Boquerones Fritos – a taste of happily ever after !

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Every time I taste boquerones fritos it takes me back to a magical week spent with some writer friends in a remote Spanish village near Grenada about ten years ago. It was the sort of place where you could expect to be woken at dawn by the sound of cowbells and donkey carts rattling through streets too steep and narrow for cars.

Here I was first introduced to the notion of tapas: you order a drink and a little plate of something wonderful arrives with it. How civilised! In one cervecería, the patrón produced plates of fat green olives, black morcilla, rosy petals of jamón, and lots more, placing them on the zinc counter with generosity and regularity, there for everyone to share.

Hmmmm... potential

There was nearly an international incident however, when one of the girls mistakenly thought one of the locals was hogging a plate of fried anchovies. The aroma was sensational. I guess she couldn’t help herself. They were just too tempting. She reached over his shoulder (gasp!) and helped herself to a handful of golden fish... which just happened to be the man’s lunch. To this day, the incident is still a topic for discussion in the village. Once the unfortunate man had gotten over the shock and the fish thief had gotten over her mortification and apologised, they got chatting. She stole his fish; he stole her heart; it was a fair swap and they lived happily ever after. The End.

So, anyway, back to the fish...

Two or three boquerones fritos with a squeeze of lemon are the perfect accompaniment to a cold beer on a sunny evening. Any more than that, and for me, they begin to taste a little one dimensional. To keep the taste buds tantalised, make each mouthful a surprise. Here’s how.

Keep the taste buds tantalised by making each mouthful different

To serve 4 – 6 people as a canapé you will need...

Approximately 36 fresh anchovies (or about 300g), heads and insides removed

Filling 1

1 small clove of garlic, crushed and mixed with 1 teaspoon very finely chopped fresh parsley

Filling 2

1 – 2 slices of Serrano ham or prosciutto cut into narrow strips – about ½ cm wide

Filling 3

1 red chilli, very finely chopped

Coating

6 tablespoons plain flour

a pinch of fine table salt

2 large eggs, beaten

100g dried breadcrumbs

Olive oil for cooking

A little sea salt (Maldon) for sprinkling

Wedges of lemon to serve

Flour, egg, breadcrumbs... simple ingredients, magical food

1.                 Divide the anchovies into 3 equal portions. Fill the first portion with the garlic and parsley mixture, gently pressing the fish closed over the filling. Fill the second portion with ribbons of Serrano ham or prosciutto. Fill the third portion with the finely chopped chilli. Make sure to press each fish gently to close it over the filling. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavours to penetrate the flesh.

2.                 When you are ready to cook the fish, set up a ‘dipping station’: place the flour in a shallow bowl and add a pinch of salt; place the beaten egg in another shallow bowl beside it; place the breadcrumbs in yet another bowl (yes, there’s lots of washing up but it’s worth it). Dip the prepared anchovies into the flour, then into the egg, then finally into the breadcrumbs. (Tip: use one hand for this dipping process, as doubtless as soon as you are covered in eggy breadcrumbs, the phone/doorbell will ring.) Place the dipped anchovies on a plate ready to be fried.

3.                 Pour olive oil into a large frying pan to a depth of ½ cm and place over a medium heat. When the oil is good and hot, but not smoking, add the anchovies. They should sizzle when they hit the oil. You want a crisp coating so don’t overcrowd the pan. As soon as one side is golden brown, turn them to cook the other side. This takes about 90 seconds in total. When they are golden, lift them out of the oil with a slotted spoon and serve immediately as these do not live happily ever after, but go from sublime to so-so in about one minute flat. Serve with wedges of lemon and, if you have some homemade mayonnaise, so much the better.

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Carrot, Cinnamon and Coconut Scones – a vanishing act!

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For years, I thought children’s writer Enid Blyton was actually called ‘Gnid’ because of the swirly font used for her name. I blame ‘Gnid’ for my obsession with food. I wasn’t half as interested in the shenanigans of her adventure-prone child heroes and heroines as I was in the food they ate. There always seemed to be a farmhouse table somewhere in the story, groaning under the weight of glazed ham, cold chicken, thick wedges of fruitcake, bowls of cherries, warm scones with clotted cream, and of course lashings of ginger beer cooling somewhere nearby in an icy stream.

I had planned two separate recipes today – one a carrot soup with the fragrant bouquet of carrots I found in the market, and the other, scones for tomorrow’s breakfast, when I started musing on the topic of ‘Gnid’. While I daydreamed, the boundaries between the two recipes became blurred and I found myself mixing grated carrot into my scone mixture, then coconut and cinnamon joined the party.

