Easter is one week away, and if you’re looking to shake things up a bit from your usual ham, quiche, and too-many-dozens-of-hardboiled-eggs routine, read on for some yummy recipes from Spain, home to both world famous Holy Week celebrations and world famous cooking!
Spain is a secular state where freedom of religion is guaranteed to all, but it also has longstanding ties to the Roman Catholic Church, and while irreligiosity is clearly on the rise, a majority of the population still identifies as Catholic. That means that a large number of Spaniards continue to observe Lent, a centuries’ old annual practice that involves, among other things, forgoing meat on several key days. Fortunately for the self-sacrificing, Spain has an abundance of ingredients that are as healthy and delicious as they are versatile, and those skipping meat need not miss out on flavor.
The most traditional meal, unsurprisingly in a country that borders not only the Mediterranean Sea but also the Atlantic Ocean, is garbanzos con bacalao (garbanzos and cod), also called potaje de vigilia (Easter vigil potage). A comforting stew that is hearty without being heavy, it is usually made with desalted salt cod (check out how to desalt preserved cod here), although it can easily be substituted for fresh. Below, I provide two recipes, one quick version and one slightly more involved. The dish is highly forgiving of and adaptable to all sorts of modifications, so feel free to experiment and see what you like best!
Garbanzos con bacalao from Peque Recetas (a website on cooking for kids)
Ingredients
400 grams/ just under 1 lb of cooked garbanzos, rinsed if canned or jarred
250 g / ½ lb of desalted salt cod, bones removed, cut into larger chunks or flaked for small children
1 white or yellow onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tomato, grated (see how and why to grate tomatoes here)
1 large soup spoonful of sweet, not spicy pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika, also called Pimentón de la Vera, easily available online in the US, and possibly also in brick-and-mortar supermarkets or specialty shops)
1 small dessert spoonful of ground cumin
1 scant soup spoonful of all-purpose flour
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 or more hardboiled eggs, sliced for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil over low heat. When they begin to color, add the flour and stir to mix well. Add the grated tomato, pimentón and cumin, stir and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the cooked garbanzos and then, carefully, the desalted or fresh codfish. Do not stir to mix, tip the pan gently back and forth. Add water to cover, gently tip to mix again, and test for salt (desalted cod can still be quite salty, so do not add any salt before this point). Raise the heat to medium and let cook 15-20 minutes. Serve warm and top with sliced hard boiled egg if desired.
Potaje de vigilia from La Cocina de Fabrisa
Ingredients
650 grams / just under 1 ½ lbs cooked garbanzos, rinsed if canned or jarred
300 g/ 2/3 lb fresh spinach, rinsed and dried
500 g / 1 lb or slightly more desalted salt cod, cut in medium chunks, bones removed
¼ red or green bell pepper, diced
1 white or yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 leek, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
400 mL / 1 2/3 C fish or vegetable broth
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 pinch of sweet pimentón
Salt and pepper
5 tablespoons olive oil
Hardboiled eggs, sliced, for garnish (optional)
instructions
In a large pot, heat the oil. Add bell pepper, onion, and carrots and sauté, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes. Add the leek and garlic and stir until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and broth. Season with pimentón and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Using a food mill or a handheld blender, purée the vegetables and broth until smooth. Test for salt. Return the puree to the pot and reheat. When the mixture reaches a simmer, add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes. Carefully place the codfish in the pot and cook for 4 minutes without stirring, to avoid breaking the fish. Add the garbanzos and tip the pot back and forth gently to mix. Bring to a simmer and test again for salt. Serve warm and top with sliced hardboiled eggs if desired, and a drizzle of olive oil.
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Parentheses: When is a fish not a fish?
Interestingly, actual fish are not the only option available to even the strictest observers of Lent. The Catholic Church has made several concessions to local food traditions over the years that may surprise you.
