Sant Joan. Summer Solstice Celebration in NYC!!!

Thursday, June 20th. From 6pm to 11pm!

@ Pool of Downtown Dream Hotel

Must mention Sandra Barcelona list at DOOR of the POOL!

By joining Sandra Barcelona's list you get:

• Free admission
• Free coca de Sant Joan (Catalan sweet pie)
• Sangria Happy hour from 6pm to 8pm

Great live DJ, awesome environment, beautiful views from the city and best company ever!


Tradition:

In Catalonia we have a very fun celebration called Sant Joan, Saint John in which we celebrate the Summer Solstice with great food and drinks and fireworks all night long everywhere!

Fireworks video in Barcelona >>

The main dish for this celebrate is the called Coca de Sant Joan, a sweet pie made with pine nuts or dry fruits!

Coca de Sant Joan with fruit VIDEO >>

Coca de Sant Joan with cream  VIDEO >>

Tasty and yummy Organic Chicken Burgers!

Summer is when we all want to spend more time outside, we invite friends over or meet in the park around a BBQ grill to enjoy sun, food, drinks and good company. And if you are leading a healthy diet and life you shouldn't skip this memorable moments.

This is the reason why we will give you a great recipe of organic chicken burgers that all your friends and yourself will enjoy as much as any other meat! 

For an unforgettable BBQ summer time...

- 1 lb of lean, free cage, organic ground chicken meat
- 1 cup of minced parsley
- 1 cup of chopped red tomatoes
- 1 small spoon of red hot pepper
- 1 cup of red wine

Mix manually, blending all ingredients together till you get an homogeneous mix.

Create burger patties

Grill through, till all the meat is well done.

Add salt as desired. And.............ENJOY!!!!!

Flamenco concert by Javier Ruibal

Saturday, June 1st 2013 at 8pm at Alwan for the Arts



Concert: Javier Ruibal
Sat, June 1, 2013 8:00 pm at Alwan for the Arts
16 Beaver Street (between Broad and Broadway), 4th floor, New York, NY 10004, (646) 732-3261

Javier Ruibal, considered one of Spain's national music treasures, performs at Alwan in an enchanting concert of original songs reflecting the many diverse influences of his native Andalusia. An iconic singer, composer and guitarist, his music is distinguished by an innovative style that combines the rhythms and cultures of flamenco, the Maghreb, Sephardic music, jazz and the Caribbean.

Tickets: $20 General | $15 for Students, Members and Seniors. Tickets available online* or at the door. (Buy Now)

(*A small online fee is applied - use printout as your ticket)

Look for more information here 

***

About Javier Ruibal

Born in Cadiz, Andalusia, the heterodox and self-trained Javier Ruibal began his career in 1987 and since then has given numerous concerts in and outside Spain, both solo and with such music greats as Pablo Milanes, Joaquin Sabina, Carmen París and Carlos Cano.

His songs reference Spanish poetry, especially the poets of the Generation of 27, such as Rafael Alberti and Federico Garcia Lorca. He has also composed for other artists, including Ana Belén, Martirio, Javier Krahe, Pasión Vega and Mónica Molina, and has created music for film and for different audiovisual productions. His contribution to the arts earned him the prestigious Medal of Arts from the Andalusian Regional Government.

"Ruibal sings, above all, to carnal love, but like a modern King Midas, everything he touches turns to beauty."- El Païs

"Singing songwriting's best-kept secret. Genuine, popular, intelligent and seductive."- La Razón

"To call his songs love songs is to deny their originality."- The Independent

"Javier Ruibal possesses an exquisite and rigorous desire to integrate with the social history alongside which he lives. His songs are at once beautiful and responsible, intimate and participatory, personal and universal. I believe that his enduring power of conviction depends, above all, on this dual sensibility, human and artistic, which is, in the end, an unforgettable lesson." - José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Spanish novelist, lecturer and poet

Salt Baked Gilt-Head Bream

Have you ever thought of cooking fish all covered in a thick lay of sea salt? Do you think it is tasty?

This is a very easy recipe that will indulge your guests apetite and will make you look like a rock star cook!

If possible, have the fish drawn through the gills to leave it whole. (The fishmonger will usually do this on request). Cover the base of an oven dish with rock salt, adding a few drops of water to moisten, and place the fish on top. Cover the fish with more salt until completely buried. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes per kilo of fish. Break the salt crust and serve the fish without bones or skin.  

Check the pictures of the process here >>

As you can see this fish recipe doesn't need any extra dressing, the salt around it makes it keep all the juices to get a very moist meat. And the salt remains attached to the skin so none of it gets to the fish itself.

