Fear of Frying

Oh January. The nights are a little colder and you are three weeks into attempting to cut down on carbs, food from the Spanish fryers is suddenly all too appealing. This week I am dedicating my blog to frequently frowned upon fried delights. I’ll state from the start that I fry with trepidation, I went to University the year the George Foreman Grill went large, when scraping off cold fat was viewed as an achievement. But I’m here to learn, and if I’m going to fry I might as well do it properly, Spanish stylee.

Huevos Friggin Fritos! The Don of fried eggs, souped up with potatoes and morcilla (black sausage, though chorizo/jamon/mushrooms would be great subs). A pan liberally filled with oil. Typically here they utilize sunflower or olive oil. Slice up your potatoes nice and thin, fry in the pan (turning often) until soft and golden, remove to a warm dish.

Then next up fry the eggs one by one, flicking oil over the yolk to seal, they should only take a minute. Remove but retain the cooking oil for the next time you fry. With the pan still slick, add thick slices of morcilla and fry until crispy. An intense mixture of brilliance. Sumptuous crispy gooey potatoes, eggs with decadent oozing yolks, and then rich, lushious black sausage to dip into it. You will need a lie down afterwards. Raquel called it a ‘bomba’ as in a calorie explosion, though I thought she meant 'da bomb', which it totally is.

Another dish I shall honour today is the humble croqueta, a kind of Findus pancake of Spain, if you will. It graces tapas menus across the land and apparently in Madrid they are enormous, so take care when ordering, you don’t want to end up with a bomba. They are also a great way to use up leftovers, I’ve started to realise that’s exactly these fried recipes are all about, and though they can smack of indulgence they aren’t pre-processed and laden with sugar and other such nonsense.

We made our croquetas following a soup so had scraps of chicken and jamon left. To make them you need to; fry a finely chopped onion, add whatever you like in terms of meat and veg in shredded form to the pan and soften. Then add 5 tbsp of plain flour, keep stirring, next pour in milk a bit at a time and stir militantly in a clockwise direction till the lot combines into a thick paste. Put the whole pan (literally) in the fridge, overnight is best to give you a substance easy to work with. The next day, take out two spoons and use them to form the mixture into croqueta shapes. Roll in beaten egg and then in breadcrumbs, at this point you can freeze them, or fry and eat straight away, but when you eat them, add a cup of tea and your favourite series and you’ll be feeling 12 again.

For a sweet kick Torrijas rock. Another fine way to use up unwanted food (erm I should be getting some kind of EU commission for this blog me thinks). Got slices of unwanted bread? I have a solution. Torrijas, a kinda French Toast, harks back to the civil war, a pudding which requires very little but rewards greatly. Slice your stale bread, bath in milk then beaten egg. Add to a pan of oil, fry on both sides until golden, remove and laden with sugar and cinnamon. Eat warm with your hands, quickly and then snooze.

Fork notes:

• to test when the oil is ready chuck in a tuft of bread, it should fizz about when good to go.
• don’t fry in extra virgin olive oil no matter how loaded you are.
• Huevos Fritos are also known as Huevos Rotos. Huevos revueltos are scrambled eggs, commonly served with vegetables or shrimp.
• With croquetas you can be as adventurous/lavish as you like, think salt-cod and raisins, softened red peppers and goats cheese, or just plain chicken.