Spaghetti with jamon serrano, sea bass and garlic prawns. If you were an expat...

It was Friday night and as I watched the Spanish movie "Atlas de geografia humana", based on the novel of my favourite Spanish writer, Almudena Grandes, I was transported to Spain. A deep forgotten part of my heart got very excited and suddenly awake.

I rented this movie, for free, from  the Spanish Resource Centre, an office that belongs to the Spanish Embassy in Canberra. Since I left Spain in 2003 and moved to Australia, alas I was officially an expat, this Spanish office was like a "bridge" between my beloved Spain and  the isolated Canberra.  

But not only this Centre became a refuge for my early days in Canberra, also the Spanish Australian club was an important part of my life in the Australian Capital, and still is - specially when there are chocolate with churros for 5 dollars served the day that Oscar comes with his van stocked up with embutidos such as chorizo, jamon, queso Manchego, and even bags of pulses, cans of sardines, pimientos de piquillo, green olives and Nenuco, a cologne of my childhood that my mum used to pour over my hair before leaving home to go to school!!-.

 Established in 1967, to gather the Spanish community in Canberra

 Oscar behind the chorizos and salchichones...the smell of this delicatessen invades the whole club! it is mouth watering for a non-vegeterian like me

Old people ordering anis con hielo (pastis with ice), quite a strong drink to have at 8am! My husband and his friend Jona had also one, just "to fit into the club atmosphere", he said under my suspicious eyes

 It needs to be updated...perhaps the news didn't get to the club yet

If you were an expat, perhaps you will will identify yourself with some of the comments of this post. Let me explain. 

More than 10 years ago, in April of 2003, I started my life in Canberra (and since then, I have been back 4 times for no more than 15 months each time). During that year I held my "spouse visa", took an English course for new immigrants in  the Canberra Institute of Technology, learnt to drive with a personal teacher called Banjo -imagine Sylvester Stallone but in the Australian version- and covered in tattoos of bloody skulls and black roses. Besides, I worked part time as a Spanish teacher during the day and as a waitress in the evening in a Spanish restaurant, Legends, which to my surprise still survives in the snobby suburb of Manuka.

Those were the months when I had terrible homesickness and felt very lonely in this multicultural society, an adjetive that the Australians are proud of it. During my first period in Canberra before I moved to Solomon Islands in 2004, I didn't understand why I couldn't fit into that society. I tried my best but it was never enough. I know the language barrier was one of the main factors, as I mentioned in my post of "Sorry, I don't understand you".  Indeed, my lack of any linguistic skills made my life more difficult in Australia and even in Solomon Islands, where the environment was in English.

Who would it thought I would be given the  Australian citizenship in 2010? Now that I am dealing with some past events of my life, it is me who is proud!

Anyway, that's a different story but it serves me as a background to explain you how I felt when I was a new Spanish expat in Australia, still very attached to my culture, and how this connection to my country has been "hidden" within the 11 years I have been away from Spain by moving and adapting myself to different cultures not quite similar to mine. 

For me, being an expat reminds you that, despite of moving around the world, there is still an essential part of who you are and where you come from. It is intrinsic to your family name, your origin, your past, your childhood and even your future. Being an expat is special, delicate and fragile.

I miss Spain, to be honest. I know many of my Spanish friends think I am lucky to live this diplomatic life. And I agree with them, I am very lucky and love it. I wouldn't change it for anything. However, I can't help it and when I think of Spain, a wave of nostalgic and jealousy for not being there gives me goosebumps. Truth be told, when you are an expat, there is a natural tendency to idealise everything. When I say everything, believe me, I talk from my own life experience. 

I am very enthusiast when I meet other Spanish people, so much that I take them as my best friends; I tend to speak Spanish very fast if I have the chance to use it with other natives -and even my sense of humour is different!!-  and of course, I am in heaven if you take me to see a flamenco show, my hands immediately start clapping and my feet moving and "taconean" shyly.

And last Friday, when I was watching the movie "Atlas de geografia humana", I had an awkward moment when I was crying and laughing at unison - a couple of glasses of Tasmanian wine also played an important role-.

That's what being an expat gives you: the pleasure of having a good cry for something that makes you really, really happy.

When I look backwards I realise that I should look forwards instead because my Spanish identity goes in my blood and into my children's. Like the roots of a robust olive tree stay strong, seeing the years pass by, from generation to generation, the same happens to your family...

Gabby and Aurelia eating churros, and said yummy in my tummy!!!!!!

This dish was based on the recipe of Neil Perri "Spaghetti with lobster and fish" but I made my own version using the succulent jamon serrano from Oscar (instead of prosciutto ) with its distinctive sweet flavour, prawns marinated in garlic and olive oil (no lobster, obviously) and I panfried the fresh fish (Neil Perri cooks it with the tomato sauce),

Let me tell you that this dish was a total winner with my fussy son Gabriel who didn't notice the fish in the pasta thanks to the tomato sauce. It is a great recipe for leftover white fish you might have in the fridge as long as the tomato sauce you use is good because it is the base, better if you make it at home.

It takes an hour to make the tomato sauce, the rest 20 minutes, including cooking the pasta. We have had it tonight, while Nick is in Perth, and I literally cook it in that time. I felt I was in Master chef with the clock going against me and three little, and anxious, mouths waiting for the verdict.

1. Make the tomato sauce: I fry quickly 4 big garlic cloves, thinly cut, in a deep pot covered with a layer of olive oil.  Add then 2 big cans of diced tomatoes, sprinkle salt and brown sugar, black pepper, stir and leave it partially covered with the lid. After an hour, you will see the oil has risen above the tomato. It is done. Pour some extra virgin olive oil and mix it through.
2. In the mean time, chop more garlic to marinate a handful of prawns, shelled, deveined  and chopped into 1 inch or so. Season the prawns. In a bowl, mix the garlic with 1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the prawns to the bowl and leave them to soak the flavours until the tomato sauce is finished.
3. Put the water with salt for the pasta.
4. Meanwhile, panfry the white fish, chopped and set it outside.
5. Thinly cut a few slices of jamon serrano, and keep them on a plate.
6. Fry the prawns in a very hot and smoky  pan until they are nicely cooked through.
7. Cook the pasta until al dente.
8. Put the spaghetti back to the pot, add the tomato sauce (not all of it, just to cover the pasta), the jamon, the fish and the prawns. Mix it through and eat immediately. Italians do not like to add parmesan cheese to seafood pasta dish, but I do.