Calcots (what's all the fuss about hey?) and Cheat's Romesco Sauce

Giant spring onions or tiny hand?

In all honesty it was a case of FOMO* that made me buy calcots and I'm glad of this neurotic side to my personality to be honest, as it turns out these giant spring onions are really delicious and quite fun to eat. After a bit of Googling I learnt all about how crazy Catalonians go for these strange onions, even having a whole festival dedicated to the highly seasonal produce, the Calcotada, brilliant! I figured they'd make a fun and unusual start to our Sunday Roast, but then I started waning a little when I realised I had to made Romesco sauce to go with them, then waned a little more when I saw I didn't have all the ingredients. Then I decided I would just cheat and make a quick easy version, and bloody hell, it worked! The sauce would be great on bruschetta and also with fish, and is really good as a dip with crudities, so make the whole batch as below and use up during the week. I sadly didn't have a charcoal grill, which is traditional but I whacked the grill on max and made do (I nearly used our fire but then the Husband wisely reminded me about all the nasties in the coal etc, phew). 

For the cheat's Romesco sauce, heat your oven to 200c, and place on a roasting dish the following: two tomatoes halved, one red bell pepper halved, three cloves of garlic skinned and a piece of bread (I used sourdough). Roast for 10 minutes so things soften a bit but don't burn anything. Do check it. For the last three minutes add a handful of flaked almonds (what I had in the cupboard but whole ones would be better). Allow to cool slightly then throw in a food processor with a tablespoon of sherry vinegar, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, a massive

Burnt onions! Hurray!

glug of extra virgin olive oil and season. Wizz to a pesto like consistency, slightly lumpy but everything kind of uniform. Sauce done. 

For the calcots, allow 2/3 per person (they are big). Heat grill to max temperature and grill the calcots, as they are (no need to clean or trim, although you may want to take the very long green ends off but make sure you leave some), and grill until blacked and little bubbles of liquid start coming out. Wrap them in newspaper for 15 minutes, this gently steams them so the insides are sweet and delicious. 

To eat the calcots (this is the fun bit) pinch the bottom where the root is, then gently pull the inner leaves from the top and squeal with delight as the sweet tender central part slides out all in one piece. Dip it in the sauce and throw oil and juice all down your top (the Catalans wear bibs, clever).

Obviously the calcot part is very much seasonal (winter) but the sauce is great, can be made in advance and would be very welcome as part of any Mediterranean spread, or just a dip to have with pitta. 

*Fear Of Missing Out (in case you didn't know that).

Chickpea & Chorizo & Parsley Soup

No carrot & coriander here...

I completely mullered a pan of chickpeas the other day. I cooked them for so long they were pretty much ready made hummous by the time I remembered to drain them. My intention was to make a curry with them, but their sad soggy texture lent itself to one thing only, soup. I have a mean opinion of soup in general, for me it is for lunch, for when you're ill, to re-fuel with and warm up with, but not necessarily to excite. I find it baffling when people tell me how they made this 'amazing soup', what's that? You cooked some onions and garlic up, added veg, stock, boiled it and blended it? Well that just blows my mind. Except it doesn't. At all. This soup changed my mind a little, it's different, it has bulk and what are essentially meaty croutons (yesssss) and beats boring old leek and potato any day. It's based on a recipe from Casa Moro, I changed it to suit what I had (the original used little white beans), which was soggy chick peas, lots of them.

Amounts are quite loose, you can have it thicker or thinner, just add stock accordingly and you can make it stretch. The amounts below feed 3 ish.

Soak 375g chickpeas/cannellini beans overnight with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda (I think it stops the farts), drain, and boil in fresh water for about an hour, until you can easily squish with your fingers. When you drain them, keep the liquid you boiled them in, this will be your base. If you forget (like in a pouring the gravy down the drain moment) jut use some good stock, either way you need about 1.5ltrs of liquid*. Liquidise the beans/chickpeas in their liquid or stock, you want the consistency of double cream, so best to hold back and add more liquid if needed. Now in another large saucepan, heat about 4tbsp olive oil and fry four chopped cloves of  garlic, but be careful not to burn. Add two hand fulls of chopped flat leaf parsley, cook for another minute and add a tsp of hot paprika. Mix in the beans/chickpeas that you just wizzed up. Heat a separate small frying pan, and dry fry a good handful of chorizo (ideally cooking variety) that you have chopped up into little cubes. The oil will soon ooze out. Make them nice and crispy. Season the hell out of your soup, it can take a fair bit of salt, ladle into bowls and top with the chorizo and a generous sprinkling of more chopped parsley.

