What to eat in summer
With temperatures in the uppper 30s again this week, the only people who were doing any cooking must have been the professionals who have to do it for a living. The ones who light barbecues in boats on beaches to roast sardines, the ones at the fair who fry round after round of “churros” to go with the hot chocolate, and the ones in the “chiringuitos” who fry everything unless they put it on a hot grill. It makes you feel the need for a large ventilator, just looking at them. And those kitchens behind bars where they make the tapas and the “menú”, which look warm in winter, must be almost unbearable to work in now, even if most of the tapas are cold ones, and the thick soups and stews which figure in winter have been replaced by salads and gazpacho. These still have to be made, and even chopping a tomato, when it’s midsummer and the oil is heating up for the Spanish omelettes and inevitable fried fish, must be hot work.
A lot of home cooks must have come to this conclusion too. Years ago, no self-respecting Spanish housewife would have even considered buying ready-made gazpacho, let alone a vacuum-packed omelette. These are now on all the supermarket shelves, and somebody must be buying them (the Supersol “tortilla”, the one with onion as well as potato, is very good if you heat it up in a frying pan, and Mercadona does an excellent gazpacho...)
| What to eat in summer | |
|---|---|
| El gazpacho se hace con tomate, pepino, pimiento, cebolla y ajo | Gazpacho is made with tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, onion and garlic |
| Se añade sal, aceite y vinagre, y pan | You add salt, oil and vinegar, and bread |
| Los churros se comen todo el año | Churros (fried batter) are eaten year round |
| El chocolate está delicioso | The (hot) chocolate is delicious |
| El “pescaíto” frito es típico de Málaga | Fried fish is typical of Malaga |
| Suele incluir boquerones y calamares | It usually includes fresh anchovies and squid |
| Un espeto y una ensalada | Sardines on a spit and a salad |
| Una tortilla española con pimientos fritos | A Spanish omelette with fried peppers |
| Porra antequerana | A dish like very thick gazpacho, usually garnished with bits of ham, tuna or egg, originally from Antequera |
| Una ración de queso y otra de jamón serrano | A plate of cheese and another of cured ham |
| Berenjenas con miel de caña | (Fried) aubergines with molasses |
| Comer en un chiringuito | To eat in a beach bar |
| Una clarita, un tinto de verano | A shandy made with lager and “casera” (Spanish version of lemonade), red wine with “casera” |
Liz Parry's Spanish Phrase Book is available from http://santanabooks.com/node/52
