Meatballs (Mandonguilles)

I went to see my grandma the other day and I asked the exact recipe for her yummy meatballs. So I would like to share it with you. This is with aubergine/eggplant. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

What we need for 4 people (16 meatballs)

400-500 gr of Ground Meat (botifarra fresca). It is made of Ground Pork here.
2 bay leaves
1 carrot
1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 aubergine/eggplant
4 tbsp of fried tomatoe sauce.
1/2 of a big onion
Aprox. 250 gr of bread from the day before
a bunch of peas
3 tbsp of brandy/cognac
some flour

some water

salt
sugar
oil

Let´s start

1. In a bowl add the ground pork and the egg. Add salt and black pepper if it is needed, depending on your ground meat. With a fork, mix it. Make breadcrumbs and add it to the bowl.  Mix it well. It tastes much better if you do it with regular bread from the day before. Don´t use the crust. Let it marinate for at least half an hour
2. Cut the aubergine/eggplant and add some salt and sugar.
3.In a frying pan, fry the minced onion with oil. Then add the tomatoe sauce. Then drain through a strainer and place the liquid into a final saucepan with some water.
4. Make the meatballs by hand or using an small recipient. Use a little bit of flour for the surface. You can get 16 meatballs. Fry them with some oil in a frying pan.
5. Put the saucepan on to the heat (low heat) and add the cinnamon, the bay leaves, some salt. Add the peas and the carrot and the brandy. After that add the meatballs. Add more water till the meatballs are nearly covered (3/4).Cook over a low heat. Let them on to the heat for at least half an hour or an hour, or till the sauce starts to thicken.
6. Meanwile fry the aubergine/eggplant coated with flour.
7. Add them into the saucepan when the sauce starts to thicken. Let it for 5 minutes. It is ready to serve.

Enjoy/Bon Profit!

Strawberries with vinegar (Maduixes amb vinagre)

Happy St Valentine! Well, in Catalonia this is not very common to celebrate, because we have another special day for love here: Sant Jordi´s Day (St George´s Day). In that day, women give a book as a present to men and men give a rose back to them. It is the 23th of April, so I really recommend to come here around that time, as you will have a the chance to see the great atmosphere of that day.

Anyway, in St Valentine everything seems to be red that day, so I had a go to something healthy and delicious. That is Strawberries with vinegar. It seems an odd combination but it tastes really good. Give it a try. This is a traditional recipe from my grandma (I have added some cinnamon that works very well with it, and the whipping cream).

What you need (for 2-4)

500 g fresh strawberries
1 banana
4 tbsp of vinegar (not balsamic)
5 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 lemon (juice)

if you want: some whipping cream with some ground cinnamon at the top (200 ml of double cream with 4 tbsp of castor sugar)

Let´s start

1. Clean with water the strawberries and then cut the green part.
2. Cut the strawberries and the banana to small pieces.
3. Add the vinegar, sugar, lemon juice and ground cinnamon and mix it with a spoon.
4. Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours in order to macerate the fruit. The more, the better. While in the fridge, remove the mix with a spoon a couple of times.
5. Serve it with some whipping cream aside and some cinnamon at the top if you wish.

Enjoy/Bon Profit

"Ràdio Sabadell"...experience!

Hi!!!

Today my post is going to be a little bit different as it is not about a new recipe, but it is about something that happened to me this morning that is related to this blog.
They contacted me to go to the Radio Sabadell and talk a little about my blog and explain a recipe. I decided to explain the Pavlova as it is something not very well-known here and it is easy.
It was a nice experience and the program is really worth it.

If you want, you can listen to it (it is in Catalan), but if you don´t understand a single word in this language, don´t worry, at least you will have the chance to hear my voice ;-)

xxoo

To hear it, you can go to:
http://www.radiosabadell.fm/RSPodcast-V1.0/faces/home.xhtml
and choose the program "Amb molt de gust" from this date 04_02_11 (Jordi Samper...). I am talking the the first 10 minutes or so.

If you want , you can also check the recipes in a blog from the Radio, created by Maria Mas or more sepecifically to my recipe