Gastronomy  
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                          an independent guide to the CostaTrafalgar including Conil, Vejer & Barbate

CROQUETAS de BACALAO

Bar Camelo

A new edition and a new recipe. Cod Croquetas is a favourite tapa from Bar Camelo. Dried cod is often regarded as being a bit of a pain as it requires soaking, so not quite a dish for immediate gratification. However, once the cod has been soaked, more a question of time than effort, the actual preperation time is very quick.

This receipe is for about 24 small croquetas. ( At the time of posting a tapa consists of two croquetas for 1 euro)
Ingredients:
2 x tbl spoons butter
1 x tbl spoon olive oil
1 x Onion
100 grs Dried Cod
1/2 litre of milk
2 x tbl spoons flour (the type for making cakes)
2 x eggs beaten
Bread crumbs in a bowl

2	3	3	4
5	6	8	9

1. Soak the dried Cod in water for 24hrs-36hrs, changing the water several times. When finished drained and pat dry.
2. Chop the onion finely and add to the olive oil and butter already warming in a frying pan. Fry gently until softened.
3. Shred the Cod with your fingers onto a plate.
4. Add a little at a time the 2 heaped table spoons of flour to the frying pan, stirring frequentley.
5. Add the shredded Cod to the pan and heat through.
6. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring as you go to ultimately achieve a smooth and reasonable thick paste.
7. Remove from the heat and place in a plastic container, spreading out to a 3cms thick layer. When the mixture has cooled, place in the fridge. This makes for an easier and thicker material to work with prior to frying.
8. Remove from the fridge, the mixture can be then moulded into small rugby ball shapes about 3cms long.
9. Baste the croquetas in the egg mixture ensuring a thick covering then place in the bowl of bread crumbs and roll around to get a good covering.
10. To cook either use a deep fryer at about 160C - 180C and cook until golden brown, or shallow fry on all sides until acheieving the desired colour.

The finished item

Enjoy and good luck!

TORTILLA RECIPE

What better place to start than with the Tortilla. Everyone will give you a different recipe and pretty much anything goes. From painful personal experience there seem to be a few key points that can avoid the rubber frisbee effect. So what better than to do a photo montage of one of my favourite Tortillas being made. Chano is the chef at the popular Bar Ligero in the calle Cadiz, Conil.

The above preamble was written before I set forth to photograph the event and having now witnessed the creation I am left feeling that there was an element of the Swedish Chef about the whole affair. True to the direct approach of this review here is how to construct a Tortilla or two or three, please read on.

1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12

This recipe seems to make at least two large tortillas, each serving eight slices so possibly reduce the ingredients by at least 50%.

1. Chop 8 medium potatoes into slices. 2, Chop 4 medium onions into slices. 3, Chop two large green spanish salad peppers into slices. 4, Pour in to a LARGE frying pan a litre of olive oil, yes he used a litre, and then add the onions and peppers. Fry these in the hot oil, reduce temperature and continue until they reduce and become softer, put the pan lid back on for a while. Then add the potatoes and fry them until they to become slightly brown, this can be done with the lid on the pan as they need to sweat as well, but more importantly until the potatoes are soft and almost crumbly. 5, Add 20 eggs to a bowl ,add salt and beat (6). 7, Remove pan from the heat and ladle the mixture into the large bowl containing the beaten eggs, don't scoop out all the olive oil, just the vegetables. Stir well. 8, Select a deep non stick frying pan ensuring that you have a bigger pan lid handy for the flip!. Pour a small amount of fresh olive oil into the frying pan and heat. When the oil is hot ladle in the ingredients until the frying pan is reasonably full. Now agitate the ingredients and reduce the heat, make sure that you push the ingredients about with a large spatula so they don't stick to the pan and cook through evenly. 9, When the mixture starts to firm up a little prepare for the flip by placing a large pan lid over the top of the frying pan and turning the pan over, in theory you should achieve 9. But practice makes perfect ,and what hasn't fallen on the floor will still make a good omlette. 10, Now slide the upturned Tortilla back in the pan, having made sure there is a splash of fresh olive oil in the frying pan, and it is hot. Wait a while then stick a knife in the centre, when withdrawn there should be no trace of mixture on the blade. Time for completion. 11, Use the pan lid again to turn the tortilla upside down and remove from the frying pan. Now place it on a plate, wait for it to cool, and then
carve a slice. 12.

The ingredients for this are of industrial quantities, so if you have cut into the weekly food budget and not reduced the ingredients by 50% but followed the above recipe in full you should probably start again at No 7 and make another tortilla, hoping in turn that your family can survive on an egg and potato diet for the week, or alternatively take a stand at the local farmers market and sell slices of your new creation.

I have seen and tried so many different versions of this basic tortilla that all I can say is that I saw this in action, it worked, and tasted good. GOOD LUCK!

TUNA with Onions Recipe (Atún Encebollado)

This recipe has been taken from a book recently published by the Ayuntamiento of Conil and features typical recipes from the area of Conil. The author is Francisco Vázquez, who has a stand in the daily fresh produce market in Conil, where he sells fruit and vegetables. The book is in Spanish, it covers the culinary traditions of the area, and some of the cooking methods. The book is a little short on vital information, such as quantities of ingredients and cooking times, but a good book, nethertheless. This publication is available from a couple of shops in Conil.

This dish is very typical of this coastline - for obvious reasons. It is widely offered in tapas bars. The ingredients are pretty simple, the key element being the use of sherry wine from Jerez. Sherry is employed in many dishes prepared of the region.

Ingredients

Raw Tuna Chunks ( Fresh or Frozen )
Fresh Garlic
Onions
Olive Oil
Jerez light Sherry - Manzanilla for example (You can use a white wine and some Sherry vinegar)
Pepper
Oregano
Salt

There are no quantities indicated, but as purely a guide try the following;

I Kilo of Tuna cut into 2 - 3cm chunks, 1 x big onion chopped into strips, 3 x garlic cloves chopped, a lot of olive oil - at least a wine glass full - and the same of sherry, or white wine with a splash of sherry vinegar.

Add the olive oil to a large frying pan and heat. Add the onions and garlic, and fry gently until the ingredients are soft and cooked through, not browned. Now add the tuna pieces along with the wine/sherry and the seasoning of salt, pepper and oregano.
Simmer gently with a lid. The tuna is cooked when it starts to fall apart while pushed with a spoon, or has the same colour all the way through. Remove from the heat and pour contents, including the rich sauce, into a serving dish. This can be served as a tapas or with potatoes as a more substantial dish.

Personally, I reckon it improves when kept in the fridge overnight, as the sauce blends into the tuna better.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

There are lots of different ways of doing this dish, so here are a couple of alternatives you can try.

1. Stir a teaspoon of grated nutmeg into the pan just prior to adding the tuna.
2. Add a couple of bay leaves, as above.
3. Add a few sprigs of fresh parsely, as above, but remove prior to serving.
4. Don't add the oregano, but substitute with the bay and parsley.

As well as the many restaurants and tapas bars in the region, there are shops and markets full of fresh local produce for those who like to cook at home. Cadiz's old market lies not far from the cathedral. Fresh fish, fruit and vegetables fill the stalls.

Each Friday there's a market down by the beach in Conil. Clothing and shoe stalls predominate, but several stock a large variety of herbs, spices, olives, nuts and dried fruit.