These are so quick and easy to magic up and they have a habit of vanishing just as quickly so I’ve nicknamed them the sorcerer’s scone – groan!

For 8 scones you will need...

... to pre-heat the oven to 180°C

250g plain flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon fine table salt

60g butter, cut into small pieces

125g carrots, finely grated

50g dark brown sugar

25g desiccated coconut

1 medium egg, beaten

110mls fresh milk

You’ll also need a little extra flour for sprinkling on your work surface and an extra tablespoon of dark brown sugar to sprinkle over the scone before baking.

Carrots, Cinnamon, Coconut... magic!

1.                  Place the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and rub the butter into the flour, lifting and crumbling the mixture between your index and middle fingers and your thumbs, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2.                  Add the grated carrots, dark brown sugar and desiccated coconut, mixing until well distributed throughout the mixture.

3.                  Add the beaten egg and just enough of the milk to bring the mixture together in a soft dough, with no dry flour remaining. (Some days, the flour is thirsty and you’ll need a drop more milk; other days, you’ll have a little milk left over).

4.                  Turn the mixture out onto a lightly-floured work surface and form into a smooth ball. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet and using your hands, pat the ball of dough into a disc about 2.5cm (1 inch) thick.  Using a sharp knife, mark the disc into 8 wedges, sinking the knife about a third of the way into the dough. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of dark brown sugar.

5.                  Transfer to the pre-heated oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until well risen and golden brown. A cocktail stick inserted in the centre should come out clean. If there is still dough clinging to it, pop the scone back into the oven for a further 5 minutes then test again. Transfer to a cooling rack. These scones are best eaten slightly warm, but will keep for a few days in sealed in an airtight container.

 



It's called the fastest bread in the West because one moment it's there and next it's scone ...



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Panfried Hake with Potato Crab Cake – A Sofishticated Dish!

Pin It The fact that I live a stone’s throw from Glendalough made it easy to persuade some English friends to make a long-overdue visit to Ireland.  Glendalough was not the only attraction. Here’s how my sales pitch went:

Fishing for compliments: Pan-fried Hake with Potato & Crab Cakes and Spicy Tomato Sauce

·        We’re less than an hour’s low cost flight away...

·        Your English pound will stretch so far against the euro you’ll think it’s made of elastic...

·        We have sunshine 365 days of the year – ok that’s stretching it slightly but not my fault the sunshine is above the clouds J

I promised them a céad míle fáilte (the hundred thousand welcomes, compulsory under Irish law).  I promised them the countryside would soothe their stressed-out souls with its wild beauty.  I promised them that the food would get their taste buds dancing like Michael Flatley. The Guinness got them thinking they could dance like Michael Flatley – but that’s another story...

Their timing made them the perfect guineapigs for my Irish Food Bloggers Association Salon du Blog creation...

Potato + Crab + Chillies = Hot Stuff!!!

These friends are pescatarians. Woohoo! Give me fish and potato in any form and I’m one happy girl. This magical combination can be moules frites and a glass of Rosé... sigh ... or fish n chips eaten from the paper while seagulls swoop ever closer in an attempt to share in the feast. However, sometimes a girl needs something a little more so-fish-ticated...  

Don’t be put off by the list of ingredients - most, you will already have in the cupboard. Everything except for the fish can be prepared in advance.

For 4 servings you will need...

Spicy Tomato Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
300mls pasata (or a tin of tomatoes, sieved)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
a pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper

To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Lower the heat and cook gently for about 5 minutes until the onion has softened without colouring. Then add in the remaining ingredients and let the sauce bubble gently for about 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Oh crumbs!

Potato Crab Cakes
400g Rooster potatoes, boiled, then ‘riced’ or mashed and cooled
200g crab meat
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 green chilli, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander
1 egg, beaten
½ teaspoon salt
 ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

3 tablespoons plain flour

1 large egg, beaten
125g fresh breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan)

1          In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 9 ingredients. Divide the mixture into 4 even portions and form into cakes or patties about 2.5cm (1 inch) thick.

2          Set out three plates or shallow dishes, one each for the flour, the breadcrumbs and the beaten egg. Dust each potato cake with flour, then dip in egg and cover with breadcrumbs. [If preparing in advance, cover and place in the fridge at this stage. Place in a pre-heated oven about 15 minutes before you start cooking the fish.]

3          Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown - 20-25 minutes

Tanned? Me? Well, just a bit...

Hake
4 boneless fillets of hake, each about 180g
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fresh coriander to garnish

Fish - the ultimate fast food!

