cooking los clásicos: costrada
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 06:01AM ;)
A few weeks ago I brought you Baztan sopa, a soaked bread concoction typical of Navarra's mountain cuisine. Well it turns out those thrifty countryside folks really love their soaked bread dishes. I found a recipe for another, called costrada, and decided to try it out.
The result? A certainty that Americans did NOT invent the breakfast casserole...this dish is toasted bread layered with chorizo and tender, pureed carrots and onions. With a few generous cupfuls of broth, you stick it in the oven and the flavors meld together. Then, to finish it off, you can top it off with a couple eggs. Its ingredient profile is revealing: bread, root veggies, eggs, chorizo-the stuff that you have laying around the house if you live in a baserri in the mountains. It's a peasant dish. But it sure is delicious.
;)
costrada
- about 15 thin baguette slices
- 15 thin slices of chorizo pamplona
- 2 onions, chopped
- 5 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 1/2 c vegetable stock
- 2-3 eggs
Toast the bread in a hot oven. Boil the onions and carrots in salted water until tender; puree. Lightly fry the chorizo in a little bit of olive oil.
To construct the dish, begin in a 8X4 or thereabouts container, layering one layer each of bread, chorizo, and vegetable puree. Repeat until all the ingredients have been used. Pour over the stock and put in 400 degree oven for about fifteen minutes. Add liquid if you see that it's getting dry. A few minutes before it's ready, crack eggs over the top and broil until they are set.
Reader Comments (3)
Hi! I know this is an old post, but I wanted to let you know I made it and it was delicious! My friends and I loved it! We also made the quiche you posted a while back, and it was also a crowd-pleaser! Thanks for posting!
thanks for cooking...love to hear what you think about everything. are you heading back to the US?
hey, sorry for neglecting to reply! I just made this again today and only just now saw your comment. your recipes are great! in the meantime, I've also followed your instructions for menestra, pa amb tomàquet and patatas a la riojana. thanks so much for blogging! I love eating (love being an understatement) but I've always let others do the cooking while I do the baking, but I decided this summer that I really must learn how to cook, so I've been working my way through your recipes since it's on here that I find the food and flavors I love! (At college, food was prepared for me, and when I was in situations where I had to cook for myself, I'd play the game of baking cakes and cookies and exchanging them for other people's food. ...but I figure that won't work for too much longer, so I've been cooking and loving it!) I'm actually in the US at the moment, just graduated from college. I ended up having to defer coming to the Basque Country for a year, as I got a fellowship to go to grad school in Scotland for a year (with everything paid for and a huge chunk of cash on the side, so I couldn't refuse, much as I was dying to be in Euskadi), but I'll be in Donostia for Jazzaldia this July and am counting down the days until I can eat at Cuchara de San Telmo again! Then, regular-ish visits while I'm in Scotland, and then I'll be settled in the Basque Country at last. Sorry for rambling! Oh, I guess I could mention I started a blog, but it's really messy at the moment so don't judge, but I've started to document my attempts at cooking what I've found on your blog, as well as other rambling nonsense: http://nutellabanana.wordpress.com/