Vegetarian migas

Miriam, author of El Invitado de Invierno, brings us a useful leftover recipe you're going to love. These vegetarian migas are an uncomplicated, tasty, and complete dish. You'll surely enjoy them, and the contrast and freshness of the grapes give a fabulous finishing touch.

I'm a big fan of migas, but lately they seem to have fallen out of favor. The thing is, the taste for light vegetarian recipes is making our lives miserable. I don't see why the delicious greasiness of cured meats and the tons of carbohydrates in bread should be demonized…

It's curious how many traditional dishes are vegetarian without us ever labeling them as such—for example, a good Manchego pisto, to name one. But that's certainly not the case with classic migas, which have been characterized by indecent amounts of fat from rich cured meats like chorizo and pancetta. That's why they're so tasty.

Kitchen Craft acacia wood board, de Buyer cast iron skillet and Emile Henry ceramic plates

But if we want to lighten them up, it's possible to make vegetarian migas that skip the fried cured meats that release all their fat, while keeping much of the flavor thanks to paprika. After all, in many areas migas are also finished with vegetable add-ins, like grapes and various peppers. So today we're making vegetarian migas with grapes, potato, and peppers, which we flavor wonderfully with just garlic, oil, and sweet paprika. With these ingredients we can't go wrong.

Ingredients

(for 4 people)

• 1 loaf of dense-crumb bread (ideally candeal type) from the day before
• 1 heaping tbsp. of sweet paprika
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 medium potato
• 1 handful of red grapes
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation

The traditional way is to make migas with stale bread, that is, a bit hard already, because originally they were a dish to use up leftover bread. Nowadays the luckiest of us allow ourselves the luxury of buying bread specifically to make migas.

1. If the bread is hard, the night before cut the bread into small cubes or break it into crumbs by hand, whichever you prefer. Put it in a salad bowl. Sprinkle it lightly with water, stirring well so the water reaches all the bread. The goal is for the migas to be a bit moist inside and crunchy outside when we cook them. If the bread is from the same day, we can skip this overnight rehydration step.
2. Sprinkle the paprika, salt generously, stir, and cover with a cloth. Let rest.
3. When we're ready to make the migas—they must be made at the moment—slice the garlic cloves. Peel the potato and cut it into small cubes. Cut the peppers into strips.
4. Cover the bottom of a slightly deep skillet (a wok works well too) with olive oil and heat over medium. Add the peppers and sauté until they begin to soften. Add the potato and sauté over low heat until the potato is tender; it takes a while. Remove the vegetables.
5. In the oil that's left, sauté the sliced garlic until it begins to brown, then remove it.
6. Return the vegetables to the skillet (not the garlic), add more oil (the bread soaks up a lot) and add the bread crumbs. Sauté over medium heat, stirring constantly because they burn easily, until the crumbs start to brown on the outside but aren't completely crisp inside. When they're ready, serve immediately and top with the grapes so each diner can help themselves as they like. And if you put a good red wine on the table, all the better.