This soup will be your friend, but it might not make you friends as you may pong of garlic a bit. But who needs friends when you have meat croutons in soup?

*Yes, quantities here are more of a guide, it's soup, not rocket science.

Fish Stew with Absinthe

Gently does it...

It sounds hardcore but it's not really. You only use a little slurp of green crazy juice, and to be perfectly honest I only used it because I was out of Pernod (isn't everyone, apart from my Dad?!). I was planning on making this lovely fish stew from my trusty Casa Moro book, but I then discovered my epic fail of an Ocado shop had left me lacking a few bits and bobs, so I changed it quite a bit to suit what I had and it was bloody lovely. This is a light supper (N.B. the Boyfriend wailed with hunger an hour after eating it and had to resort to a mug of Bovril and bread, but it suited me fine). Take your time cooking this, and the simple flavours will all hold hands and create something magical.

Feeds 2. Steep a pinch of saffron in an eggcup of boiling water. Finely chop a small onion and cook gently in olive oil, with a pinch of salt, in a medium saucepan for a good 10 minutes, until gently caramelised. Now add a finely shopped bulb of fennell (save any fronds) and two sliced cloves of garlic and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add a slurp of Absinthe or Pernod and let it bubble for a couple of minutes to get rid of the alcohol. There, see, not so scary now. In a pestle and mortar roughly grind a handful of blanched,

The green fairy

toasted almonds and add to the pan. Add a good litre of hot water and peeled, diced potatoes (I used one big Maris Piper), the saffron water, lots of seasoning, bring to the boil, and simmer gently, lid off, until the potatoes are just under-cooked. Now for the fish. You can use whatever you like, any little clams, mussels, white fish, squid, anything. I used 150g diced cod and a big handful of raw tiger prawns. Give a gentle stir and simmer for a further two minutes with the lid on. Taste for seasoning, add more if you need it (I found it needed lots of salt), squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and serve in bowls with the chopped fennel fronds on top (use parsley if you don't have enough). Add a final flourish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Some bread is useful to mop up the juices.

This stew really does have the most beautiful delicate fragrance and I'm glad I resisted the urge to go mental on the flavours. Hold back, and you will be rewarded with the most gentle taste sensation. Which, in my case was ruined by the Boyfriend's holler of 'What??? There's no more???' and a request that I make rice pudding  immediately to fill him up.

Pre Party Rabbit

Gone are the days when eating before going out for a night on the lash was unnecessary. 'Eating is cheating' was the mantra. I secretly never liked this, as I just love eating too much, but there was always the kebab on the way home to look forward to. These days I like to line my stomach. Eating is not cheating, but a way to lessen the likely-hood of ending up face-down on the dance floor (but not a guarantee) and will certainly add a bit of longevity to the evening's festivities. 

I was on holiday with two girlfriends in Spain recently, Lanzarote to be precise, and determined that we were not too old to impersonate the teens on 'Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents' we partied like 17 year olds on day release from dull summer jobs. I reckon it was all down to this rabbit stew but apparently the helpful barmen had something to do with it too. 

Eating is most definitely not cheating

Feeds three for dinner with enough sauce for a restorative pasta sauce a few days later. 

Take one jointed rabbit and brown well in some olive oil in a big saucepan. Remove and set aside. In the same pan gently fry one finely chopped onion for five minutes, then add a couple of cloves of finely chopped garlic and continue until softened. Add more oil if you need it. Pour in a glass of white wine and let it bubble away the alcohol for a minute or so (don't worry, there will be plenty of booze later). Return the rabbit to the pan along with a tin of passata or chopped tomatoes and a big teaspoon of hot paprika. Simmer gently with the lid on for about 40 minutes, or until the rabbit is very tender and easy to remove from the bone. Add a tin of drained chickpeas 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add a decent slurp of single cream or creme fraiche and season well. Slop into bowls with some crusty bread and top with some chopped flat leaf parsley. If you're a bit of a wuss with bones, by all means take the meat off the bone, but we had horrible cocktails beckoning us so I didn't have time. 

Go out and party, safe in the knowledge that your Mother would be happy with the sensible dinner you have just eaten, and don't worry too much about falling in a cactus round about 6am on the way home. 

