The Italian Feast

Five courses created in a tight deadline of two and a half hours? Here's how its done. Firstly, grab a large G and T then read on.

Nothing like fresh ingredients

Antipasti.
This bit is simple. Lay the table with parma ham (or in my case fine Iberico ham), fresh bread, goose liver pate, olives and breadsticks. It just starts things off nicely and keeps the guests occupied while the next course is being prepared.

The next courses rely on advanced preparation. This is where the 2 hours prior to the guests arrival come in. The cooking is done while they are eating the first and preceeding courses.

Ready to go.

Primi.
Cook pasta and stir in pesto sauce. The pasta I selected was the little twists (fusilli). To make the pesto sauce you need the following ingedients.

About 40 fresh basil leaves;
4 cloves garlic;
50g pine kernals;
1 teaspoon of sea salt;
Olive oil; and
50g parmesan cheese.

Mix the ingredients together with a pestle and mortar until a smooth paste is achieved. You could use a food processor if you prefer however since I don't have one a pestle and mortar will have to do.

Frittelle di zucchini.
I did this as a little rest gap before the main course. These are courgette fritters and are easy to make and fantastic to eat.


Fritter mix



750g grated courgette;

1 crushed clove of garlic;

3 eggs;

2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese;

sea salt;

black pepper (ground);

Half a teaspoon of nutmeg;

5 tablespoons of flour;

A handlefull of fresh chopped mint leaves; and

Olive oil.

Beat the eggs then pour in a bowl with the courgette, flour, salt, parmesan, nutmeg, pepper and mint. Crush the garlic and throw this in too. Mix it all together thoroughly. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan then fry heaped spoonfulls of the mixture in the pan. Fry until one side is done before turning over (or attempting to turn over) to fry the other side. The result is a courgette fritter.  

Fritters afritting

Secondi.
For this you need a beef steak/beef medallians for each person. The beef is simply fried in olive oil until done depending on how you like your steak. The beauty though is in the sauce.

How do you like your meat?

500g of mixted mushrooms (closed cap, oyster, shitake, porcini - whatever you like);
1 large onion finely chopped;
1 clove garlic (chopped);
1 red chilli pepper (chopped);
1 tablespoon each of basil, sage and chives (all finely chopped);
Sea salt;
100ml beef stock;
70g butter;
100ml cream; and
A dash of Fino de Jerez (Optional as not in the original recipe but who cares).

Meat, mushrooms and er... monions?

Fry the onions, garlic and chilli in the butter until soft. Throw in the chopped herbs and stir in cooking for about a minute. Add the mushrooms and salt and stir into the mixture. Pour in the beef stock and sherry then cook for about 3 minutes.

Place the beef on the plate then top with the sauce.

To accompany this I roasted vegetables together in an oven dish. Aubergines, courgettes, garlic, onions, tomatoes and green peppers with sea salt, fresh ground pepper and olive oil. Parmesan cheese can be sprinkled over the top about 2 minutes befre serving. I also served peas in tomato pulp.

Result. And it was a beauty.

Dolci.
I cheated here as one of our guests brought a fruit crumble which was served with ice cream. Marvelous!

One the next blog we must get round to the subject of wine but for now that's all folks.

Steve

Tapas in Madrid

We went to Madrid last weekend. It's about 6 hours drive from where we live (nearer 7 if you count pee pee stops) and well worth the journey. Actually travelling up is part of the adventure however the place itself is fantastic. We stayed on the outskirts in a town named Alcala de Henares and travelled in to Madrid centre on Sunday evening to wander around Plaza Mayor and get something to eat. More on Madrid at another time but for now here is an observation and a piece of advice for the traveller thinking of visiting Spain's capital city.

Tapas in Madrid is free!!!

On the Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz we get fleeced. You go into a bar, order a drink and then buy tapas at around €2 to €3 each which, considering the size of the dishes takes 3 or 4 tapas to fill you up. Not so in Madrid where you go into the bar, order your drink and then order the tapa of your choice. This is then brought to you along with your drink free of charge. This meant that we were eating out at a fraction of the cost we originally budgeted for. Superb! How do they do it? Who cares? Free food!!!

While there we watched Spain beat Chilli in the World Cup qualifier. I was quite surprised at one point when the team wearing blue kit scored and every one cheered. I had assumed the blue team was Chilli you see while the other team wore red (Spain's usual kit). Someone later explained to me that each team has two kits of different colours and on this occasion Spain wore blue. Anyway they won which was good as I now live in Spain and its not as England has got a team right now is it? But, what do I know, I hate football.

Back to tapas and here, in true spirit of this blog is one quick recipe for a tapa. More will follow soon. Just you try and stop me.

3 eggs
3 rashers of bacon (or 4 depending on how big they are or how much you like bacon)
About 4 good handfuls of green beans (well how else do you measure them)
2 measures of vodka
Half a glass of orange juice
Half a glass of cream soda
1 shot of Grenadine

First, chop up the green beans and put in a pan with salt and water. Bring the water to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Next, beat the eggs in a jug or bowl then throw them in a frying pan with some olive oil and fry them up until, well... fried I suppose. When fried break up into little pieces and leave in the frying pan.

Then, chop the bacon into little pieces and again throw into the frying pan with the eggs. Fry for about 4 minutes.

Finally, drain the green beans and add them to the frying pan. Cook together for about 5 minutes and then serve with fresh crusty bread as shown below courtesey of our new camera.

The observant of you will have noticed the extra ingredients listed but not used in the above recipe. For those new to 'Burning Down The Kitchen' there is a law first and foremost that must be obeyed as drilled into me by my friend and Executive Chef (who will remain nameless to protect his professional reputation) namely...never cook without alcohol within arms reach.

