different processes throughout history but have all kept their own distinctive features.

The number of autonomous different regions that form what we would nowadays refer to as Spain is 17; they all have their own linguistic variations of the language, in some cases it’s a different sub language entirely and as well as their own cultures most definitely have their own individual cuisines.

One of those autonomous regions comprises the north-western province of Galicia. Galicia is surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and it is pretty understandable to think that for a region that has such an involvement with the sea, its cuisine would also be heavily influenced by the sea.

The above having been said not all of Galicia’s finest recipes are all seafood based and the region can lay claim to quite a variety of dishes all of which are most definitely worth investigating further.

Lets top talking about the food and get down to business. Let’s eat!

As mentioned before the dish we are going to look at today is “Tigres Rabiosos” or “Spicy Mussels”

For our purposes we will be putting together ingredients enough for four people and as such the ingredients that we would need and the amounts would be as follows:

About 150 ml of water
24 live muscles
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic clove is called a chopped
1 small dried red chilli (chilli pepper), crushed
1 teaspoon all sweet or hot paprika, depending on how hot you like your mussels.
4 ripe tomatoes peeled and diced
4 canned anchovy fillets, diced
150 ml dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh crusty bread to serve with the mussels

The important thing at the start of this recipe and the key to all such recipes is preparation. Clean the muscles properly, scrub them carefully and discard anything that you don’t like the look of. Remember, don’t use any mussels that have remained open or have damaged shells. These are probably dead on probably the only thing that you would get from these would be a nasty does of food poisoning.

Bring the war to the boil in a large saucepan and then add the mussels and securely cover with a tight lid. Remember to shake the saucepan every few minutes and then the moment you see the mussels opened fully turn off the heat as soon as possible.

Remove the mussels from the pan and leave to cool and when you’ve done this remove the lids remembering to leave the nice juicy flesh in the remaining shells.

Now comes the interesting bit. Heat olive oil in a frying pan or skillet. Add the onion and fry until the onion is soft and golden. At this point add the garlic, the chilli (or chilli pepper) and paprika and stir until the aroma really hits you and starts to make your eyes water. At this point take the tomatoes the anchovies and wine and add to the mixture then bring this to the boil to reduce the sauce slightly. Season this sauce to taste if necessary.

Once you feel you have the sauce just right then add the mussels to the sauce and cook them together briefly and heat them through but do not boil.

When everything is finally ready so with crusty bread and it makes a delicious starter.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

An Introduction to places to stay in Northern Spain and Galicia

Air Travel article brought to you by Scott James

All forms of tourist accommodation can be found in Galicia and Northern Spain. Accommodation can be found that will fit all forms of budgets and even the most particular tourists will find something to suit their particular needs.

If it is luxury that you are after then the best advice should be to head straight for the exclusive hotels and “Paradors” but to be honest even the basic family “casas rurales” are extremely good value for money. The region is dotted with mountain refuges with stunning views not to mention that in the coastal areas you can find quite a few campsites.

The standard of accommodation in the area is extremely high as you would expect from Galicia and Northern Spain. The categorisation for the hotels is awarded on a star system and these are allocated by the regional tourist authorities. If you need actual visible proof of the standard of your hotel you can find confirmation indicated by a small blue plaque near the hotel front door.

You can usually find en-suite bathrooms or at least a shower in each Hotel bedroom. Do not expect to find en-suite facilities in the smaller Hostels and “Pensiones” but you might be surprised in certain cases.

Don’t equate the number of stars on the outside door of the hotel to necessarily match the standards of the accommodation that is on offer and this is because in Spain the stars are allocated on the facilities on offer not necessarily the quality of the service. The more exclusive hotels offer all kinds of extra facilities, such as air conditioning, on-site parking, internet-access and rooms with televisions as well as facilities for the disabled.

The cost of accommodation as in most cases varies from season to season therefore it is wise to plan in advance. A popular option available in all of the autonomous regions of northern Spain are hostels (hostales) and guest houses (pensiones) which are cheaper than hotels. These are usually establishments that can only offer a few beds and by and large are family-run.

There are in excess of 1,500 hotels with a total of 92,000 beds registered in the territory of “Green Spain” — the Atlantic regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque country.

Grupo Sol-Melia and NH are the biggest chain of hotels in the area. Their facilities are of a high standard and include internet-access amongst other features. Latterly there have been a growing number of smaller privately run hotels that offer memorable relaxing accommodation available.

