Eat the Bikini

This post was inspired by Ben at Notes from Spain who wrote about what he calls “the humble sandwich mixto” – check it out here

In Catalunya this staple of bar-hoppers and niños is known as a Bikini – apparently named after the legendary Barcelona club of the same name, as this was the sandwich of choice of punters filling the bars around the club. Ana happens to make a mean Bik, so we decided to share her recipe.

Remember that this is a cheap bar snack and therefore best made of processed crap that normally wouldn’t get a look-in here, but it just can’t be done any other way (I admit that while I can take the plastic cheese, I do need some real ham, however).

(sorry about the quality of the photos but it’s the best we could do with a hungry 5 year old desperate for his favourite snack)

Ingredients

Sliced white bread (generically known as pan Bimbo)
Margarine
Processed cheese slices
Ham (jamon dulce or york not serrano)

Start assembling the Bikini – top a slice of bread with the ham and then the cheese & cover with another slice of bread.

Spread margarine over the top, and then place margarine side down in a hot frying pan or skillet.

Press down with a spatula, then carefully spread margarine over the top (mind you don’t burn your fingers), cooking over a medium flame.
Lift the sandwich up and inspect the bottom – if it is done to your satisfaction, flip it over and get the margarine side down in the pan.
Press down with the spatula again.

When cooked to perfection, wash the Bikini down with favourite brew (or Estrella if you don’t have your favourite brew to hand). If you leave out the ham, this could be a great vegetarian snack too.

Thanks again for the inspiration Ben!

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“Albondigas de relleno”

On Jan 6th (King’s Day in Spain) we were making a roasted chicken with stuffing. As usual we made too much stuffing mix and didn’t what to do with the excess. My suegra (mother in law) came up with the idea to make albondigas (“meat”balls) so she beat an egg, rolled small balls of the stuffing into it, rolled them in flour and deep-fried them in a wok with vegetable oil.

They were fantastic. I can’t give you the exact portions of the ingredients because we’d already stuffed the chicken so here are the original ingredients for the stuffing – make as many as you want, but be careful as they’re addictive.

Ingredients:

100g chopped apple
2 large onions
200g pitted prunes
15g butter
125ml olive oil
2.5 cups of breadcrumbs
4tbls parsley
4tbls sage
2tbls rosemary
2tbls thyme
salt & black pepper

Finely chop the onions & cook in the oil & butter until translucent. Meanwhile chop the prunes and finely chop all the fresh herbs.
When the onions are ready, mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. If the stuffing doesn’t hold together when you take a handfull, add warm oil or butter. If you leave out the butter,and maybe add a little more olive oil, you have a vegan dish.

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Pa amb tomàquet

Ingredientes:
Pan de payés cortado a rebanadas gruesas
Tomates maduros
Aceite de oliva y Sal

Lavar y cortar los tomates por la mitad. Es imprescindible que los tomates estén bastante maduros para que saquen todo su jugo. Frotar una rebanada con el tomate y echar un chorrito de aceite y una pizca de sal. Un consejo el pan que sea del día anterior. Si se quiere que quede más crujiente se puede tostar. Sobretodo que el aceite sea de oliva de la mejor calidad, a mi me gusta mucho el de la aceituna arbequina, y ahora Bon profit

Technorati Tags: bread, Catalonia, olive oil, arbequina, tomatoes