It’s so nice when you go somewhere and discover something new to try. I get pretty excited by a new flavour combination, food that’s a bit different or just that isn’t the same old same old that we see everywhere. I particularly like it when these things are simple classics, rediscovered old recipes or ones that have finally found their way to rural Kent from further afield or from far away places. We can take a little while to catch up down here.
It’s funny how food trends and choices change. Take pesto, for example. It’s so everyday now, but I’d never heard of it as a kid. Or jack fruit, did we know what that was two years ago? We can be surprised and delighted by discovering new things; there’s still more to find.
My latest little foodie find is Spanish Olive Oil biscuits at…
Macknade
The new Macknade food hall is open in Elwick Place, Ashford, and I went down on the opening week to have a little gander. It’s a large cafe/bar/dining/deli space with a mixture of different seating and bench tables, with food and drink zones around the edge. They serve food from breakfast through to dinner, all things from coffee and cake through to deli boards and sharing platters, meats and veggies cooked on the plancha, or just a simple sandwich if that is what takes your fancy. There’s also a shop area and deli counter selling local produce alongside Spanish and Italian specialities. I picked up a bag of locally-roasted &Bloss coffee while I was there.
It was mid-afternoon, so we thought we’d have a coffee and cake.
As I said, I get ridiculously excited about finding something new to try, or new to me, so when I spotted a basket of waxed-paper-wrapped biscuits as I was ordering my flat white, I swooped in for a closer look. I’d already turned my nose up at the cake selection as I only wanted something light and there was nothing that appealed apart from the cannoli, but my daughter nabbed the last one.
Back to the biscuits. Spanish Olive Biscuits. I didn’t know what to expect, so I checked with the server if they were sweet or savoury. As I unwrapped the waxed paper, a brittle golden biscuit cracked apart. Delicate, light and fragrant, it was more like a sweet cracker than a biscuit. Anise isn’t a flavour found often in biscuits, it was really unusual and just-sweet-enough to make friends with a cup of coffee.
Tortas de Aceite
I was so taken with them, that I did some digging when I got home and found a recipe to try out.
Tortas de Aceite are a light cracker/biscuit from southern Spain, usually sweet as sugar is sprinkled on top of the yeasted dough before baking. They are flavoured with spices such as anise, caraway or fennel, even with orange or chocolate.
I followed the recipe on Food 52 for Olive Oil Tortas (Tortas de Aceite) but swapped out the all-purpose flour for OO flour as I’d seen that on some other recipe variations and I had a bag open that needed using up. I also substituted anise for caraway seeds, again as it’s what I had. I did splash out on some Spanish Olive Oil, though.
Having never made crackers before, the dough is different from a biscuit or a bread. Another great example of trusting in the process as after 30 minutes prooving in a warm oven, the dough was puffed up and beautifully perfumed from the caraway seeds. After rolling them out, they need to be baked in batches due to their size. My second batch was better as I’d rolled the dough out thinner, and topped them more generously with egg white and sugar. By that time the oven tray was hotter too which helped with the baking.
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