09 Apr

Bring Home a Taste of Your Holiday

We’ve asked our overseas team to share some traditional recipes with us so that we can still enjoy the flavour of our amazing destinations. Here are some typical Easter dishes for you to try.

Torrijas

Torrijas are traditionally made at Easter time in Spain and make a lovely afternoon treat for those with a sweet tooth. There are varying ways of making Torrijas, sometimes they are made with sweet red wine, others use milk, and some add different liquors. Torrijas are often topped with cinnamon and sugar and others are covered with honey. Each home in Spain has their own recipe. Here is an easy recipe, which uses most ingredients we have at home anyway. Best made a day in advance, if you can wait!

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 litre milk
  • 200g of sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • Good quality extra virgin olive oil
  • Large piece of lemon zest
  • 1-day old French stick bread

Method

Bring the milk gently to a boil with 100g of the sugar and lemon peel. Then simmer to infuse for approximately 10 minutes

Cut the bread into thick slices.

Place the bread into the milk to soak them, do not immerse them completely so as not break the bread, but gradually let them soak up as much milk as possible whilst keeping their shape.

Put the slices to one side to rest and cool.

Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl then dip the bread slices into the egg mixture. Gently fry the slices, 2 by 2, in half an inch of olive over medium heat. Flip them halfway through frying when the sides look nice and crisp.

Leave the “Torrijas” to rest on kitchen paper.

Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon in another shallow dish, then coat the slices in the sugar mixture and put to one side. Save the sugar mixture remaining in the dish.

To make the syrup, take the leftover sugar mixture and place in a small pan. Add a little extra sugar if necessary. Add water 450ml water and bring to the boil, then add the honey. Leave to simmer gently for 30 minutes to make a thick syrup. Let it cool to one side for 15 minutes.

Spoon the syrup over all the “Torrijas” (bread slices) so they are completely soaked. Let them cool a little, cover and put in them into the fridge to cool (overnight if possible)

Massacanat omelette

This omelette enriched with “meat” and onion rings was traditionally eaten in Bigorre (Atlantic Pyrenese area of France) during Easter to celebrate the end of Lent. The massacanat was traditionally cooked on Easter Monday with the remains of the Easter feast on Sunday, onion rings and the eggs stored during the Lent period.

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • 2 slices of ham or meat left overs
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 tablespoon duck confit fat (or lard)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 or 3 sprigs of parsley
  • salt and pepper

Method

Cut the ham/meat into pieces.

Peel and finely chop the onions.

Put the duck fat in a skillet over low heat. Melt and brown the onions for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add the ham/meat, continue cooking over medium heat 2 to 3 min.

Meanwhile, finely chop the garlic and parsley.

Beat the eggs add the garlic and parsley, then season to taste.

Start cooking the Massacanat over high heat. Quickly pour the eggs into the pan. Using a spatula, bring the edges of the omelette to the centre of the pan. Then tip and turn the pan to allow the uncooked eggs to flow into the empty space. Finally, lower the heat and continue cooking over a lower heat.

Crespells

These sweet cookies are traditionally made during the Easter season in Mallorca. Families gather around the kitchen table to prepare the Crespells.

Ingredients

  • 100g icing sugar
  • 20g olive oil
  • 100g butter
  • 60g orange juice
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 500g plain flour

Method

Beat together all the ingredients, reserving 100-150g of the flour.

Once thoroughly mixed add the reserved flour a little at a time bringing the mixture together with your hands to form a dough.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface.

For the crespells cut out different shapes using cookie cutters.

For the robiols use a small round dish to cut out a circle of dough

Fill your robiols with jam, cottage cheese, pumpkin or chocolate, taking care to put the filling in the centre of the circle.

Fold the dough in half and seal the edges with a fork.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 180C for approx. 15 mins until they are pale brown.

Sprinkle with icing sugar when cool.

L’Anchoiade Provençale

A traditional recipe from Provence. Muriel our area representative serves this as a starter for the Easter Sunday meal with her family.

Ingredients

  • 300g of cleaned mushrooms
  • 6 Eggs
  • 20 cherry tomatoes
  • 6 carrots (prefer the small ones)
  • 12 green asparagus
  • 1 cucumber
  • Green runner beans
  • 1 small cauliflower
  • 6 small artichokes
  • A bouquet of radish

For the anchovy sauce you need:

  • 250g of anchovy filets
  • 2 garlic gloves
  • 20cl of Virgin Olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of Vinegar
  • 1 small spoon of capers
  • 1 tablespoon of sweet mustard
  • Pepper to season

Method

Wash, trim and slice up all the vegetables.

Cut the cauliflower into florets.

Cook the eggs for 10 minutes, let them cool and peel.

Arrange the raw cut vegetables on a large dish to be laid directly on the table.

The Anchovy sauce:

Put the anchovy fillets, capers, garlic, mustard, vinegar, olive oil and pepper in a blender. Mix and add olive oil to obtain the correct consistency.

The idea of this recipe is to give each person a small bowl of the anchovy sauce, which they dip their vegetables into.

Kyle Webb