Exotic recipes for traveling while locked up at home

• El Gastronómada.Read all his articles

Well, here we go, dear friends, locked up at home and still dreaming of the relationship between cooking and traveling, like all gastronomes. What to do? We have already given you some ideas. And now comes the stage after Easter, during which we hope that you have been inspired by the classic recipes of these special days for Christians that Metropolis has transmitted to you, with only one - the hornazo from Salamanca - typical of the following days. to Easter.

All this gives us an idea: at home, cooking daily, and traveling? Well, it may be a very gastronomic idea, which in fact this chronicler - never more than an amateur chef, without great cooking skills - has defended his whole life. Let's travel from our stove , and so we console ourselves from other trips.

Never have so many foreign things been eaten and cooked as now in Spain. And what we are going to enjoy in Peruvian, Japanese, Italian or Thai restaurants ends up sliding into our own stoves. It's easy to make a list of great culinary ideas to make at home. Well, here we are going to punish you with some recipes -without the milligram precision of the recipes usually published- that this gastronomologist and his family have been enjoying for years, traveling and exotic inspiration, but without any claim to original precision: adapted foreign bites for us.

First suggestion: Asian in our own way, by the hand of Carmen Sandoval, in the wok that many fans have adopted, or in another large frying pan: we macerate free-range chicken in turmeric, pepper, aromatic herbs and salt, we sauté it in the wok , and when it is almost done add a julienne of carrots, red and green peppers and asparagus, and add a drop of soy sauce. Finished, we serve it - Vietnamese or Korean - in lettuce bud leaves, with a little more soy and perhaps a drop of Sriracha hot sauce.

Second suggestion: Germanic. This is an old hobby of this chronicler, a good starter before a noun goulasch: cream herrings. A jar of German Bismarck herring - pickled with vinegar - which we dry on kitchen paper and cut into squares, a minced red onion, a sour apple, granny smith, minced, a jar of German sour cream, quark reduced with a little liquid cream . Mix well and enjoy.

Third suggestion : Mexican inspiration, but our way, our raw guacamole. The pulp of two ripe avocados, cut into two-centimeter pieces, a tomato (Raf, at this time) in cubes, a chopped red onion, a good bunch of coriander cut with scissors , a drizzle of virgin olive oil and another of Jalapeño sauce -not very spicy, but fresh-, for example the one made by Tabasco, and the juice of a green lemon. It is crushed just a little, but it is not pureed: the pieces should be noted. Raw guacamole , we said ... Better refrigerate before eating.

And the last suggestion, this one taken directly from our maestro Punto y Coma, which is a potato salad that takes on its British touch with the use of the fierce and inimitable Colman's mustard.

Better refrigerate before eating the 'raw' guacamole

We collect his recipe from an interview published 40 years ago, shortly before his death:

"A kilo of red potatoes cooked with skin, a small finely chopped onion, a small cup of chicken broth, a level tablespoon of Colman's mustard , two tablespoons of olive oil, some sherry vinegar, salt and chopped parsley. Cut the hot potatoes as for an omelette but thicker (about half a centimeter), place them in the salad bowl and pour over all the other well-mixed ingredients, which should be prepared an hour beforehand. Stir carefully, shaking the salad bowl. Sprinkle with parsley and chives "

No, they are not dishes from Vietnam, or Germany, or Mexico, or Great Britain. But inspiration comes from these places and, what do you want us to tell you, they change us from our usual dishes and give us, in these bewildering weeks, a bit of exoticism very welcome.

And drink...

No, we are not going to foist a tequila with our raw guacamole, although a margarita cocktail or a glass of those rediscovered mezcal spirits before starting to eat will not be bad. But a white wine with acidity, a muscadet from Sèvre et Maine Granite from Domaine de l'Écu, or a chacolí from Álava such as Malkoa from Astobiza will go well. With our wok and our herring, it is clear: a great dry Riesling, for example by Robert Weil, in the German Rheingau. And with our potato salad, a good English IPA beer ... or Spanish craft, which we have improved a lot in that.

The new flavors

Two or three decades ago, the flavors of avocado, soy sauce, Sriracha, fresh coriander, jalapeño pepper, pickled herring, sour cream, or unrelenting Colman's mustard were unusual in Spain. . But we have been able to adopt them with naturalness and pleasure and, without a doubt, in the explosion of fusion kitchens that we are experiencing, they have become positive elements that are added to all of the best Spanish traditions. So we are sure that you will not be missed.

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