Sevillian Cuisine

The typical Andalusian and more specifically Sevillian cuisine varies a lot depending on the time of year, cold dishes being very common in summertime, due to the heat of the land. It is a cuisine based on the Mediterranean diet, that is, all products of the earth.

In Summer, it is common to eat dishes like:

• Picadillos - the picadillos consists of minced tomato, onion and pepper and seasoning it with salt, oil and vinegar. To cool it quickly, ice cubes are added.
• Salpicón - the seafood salpicón (like a seafood salad) is basically a picadillo to which we add crab sticks or pieces of octopus or squid, depending on the taste of each one, it can be done in several ways.
• Summer salads usually include lettuce, tomato, onion, tuna and boiled egg, and white asparagus, cucumber and carrot strips can also be added.

Any of these three dishes are usually eaten with the main course.

Russian salad (Ensaladilla rusa):

A typical main course is the Russian salad, which I have never known why it is called Russian, because there is nothing Russian in it. It is easy to make, we just have to cut 5 potatoes and 2 carrots into small cubes (dice them), depending on how clear we want it, we add salt and we cook it for half an hour.

On the other hand we are making homemade mayonnaise by throwing two eggs in the glass blender, adding three or four cloves of garlic, mince, salt, squeeze a lemon or only half depending on your taste, and two cups of oil. Then we beat it slowly from top to bottom and it's ready. If you are not used to doing it, it is better to do it with one egg and then with the other because the mayonnaise could be separated if you do not bind the egg with the oil. You will know that it has been separated if it is too liquid (if it is like milk instead of thick like mayonnaise). As I said, the amount of garlic and lemon depends on the individual, I like strong both garlic and lemon hehe.

When they have finished cooking, drain the potatoes and carrots and let them cool if possible in a natural way, and if there is no other choice (if you are in a hurry) then put them in the refrigerator as that is faster. When they're cold, add a splash of vinegar, add two or three cans of tuna and the mayonnaise that we've made. Depending on the taste of each one, you can add peas and a hard-boiled egg, cut into slices to garnish it on the top.

Andalusian Gazpacho:

Another very typical dish is the Andalusian Gazpacho, which can be eaten as a dish or like we do it at home, in a cool glass after lunch. It is not complicated to do, but we need a huge glass blender and lid, or if not, you can do it old-fashioned, in a pot with a normal blender.

We put in the blender a kg of tomatoes, very ripe and red cut into four pieces, we do the same with a green pepper, we clean it and we remove the seeds first of course, we also add an onion, tiny (or medium if it is large) also cut into several pieces, we do the same with half a cucumber peeled and cut in small pieces. Also a clove of garlic is added. We close it and beat it all until it is well crushed and nothing is visible. Then add salt, oil and vinegar, to suit personal preference.

If after this you see it too thick, you can add cold water, and if instead it is very liquid and you want it more thick you can take hard bread and beat it again. Always check at the end that it tastes good or if you can not rectify it, add salt or vinegar.

Finally, to complete it, you can go through a masher several times until it has the ideal texture. To serve it, you can add a cucumber cut into small cubes.

Fried fish (Pescaito frito):

Another dish is fried fish, it's nothing special. Just catch a variety of fish, clean it well and salt it. We cover it in flour, we drain it well and fry it in the pan with olive oil, where we add various spices. When they are brown, we take them out and serve them on a plate with a lemon in case someone wants to add that.

Serranito (warm sandwich popular in Sevilla)

Another dish that is very common at any time of the year, although more common to eat on the street than at home, is the famous Serranito. This is also very easy to make yourself, although outside Spain you will lack some ingredients.

We need a Vienna bread or something like it, add two or three tenderloins depending on the size of the bread, a few slices of ham and two or three fried peppers. An example of something that would be hard to get outside Spain is good ham, although you can substitute it with ham, add some tomato slices and depending on the place there are different variations, or add a French omelette or a fried egg. There are also variations in which the meat is chicken, instead of pork loin, everything depends on the taste of the individual.

Of course typical throughout the year also are good meats, such as loin and other types of sausages, cheese and, of course, Serrano ham.

Andalusian stew (Cocido andaluz):

As winter dishes, we can eat the Andalusian stew, of which there are many variations, but I tell you the one I know is the one that is eaten in my house (how I miss the my mother's cooking! ).

The night before, leave the chickpeas soaking so that they are tender, half a kilo more or less. Start by chopping an onion and several garlic cloves, then cut a carrot into slices and two potatoes into 4 pieces.Clean half a kilo of green beans and cut them in half. Also cut a quarter of a kilogram of pumpkin into large pieces. Cook everything with salt together with the chickpeas in a pot for an hour and a half.

