sardinas, a photo by Michael Thon on Flickr.

Sardines cooked over an open fire on an ‘espeto’ (a wooden stick)

Photo courtesy of Mari & Nacho

Now is the time of year when we start to see fresh broad beans in the garden and in the markets.  Also known as fava beans, they are popular in Spain and Portugal, among other places.  This is a simple dish that you’ll find in a lot of restaurants in Spain, and housholds as well.  Spanish cured ham is hard to find in the United States, but  its italian cousin, prosciutto, is much easier to obtain, and makes a fair substitute.

Broad Beans with Ham

Ingredients

2 cups fresh broad beans

1/3 cup diced cured ham

1 large clove of garlic, chopped or crushed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion, sliced (optional)

salt

Method

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the onion, garlic and ham for a few minutes.  Add the broad beans, turn down the heat and cover, simmering the beans for about 10-15 minutes until they’re soft.  Serve hot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zordor/ / CC BY 2.0

This is a traditional dish from central Spain that makes a great side dish.  I have also seen it served as a tapa in bars.

Pisto Manchego

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 medium onion

2 small zucchini

2 cloves of garlic

4 cups of peeled and chopped tomatoes

1 small bunch of chopped parsley (about 2 tablespoons)

Chop the onion, peppers, zucchini into 1/2 inch pieces and mince the garlic.  Heat the oil over medium heat in a saute pan or an earthenware cazuela.  Saute the vegetables for a few minutes, and then add the tomatoes.  Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes, until the stew has a very thick consistency.  It is often served with a fried or hard boiled egg on top, as shown in the photo.

photo courtesy of tomcensani

Here in Salamanca, Spain the weather is starting to get hot, so its time to make gazpacho. It’s basically an uncooked vegetable soup that is usually served chilled, making it a great summertime dish.   There are a lot of variations on the basic recipe.  Mine is very easy to make so we have gazpacho several times a week when we can find good tomatoes.  I use the tomatoes with their skins and seeds and just put them in the blender with the other ingredients, so this recipe only takes a few minutes to prepare.

Gazpacho

2 large tomatoes – I like beefsteak varieties for this dish

1 cucumber, peeled

1/4 yellow onion

1 clove garlic

1 stalk celery

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Dash of wine vinegar – more or less to taste

Salt

Adjust the amounts of the ingredients to fit your kitchen blender.  Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add them to the blender, along with the olive oil.  Blend them for a few seconds.  Depending on how pulpy the tomatoes are, you may need to add a little water to get them to blend.  Coarsely chop the other vegetables and add them to the blender.  Blend them for a minute until the consistency is smooth and add salt and vinegar to taste.