Paella, the clever person's risotto

Paella Valenciana

Why clever you ask? Well, the Spaniards, as opposed to the Italians, in my opinion have the upper hand with their most famous rice dish as you don't have to stand there for 20 long minutes stirring and adding stock, ladle by ladle, patiently waiting until the moment it is cooked perfectly. Which can be easily missed, if like me, you can't cook risotto without adding wine, ladle by ladle to yourself. I would never cook risotto for a dinner party as it's just pointless as you really need to give it lots of attention, you can't just leave it. I always shout NOOO when on Come Dine With Me I see risotto on a menu, predictably the poor starving guests will be left alone while the 'chef just pops to the kitchen to START cooking his main course. Aargh! Risotto is amazing for a comforting supper when timing doesn't matter and The Boyfriend doesn't want to see you until dinner is ready anyway (hmmm that's every night), but Paella on the other hand is a genius dish. Dinner party friendly it can be started in advance, and those plump little grains of bomba rice actually don't like being stirred, preferring to cook all by themselves, leaving you free to fill up wine and forget to put the olives out for your guests.

Not all paellas are full of expensive seafood and I think this one, from Valencia (where I believe Paella is originally from) which is full of land-dwelling beasts instead, namely chickens and pigs, is better suited to being cooked and eaten in the UK when the sun isn't shining. It is an excellent dinner party dish, is a one pot wonder and you get lots of oohs and aahs when you plonk it on the table.

Feeds 6. Take a large pinch of saffron and make a little foil parcel for it, fully enclosing it.  Take your largest frying pan and dry toast the package for 2 minutes then set aside. Turn the heat up to max, sprinkle salt around the edge of the pan and add a splash of olive oil. Brown 6 chicken thighs and 6 pork spare ribs really well. This provides a lot of flavour so do it properly. Stir about a bit and add 2 grated tomatoes*, 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika and the saffron (not the foil, obviously). Cook for 5 minutes, evaporating most of the water from the tomatoes. Add 2 litres of chicken stock and bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Now add about 2 big handfulls of chopped runner beans and 500g bomba paella rice, and seasoning, making sure it is all evening spread. Cook on a high heat for 12 minutes, don't stir, have another glass of wine instead. The rice will sort of steam itself. So clever. Place a rosemary spring on top, turn to lowest setting and cover with foil for 5 minutes. Then turn the heat off, remove the foil and leave for another 5 minutes before serving.

It's nice to plonk the pan on the table and let people help themselves. No dodgy sangria required.

*Most genius cooking tip I ever read, if you grate a tomato, the flesh and juice gets pushed through and the skin, which you don't want anyway gets left behind, try it!

Tortilla - A delicious way to use up eggs and spuds

Who doesn't have eggs and potatoes rolling around their fridge most of the time? Spanish Tortilla makes a great lunch/tapa/something Spanish to bring to a Eurovision party. WHAT? Don't judge me. And it's cheap, which is always good. You can also use up any bits and pieces you have hiding in the fridge, chorizo, apsparagus, courgette, peppers, feta cheese, I could go on...

Feeds 8 as a nibbly type thing and 4 as a decent lunch with some salad. Peel and slice (£1 coin thickness) 3 large potatoes and 3 white onions. Take a large non-stick frying pan and gently fry them, in a very generous glug of olive oil for as long as it takes for the onions to soften and the potato to lose it's crunch, but not soft and broken up. If you're adding any extra veg (I added a handful of slice asparagus spears) do it near the end of this cooking period. In a large bowl, beat 5 eggs and season really well. Now add the contents of the frying pan to the eggs using a slotted spoon to avoid excess oil going in. Combine well, but gently. Get the frying pan back on the heat and pour it all back in, wiggling the pan a bit for the first minute to distribute evenly. let this cook for about 7 minutes, being careful not to burn the base (keep sniffing, you'll smell it if it burns!). When it is starting to firm up nicely, you need to cook the top. You can either be brave and cover the pan with a large plate/chopping board, flip it over and very carefully slide back into the pan, or you can be a wuss like I normally am and stick it under the grill for 5 minutes. I am scarred by previous attempts using a very non-non-stick pan. Potatoes, eggs and onions everywhere. Waaaah. 

The only rule is that you should have hot sauce with this, it's just soooo good. Um, that's my rule, not Spain's, just so you know. Other than that, cut into wedges, or if you want to be fancy pants traditional, little diamond shapes. 

Russian Roulette with Pimentos de Padron and other Spanish Adventures

Salty and maybe spicy

The title makes it sound like I've just been holidaying in Spain, but I haven't. I saw the seasonal treat that is pimentos de padron for sale in Waitrose and decided that Friday night's feast with friends (it wasn't really a dinner party, we don't do formal) would take on a Spanish theme. These little peppers are awesome and best eaten in the traditional Spanish way, it's so simple there's not even a proper recipe. The really cool thing about them is that most of them contain no heat whatsoever, but about one in 10 or 15 will make a decent effort to blow your head of. Fun huh? I demolished a bowl of them in a tapas bar in Sitges once and five in a row were hot, seriously hot, but I like them so much I ploughed on, spluttering and crying and turning scarlet while The Boyfriend helpfully took photos.