If a lot of foam comes out, remove it with a slotted spoon. Then add a tomato, half a kilo of chicken breast, two branches of cabbage, half a kilo of pork or veal, a salted rib bone, a quarter kg of chorizo cut into slices, a leg of ham and a quarter of fresh bacon. Add salt, paprika and cook it for 20 more minutes.

In addition to a delicious stew, we will also have a delicious:

Pringá:

This comes from the stew and consists of taking a bit of the chorizo, the chicken meat, the pork or veal, the bacon, if we added black pudding too (I did not add it because I don't like it, but you can add it at the same time as the chorizo). Prick it all and sprinkle it with two pieces of bread, that is to say, we drain everything to mix the flavors, and we can eat it with pieces of bread cut or in a hot bread like a montadito, something very typical in many bars in Seville.

Spinach and Chickpeas:

Another typical dish is spinach with chickpeas, which can also be done in several ways, but I will tell you about it in the Sevillian style.

First boil the chickpeas. Wash two bunches of spinach, cut them and cook them for a few minutes, take them out and let them drain. In a pan with oil, fry three cloves of garlic and two slices of bread. Remove it and put it in a mortar, where we add cumin and coriander seeds, crush it all or if you prefer you can use the blender.

In the same oil that we had but on a lower heat, put a spoonful of paprika from La Vera and fry it, be careful not to burn it, add the cooked spinach and mix it, add what we have in the mortar, a drizzle of vinegar and salt, toss the chickpeas and re-fry everything for about 10 minutes. If it is too dry you can add a little water to cook the chickpeas. It's ready, we already have another dish.

Bull tail (Cola de toro):

Another hot dish is the bull's tail. Buy 2 kg of ox tail already cut into pieces, cleaned, salted and battered in flour. Put them in a pan with olive oil, of course and we leave them until they are golden brown. Take them out and leave them in a pot, where you will cook them later.

Cut 4 onions in julienne, 3 leeks and 4 carrots in slices and 4 cloves of garlic peeled, but whole. In the oil that you already had in the pan, sauté everything over low heat and add two cloves and two bay leaves. Throw all the fry into the pot where you had left the tail, take a litre of red wine and let it simmer for two hours.

It will stay dry, so we are adding beef broth and so we let it cook until the meat separates from the tail bone.

Callos:

Another dish is callos, which I do not like very much (only the sauce), but my father loves them, so they also do a lot in my house.

The night before, we leave half a kilo of chickpeas to soak. Cook on the one hand three medium potatoes and a pig ear, but you can do without the ear, until they are very soft. Leave them in their water to preserve the "grease" that is released.

In a pot drain the drained chickpeas, a whole onion, a green pepper, a whole un-peeled tomato, about 150 grams of bacon fresh, two chilli peppers small and two pork legs clean and cooked previously with their own broth having cooked.

Add salt, pepper and add water until covered, cover it and let it cook for 40 minutes in a quick pot. Open it and add a kilo of clean and shredded tripe, add one or two sausages and the potatoes peeled and in pieces. Let it simmer until the potatoes are ready. At the end we incorporate a black pudding in pieces and you're done. Should stay thick, not with much broth.

Flamenco eggs (Huevos a la flamenca)

Another dish that I love is flamenco eggs. We cut about 300 grams of potatoes into cubes, we salt them and fry them, but for now we leave them aside.

We can grate about 6 tomatoes or use tomato pureé, depending on the individual and comfort, my mother uses pot and it comes out very good, but do it as you like. Chop two onions and two or three garlics, separate 300 grams of peas, which can also be canned if you prefer and cut four red peppers in little pieces.

We make a sofrito (sauteéd sauce base) with the onion and the garlic in a pot, when they are brown, add the tomato and fry it a little too, the time depends on what type of tomato you have used, because it may already be fried, so keep that in mind, do not let it burn.

Add the peas and let them cook for 5 minutes, also be attentive to that if they are from cans they are usually cooked. If you prefer them frozen it is better that you cook them separately. We add the red peppers and the fried potatoes and let it cook for about 10 minutes, but let's move it so that it does not stick, also add a chorizo cut into slices.

It is served on each plate and an egg is placed on top of each or make the eggs in the pot, but be careful not to break the yolk.

Dressed potatoes (Patatas aliñadas):

Another dish, typical of winter and summer because it is cool, are seasoned potatoes which are really easy to make.

