The ingredients needed to make garlic chickenEsperanza Pelaez
When a dozen impatient grandchildren asked what they had to eat, my father's grandmother responded: “
I rely
on ajopollo.”
In familiar slang there is a rich repertoire of words: the word 'confonfio' has its variants -
confroncio
,
confrondio
- and there is even speculation about possible meanings ignored by the dictionary.
The interesting thing about the expression is not the
confonfio
, but the ajopollo, a traditional sauce or base that continues to be used in Almería, Granada and Málaga, a province where at some point the name was replaced by a more explicit one, “almond sauce.”
The fact that a woman from Malaga born in 1889 continued using a name that was incomprehensible to her grandchildren indicates that she did know the old term.
The reason for rescuing a preparation whose heyday under that sonorous name dates back to the end of the 19th century - as anthropologist Isabel González Turmo confirmed - is that garlic chicken is a perfect ally for 21st century cuisine.
Do you want a stew in less than ten minutes?
Make anything in ajopollo: potatoes, vegetables, eggs, fish, meats, organ meats, meatballs, soups and, why not,
confonfios
, if you can find them.
You will receive applause, you will be able to combat food waste by recycling stale bread and there will be options for the vegans in the house.
The preparation starts by frying a few cloves of garlic, a handful of almonds and a slice of bread in a little olive oil (in that order, to keep the oil clean).
The quantities will vary depending on the number of diners and the density you are looking for.
Once everything is golden, it is crushed - in the past it was mashed in a mortar - and mixed, as needed, with water, broth, white wine or vinegar, fresh fried or raw parsley and, above all, a few strands of saffron to give color. and flavor.
Majados are among the oldest cooking techniques: in ancient Rome, the most basic was called
moretum
.
It used to have aged cheese, olive oil, bread, garlic and some herbs, pounded in a mortar until they became paste;
It could be eaten directly or diluted with broth.
Pesto and almogrote from La Gomera are its direct descendants.
The Roman soldiers, accustomed to living in the field, carried some bread, vinegar, oil and garlic in their backpacks.
It is very possible that with that and other ingredients the simple people of the military or civil world made the first gazpachos: originally, a gazpacho is a mash of bread, oil, garlic, salt and vinegar, cold or cooked, to which you can add countless ingredients.
The use of nuts to give texture to food is an ancient practice in Mediterranean cuisine.
In the 12th century, Maimonides recommended adding them to stews, pots and other dishes.
In the 13th century, the custom of adding nuts to stews gave rise to a specific dish for poultry and fish, tafaya (in medieval cuisine, poultry is also often associated with almonds).
Apart from the blancmange, the
Llibre del Coch
by Ruperto de Nola (1520), mentions two recipes that bring us closer to garlic chicken: a chicken broth with a mash with bread and “well-toasted” almonds, and a stew, gratonada
,
with the same mash.
The detail of the roasting of the mashed ingredients represents a step forward in the architecture of flavor: the Maillard reactions that occur during roasting provide intensity and complexity.
Frying garlic eliminates spiciness and develops sweet notes and various amino acids of umami flavor;
Bitter and caramel notes also appear in the bread and almonds.
Roasting, and modernly, frying, transform garlic chicken into a flavor concentrate.
The combination of almonds and toasted or fried bread appears in Francisco Martínez Montiño's
Art of Cooking
, in a recipe with wood pigeons.
In the absence of garlic, banned in noble recipe books and omnipresent in popular cuisine, Montiño's recipe is reminiscent of hot gazpachos, which, by the way, historian Fernando Rueda points out, "were called 'garlic'."
Juan de Altamiras, friar and cook, published in 1745 the first recipe book aimed at a public without great means, which includes advice to make up for the lack of certain ingredients and recommends adding ground nuts.
Altamiras calls “compounds” the mashed potatoes that he proposes to brighten various stews: that is precisely the purpose of ajopollo, which in its poorest version is a hot gazpacho and may only contain a little water.
In Almería and Granada, potatoes in ajopollo are a simple stew with potatoes cooked in water and mashed, with saffron to give color and aroma.
Sometimes clams or lamb trotters are added.
Under the name of almond sauce, garlic chicken gives rise to countless dishes in the province of Malaga.
Fish soups such as the revitalizing and spicy fish stew that was served in taverns, monkfish soup, or potato casserole with ribs.
Sauces for poultry, meatballs and meat pieces, which are called pastoral when they accompany goat or lamb, marinades for asparagus, chard, tagarninas or mushrooms: we leave you a few ideas, but imagination and necessity will surely give birth to new ones.
Indeed, it looks redEsperanza Pelaez
Base for garlic chicken or almond sauce
For sauces or soups for 6 people
Time
: 5 minutes
Ingredients
100 g almonds with or without skin (the skin is usually left on)
4 cloves of garlic
40 g of bread
0.5 g saffron threads (2 generous pinches, yellow dye is often used)
1 handful of fresh parsley leaves
70 ml EVOO
Preparation
Fry the whole and peeled garlic cloves, once golden, remove and add the almonds.
