Recipe: Cocido Madrile o (Boiled Meat Dinner), Mixed Paella, and Sangria Recipes for Cheryl!

Cocido Madrile o/Boiled Meat Dinner from Madrid

Cocido Madrile o - or simply cocido - is probably one of Spain's national dishes. Cocido is based on a vast cauldron, which simmers away all day, hardly bubbling. In the old days households made it every day, for poached meat used to be the hallmark of the middle-class kitchen. From this pot comes a series of magnificient things.

First there is the caldo. This is clear stock, rich with many meat juices. Famous as clear soup with sherry in it, it is drunk world-wide. Caldo is also used in many Spanish dishes. It may be saved, but is often served as the first course before cocido, with a couple of spoonfuls of rice cooked in it.

The most important constituents of the pot are the meats, which are chosen for their diversity. Salt meat, fresh meat and sausage (preferably smoked) must all be there, for this is a dish for tough meats, full of flavour, which are made tender only by long cooking. A roasting chicken is less good than the cheaper boiling hen. Meat bones and trotters add richness to the stock.

The pot also contains vegetables, the first being chickpeas, which are traditdional unifying element in all spanish ollas (stewpots) and have an ancient history in Spain. With them come pot herbs - onion, garlic, and leek - each with their appointed time for being added and function. There are also fresh vegetables, to make colourful, cheerful platters to serve as an entr e to the meats, or as an accompaniment.

Serves 8

Preparation time: more than one day. Chickpeas must be soaked overnight, and cooking takes several hours.

9 oz dried chickpeas soaked overnight
1 lb cured brisket of beef or silverside in one piece
9 oz salt pork belly, streaky bacon in one piece or fresh pork belly.
1 lb 4 oz knuckle gammon bone, with some meat attached
1 1/2 lb beef marrow bone, sawn accross
1/2 boiling chicken
1 pig's trotter, split
1 whole garlic bulb
2 bay leaves
8 black peppercorns, crushed
1 small onion, studded with 2 cloves
1 1/2 lb Savoy cabbage, quartered
2 carrots, in big pieces
2 leeks, short lengths
1 lb new potatoes
2 chorizos, or other smoked sausage
1 morcilla or 7 oz black pudding.

Several hours before cooking, cover the salted meat (brisket or silverside, salt pork belly or bacon and gammon knuckle) with cold water and leave to soak.

Choose a large stockpot - at least 10 pints (6 liter). Pack in all the meat, skin side down, with the beef bone. Fit the chicken and trotter on top. Add the garlic bulb, bay leaves and peppercorns and cover with water. Bring to a simmer, sikimming off any scum that rises.

Drain the chickpeas, add to the pot, cover and simmer on the lowest possible heat for 1 1/2 hours, checking occasionally. Halvfway through add the onion stuck with the cloves. No other vegetables go in.

In a second casserole, put the quartered cabbage, all the vegetables and all the sausages. If the black pudding has a plastic skin, remove it. Add water to cover the ingredients and a little salt and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the potatoes are ready.

Drain the vegetables and sausages and slice the sausages. Arrange the vegetables decoratively on a platter and put the sausage slices on top. This can be served before the meat or alongside it.

Remove the meats from the main pot, collecting the chickpeas together. Remove the marrow from the bone and slice it into the chickpeas. Slice all the meats. Arrange the meats and chickpeas on a platter, moistening them with a little broth.

Serving Cocido:
The order and manner of serving is governed by family tradition. Some families like an splendid display, with everything being served at the same time on different platters. This marks the occasion as a feast day, since normal way is for vegetables to precede meat.

Often, and I think more conveniently, the vegetables are served first, garnished with the sausages. The practice has developed, now, of having a second pot for fresh vegetables - in the old days, I suspect, the life was cooked out of them. As the sausages are cooked with them, the second pot retains the cabbage flavours and the smoky sausage taste, which could otherwise reduce the value of the pure meat stock in the main pot.

