A Taste of Galicia - Roasted Pepper and Leek Salad with King Prawns and Quails Eggs

Quite often when you research information into the various cultures and cuisines that make up countries it is quite possible to find a common theme common name for the food of that country. Such as Chinese Food, Thai Food etc but to be honest it could be argued that with regards to Spain there is no such thing as “Spanish” food as with the make up and historical heritage of Spain it is not quite that simple.

The Political and historical make up of Spain with the unification of its particular regions and collective cultural identities make it perfectly reasonable and logical to argue that there is no such thing really as overall Spanish cooking. These autonomous regions have been slowly amalgamated through a number of different processes throughout history but have all kept their own distinctive features.

The relative number of autonomous regions that combine to form modern day Spain is 17 and in the main, they all have their own language variants (if not separate languages) and entire cultural heritages. One of the more interesting and culturally diverse regions is that of Galicia which is situated in the North Western corner of mainland Spain.

Galicia is surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and it is pretty understandable to think that for a region that has such an involvement with the sea, its cuisine would also be heavily influenced by the sea. Nothing in fact could be further than the truth and there are a whole host of interesting and delicious recipes based upon the agriculture and viniculture of the region.

The time for talk is over and let’s gets on with the serious business of cooking!

For this particular dish we are going to collect enough ingredients to serve four people and as such for the salad we will need the following ingredients:

Sunflower oil for frying
2 medium leeks trimmed and cut into the finest julienne if at all possible
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 quail’s eggs
1 280g jar of red bell peppers roasted and peeled.
12 cooked King Prawns peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon of roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley.

To start with we need to pour the sunflower oil to a depth of about 3 inches into a small deep saucepan until possible. In this saucepan we need to heat the oil and when the oil is reached the “bubble and fizz” stage when you add a few leek shreds we then know that it’s ready to proceed. We need to cook the leaks a handful at a time frying them for between two to three minutes or until the leeks are crispy. At this stage we need to remove the leaks from the oil and dry them well with kitchen paper sprinkle with salt and pepper and reserve.

The next stage in the process is that we need to cook the quail’s eggs. This is best done in the saucepan of boiling water for about two minutes and 15 seconds or two minutes and enough time to fill a bowl with really cold water! Once you've boiled quail's eggs put them into a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking. The yolks of the aches will remain a wonderful almost canary like yellow. If you overcook them they will turn into a much less inspiring powdery grey hue. Once the eggs are cold and that you can hold them safely then remove the shells from the eggs and cut the eggs in half.

Next we move on to the dressing for the salad. For this we will need the following ingredients:

5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
1 garlic clove crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

This stage of the procedure probably has to be the most unscientific, non-technical but most potentially pleasing part of the process. Basically you take all the ingredients for the dressing (according to your taste i.e. if you love garlic go heavy on it if you don't, don’t etc). What you do is take all the ingredients you are given into a screw top jar any fool or any sealable mixing dish and give them a damn good shake.

Finally take the pieces of red pepper and put them onto individual plates and drizzle with plenty of the dressing. On top of this add the crispy leeks; arrange the prawns and the quail’s eggs on top of that. Then add the surplus dressing that you have, drizzle over the top and sprinkle with a fresh parsley.

Scott James writes about a great many Internet Travel based issues and more on the above can be found at Accommodation in Galicia . For a more complete overlook at Tourism in Galicia try http://www.turgalicia.es