Food! Marvelous Food!

When I am cooking I often forget to take pictures of some of my best creations. Fruits and vegetables here are a lot cheaper than back home and because there are so many immigrant food stores in my neighborhood I can easily get my hands on special spices or other not-so-common ingredients. For example, here you can buy a good sized bag of curry and other Indian spices for less than a euro! Back home one of those little dinky glass bottles of spices costs from 2 to 3 dollars!
Not only is there plenty of inexpensive variety, but because I'm here in a city where everything you need is within walking distance, if I lack a certain vegetable or whatever I just walk around the corner and buy what I need at either the tiny fruit and veggie store run by really sweet Indian men with big brown eyes or across the street to the Chino where a Chinese family sells the essentials. I'm really really going to miss this - the accessibility of everything. Back home I would have to get in a car. Such a drag!

The other day for lunch I taught Carlos how to make gazpacho. I know, it's funny. Me teaching the Spanish guy how to make one of his National dishes. I guess we are both learning. No gazpacho is ever the same. Some batches are perfect, others too oniony.

GAZPACHO

The simple ingredients: bread (optional), a green pepper (bell or Italian is fine), a red bell pepper, a cucumber, several tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt, olive oil, vinegar, and water.

Cut up the green and red peppers. I used the whole green pepper because it wasn't too big and then used about a quarter of a large red bell pepper. I used about 5 or 6 large plum tomatoes, a quarter of an onion, one medium clove of garlic, and a whole small cucumber. According to Carlos's Grandmother and Mother, you should leave on some of the cucumber skin. It adds texture and flavor. Also, sometimes people will throw in a little carrot.

Put all this in the blender and add about a cup or two of water. Blend until it's finely chopped.

Lots of people here add a little bit of soaked bread to their gazpacho. They usually use the standard white bread. I usually skip this step. 

Here we add the vinegar and oil before blending the veggies. Now I prefer to blend first and then add some vinegar and oil and salt. Start by adding conservative amounts so you don't over do it. You might need to add more water if it's too thick. It should be very liquidy. 

Carlos is taste testing and maybe adding a few beard hairs.

Once your gazpacho is just right, put it in the fridge, preferably next to a jar of fat, juicy olives! Cold gazpacho is soooo refreshing when it's suffocatingly hot and your insides are parched and shriveling up like a raisin.

VEGETABLE COUSCOUS

First I sauté some vegetables. Usually green and/or red peppers, onions, carrots, and mushrooms. You could add eggplant, celery, whatever! I think mushrooms are important because they absorb the flavor so well. I usually add a little bit of butter to the olive oil when I'm cooking the vegetables. For spices I add lots of cumin, and a little bit of black pepper and cayenne. And a couple pinches of salt. 

Once the vegetables are cooked, but not too soft, I add a cup and a half of water. I turn the heat down to medium and give it a little stir to loosen up the flavor bits on the bottom of the pan. Once the water starts to bubble I add a cup of couscous and turn off the heat. Cover with a lid and let the couscous absorb the water and become fluffy.

Sometimes I add a little bit of feta cheese to the couscous. It goes well with the cumin! Also, it's very Spanish to sprinkle some fresh onion and pepper on top when serving the gazpacho.

Whaaa Laaaaa!