Get a tall glass and place it in you freezer for 15 minutes. Take it out and immediately fill it with the vodka, orange juice, lemonade and a dash of Grenadine. Throw in a couple of ice cubes and sit back and watch.

The Grenadine is for artistic effect as it sinks to the bottom of the glass and set against the orange juice gives the appearance of a sunrise. Very effective. Just as efective is the result that comes from placing the empty glass in the freezer before filling it, but I'll leave this to you to try.

Anyway, more tapas recipes are to follow and we still need to get around to that Italian feast.

Hasta luego

Steve 

High tech cooking

So were in our new place now and starting to settle in. There have been a few disasters along the way, like the car choosing the weekend we move house to finally die (beyond economical repair I believe is the correct term) and my camera to go missing hence the lack of photos on my blog. Never mind though, we're here and here to stay this time.

I finally began to calm down after the stress of the move and a recent Trust law exam (which I passed by the way - yeh me) and decided it was about time I set foot in the kitchen again. Actually, the kitchen in this place is great. Everything is new and high tech. We've got a touch sensitive hob with digital display and bleeping noises to remind you that you've left something switched on. The microwave doubles as a grill and the oven has so many settings we don't know what to do with them (especially as the instruction books are in Spanish). The oven even has network capability so I can hook it up and operate it from the PC and even my mobile phone while we're out. Not that I see the need really but you never know, it may come in handy one day.

Anyway, I decided to cook this weekend and with all the mayhem going on around here all I could think to cook with my new futuristic kitchen was comfort food.

The ultimate comfort food.

A huge fry up. Bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, fried bread... the works.

Now were on a month of de-tox and dieting.

Until next time, if I don't have a heart attack first.

Steve

Asparagus Stew

We went for a meal a few months back at a restaurant on the way to Casares and for a starter I had this amazing stew. I mentally tried to work out the ingredients while I ate and then messed around at home until I figured out how it was made. I now pass this wisdom on to you. The ingredients, most of which are pictured below are as follows;

Asparagus either fresh in a bundle as pictured or frozen;

1 large onion chopped as small as you can;

4 large mushrooms, sliced;

2 rashers of bacon, chopped into little bits;

4 eggs (or one for each person dining with you);

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped;

1 glass of white wine;

1 pint of chicken stock;

Water;

Fresh (or dried) basil;

Salt and pepper to taste;

Butter, just a knob;

A big handful of grated cheese - I use cheddar;

Olive oil; and

At least 1 gin and tonic with ice and a slice of lemon (not an ingredient but absolutely essential).

Here we go, quick and easy. Heat up the oil in the pan along with the knob of butter then add the onions and fry for about 6 or so minutes until sweet and translucent. Add a litle water to prevent them from drying out and burning. When done, chop up the asparagus and add to the onions along with the mushrooms, garlic, basil, salt and pepper then fry for about 2 minutes. Add the glass of white wine and a splash of water and you should have somnething that resembles this;

Now its time to add the chicken stock and the bacon. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the asparagus is soft (but not too soft - you want a bit of resistence to the tooth but not enough to crunch when you eat it). During this time, make sure there is sufficient liquid to keep the aparagus just (and I mean only just) covered. Now this is where things get a little weird. Crack open your eggs one by one and pore into the broth taking care to ensure that the yolks stay intact. As far as possible, try to keep the eggs separate from each other. See the below photo;

You are basically poaching the eggs within the stew. When the egg whites are cooked with the yolk still runny (please excuse the technical term), the stew is ready to serve. Spoon out the eggs, one per person onto a plate. Share out the stew between the diners (the above should make enough for 4 people) into soup bowls then place one egg on top of each bowl and sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve, eat, enjoy and remember where you saw it first.  

A comment or two to say thanks wouldn't hurt either.

Until the next one...

Steve

Late breakfast for oversleepers

Yes as the title suggests, we overslept a bit this morning although in our defence we have both been under the weather, me having taken a few days off work due to some kind of flu like virus (and no, it was not man flu). Fortunately it is Saturday and therefore waking at 11:30 was not the cardiac arrest inducing panic it would have been had we both been late for work.

To make the waste of a morning a little more bearable I offered to make breakfast. Louise just wanted poached eggs on toast but as you will come to learn that is a little to basic for me. I reached for my old French cook book and reminded myself of the method for cooking Hollandaise sauce which is actually very simple.

This is what you need;

The juice of half a lemon;

1 teaspoon of water;

2 egg yolks;

4 oz of butter; and

salt and pepper to taste.

This is the basic method. Bring a sauce pan of water to the boil and leave it simmering. Take a bowl and sit it on top of the sauce pan making sure that the bowl does not make contact with the water.

Add the lemon juice and water. (At this point it is necessary to insert a parenthesis. The lemon juice is what gives the sauce its kick and actually half a lemon, especially if the lemon is large, will give the sauce a strong flavour. I would therefore suggest that you try out making the sauce and establishing how strong you prefer it before serving it to others. I suppose really this statement is obvious and need not have been included. If you agree, just ignore this part. In fact, now I come to think of it, you should just not bother reading the parenthesis but then again by now I guess you already have.)

To the lemon juice and water add the two egg yolks and 1oz of butter. Whisk the mixture until the butter is melted and the sauce starts to become thick. You should leave a noticeable trail with the whisk. At this point take the sauce pan off the heat but leave the bowl with the mixture in on top. Gradually add the remaining butter to the sauce whisking all the time. Then salt and pepper to taste and you should have a thick yellow sauce.

All you now need to do is pour it over the chosen dish and serve. In my case it was the aforementioned poached eggs on toast.

I have to admit that this mornings effort did contain a little to much lemon juice and contained quite a tangy kick. Still, you live, you learn, you get food poisoning.

'til next time. Steve