Arroz al horno con pasas y garbanzos / arròs al forn amb panses i cigrons (oven baked raisin and chickpea rice)

Oven-baked chickpeas and raisins rice (arròs amb cigrons i panses)

This is one of the most surprising Valencian dishes I’ve learned about recently.

It uses just a few humble ingredients to deliver way more flavour than you could possibly expect. And it uses a sweet ingredient (raisins) on a savoury dish—not a typical feature of dishes that side of the world!

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Plato de verano (“Summer’s dish”)

Plato de verano (Summer's dish)

When it gets hot in Spain we avoid eating hot food and turn our attention towards things that are eaten cold. You might have heard about gazpacho or salmorejo!

Then there is the “plato de verano”, which literally means “summer’s dish”. It’s not a unique recipe, but a way of describing “something somewhat substantial that you eat cold”. It depends on the cook and whatever is available on the day.

My recipe provides a good balance between sharpness, oiliness, savouriness, softness and crunchiness so that it’s a pleasant and refreshing thing to eat, but without having to bite too much (too much effort if it’s very hot).

¡Buen provecho!

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Leek, carrot and potato fritatta

Leek, carrot and potato fritatta with soya topping on a cast iron pan

I had some left over boiled potatoes and carrots from a bollit, and a lot of leeks, so I turned them into a comforting fritatta.

I was feeling quite creative so I decided to add a spicy twist to this by concocting a sort of “spicy soya topping”, using dehydrated soya mince, chilli oil and paprika. After baking in the oven, the texture became crispy and super interesting—nothing to do with the boring soggy soya bits you get just after rehydrating.

It provided a good counterpart to the soft, comforting fritatta flavours. Something to experiment with!

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