Brown, remove and add the bread.
Brown, remove and fry the parsley if you want.
Withdraw.
Grind together with the saffron, and, to prepare different dishes, follow these combinations
Potatoes in garlic
To put a spoon and not stopEsperanza Pelaez
For 6 people
Time:
20 minutes
Ingredients
Garlic base
600 g potatoes
1.5 l of water
Salt
Pepper
Fresh parsley
Yellow dye
Preparation
Put the peeled and crushed potatoes - cut by inserting the knife into them and turning it so that they break up and thicken the broth - in a pot and cover with water.
Add salt, cook until the potatoes are tender and add the garlic chicken base.
Bring to a final boil, adjust the salt, add pepper and serve.
dogfish caldillo
For 6 people
Time:
20 minutes
Ingredients
Garlic base
300 g of chirlas
300 g of dogfish (it can be dogfish or a fish that can be cooked for a long time)
1.5 l of water
Yellow coloring (optional)
cumin grain
1-2 dried chillies
60 ml of fine wine
Salt
Preparation
Open the clams in the cold boiling water, strain, remove their meat and set aside.
In the same water, cook the fish cut very small with salt for 10 minutes, blend the garlic chicken base with the spices, the wine and a little broth.
Cook everything together for five minutes, add the clams.
Serve in a cup or glass with a slice of lemon.
Chickpea and Spinach
For 6 people
Time:
25 minutes (quick cooker)
Ingredients
Garlic base
300 g of soaked chickpeas or about 700 g cooked
2 bunches of fresh spinach or 200 g of frozen spinach
100 g of onion, pepper and tomato sauce
2 l of water
Salt
Hard-boiled egg and croutons to serve (optional)
Preparation
Cook the soaked chickpeas covered in water in the pressure cooker.
You can also start with a jar of chickpeas with their cooking water and a glass of water, bringing them to a boil and adjusting the salt.
Beat the garlic chicken base with the sofrito and a tablespoon of sweet smoked paprika.
Add the sofrito and spinach to the chickpeas, cook for 12 more minutes.
Serve if you like with chopped hard-boiled egg and bread croutons.
Potato casserole with ribs
For 6 people
Time:
35 minutes
Ingredients
Garlic base
600 g pork ribs, cut into small pieces
500 g of peeled and crushed potatoes
Yellow dye
3 tablespoons of onion, pepper and tomato sauce
40 ml of amontillado wine
1.5 l of water
Salt and pepper
Preparation
Add the yellow coloring, the sofrito and the wine to the base.
Mix well.
Separately, cook the ribs in the salted water for 30 minutes, and halfway through cooking add the potatoes.
Cook until the potatoes are tender.
Add the batter five minutes before removing the pot from the heat and let everything boil together during that time so that the flavors integrate.
Basic almond sauce
With this sauce you can cook chicken, rabbit, chopped lamb or goat, meatballs, diced lean pork, offal, pork or lamb trotters, sea and river fish in large slices, squid and cuttlefish, snails. land, clams and mussels.
Meat dishes are usually seasoned with pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon sticks and cloves.
The fish ones, with parsley, pepper and cumin.
The snail ones, with the same spices as the redfish caldillo, more ground coriander and mint at the end.
If used for hard-boiled eggs or mushrooms, cook the sauce alone for 10 minutes so that the alcohol from the wine evaporates and thickens.
Add the peeled and halved eggs, or the previously grilled mushrooms, and bring the whole thing to a final boil.
Time:
5 minutes plus the time to cook the main ingredient
Ingredients
Garlic base
80 ml dry white wine
200 ml of water
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Preparation
Blend the garlic chicken base with the wine, rinse with water and add this sauce to the main ingredient at the beginning of cooking.
Cook over medium heat, making sure it doesn't stick (it will go much faster in the pressure cooker).
'Spread' vegetables
A classic that never failsEsperanza Pelaez
For 6 people
Time:
15 minutes
Ingredients
600-800 g of wild asparagus, tagarninas, chard stalks, cauliflower or spinach
Garlic base
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
Cumin
1 tablespoon of Montilla Moriles, Huelva or Jerez PDO reserve vinegar
1 dried tomato (optional)
Salt
Water
Fried or boiled potatoes (optional)
Preparation
Cook the chosen vegetable barely covered in salted water until it is tender.
Blend the garlic chicken base with the spices, vinegar, a little cooking water and, if using, the dried tomato.
Pour the mixture over the vegetables to bring to a final boil.
Cooked or fried potatoes can be added to the stew.
Bitter leaf salad
For 4 people
Time:
15 minutes
Ingredients
200 g slightly bitter green leaves (endive, chicory, endive, lettuce)
2 cloves of garlic
60 g almonds
40 g bread, cubed
60 ml EVOO
Vinegar to taste
Salt
Preparation
Fry the sliced garlic until golden and crispy.
Remove and fry the chopped almonds and bread.
Pour the dressing and its hot oil over the salad and top with vinegar to taste, pepper and salt.
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