In Spain they have dotted throughout the country a series of state run hotels that are known as Paradors. These are classified from between three to five stars. The first Parador opened in 1928 and there is now quite a comprehensive network throughout the country. The theory behind them was that they should never be more than a day’s drive from one to another. In Santiago de Compostela you can find possibly the best known Parador in the area and this is the Parador de los Reyes Catolicos. Other Paradors can be found in Castles, Monasteries and various other monuments’. You will quite often find that there are a growing number of purpose built Paradors and these can quite often be found in either towns of historic interest or areas of spectacular scenery.

The local Parador might not be best hotel in town but it will usually deliver a predictably consistent standard of comfort. The standard from each Parador to Parador very rarely varies with comfortable spacious bedrooms to be found throughout. Some also offer fine regional cuisine. It is usually wise to plan ahead and book your accommodation if you wish to use the network of Paradors. Bookings can be made either using the Central de Reservas which is a centrally based service based in Madrid or you can contact each Parador direct. Rates can be expensive it is worth looking for special deals especially in the high season but to be brutally honest this has to be the same anywhere you go.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Beautiful Coastal Scenery in the Rias Baixas

Air Travel article brought to you by Scott James

Galicia in particular and Northern Spain in general have long been considered to be a hidden jewel in the entire Spanish tourist industry and hidden away within Galicia itself are some further jewels and we are going to examine Rias Baixas further.

If you look at all of the autonomous regions that make up modern day Spain, Galicia has to be the most remote and hidden away within that remoteness lies Rias Baixas.

Historically, always classed as the poorer cousin to some of the other richer regions Galicia had an economy that did not easily lend itself to modernisation and herein lies a paradox in that it is this very reluctance to embrace modernity throughout that gives the region much of its appeal as far as tourism is concerned.

The natives of Galicia if you trace them back far enough have origins very similar to their Celtic cousins in the north and are justifiably proud of their language and culture and these connections no matter how stretched or tenuous give them their sense of regionalism and uniqueness.

Galicia always seemed to be a very closed and inward looking area being fiercely resistant to any formal external invasion and in many ways this degree of isolation was very much driven by the geographical location of the region.

Slowly but surely in the 20th century, Galicia began to develop and today traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with modernity throughout the region whilst at the same time the region has lost none of its more traditional culture and within the tourism economy this is starting to show real benefits.

This southern part of Galicia’s west coast consists of a series of four Rias or inlets set amongst pine covered hills and really is a most beautiful location.

The beaches on this part of the coast are extremely good, the scenery is terrific and beaches are extremely safe for tourists to bathe in and given that the climate is much milder than on the wild Coast to the north and you can understand why there is such an appeal for this part of Galicia for tourists.

This part of the Galician coast is very much the most popular part and whilst as has been said that the beaches are good they are perhaps not as good as those found further north round the Coast da Morte.

The Rias Baixas is very much the coastal tourist attraction as far as most Galicians are concerned and the description of the area can be very confusing. Firstly there is this general conception that the Rias are like Norwegian Fjords and whilst there may be an argument to be had on this issue further north, in the Rias Baixas the waters are very shallow and the beaches very sandy. The majority of the quality shell fish provided by Galician fishermen is farmed and caught in this area.

There are parts of the coast line of the Rias Baixas that are popular but by and large the coast is unspoilt. The areas around Vilagarcia de arousa and Panxon are the made tourist areas but there are quieter areas of the Rias such as the stretch of coast between Muros and Noia.

This part of the Galician coastline provides some of the richest and most fertile fishing areas on the entire Spanish coast and the climate in this area is such that it produces the finest in Galician Wines.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Beef Recipes – Galician Beef Sirloin

Air Travel article brought to you by stephenmorgan

Today we are going to look at a very traditional dish from the North Western corner of Spain, Galician Beef Sirloin.

Most authorities tend to take the view point that as life in Galicia is heavily influenced by the sea that the only recipes worth taking note about are the seafood dishes so this recipe is at least part of the argument that proves that to be just yet another travel myth.

There are 17 different autonomous regions that come together to form modern-day Spain and the majority of these regions have their own cultures that is the majority of them have their own linguistic variations and in some cases different languages and they certainly have their own individual cuisines.

One such extremely distinctive autonomous region is Galicia which is Spain’s most north-western province. Spain’s most westerly autonomous region it is surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and as you can imagine for a region that has so much rugged coastline a lot of Galician cuisine is very much based on seafood and seafood based recipes.

That having said not all of Galician cuisine is all seafood based and the region can lay claim to some quite gorgeous recipes and provincial dishes and are all well worth trying out.

Lets top talking about the food and get down to business. Let’s eat!

As you said above the common conception about the food will cuisine from Galicia is that all of the best recipes are seafood based. Well here we have one gorgeous recipe that actually proves this argument to be totally false.

The recipe concerned is for Galician beef sirloin.

