Saturday was a big day around here. I guess when your country has been around for a couple thousand years, your calendar is pretty well booked up with big events. October 12 is a good example. It is significant for us too. This is the day Columbus landed in the New World.
Really Spaniards don't need much incentive to go out and have a good time. This is a pretty amiable bunch. Perhaps it was different when they were a world power, and therefore responsible for everybody else's welfare. It's hard to have a good time with that much responsibility on your shoulders.
The morning started off with more of those infernal fireworks. I finally saw the guy lighting them off and offered, in English, to give him a nice knuckle sandwich. Sometimes it's good to be in a country that only speaks Spanish. A big crowd had gathered near Plaza Casino for the Migas Cookoff. In the South, we would be cooking Barbecue. Here they cook migas. I have a link for the recipe.
The basic ingredients for migas are flour and elbow grease. You have to constantly stir and mix the dough with oil over low heat for about an hour, before it has the right consistency. It reminds me of stuffing. Not dressing, which is a little wetter, the best example of which was at Johnson's Restaurant in Hartsville, SC. Once the dough mix is almost granular, you add the chorizo, ajo, cebollas and pimientos. Now you're talking.
One thing I have learned about cookoffs is that they are usually done by men. I'm not sure why that is. Somehow we think it's fun to get up really early and cook for big crowds, but not on a daily basis for our families.
Susan and I walked up and down the alley, looking at each contestant's mixture. At a BBQ cookoff, you can start a conversation with the guys, asking them about their recipes, their smokers, prep ideas, etc. I love doing this, mostly because you almost always end up getting free samples of Barbecue. I can't really ask these Spanish fellas what is going on, because they all respond in Spanish, which makes it difficult to segue to the free samples part. Then I found a way.
I spotted a man and woman working over their burner, stirring the migas. They didn't have a big crowd helping, so I started asking about ingredients. They seemed congenial enough, so I asked if I could help. Claro! (Of course). I grabbed a wooden spoon and commenced to stirring and chopping and flopping the dough over and over and over again, getting it down from a big lump to those little pieces of heaven. We were working pretty hard, so the guy picked up the wine bottle and offered me a drink. We don't use glasses around here for that kind of stuff. They had a little bamboo spile stuck in the bottle, and you just turned it up, Redneck style. Free samples baby.
Then Granny got in the act. She took a look at our mix and decided it was a failure, so she brought out another pan, took half of what we had and started over. Nobody argued with Granny. She got over that fire and started whipping those migas into shape. Another 30 minutes or so, more vino tinto, and we got ourselves a batch of migas! Here's the interesting part. They add grapes or pomegranates on the side. The migas is more on the dry and savory side, so the grapes and pomegranates add sweet and liquid. It was delicioso!
We start serving up plates to whoever was standing close by and celebrated with more vino tinto.
Not a bad way to start our day. That only gets us to about 2PM. I'll need to post another blog to get us through the rest of the day.
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| Dino con vino |
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| Granny is large and in charge. |
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| Stop Hunger Now! |
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