My first post-Spain Spanish dinner

I think cooking is my number one favorite thing to do!  This past year in Valencia, I took a cooking class with Valencia Club de Cocina. I treasure my little booklet of recipes as though its the holy grail of cooking guides. So today I whipped it out to whip up one of my favorite recipes. I chose a fish dish because my mother is a strict vegetarian and I am an ex strict vegetarian (vegetarian is not a word that goes over well in Spain). Here is what I made:
Bacalao a la Vizcaína over white rice
Asparagus with Aioli
Ruben's Tarta de Carlota

Aioli (from my Culinaria SPAIN book since America doesnt sell it premade!)
3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4- 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup- 1 cup Olive oil
Lemon juice

With a mortal and pestle, combine the garlic and salt until a smooth paste is formed. Try really hard to get rid of all the lumps. Then slowly add olive oil. I drizzled a little at a time to give myself time to sufficiently mix it all. Add lemon juice to taste. Refrigerate.

I drizzled this over roasted asparagus (lightly oiled, salted and peppered and baked 375 degrees for about 8 minutes)

Bacalao a la Vizcaína (serves 4)
Ingredients: 
1 - 1.5 lb Cod fish (if not available use halibut or haddock)
olive oil

sauce:
1 medium yellow onion
1 clove garlic
4-6 "fancy pimientos" or pimientos choriceros. Basically, jarred or dried pimientos. Can be found in the international aisle.
3/4 cup tomato sauce (fresh or canned)
white wine (to taste)
flour (to taste)
375 ml vegetable/ fish stock (sorry, i dont have the conversion on this one!)

Begin by cooking the cod in olive oil over a medium flame. Remove when finished and keep to side.
Using the same olive oil, add the onions until translucent followed by garlic. Then add the pimientos.  Add white wine to taste and reduce it.  Add tomatoes and let sit for about 30 minutes so the flavors are well blended. Then remove some of the water, and add the contents to a blender and mix until well blended. After, return to the pan and add fish. Once the fish is warm, serve over a bed of white rice. Be generous with the sauce!

The next recipe is not your average carrot cake! The first time I had this was at a very Valencian restuarant. it is one of Rubens favorites and he has tried to perfect the recipe after only being given the list of ingredients (not including proportions). This recipe is not exact to Rubens because a) i forgot all the exact measurements. B) we do not have a specific liquor, and c)he uses metric because Spain makes sense. So here is Ruben's version of a restaurant's carrot cake with an American twist

Rubens Tarta de Carlota (Carrot cake)
Ingredients:
1 pound carrots, peeled
2 cups of sugar (more or less!!!... Ruben calls for 500 grams)
1 cup shredded coconut- again, depends how much you like coconut!
1 tbsp Vanilla extract (or you can use cuarenta y tres, a liqor, but I am not sure of the quantity recommended)
Chocolate sprinkles or melted bakers chocolate

Place carrots in boiling water until SUPER tender. Use hand blender or blender or masher to puree the carrots. Then add sugar, coconut and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Pour into individual casuelas or whatever you want to serve it in. Sprinkle sprinkles or chocolate or whatever your hearts desire! Let cool, and refrigerate! Serve chilled!