COOKING WITH MADRE

Last night Sarah and I got to cook with Madre. Sarah has been telling our Madre that she wants to make all the her recipes when she gets back to the states, so our Madre decided after dinner she would show us how to make croquetas. Croquetas are fried egg balls with cheese and of course ham in them. We started by peeling the hard-boiled eggs and mashing them up. Sarah was the peeler and I was the masher. Madre gave me a fork to mash up the eggs, but by the end I was wrist deep mashing up eggs. After everything was mashed, Madre started making the sauce that binds the eggs together so they can be fried. In the sauce she put flour, salt, milk, cheese, olive oil and of course ham. We all took turns stirring the mixture until in turned into a think paste.

While we were stirring, we started gossiping with out Madre about other Madres in the program. We told Madre about two of the girls, Andrea and Hannah, who are not very happy with their Madre. Madre asked us who their Madre was. Sarah was reluctant to tell, but I said that her name starts with “r”. Instantly our Madre knew we were talking about Raquel. Madre then went off talking about how she heard stories about Raquel and her ninas. Joanne told me that she had Raquel when she studied in Salamanca a couple of summers ago. Joanne said that she asked Raquel to make her a sandwich for the plane ride back to the states. Raquel said no, the program was over, so she did not have to make her any more food! Raquel sounds like a great Madre. I am glad we have Asencion, even though she makes me eat way too much meat. It was kind of fun to gossip with our Madre and it was definitely another good bonding experience.

Once the sauce had turned into a thick paste, Madre mixed in the mashed eggs. She told us the mixture had to sit for a day before we could make the balls and fry them. Since nothing is ever refrigerated in Spain, she just left the mixture out on the counter. The mixture was still there this morning when I went to get breakfast. It looked pretty gross. I can’t wait to stick my hands in it and roll into little balls!