Thursday, June 25, 2020

I invited my co-worker/fellow Spanish teacher over for a patio lunch and it was so much fun! She had said she hadn’t mastered cooking one of my favorite Spanish foods that I have mastered (after messing it up countless times, I assure you!) and I had promised to make it for her some time. So, I asked her to come for lunch recently and it was so much fun for me to plan and execute and it really wasn’t much work. I asked if she was comfortable with my cooking but said we would eat outside on my patio and socially distance.

The day before I went to Trader Joe’s. I could have gone anywhere, but I knew they had cheese and meats from Spain.

I bought Iberico cheese which is sooooo good! And, I bought the variety package of Spanish charcuterie/tapas meats. Also, I picked up one of their cute little 99 cent pouches of olives. I don’t like olives, personally.

This next thing is so simple and I make this in my classroom every August – it is called Pan Con Tomate or bread with tomato. I am very sad thinking I probably can’t do this when we go back. I am sure we will have lots of rules in place regarding sharing foods.

You take a baguette and slice it either way and brush some EVOO (from Spain, preferably!) and then you grate or rub tomato on the bread. I always had it in Spain topped with Serrano ham which is above and looks like prosciutto. I lived in Spain with a family when I was 17 and the 15 year old daughter taught me this. The reason I make it for my students every August is because of La Tomatina – the giant tomato food fight. Then, I introduce this snack.

The salads I had in Spain looked very basic but I loved them so much! They simply had lettuce leaves and tomato cut in slices and then you made your own dressing at the table. Every table in Spain has EVOO, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Please don’t go to Spain and ask for Ranch dressing – lol!

And, this is the dish that my co-worker hadn’t mastered – the tortilla or Spanish omelette with potato and onion served room temperature. A tortilla in Spain is an omelette and a tortilla in Mexico is a flat bread.

And, to drink I made tinto de verano which is red wine with lemon lime soda or my preference as you know – Fresca!

For dessert, I veered a bit from Spain and made Sopapilla Cheesecake bars. You use Crescent Roll dough, cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon and they are delish!

It was a lovely lunch if I do say so myself and it was fun to share food from Spain with someone else who appreciates it.

We sat on my patio and I spaced us pretty far apart. I knew she was comfortable with eating my cooking and I asked ahead of time.

Have you done any entertaining?

Amy