Am I really in Surbiton?

All you do with these little delights is fry them in hot olive oil until they blister up on all sides and sprinkle liberally with salt. I would highly recommend Malden Sea Salt Flakes. Pick them up with your fingers and eat the whole thing, except the stalk.

Another non-recipe Sapnish dish is Chorizo in Sherry. Oh Lordy it's good. Just chop up a load of chorizo, preferably the raw type, fry in a hot pan (don't add oil, the chorizo will release enough), when a bit crispy and charred lob in a big splash of sherry, let it bubble for a minute and tip into a bowl to be stabbed at by hungry folk with forks. It would be a crime not to soak up all that lovely paprika stained oil with some nice bread...

...or just do as The Boyfriend does and drink said chorizo juices.

Rioja Roast Chook

Before...

So when is this miserable weather going to brighten up and give us the summer we've been waiting for?? I know we need the rain, and it's great not having to water the garden (or the new window boxes at work which would definitely be dead by now had it not rained everyday) but is it too much to ask for a bit of sun IN JULY???

Rant over. On Sunday I actually turned the heating on I was so chilly, warming comfort food was in order, and not much soothes the soul with more success than Rioja Roast Chicken. I love red wine with roast chicken, there's something deeply savoury, grown-up and delicious about it, so to sit my chook on a nest of red wine (doesn't have to be Rioja) and chorizo as it steams itself to juicy heaven makes a lot of sense to me. Any left over sauce is awesome with pasta another day.

...and after

You will need a nice big casserole dish for this, one that the chicken can sit comfortably in (heaven forbid the dead bird is uncomfortable) with the lid on. Pre-heat the oven to 180. Fry a chopped onion and lots of garlic in olive oil until softened then add a big hand-full of chopped chorizo. This time I used raw chorizo sausages I normally put on the barbie, sliced up after browning them, but you can use the little weeny raw chorizo sausages, or normal cooked chorizo chopped up (I find cooking with the latter tricky, as it normally ends up gobbled before I get to use it). Fry until all that gorgeous paprika spiked orange oil oozes out, add a bay leaf, a tin of chopped tomatoes, some chopped dried or fresh chillis, a heaped tsp of paprika, a large glass of red wine, and one for the chef. Give it all a good stir and season, place the chicken on top, lid on, and into the oven with him. After an hour baste him with olive oil and return to the oven, minus the lid, so the skin browns and crisps, for about another hour. Carve up like a normal roast (the meat is so juicy and tender it might fall apart a bit, not a problem) and serve with the sauce plopped (yes, I do have a way with words) on top. Laaaarvely.

I would recommend that you allow someone else to do the washing up as your casserole with be seriously messed up...

Ready Steady Chook

If there was ever a reason to grow a bay tree, this is it. There's something brilliantly self righteous about picking the leaves specifically for a dish you are about to cook,  rosemary is another plant everyone should have. Bay and rosemary are pretty much indestructable, unlike the fragrant but weedy floppy home-grown coriander, that bolts into pretty flowers, rendering it useless whenever you forget to water it. I love coriander so much, it just doesn't give me anything back. And parsley, don't get me started on parsley. So anyway, I like not having to buy bay leaves from the supermarket ok?

Spanish chicken with garlic and bay is one of those fail-proof recipes that require minimum ingredients, minimum effort, but goes all out on flavour. It doesn't sound life-changingly exciting, but it really is super delicious, easy and cheap. Score. You don't even have to chop anything. It's not lazy, it's authentic, I promise. Don't stress about quanities, this will feed four but is very easy to adapt for more or less. Just use common sense.

Chicken + garlic + bay + wine = this

Take a head of garlic and split up the cloves, no need to peel them (honest). Heat up some olive oil in a casserole dish, and cook on a medium heat until the cloves take on a little colour. Take the garlic out and set aside. Put your chicken in the pan, one leg each, or a couple of thighs, what ever you have, but bones in and skin on, (unless you are a 'gastronomic wimp' as good old Floyd used to say) and brown well, seasoning as you go, making sure the skin goes a bit lovely and golden. Throw the garlic back in, add about 5 bay leaves, pour a couple of glasses of white wine in and a good splash of water and give it a good stir. Cover, and let it bubble away for about 20 minutes until cooked. Serve with cous cous or rice (you need something to suck up all the gorgeous sauce) and don't scrimp on the garlic, squeeze the now sweet garlic puree out of it's skin and enjoy.