Monkfish with clams

The magical San Juan night was three days ago and, as usual, I did not manage to prepare the traditional Catalan, sweet coca; being prepared specially for the night of June 23rd - la noche de San Juan (I hope to share this recipe with you the next year:)). Coca de Sant Joan (in Catalan) or coca de San Juan (in Spanish) is nothing else than an oval cake similar to a sweet bread topped with candied fruits and pine nuts or with custard. More original is - also popular in this day - coca de chicharrones (coca de llardons in Catalan), a puff pastry with crackling, pine nuts and sugar.

Traditionally, the San Juan night is celebrated on the beach with roaring bonfires, drink, food, and friends. According to tradition, if people jump over bonfire three times on San Juan's night, they will be cleansed and purified, and their problems burned away. Barcelona's beaches, however, do not resemble the very pleasant tradition, because here the voices and thoughts are drowned out by the noise and roar of firecrackers; and this is why instead of the beach I normally chose the street. In many parts of the city the streets are alive with parties (in my neighbourhood at the intersection of two streets).  People gather together and create large bonfires from any kind of wood, such as old furniture and other non-usable wooden objects. They also put out the tables on the street and they have a lot of fun drinking, eating, listening to the music and even dancing.

And now the recipe:). Not the traditional ''coca'', but monkfish with clams:).

Tomato salad on salmorejo bedding

Recently I have been having an irresistible craving for tomatoes, and although I still have to wait for the ''truly'' red ones with a mouth-watering flavor, I could not resist the temptation of making this delicious salad:). Salmorejo is a Spanish creamy, cold tomato soup, which is a bit like gazpacho, but without peppers, onions or cucumber, and with more olive oil and bread - this is why it has more calories then gazpacho and is more creamy. In this salad, salmorejo is a kind of bedding for the remaining ingredients: tomatoes, goat cheese, basil and avocado, which mixed together form a real tomato festival:).

Gazpacho with cherries

As every year, during the next four months I'm going to eat gazpacho over and over again, because only this ice-cold soup can help me to survive the unbearably hot and humid days in our apartment without air conditioning:). When almost ten years ago I tried for the first time the traditional gazpacho, and it was in aforementioned on the blog Andalusian village Laujar de Andarax, not even for a moment did it cross my mind that there were so many variants of this delicious cold soup. So far, you can find on my Polish blog not only the recipe for traditional gazpacho, but also for one with beet, pumpkin or watermelon. Today, however, it's time for gazpacho with cherries based on the recipe, which I found on the website of a popular Spanish chef Martin Berasategui.

Tapa called banderilla

One of the popular tapas served in bars and taverns of northern Spain is Banderilla. These easy treats got their name from spears (one end has the spear and the other ruffled paper of different colours) used during bullfight by banderilleros, who attempt to plant them into the bull's shoulders. Banderilla as cold spicy-sour tapa is made from green olives, spicy pickled green peppers (guindillas), anchovy or tuna preserved in olive oil and pickled cucumbers; skewered together. Sometimes other pickled ingredients as onions, red pepper or carrots are added.

Baked sardines

This tiny, silver and delicate fish with distinctive flavor; and most importantly very healthy, because it contains large amounts of omega-3; tastes better grilled, but I assure you that baked in the oven is also delicious:). When buying the fish, remember that fresh sardines should be silvery and shiny, and their eyes should not be sunken or yellowish, but bright and clear. Fresh fish smell like the sea but have no strong odor, which usually indicates spoilage.

Fig and goat cheese tart

Can somebody loves so much a combination of some ingredients that is craving for them at least once a week?. Well, the answer is yes:). Every time I ask R what he would like to have for lunch at the weekend I hear ''ensalada de higos''. This has been happening since the first time I made the salad with figs, arugula and goat cheese, and believe me or not, it was precisely in September 2012. During almost half a year, I've been answering that the season for figs is from June until September, and without this main ingredient preparing the salad is just impossible:). The fig tree is somewhat unique, because it produces two crops of fruit every year. The first one, which ripens in June and July is called breva (these are the fruits, which spend the winter on the branches of the tree) and the second one is called higo and ripens in September. So, last week when I saw brevas at a local market I knew that I wouldn't escape from preparing so desired, during the last months, salad. This time, however, I've added some calories, serving the salad on puff pastry.