1          Brush each fillet with oil and sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Place the fillets – skin side down – in the hot pan and cook for 5 minutes. Then, using a fish slice, carefully turn the fillets and turn off the pan, allowing the fillets to continue cooking in the residual heat while you assemble the dish.  To assemble, divide the tomato sauce between 4 warm plates. Sit a potato crab cake on top and finally sit the hake on top and add some fresh coriander.



A saucy little creation!



Bask in the compliments as your friends sigh happily and start planning their next trip to Ireland. Pin It

Pan Am Oli - A Toast to Bread!

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Have you met my personal rain cloud? It follows me wherever I go, waiting to spill buckets of rain on me when least convenient. It is so reliable, I could hire myself out as a rain maker.



Meet my personal rain cloud...

I was in Florida about 8 years ago. There had been drought for about 3 months. Not a single drop of rain had fallen. My beloved and I took a canoe out on what had been a lake but which had shrunk to an alligator-infested puddle due to the lack of water. When we got to the middle of this admittedly large puddle, a tempest blew up out of nowhere. The wind threatened to capsize the little boat. For a few nerve-wracking moments, I thought we were going to become a quick and tasty lunchtime snack for hungry reptiles. Rain fell from a miniscule cloud high in the sky, hitting the water like pennies, and soaking us to the skin.

“Fall in, honey?” I was asked when we returned the canoe, looking like a drowned rats. Huh!

My personal rain cloud struck again when we visited Majorca. Himself and myself dined in a sweet little local restaurant right on the harbour, starting with Pan Am Oli and moving on to one of their incredible stews. We had planned to return for another excellent meal. Meantime, the island was struck by one of the worst storms they’d had in years and nearly half the boats in the harbour were wrenched loose from their moorings and destroyed. Huge waves flooded our chosen restaurant. Grrrr. Naughty rain cloud!

My Pan Am Oli kit... ready, steady, go!

Whereas Jamie Oliver takes 30 minutes to make a meal, Majorca can feed four people in 3 minutes. Pan Am Oli or bread with (tomatoes and) olive oil is one of those ‘simple ingredients, magical food’ snacks that I absolutely love, as much for its speed of preparation as for its textures and tastes.

For 4 people you will need…
4 slices artisan country bread
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tomatoes, halved, seeds removed
3 tablespoons (approximately) really good olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste 


Toast the bread on both sides. For each slice of toast, rub one side with garlic, using the surface of the toast almost like a grater. Rub the same side of the bread with the cut side of a tomato half, squeezing out the pulp and juice. Drizzle with good olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

One slice is never enough.

Be prepared to make seconds ... 

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Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry - Love at First Bite

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Isn't it funny where the inspiration for a meal comes from. I had been all set to make a simple grilled chicken salad with sweet potato wedges when I spotted the sad lonely bowl of coconut, left over from some dipped toffee apples I had made earlier in the day. Stand back, said the cooking area of my brain, I'll deal with this.

On the spice trail...

Before I knew what was happening, out came the wok (...love my wok) and a selection of spices (...love spices), some Greek yoghurt (...love Greek yoghurt) and a few other bits and pieces. There was stirring. There was frying - all to find a suitable home for the poor leftover coconut. About 30 minutes later, I was ready to serve up this light, fragrant curry. It doesn't in any way claim to be the authentic cuisine of any curry country, but I love it.


For 2 - 3 servings you will need...

2 tablespoons light oil such as peanut or sunflower
300g chicken breast, diced into 2cm (½ inch) pieces
1 onion, halved and sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon mild chilli powder
3 tablespoons dessicated coconut
200mls chicken stock
250g Greek yoghurt
1 medium sweet potato (about the size of two tennis balls), diced into 2cm (½ inch) pieces
2 curry leaves (optional)

Fine table salt to taste

An alium by any other name...

1          Heat the oil in a wok or a medium saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook for about 2 minutes until golden on all sides. (Don't overcrowd the pan or you'll end up with sad grey boiled chicken and miss out on the gorgeous carmelized flavours that frying adds.) Transfer to a bowl.  

2          Add the onion to the wok or saucepan and stir fry until lightly golden (about 4 minutes). Add in the garlic, ginger, turmeric and chilli powder and cook for a further 30 seconds. Then add the dessicated coconut, chicken stock, and Greek yoghurt and stir until combined.

3          Add the chicken to this sauce along with the sweet potato and the curry leaves (if using). Cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until the sweet potato is easily pierced with a fork and the chicken is cooked through.

4          Taste and add salt if necessary before serving with basmati rice.



Love at first bite... yum!

I've since made a vegetarian version of this curry: heat the oil and proceed from step 2 above, using vegetarian stock, and adding zucchini and aubergine along with the sweet potato, and fresh spinach leaves and sugar snap peas about 5 minutes before the end.



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