NOTA: Esta receta está disponible en español abajo

Hello Everybody!

Well… after practically 2 years without writing any recipes, I have decided to return to my blog and restart this old tradition. I’m not sure if someone is going to follow me after this long period of silence but… I’ll try to do my best.

I don’t want to justify myself with a bunch of excuses but the routine takes most of my time and it is hard to find the right moment to write recipes “just for fun”.

In order to compensate you for this long period of time, today I want to share with you a traditional recipe from the Basque country. As you probably know, the Basque country in Spain is well known for the “pintxos”, a two bite meal that you can eat with a nice glass of wine, cider or cold beer.

San Sebastian, Bilbao or Vitoria are cities where you can find a number of bars offering all kind of pintxos. The one I am going to explain today is one of my favorites because it’s a mix of three products that I love: Goat Cheese, caramelized onions and duck ham.

Ok, let’s go with the recipe.

Warm duck ham pintxo (Pintxo templado de jamón de pato)

How to prepare:

First step, simple but it is the key of this recipe. We need our ham at room temperature so, please, remove it from the fridge about one hour before you begin preparing the dish. Usually, this ham comes in a vacuum pack and you need to open it and let the ham “sweat” for a while.

Second step prepare the caramelized onions. For that, cut the onion in half and chop each half in fines slices and separate the “half rings” with your hand.

In a pan, melt the butter, add the onions and cook them in a medium heat until the onion becomes tender and transparent. Add the sugar and let it melt until caramelized. Remove from heat, add the balsamic vinegar and remove until mixed. Our caramelized onions are ready now. Set aside.

Now, we have to prepare the bread. Using a kitchen mold (or a knife if you don’t have one) cut the inside of each slice of bread (white part) doing the shape of a circle. Toast a little bit until you have nice pieces of warm and crispy bread.

Put a layer of caramelized onion on each piece of bread.

In a clean and very hot pan, put the slices of goat cheese for about 5 seconds on each side until the sides become toasted and the inside begins to be partially melted but firm.

Put the slice of goat cheese on top of the caramelized onions and cover all with 5 or 6 slices of duck ham. Serve and enjoy it warm!!

See the picture for presentation details

Kisses for the ladies and hugs for the men. Take care. I will be back.

See you soon,

Papa Rafa