It is a very healthy and balanced meal, and very very easy! You can cook your recipe while you enjoy your time with your guests without being trapped in the kitchen!

Try it and let us know the result! You can send us picture at: 

https://www.facebook.com/SandraMartinetto.SandraBarcelonaNY 

 

Sant Jordi's Bread -Pa de Sant Jordi-

As you might imagine every special day in a city or country has its pairing with a traditional food, meal, recipe or treat.

In the Diada de Sant Jordi in Barcelona, that treat is pa de Sant Jordi, a savory bread made with three types of dough.

The first dough contains Majorcan sobrasada sausage;
the second, Emmental cheese; and the third, walnuts.

The contrasting streaks of color between the sobrasada and the cheese doughs make stripes resembling the Catalan flag. It’s the perfect patriotic accompaniment to the day, since besides being a guy who once rescued a princess from a dragon, Sant Jordi is also the patron saint of Catalonia.

 Some of the history:

Sant Jordi, the Catalan equivalent of Saint George, is a very popular figure in Catalonia. He is the Patron Saint of the region, and Catalonia even have a Saint George Day - El Día de Sant Jordi, on April 23rd. On this day the tradition says that the girls have to give a book to the guys and the guys have to give roses to the girls. 

The rose motif stems from the myth, since after Saint George killed the dragon, a rose came up where the dragon's blood was spilled. The book comes from the International Book Day: both Shakespeare and Cervantes died on April 23rd, both in 1616.

Types of Paella

Are you familiar with paellas? How many types of them do you know? Would you add snails and rabbit to a paella?


Paella is the Mediterranean dish, originated in Valencia and spread throughout all the Mediterranean coast.
There are three major types of paella: Valencian paella, seafood paella and mixed paella, but there are many others as well.
Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, land snails), beans and seasoning.
Seafood paella replaces land animals with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables, maybe just some red pepper and onions.
Mixed paella is a free-style combination of land animals, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans.
But there are some special tricks that made the Mediterranean paellas special from any others... Most paella chefs use bomba rice for this dish, a rounded rice grain. Other key ingredients include saffron and virgin olive oil.

One of the most spectacular paellas is the one called Black rice or arròs negre. It is a dish made with cuttlefish (or squid) and rice, somewhat similar to seafood paella.
The traditional recipe for this dish calls for squid ink, cuttlefish or squid, white rice, garlic, green cubanelle peppers, sweet paprika, olive oil and seafood broth.
The dish's dark color comes from squid ink which also enhances its seafood flavor.

Another type of Mediterranean rice dish is the so-called Arròs a banda, which shouldn't be considered a paella per se, it's base is the same. The exact translation would be rice on the side, which means that first you cook the rice with the fish broth and then you use it as a side for the main fish dish. All of it with a very rich sea flavor.

You can check here some of the different types of paella that Sandra Martinetto tried in her last trip to the Mediterranean sea, Barcelona. See pictures >>

Sant Jordi - The Catalan Festivity for LOVE!

La Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint George's Day), also known as El dia de la Rosa (The Day of the Rose) or El dia del Llibre (The Day of the Book) is a Catalan holiday held on 23 April, with similarities to Valentine's Day and some unique twists that reflect the antiquity of the celebrations. The main event is the exchange of gifts between sweethearts, loved ones and colleagues. Historically, men gave women roses, and women gave men a book to celebrate the occasion—"a rose for love and a book forever." In modern times, the mutual exchange of books is also customary. Roses have been associated with this day since medieval times, but the giving of books is a more recent tradition originating in 1923, when a bookseller started to promote the holiday as a way to commemorate the nearly simultaneous deaths of Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare on 23 April 1616. Barcelona is the publishing capital of both Catalan and Spanish languages and the combination of love and literacy was quickly adopted.
In Barcelona's most visited street, La Rambla, and all over Catalonia, thousands of stands of roses and makeshift bookstalls are hastily set up for the occasion. By the end of the day, some four million roses and 800,000 books will have been purchased. Most women will carry a rose in hand, and half of the total yearly book sales in Catalonia take place on this occasion.

The sardana, the national dance of Catalonia, is performed throughout the day in the Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona. Many book stores and cafes host readings by authors (including 24-hour marathon readings of different classics of the Catalan literature or the Spanish literature). Street performers and musicians in public squares add to the day's atmosphere.

23 April is also the only day of the year when the Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona's principal government building, is open to the public. The interior is decorated with roses to honour Saint George.

Catalonia exported its tradition of the book and the rose to the rest of the world. In 1995, the UNESCO adopted 23 April as World Book and Copyright Day.