We’re going to give the amount of ingredients and details as if you were making a meal for four and as such you will need the following ingredients:

4 medallions of sirloin
350 g of shallots
? Litre of red wine
Olive oil
2 spoons chopped parsley
Pepper
Salt
300 g of seasonal wild mushrooms
Assorted Herbs (Chives, Oregano, Tarragon)

Take some olive oil and heat it in a frying pan. Take the shallots and peel and chop them and then saut? the shallots in the hot oil for a few minutes. Add some red wine to the shallots and bring the entire mixture to the boil; when this has happened lower the heat and continue cooking until the wine has reduced by half and the shallots are nice and tender.

At this point take a wild mushrooms and chop them and then saut? them in the oil and then season.

Next, take the medallions of sirloin and with the remaining oil that you have put them in a frying pan over a strong heat for three minutes on each side until the medallions on nicely browned on each side. Then season them when they are cooked and serve the meat with the mushrooms. A nice touch is to put the aromatic herbs on top and serve the wine sauce separately.

This is best served with any sort of potatoes though I guess the majority people would probably serve it with crispy French fried potatoes. The overall cooking in preparation process shouldn’t take more than about 30 to 45 minutes and this makes an ideal delicious meal.

This Air Travel article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Chilled Asparagus Soup with a Warm Poached Egg

Air Travel article brought to you by Scott James

Somehow when you do a little research on the cuisine of an individual country it is quite easy to come up almost with a common theme, a common name for the food for that country. Such as French food, Italian food etc but with the regards to Spanish food or more accurately described as recipes that originate from the country of Spain it could be argued that it is not quite that simple.

The Political and historical make up of Spain with the unification of its particular regions and collective cultural identities make it perfectly reasonable and logical to argue that there is no such thing really as overall Spanish cooking. There has been a slow and steady amalgamation of the autonomous regions that collectively make up modern day Spain and all have kept their own individual identities in such a way that potentially preclude any “culinary amalgamation” between them.

The 17 autonomous regions that constitute the modern-day Spain may all have their own distinctive variations of the same language and in several cases different national sub languages but as well as this would have their own individual cultures and most definitely cuisines. One of the more interesting and culturally diverse regions is that of Galicia which is situated in the North Western corner of mainland Spain.

Spain’s most westerly autonomous region it is surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and as you can imagine for a region that has so much rugged coastline a lot of Galician cuisine is very much based on seafood and seafood based recipes. Nothing in fact could be further than the truth and there are a whole host of interesting and delicious recipes based upon the agriculture and viniculture of the region.

Lets top talking about the food and get down to business. Let’s eat! For this delicious Gazpacho recipe we are looking to take enough ingredients to serve four people and us such we would need the following:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small leaks, white parts and then chopped.
600 ml of water
1 potato peeled and diced
450 grams of fresh asparagus with the tougher parts of the stalks trimmed and chopped.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 media makes
1 teaspoon vinegar
A pinch of sea salt flake’s
A few drops of truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil

Take the olive oil in a heat the oil in a saucepan and then add the leaks and stew slowly until the leaks are nice and soft.

Next add the water a little salt and pepper and potato if you are going to be using one. The reason for including a potato in anything like this is that it will slightly thicken the soup making the whole dish a lot more substantial.

However, if you are going to include potato in this recipe then you have to remember that the soup will need to cook for about 10 minutes longer than normal until the potato has softened. The next thing is to add the asparagus and boil for five minutes. Be careful at this stage because if you boil the asparagus for too long you lose the colour from the asparagus and the whole soup will lose a bit of the visual impact.

Take the soup and then pur?e the soup in whatever blender or food processor that you have and when the soup has been pur?ed, push the soup through a sieve. The reason for this is that you want to try and make the soup as much of a consomm? as possible.

Let the Finished soup cool and then kill the soup until he is ready to serve. When you’re almost ready to serve the soup poured into some nice wide shut out of bowls.

Now for the second stage of the recipe, the warm poached eggs.

Take a saucepan and add some water. Add the vinegar and bring the water to a simmer rather than a boil. Take the eggs and gently crack them and gently lower them into the water. Simmer a couple of the eggs at a time for about three minutes or until the white of the egg is set.

Remove the eggs and leave them to drain. If at this particular point in time you want to be totally obsessed with the display and appearance of the soup you could always try and trim the whites of the egg either with a knife or scissors. Take the poached egg and place one in the centre of each bowl of soup and sprinkle on top of the egg some flakes of your sea salt and add a couple of drops off the truffle oil. Be careful with the truffle oil in that the actual case can be extremely overpowering and is not necessary to everybody’s taste.

Then serve sit back and wait for the complements!

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