When the meats, garnished with chickpeas, are served without fresh vegetables, a choice of pickles may be put on the table, gherkins, guindilla, and pickled onions.
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Mixed Paella (Paella Valenciana)

This is the recipe that springs to mind to most people think of paella. While Valencia, the homeland of paella, rarely produces a paella mixing seafood with meat, this paella has caught the popular imagination outside Spain and tends to be the paella served in most Spanish-themed restaurants.

It's easy to understand why few could resist the combination of delicate lobster meat, musselss, clams, and shrimp teamed with rich chorizo sausage and tender chicken.

Serves: 6-8

1/2 pint of olive oil
10 mussels
10 clams
2 oz boneless pork, diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 oz onions, chopped fine
1 medium tomato, skinned, seeded and chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
32 oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
24 oz lobster claws
24 oz rice
3 cups (48 fl. oz) chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon saffron
2 chorizo sausages, cooked and cut into chunks
10 uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 oz peas
4 tablespoon capers
Lemon wedges, to garnish

Scrub and debeard the mussels and clams, discarding any that don't close when tapped sharply. Set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup (2fl. oz) of the olive oil in a skillet. Add the pork, and brown all sides. Mix in the garlic, onions, tomato, and bell peppers, stirring constantly until cooked. Set aside.

In another skillet, heat a further 1/4 cup (2 fl. oz) olive oil and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, rosemary, thyme, and cumin. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

In the same skillet, cook the lobster claws overt high heat for several minutes until its shell turns pink. Set the skillet aside.

Preheat the oven to 200 F. Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet, and saut the rice until it's translucent. Pour in the chicken broth, and combine well. Add the pork mixture, stirring constantly. Sprinkle in the saffron and continue to stir until well mixed.

Transfer the rice into a paella pan. Mix in the lobster claws, chicken, chorizo sausages, mussels, clams, shrimp, peas, and capers, combining well. Bake the paella, uncovered, and on the lowest oven shelf, for around 25 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Discard any mussels and clams that have failed to open.

Serve the paella straight from the pan, garnished with lemon wedges.
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Sangria Clara (White Sangria)

White sangria may seem more pure than the original red version, but it is every bit as potent. Here, the fresh mint leaves infuse the sangria with an unforgettable zesty freshness.

The most delicious ingredients in this recipe, however, are the peaches, wich tend to absorb the perfect amount of white wine.

Makes 8 glasses

1 cup (8 fl. oz) water
1 small bunch fresh mint
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz) sugar
3 cloves
4 short cinnamon sticks
3 1/4 cups (26 fl. oz) dry white wine
2 cups (16 fl. oz) sparkling apple cider
1/2 cup (4 fl. oz) orange juice
2 small apples, cut into chunks
2 small oranges, sliced thin crosswise
2 small peaches, peeled and cut into chunks

In a small saucepan, combine the water, mint, sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks over medium heat. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature.

Remove and discard the mint leaves, cloves, and cinnamon sticks, and pour the mixture into a large serving pitcher.

Mix in all of the remaining ingredients, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Serve chilled, over ice.
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Basic Sangria Recipe

A very simple, basic sangria recipe. While this sangria is delicious as is, this recipe intentionally leaves ample room for improvisation and additions, and should therefore be used as a springboard to create your own unique sangria recipes. The unaltered basic sangria recipe below, however would meet with the approval of strict sangr a traditionalists.

Makes 4 glasses

3 1/4 cups ( 26 fl. oz) dry red wine
1 tablespoon sugar
Juice of 1 large orange
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 large orange, sliced thin crosswise
1 large lemon, sliced thin crosswise
2 medium peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1 cup (8 fl. oz) club soda

Combine all the ingredients except for the club soda in a large punch bowl or serving pitcher, mixing well. Refrigerate overnight. Inmediately before serving, mix in the club soda for added fizz. Ladle into cups with ice cubes.
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