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| Chef Julia |
Based in a gorgeous indoor market, Mercado Torrijos, just a short distance from a metro stop and very easy to find and get to, Julia’s school is perfectly located. Mercado Torrijos is made up of the most beautiful and pristine stalls of fresh fruit and vegetables on the first floor and outside of Japan, it’s the most beautiful and immaculate that I’ve ever seen. The enormous size, color and quality of vegetables and fruits were stunning!
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| Perfect Pears and Oranges |
Meat
and fish stalls were all located on the second floor and each stall had its’
own specialty. Many fresh pollo (chicken), carne de res (beef) stalls and
countless pescado (fish) stalls were established side by side. Both floors had numerous
stalls for people to choose from and each owner took such pride in his produce and
was ready to give personal advice as to what was his “best of the day”. Many
people in Madrid come quite a distance for their personal service. Julia’s
cooking school was in a corner on the second floor so I had to pass by these
stalls on my way to my class.
After my introduction with Chef Julia, she told me I would be her only student for the class – yeah!! We discussed the menu, as in please no mussels or squid for the paella, then set off into the market to purchase our garden-fresh veggies and fruits, pollo and pescado. Julia made me order from the stall owners in Spanish, which was not only a challenge but a really good laugh – not just for Julia but for the stall owner as well. She couldn’t have me just order a pear – it had to be a pear, ripe to perfection. I couldn’t just order an orange – it had to be an orange that was exquisite and tomato, large and ripe but not too ripe. You get the picture. I completely murdered the Spanish language and I was hoping that I didn’t do the same to our dishes.
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| Pears in Wine Sauce |
Julia
had planned a few traditional dishes such as Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelet),
Orange and Cod Malaga Salad, Paella (traditional but without the mussels and
squid!) and Pears in Wine with Greek Yogurt.
My
first job was to peel a pear and begin poaching it in a young Rioja wine. Julia
explained that the wine had to be no more than a year old so that it would be
very acidic. It’s not a wine that you’d want to drink on its’ own but it’s used
in cooking. After we put the pears to cooking she gave me a taste of the wine
and she was right – very acidic and sour!
As
the pears were happily bubbling away, I pealed the potatoes and began to slice
them for the tortilla. Because the
potatoes have to be sliced nearly paper thin, Julia showed me two ways to wield
the knife. I’ve been trying to take a “knife class” (learning to use a knife as
chefs do) at home but I’ve registered three times and three times it has been
canceled. Maybe someone out there doesn’t want me to know too much about using
a knife!
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| Potatoes sliced just right |
It
took me forever to slice the potatoes and when I didn’t get them thin enough,
Julia showed me a trick to get the thin pieces needed. She sliced the onion for
me since I was taking ages with the potatoes. We then put them into a pan and
covered them with LOADS of olive oil and salt. It’s important to use only the
best olive oil! We had to cook them on a high heat without burning them of
course.
As
the potatoes and onion were drowning in bubbling olive oil, we began preparing
the ingredients for the paella. Olive
oil was poured to a pan and heated before adding 4 cloves of garlic with the
skin still on, supposedly this gives it flavor without overkill. While those
were cooking, I washed and dried 4 shrimp and then cooked them (heads and all)
in the oil until they were a delicate pink.
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| Beautiful Pink Shrimp |
My
next job was to finely chop a red pepper but I wasn’t nearly as slow with it and
then I grated a tomato. I’ve never grated a tomato before! Next task was to
brown the chicken (Julia insisted on fish and meat) and then added the red
pepper and spices being very careful not to burn the saffron. The tomato was
added to keep the saffron from burning. The two spices important to a good
paella are smoked paprika and saffron. Although saffron is an expensive spice,
it’s well worth using it. She also said to steer clear of eating yellow paella in
restaurants because artificial coloring has been added to it rather than using saffron.
The rice was added next but it has to be a very special rice – short and plump
grains; then the chicken stock and of course quite a lot of salt.
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| A Perfect Flip Onto the Plate! |
The
potatoes and onions were now done so it was time to drain them; mix them with
beaten eggs and put them into a small pan. A tortilla de patatas has to be
flipped twice and there’s a special skill in the first flip because the eggs
have only set on the bottom so the tortilla can easily slide off. Julia very
deftly did the first flip showing me how it should be done and I managed the
second one without the tortilla ending up on the floor. In fact, I was quite
proud that it ended up in the center of the plate.
Somewhere
in all of this we had made the Orange and cod Malaga salad so I was ready to
begin eating the salad and the tortilla while the paella finished cooking. To
complement the food, Julia furnished a beautiful Rioja from Madrid that was
sooo smooth and lovely.
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| Smoooth and Very Tasty |
While
I was sitting there enjoying my wonderful meal and sipping the lovely wine,
Julia was cleaning up. I did feel guilty and offered to help her but she
refused. Yes, I had noticed the presentation before I dug in (pictures prove
this) and I was noticing the tastes of all the food but also throughout the
class, the smells that came from cooking the tortilla and paella were heavenly!
If
ever in Madrid, I’d highly recommend booking a class with Chef Julia. You can
find her at www.escuela-opipara.com or contact her
on info@escuela-opipara.com. Not only will
you leave with a full tummy, you’ll have wonderful memories as well. Be sure to
take your camera!
Barriga llena, corazón content or in English, “A full belly and a
happy heart”
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| Chef Julia and Glenda |
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