For example, in Nicaragua, iguana is a delicacy that’s been enjoyed for hundreds of years. During the Spanish Colonial period, the Church (which was unfamiliar at that point with the existence of the reptile) was unsure at first whether to classify its flesh as fish or meat. They wanted locals to adopt the Catholic religion and its customs, but didn’t want to push too far and put that project at risk. So to keep everyone happy, and citing the iguana’s cold-bloodedness, they declared that iguanas are fish, and therefore permissible on meatless days.
Similarly, the world’s largest rodent, the capybara, is Vatican-sanctioned fasting fare. This also goes back to the Colonial period, this time in Venezuela, where a letter (or possibly a highly respected priest acting as official envoy, depending on the account you read) was sent to Rome asking for permission to consume capybara during Lent. The justification given, apart from deliciousness, was that the capybara is semi-aquatic, and that its time spent in and around lakes, rivers, and swamps, and the fact that its flesh tastes vaguely fishy as a result of feeding on aquatic grasses, make it a fish, not a meat. This was apparently enough for the Pope, who sent back a papal bull post haste granting his approval. Venezuelans and other Central and South Americans have been chowing down on capybaras at Easter ever since.
Not all Lenten dispensations are officially sanctioned, however. There’s a story told in Spain about how enterprising folks fixed a workaround to the no-meat rule. You may be aware of Spaniards’ love of jamón, chorizo, and the like. But these are all pork, and not Lent approved. So what did they do? They grabbed their pigs, tossed them in the river, plucked them back out dripping, and happily announced they’d caught a fish!
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Moving on now from fish and other “fish”-based main courses, let’s turn our attention to dessert. Namely, torrijas.
Ah, torrijas. They might be described as French toast but moister, and served as a dessert or snack rather than a breakfast food. But don’t let the simplicity of the dish fool you—torrijas are delicious, and whether homemade or brought home from a pastry shop, they are looked forward to with great anticipation each year. Below are two slightly different recipes for you to try!
Ingredients
750 mL / 3 C + 3 TB milk
75 grams / 2/3 C white sugar
1 cinnamon stick
The peel of 1 lemon
1 large stale baguette (1-2 days old), cut into thick slices (approximately 1 inch thick)
2 eggs
Sunflower seed oil for frying
100 mL / between 2/3 and 1/2 C water
100 mL / between 2/3 and 1/2 C honey
Instructions
In a saucepan, gently warm the milk with the sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon peel. Remove from heat just before the milk begins to boil and allow to cool. Discard the cinnamon and lemon peel once cool. Arrange the bread slices in a single layer on a large tray or sheet pan. Pour the milk mixture over the bread and let sit for at least an hour, flipping the bread at least once. While the bread soaks, mix the water and honey in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then set aside to cool. Beat the eggs in a wide shallow bowl or dish and very gently dip each bread slice in to coat, taking care to keep the sopping bread in one piece. Carefully place the egg-coated bread in a frying pan with plenty of oil on high heat, either individually or a few to a pan, depending on the size of your pan, taking care not to crowd them, and fry, 1 minute per side, so that the outside is golden but the inside is still moist and creamy, and then set aside on paper towels in a single layer. Transfer to a serving dish and top with honey water.
Torrijas — cinnamon and sugar version, from Caracol Viajero
Ingredients
2 large baguettes, (1-2 days old), cut into thick slices (approximately 1 inch thick)
1 L / 4 C milk
4 eggs
3 large soup spoonfuls of white sugar
The peel of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
Sunflower seed oil for frying
Caster or superfine sugar for sprinkling (regular white sugar or powdered sugar may be substituted)
Powdered cinnamon for sprinkling
Instructions
Heat the milk, sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon peel until very hot. Set aside and allow to cool somewhat. Soak the bread slices in the milk mixture. After soaking, heat a frying pan with plenty of oil over medium heat. Dip the bread slices into the beaten eggs and then fry them in small batches, first on one side until golden, then the same on the other side. Remove from the pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
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This concludes our special edition, first and so far only installment of Ready, Set, Cook. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a bit about Spain’s traditional Easter foods (as well as the Catholic Church’s tradition of culinary rule-fudging), and that you’ll take the probably-(not)-soon-to-be-proverbial pig plunge and give these tasty recipes a try!