Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Spanish Onion Soup.

The evenings are getting chillier here in Zahara de la Sierra.As the sun sets in the valley below you can now keep the chill off with a hot bowl of Al Lago´s Spanish onion soup.I use three types of wine in the soup but not to worry as all the alcohol cooks off.The soup is served in a terracota bowl with hot melted goats cheese on top.
 4 Spanish onions.sliced fine
8 cloves of garlic,sliced thin
2 Tb. Extra virgin olive oil.
4 ml dry sherry ( I use La Guita )
4 ml.rioja wine.
4 ml dry white wine.
2 literes of Stock.( use chicken or a vegtable stock)
Sprigs of fresh thyme,rosemary,parsley and bay leaf.
toasted day old bread
Sliced cured goats cheese.
Saute the onions and the garlic untill the onions start to brown.Add the three wines and reduce then topup with the stock.Tie the herbs together with cotton twine and steep in the soup for half an hour.The soup taste best if its left for a day.Then heat and serve in terracota bowls topped with toasted bread.Place the cheese on top and melt either under a broiler or in a hot oven.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

coconut pound cake

Here is a quick and easy recipie for a light and fluffy pound cake scented with malibu rum and scatered with shaved coconut.The use of equal parts in the recipie gives it its name.
300 gr. un-salted butter.melted
300 gr. sugar.
300 gr. flour.
300 gr. egg.( about 5 medium sized. )
1 tsp baking powder.
2 shots Malibu rum.
3 Tb. shaved coconut.

sift the baking powder into the flour then mix in the butter eggs and suger and whip by hand untill smooth.Add the rum and a pinch of salt.Pour into a greased and floured 8 inch cake pan.Scatter with the shaved cocnut and bake a 180c.for about 20 min.untill lightly browned and cook through.We serve it with a scoop of raspberry ice cream.

Friday, September 2, 2011

A change in the weather

With the rain falling on the mountain sides of Zahara de la Sierra and the temperatures falling after the sweltering heat of august,in the kitchen at AL Lago we are turning our minds towards soups and stews.A hot bowl of Spanish onion soup topped with melted Manchego cheese is now on offer.
    The country side reverberates with the sound of gun shots.Its Rabbit season!We will be serving wild rabbit stew with mushrooms, spanish brandy and tomatoes over warm sage polenta.