Gastronomy

Ingredients: 400 grams of rice, 2 dried red peppers, 3 bulbs of garlic, ¼ litre of oil, 2 ripe tomatoes, ½ Kilo of grouper, 1 mullet from the Mar Menor (½ Kg), 1 gurnard, ½ Kilo of anglerfish, 1 egg yolk, flour, salt and pepper.

Preparation:

Place a boiler or aluminium pot on the stove. Put half of the oil in here and wait until it’s hot. Then, fry the peppers.

Then take them out and put the heads of the fish in the oil and take them out once they are fried. In the same oil put the peeled and chopped tomatoes and, once they are done, add two litres of water.

Crush the peppers in a mortar with a peeled bulb of garlic and put them to boil for five minutes. In this broth cook the fish, cut in slices and salted. Once boiled, leave it near the heat so it doesn’t go cold. Keep a cup of broth aside. Add salt as needed to the rest, add the rice and leave it on a low gas for 20 minutes.

In the mortar crush  another peeled bulb of garlic, mix it with the remaining broth and pour the sauce over the fish just before serving. The last bulb is crushed and mixed with the egg yolk. Beat as you add drops of oil until you get a thick and hard sauce that will be served with the fish.

Fish and rice are served separately. (Extracted from “Cocina Murciana” by Maria Adela Díaz Párraga) .

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Ingredients: : 1 Kilo of dried beans, ¼ of spicy  chorizo sausage, 1/4 of lard, 2 dried ham bones, 1 Kilo of baby potatoes, 2 hot chilli peppers and paprika.

Preparation:

In some water with a pinch of salt boil the lard, the spicy sausage, the ham bones, the chilli peppers and the paprika and leave it until the broth is done.

The beans will have been previously sitting in water for 36 to 48 hours and, when the broth is done, add the beans and the potatoes until they are tender enough to be eaten.

They are normally served as tapas in bars and restaurants.

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Ingredients: 400 grams of rice, 5 cloves of garlic, ¼ litre of oil, 1 green pepper, 2 ripe tomatoes, 1 Kilo and a half of rabbit, salt and saffron.

Preparation:

Stir-fry the rice in a paella dish. Put the rice aside and use the same dish to fry the pepper. Then stir-fry the garlic and the tomatoes, and add the rabbit. Fry the mixture well on a low gas and with the lid on. .

Once it’s done, add the water, saffron and rice in the same proportions as for a paella rice dish, and then add the peppers. Leave on the stove for about 20 minutes until it’s smooth.

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Ingredients: 2 Kilos of rabbit,  2 Kilos of potatoes, ½ litre of oil, 1 bulb of garlic, 1 glass of vinegar, salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Preparation:

Chop the rabbit into small pieces and season it with salt, pepper and plenty of lemon. Leave it on a dish for at least two hours. .

Fry the rabbit well with plenty of oil in a frying pan and then put it aside on the mixer for it to drain well.

Use a mortar to chop the garlic and mix it with the vinegar. Half of this mixture is poured over the rabbit which has already been drained and placed on a clay pan.

Then fry the potatoes, chopped into thin slices, and once they are done, put them aside and pour the other half of the mixture in the mortar over them. Mix both things and serve. (Extracted from "Gastronomía de Cartagena" by Eugenio Martínez Pastor).

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Ingredients: dried figs, quince jelly, melon and yams.

Preparation:

Take the stem off the figs and slit them. Put them in water the night before. The following day, cook them in a pot with water. When they are boiling and the figs are turning white, take them out using a perforated frying spoon and place them in another dish with water, beat them and then mix that water with the one used to boil the figs.

The broth is put through a sieve so that the seeds don’t slip through and then it’s boiled adding the “calabazate”, which is made as follows: take the quince jelly, melon and yams and cut them into layers. Leave them in some water for a couple of hours with a bit of lime so that they are strengthened and don’t fall apart.

Take them out of the water and add them to the arrope. Leave it all to boil until it thickens and then take it off the gas. Don’t add any sugar as the fig has already released plenty of it. (Extracted from “Cocina Murciana” by Maria Adela Díaz Párraga).

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Ingredients: 3 dozens egg yolks, 1 Kilo of sugar, 1 lemon rind and 1 cinnamon stick.

Preparation:

Put the sugar, a litre of water, the lemon rind and the cinnamon stick into a pan. Leave it on the gas until it caramelises, and then put it through a sieve and leave it to cool down.

Use a jar to put in the yolks and beat them without stiffening them. Then slowly mix them with the syrup. Put the sugar in a detachable mould and make the caramel.

The mixture is steamed for about 15 minutes and then left to cool. (Extracted from "Cocina Murciana" by Maria Adela Díaz Párraga).

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