If we talk about Spanish gastronomy, we cannot fail to mention the popular and delicious salsa brava, the one that is always (or almost always) served in bars, accompanied by well-browned French fries, as a tapa or as a plate to snack with friends or with the family.
Now, what does real salsa brava taste like? Because the truth is that there are certain differences, depending on which bar or restaurant you try it in. This is because a wide range of sauces derived from the original recipe are called salsa brava.
Salsa Brava Recipe
- 200 grams of crushed tomato
- An onion
- One garlic clove
- A chilli or cayenne
- Two teaspoon of hot paprika
- A teaspoon of sweet paprika
- A teaspoon of sugar
- A teaspoon of salt
- A splash of vinegar
- Virgin olive oil
This is one of the most traditional recipe to prepare the well-known brava sauce, a type of sauce very characteristic of Spain, which many times they serve us in bars without resembling the authentic brava sauce, sometimes they use pot sauce and it is not the same. There are variants of it that differ in some ingredient in their preparation, but all of them have an ingredient base that does not change, so they are quite similar in general, but each one has its special touch. In some cases, stew broth is used to prepare the sauce, but in this recipe we are not going to use it, and you will see that the result is great.
We will start by peeling both the onion and the garlic, which we will then chop into not too small pieces, which are rather medium. At the end of this step we are going to brown them in a pan with a drizzle of virgin olive oil, but we will do it over low heat so that they do not burn and brown little by little, stirring from time to time to cook them. good everywhere. Once they have taken a good color we will add the chilli and the sweet paprika and the hot paprika to the pan, and we are going to mix well and cook for a couple of minutes over low heat.
Next, we will add the crushed tomato to the pan, which can be canned or natural, in which case we will have previously crushed the tomatoes after washing them under the tap to leave them very clean. We also add the salt and sugar, stir again to leave it well mixed and keep cooking over low heat for about 10 minutes more or less, so that the tomato cooks well and takes body as the water evaporates. contains, so it will thicken little by little.
When we have the sauce with a rather thick texture, add the vinegar, the type that we like to use regularly, mix it well and remove the pan from the heat. Finally, you have to beat the entire mixture of ingredients, which we can do in the same pan, or pass it all into the blender glass and beat it there, which is the most comfortable thing to do. We will beat until everything is well crushed, forming a consistent and well homogeneous sauce, which we can taste and correct the flavor to our liking. At the end of this step we keep our brava sauce in a closed container until it is time to serve it, better in the refrigerator. With it we can prepare some delicious patatas bravas for example, the most typical dish in which this sauce is used, although it can be used in other different preparations.
Servings / Units: 1
Approximate Preparation Time: 30M
Approximate Calories: 130
For the potato ball:
Old potato - 1 unit per person
Oil
Salt and pepper
For the sofrito:
Crushed tomato
Onion
Peppers
Salt
Chilli
For the meat filling:
Minced meat (veal or mixed)
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Bread crumbs
Egg
1.- We start by cooking the potatoes without removing the skin. It is important that they are old potatoes, since they have thicker skin and contain less water.
When they are well cooked, remove the skin and mash them in a food processor.
Add oil, salt and pepper to taste and cool. You will have a consistent and creamy puree for the potato bombs with brava sauce.
2.- While they cool, we make the sauce.
For the sauce, you can previously blanch the tomatoes with their skin and then cut them into very small pieces or, alternatively, use a can of crushed tomato. It is important for the final flavor of the potato balls with brava sauce that the tomato is natural and is not already fried.
Cut the onion into small pieces and fry it in a pan with the olive oil over low heat.
Add a teaspoon of paprika.
When it is golden brown and a little transparent, add the tomato, salt and chilli.
Let the tomato sauce reduce for about 20 minutes over low heat. Do not forget to remove the chillies at the end of cooking. The brava sauce will give the end a spicy touch, so if you prefer a softer filling, do not add the chillies or leave them on the fire for less time.
3.- Let's go with the meat: peel the garlic and chop them not too small.
Add them to a frying pan with oil.
When they are golden brown, add the meat and salt and pepper to taste.
Shred the meat while it cooks.
When it is, remove the garlic and add the sauce that you have made.
4.- We already have the main preparations, now let's shape our potato and meat balls with brava sauce!
Prepare the breadcrumbs in a container (you can buy it or grate it at home with leftover stale bread).
In another bowl, prepare beaten egg.
We take a generous spoonful of mashed potato.
We make a medium size ball (something bigger than a meatball)
We open a hole in the middle and add a generous spoonful of the meat filling for our potato balls with brava sauce.
Close it by rolling it back into a ball. If you see that it does not close completely or that the filling comes out, add a little more puree.
Round it out to give it the perfect shape.
Go through egg and breadcrumbs.
Fry the balls in a deep bowl with plenty of oil.
Once browned, leave them on absorbent paper to remove excess oil.
Present the dish in a bowl with the potato balls, in another a salad and a sauce boat with the brava sauce.
Potato and meat balls with brava sauce