Here are a few more ideas to show that you can eat gloriously with a few coins. Also, these are recipes that come in very handy when you are left with dry stuff in the pantry and only the cruiser’s best-friend veggies left (potatoes, onions and garlic).
A little something from Italy, Scotland and Spain:
1. Yummy gnocchi
2. Tattie scones
3. Spanish tortilla
4. Shepherd’s pie (vegetarian cruising style)
Both Alex and I cook without recipes, we just make things up with the ingredients we have at hand and never measure anything. So bear with me, I can only explain what we do and try to be as specific as I can because measures and ingredients change every time we cook!
1. Gnocchi for two
Gnocchi is a traditional Italian pasta dish that is very popular in my homeland, Argentina
Ingredients:
+ 1 big potato or 2 small ones
+ 1 egg
+ flour
+ salt and pepper
+ optional: parmesan cheese or any vegetable you have on board
Procedure:
+ Boil the potatoes, peeled but full (do not cut them) so that they absorb as little water as possible
+ When they are soft, put them in a bowl and mash them. Let them cool down to room temperature
+ (optional) Here’s the time to process and add anything else for color and flavor (the usual favorites are spinach leaves, red peppers, green peppers, parmesan cheese, sautéed onions or garlic, etc. But you really don’t have to add anything; they’re delicious just with the potatoes as well
+ Add salt, pepper or any seasoning you like
+ Beat the egg and mix it in
+ Add flour little by little and knead until you feel you can make long strings of 1/2 inch diameter -or a little less- with the dough without it sticking to your hands too much (always cover your hands in flour before you try, the idea is to use as little flour as possible or your gnocchi will be a little heavy)
+ Cut the strings with a knife every half inch (or anyway you like them) and place the gnocchi on a big tray with flour so that they do not stick to each other
+ Cook them in a pot with salted boiling water, when they float on the surface wait one more minute and rinse them
+ Add any sauce or just olive oil and parmesan cheese. They’re delicious!
2. Tattie scones
These simple delicious potato pancakes are a very popular option for breakfast in Scotland. I used to buy them in the supermarket but then I learnt how easy and cheap they are to make!
Ingredients:
+ 1 little potato per person
+ a little flour
+ black pepper and salt
Procedure:
+ peel the potatoes, cut them into four pieces and boil them
+ put them on a plate, mash them and add salt and pepper to your liking
+ add more or less half of their volume of flour and mix, first with a fork, then with your hands
+ put a non-stick pan on moderate fire and spread oil on it with a paper napkin
+ cover your hands with flour before making each scone
+ make little balls (less than an inch diameter) with your hands, press on them to make a disk and make it as thin as possible with your fingers (some people make bigger balls and use a rolling pin, then cut the big circles into four triangles, I prefer not to make the kitchen dirty by doing little circles in my hand)
+ cook them in the pan until brown and crunchy, turn them over with a spatula and cook the other side
+ eat them like flatbread or put them on a plate with whatever you like, eggs, beans, bacon, steamed veggies, etc
3. Tortilla de papas
This is a traditional dish from Spain that is also very common in Argentina and very different from the Mexican corn tortillas that are so popular in the US.
Ingredients:
+ 2 big potatoes
+ 2 large eggs or 3 small ones
+ 1/2 onion
+ garlic
+ salt and black pepper
+ (optional) some dried salami or spiced chorizo
Procedure:
+ peel, cut and boil the potatoes in salty water but remove them when they are nearly soft enough to be eaten but not quite (we need them not to disintegrate). Make sure they are salty enough to your taste, if not, add some more salt.
+ chop the onion and garlic
+ fry them in a medium-sized non-stick pan until they are brown and crunchy
+ add the potatoes and let them get a little crunchy in the oil as well
+ beat the eggs and add salt and quite a lot of black pepper
+ (optional) if you want to add the salami or chorizo, cut them into small pieces and add them to the eggs
+ pour the eggs (and meat) into the pan and cook the tortilla as if it was an omelet
+ use a spatula to see when the base of the tortilla is getting brown
+ now here’s the tricky part: in order to turn it over and cook the other side without breaking it, put a plate over the pan (or use its top if you have it), hold everything like a sandwich and turn the whole thing around. You will have the tortilla on the plate (cooked side up). Now let it slide onto the pan so that you can cook the other side and voila!
4. Shepherd’s pie (vegetarian cruising style)
Ingredients:
+ potatoes
+ powdered milk
+ olive oil
+ salt and pepper
+ whatever veggies you have (onions, garlic, carrots, peppers, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, etc)
+ TVP (textured vegetable protein – or dry soy meat)
+ chili sauce, sugar, smoked masala
+ parmesan cheese
Procedure:
+ make mashed potatoes (cut and boil the potatoes –we like them with the skin-, mash them, add a little water and powdered milk, salt, pepper and olive oil)
+ in a big pan put a little oil and sauté the veggies (onions, garlic and peppers first, then the rest)
+ add some water, chili sauce, smoked masala, black pepper and a little sugar
+ soak the TVP in the veggie’s juice until it’s soft
+ once it’s cooked, place the TVP and the veggies at the bottom of a bread pan, put the mashed potatoes on top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese
+ bake until the cheese is crispy and brown
+ enjoy!