Cook five potatoes cut into pieces with lots of salt. Then cook several eggs. Cut several tomatoes into pieces, one onion, several peppers, and season everything with salt, oil and vinegar.

When the potatoes are cooked, add them to the seasoning and mix everything, add a little parsley, one or two cans of tuna and the eggs, cooked and cut into slices. Try it and if necessary rectify the seasoning. Leave it in the fridge so you can eat it chilled it's ready.

Tinto de verano:

So far we have the dishes, so now we have a typical drink, tinto de verano, something I do not understand why other places and countries do not have since it is not complicated to do. It's as simple as mixing red wine with homemade lemon or homemade white.

Pestiños:

We also have several traditional desserts, like pestiños, very typical in the time of Easter.

First, heat oil, to which you add scrape of lemon and a little anise and wait for it to cool. In a large container we remove about 250 grams of flour and mix it with the oil and with a little white wine. We remove it with a teaspoon until we have a dough that does not stick to the bowl.Place it on a small table with flour and let it rest for a while.

With a rolling pin, knead it a little until it is thin and cut strips about 5 centimeters long by 3 wide. Take the strips and leave them on the table with flour to rest for a while. Meanwhile, in a pan heat oil, where you will brown the strips and you will be left with some pestiños, when they are golden and crispy, put out the fire and put it on a plate with paper towels.

On the other hand, make a mixture of honey with a little water and heat it a little. We add the pestiños to this mixture and it is ready.

We have cut them into strips, but in many bakeries they serve them differently, in more beautiful shapes. Depending on ones taste, you can pour some powdered sugar on them before eating.

Alfajores:

Other sweets like alfajores are also common, which I will explain to you next how to make them.

Put in a bowl three handfuls of fine flour, add two liters of white honey. When it is almost ready, add about 700 grams of hazelnuts, about 450 grams of almonds, about 450 grams of sesame, 50 grams of cinnamon powder, 6 cloves, a sprig of coriander and 60 grams of anise.

Mix it all together and grind it so that it is well mixed. Make hot cakes and soak them in syrup and then add sugar with cinnamon. They are ready to cook and eat.

Yemas (yolks) de San Leandro

Another sweet is the yemas de San Leandro, called this because they were in the Convent of San Leandro de Sevilla.

We need about 300 grams of egg yolk, put them in a bowl and beat them (to separate the yolk from the white is simple, you go from one shell to the other leaving the clear egg white, until you only have the yolk).

In a saucepan, put a glass of water and about 500 grams of sugar and cook it on strong heat until you get a pastry, add the yolk and keep it on the heat, moving it until you have a thick cream. Be careful with the heat because if they boil they will curdle and that isn't nice.

On the other hand we throw in about 250 grams of sugar to marinate the balls. In the saucepan add the lemon and leave it in the water so it does not dry. When it's ready, we make balls and add them to the sugar. We let them cool and then they are ready.

Tocino de cielo:

We also have tocino de cielo, which I do not like too much, but I'll tell you about this.

Dip in a saucepan about 500 grams of sugar and 250 ml of water and move it to medium heat until it is well mixed and you have a pasty. Let it cool and for now leave it aside. Beat 12 egg yolks, pass them through a sieve to remove bits of white and add them to the saucepan, mix everything and put it back through the sieve. Apart everything in an aluminum container and you're ready to bake it in the bain-marie.

Torrijas:

Another very typical sweet during Easter are torrijas.

First cut the bread into thick slices, or you can buy directly in the bakery bread to make toast that already comes with the ideal shape and fat, about 10 or 12 slices. In a bowl put a glass of milk, about 250 grams of honey and about 60 grams of sugar and beat it all.

Put the slices of bread there and leave them soaking a little, then take them out and let them rest on a container that has holes to drain them. After one hour add them to beaten egg and fry them in hot oil until golden brown. After sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon, let them cool down and they are ready to eat.

Oil cakes (Tortas de aceite):

Finally, we have oil cakes, which I must say are of very good brands, but we can also make them at home.

We put oil in a pan and fry a lemon peel. When the steam start coming out, we take out the peel and throw it away. We turn off the pan and we add a teaspoon of anise, then we let it cool.

In a separate bowl, we beat two eggs and we add, bit by bit, a glass of sugar, oil (cold) and a glass of milk, three cups of flour and two teaspoons of baking soda. We mix it all and then we pour the mixture into a large mould. This way, our oil cake won't come out too thin. We can decorate it with chopped almonds and also add sesame and powder sugar. And that's it! Put it in the oven at 180 degrees.

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