Spanish peas and ham

Today is the day of my first blog on the subject of Spanish food. I hope to blog on a regular basis. I hope to resist the temptation to rant and with a bit of luck I should not have to mention the word  passion incessantly: it should come through in the writing.

I will start by saying that I love Spain, Spanish food and above all else the Spanish people, at whose hands I have been the recipient of truly astonishing levels of hospitality. If any criticisms come to the surface later on, I hope my Spanish friends will understand that, in the event of any doubt, I would refer readers to my opening comment.

I will post recipes and tips, but I hope that what comes through is an attitude towards food and perhaps even towards life. To a certain extent, I am self taught in cooking. There have been many trials and quite a few errors. The thing about errors is not to repeat them

There are a few things without which the aspiring Spanish-style cook  cannot hope to function. These fundamental ingredients are, in no particular order:

Olive oil (I will leave the quality up to you, but you only get what you pay for.) onions, garlic, canned or jarred anchovies, paprika both the sweet and the hot, chorizo - especially the softer type which is ideal to add to dishes to give extra flavour, eggs, flour, olives, tinned tomatoes and good quality tinned tuna. As the blog progresses it will become apparent that certain foods need to be added to the list.

So, in the relaxed spirit in which I hope to continue, I will list the ingredients, which are:

1 large onion or 2 smaller ones, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic or more if you feel like it, 2 x 400 gram cans of high quality petit pois - I use the French brand d'aucy, olive oil, a glass of dry white wine and between 150 and 200 grams of serrano ham. It is important that the ham be from the scruffy end bits of the ham, which are often sold in Spanish supermarkets. The most important thing is that the meat should be able to cut into a 1cm dice or even rougher than that if you can get the ham of the right thickness.

Firstly chop the onions and garlic as finely as you can. Heat the olive oil in a wide frying pan and fry the onions and garlic together for a good ten minutes. The simple truth of this stage is that the longer you fry the onions and garlic the sweeter they will become. The resulting dish will be all the better for a bit of patience at this stage. While the onion and garlic are gently frying (don't forget to keep an eye on it), cut the ham up into a 1cm dice. When you think the onions and garlic are ready, add the ham and fry gently for long enough to render a good proportion of the fat out of it. Again 10 minutes is probably a good time. Then add 2 tins of peas, being careful to add a bit of the water from the cans, as the starch present in the water will act together with the fat from the ham to make an emulsion that will then thicken the sauce. Add a glass of dry white wine and let the whole thing simmer for 15 minutes or so - enough time to boil the alcohol out of the wine and to allow the sauce to thicken a bit. At this point I should make it plain that I have only ever made this dish by instinct. With the exception of the 2 cans of peas, I have usually done everything by eye. The way to tell if the dish has been a success, apart from its being delicious upon completion, is to see that when any leftovers have cooled down, the sauce has thickened up quite a bit as a result of the fat from the ham solidifying again.
Enjoy with a glass of whatever wine takes your fancy. Que aproveche!