"Boeuf Bourgignon" and other pleasures

Autumn is a nice season to gather friends, specially those who love nice food.
Maria and Catherine came by (09-20-10) to enjoy the delicious "pulpo a feira" which turned delicious and really tender.


We had nice and varied "pinchos" which were prepared with left overs and other elaborated home patès (I have to write down the patè recipes, some day!).

They brought delicious wine from the Priorat region; not the right one for the "pulpo" but we enjoyed it anyway!

The following day my favourite ladies, former students from the EOI, came. What a lovely evening! The only problem I have when they visit is that the menu expectations are so great that I have to try new things. Not easy! for they have already tried the famous "suquet or sarsuela", the flank steak, the fish cake (recipe pending!)... so this time I chose the "Boeuf Bourguignon" to honor my visits to my French friend Josette. I have checked the Internet and have found different versions including the Julia Child one... IMPRESSIVE! by the way, but I followed Josette's instructions and added a pinch of unfaithfulness to the dish to make it my own.

Here are my guests:


And here is the appetizer, the pinchos with delicious "Vermut Rojo de Reus" where I had been the very day and found the flavour really different from the traditional Cinzano or Martini.


The meal started with a salad accompanied with a cube of fish cake and a slice of a "legumes terrine" (recipe pending) made with carrots, spinach, zucchini, onions, eggs, creme fresh and a variety of mushrooms) They loved it!


And here is the Boeuf Bourguignon:


Ingredients I used:

1Kg of stewing beef, cut into 4.cm cubes.
4 big carrots
2 big onions
4 bay leaves
little thyme branch
3 cloves
3/4 l Penedés red wine, Don Pablo de Naverán.
Salt
Pepper

As I compare the ingredients with Julia Child's cookbook, I realize I do not use bacon and the procedure is slightly different.

Here it goes:

I macerated the beef, the carrots, the onions, the spices with the red wine overnight.
The following day I stated cooking the beef at a very, very low temperature for about 5 hours.
I accompanied the dish with long-grain rice and it turned out delicious!
This is how the dish looked like!


We drank cava, a delicious non labelled cava Judith brought and a labelled one I had at home.
We had Menjablanc de Reus... another surprise, but I did not make it totally, I brought the ingredients from Reus that day. (Rice flour, almonds, cinamon, lemon, and startch. I added milk to the mixture and brought it to a boil for a few minutes.)
The girls brought a chocolate and orange cake from "Els pastissos de l'àvia" and most of us could not eat a little bite. We were ready to burst!
We had a special entertainment for it was the "Festa major Petita" and we enjoyed the fireworks from the top roof... Incredible!!!



After all that we were ready for secrets, pictures and bits of life that interfere with other bits of life ;) and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, as we usually do! I love these ladies!!

Pulpo a Feira: Time of exchange

I never dared cooking an octopus considering one failure after another in the past. I thought it was only a Galician gift to be able to do so but the only thing you need is a WONDERFUL TEACHER!! I had one. Even though I had known her for ages I saw her in action in Sta Monica, CA. She showed me the way and I did it at home and succeeded, so my admiration and respect for Carmen, after this event, it's even greater.

Here she is...


and that's what her dish looked like:


Actually, there's where I learned "the little secret".

"When the water is boiling, hold the octopus from the head and plunge it in and out of the boiling water for three times... then leave it for an hour" she said and that made all the difference I had never had such a tender and delicious octopus!

I decided to try the dish because my long time friend Charlotte, who loves any kind of sea animal was coming home with her "lover", as she calls Philip, and their little son, Alexander.

NEED NICE PICTURE OF THE THREE

Another secret Carmen told me is that the octopus has to be frozen for a while before you cook it to break the tissue and make it more tender. So, we did that!

"Once you've had the boiling octopus for half an hour add the potatoes with their peel on (she used the Galician word "cachelos") and let it boil all together for half an hour more..."

When it's done, remove all the water, peel the potatoes and slice them making a potato bed for the octopus.


Then, cut the octopus' legs in small pieces and place them onto the potatoes. Finally sprinkle some sweet red pepper, coarse sea salt or salt flakes and add a nice olive oil on top, generously.

And that's it! Thanks Carmen, you're great!!! and another secret... I was not unfaithful this time!

See what ours looked like...


We certainly enjoyed it, as you can see the totally empty plate and our satisfied faces as little Alexander was taking the picture!

A Foodies Weekend

Talking about good food one of the best pleasures is to share. Here my guests, Felicity (the cheese cake)and Mick (the rest!), being Bristish, "faithfully" reported on the weekend as follows:




Straight off the train we were taken to the market by The Unfaithful Cook to buy fresh, local supplies for the days ahead. We would start with "pinchos" as the appetiser for lunch: red pepper pâté and black olive tapenade and aubergine caviar with tomato. The main course would be a typical Fideua. For supper we tried, for the first time, shrimps cooked in salt followed by fish cake with a low-fat citrus cheesecake for dessert.

This glorious weekend started at Saturday lunchtime in a wonderfully Catalonian manner: Cava to wash down the simple yet delicious "Pinchos". Just cut the sausage into chunks, put on to fry until browned, and then put on the thinly sliced baguette bread with a toothpick to hold. And then the most important part: a drizzle of the oil left over in the pan does wonders for the flavour.



We continued with a freshly made black olive tapenade and red pepper pâté on bread, and the two flavours are perfect together - the freshness of the pate with the salty tang of the tapenade. We also prepared an aubergine caviar, served with a tomato. Delicious snacks, made in Catalonia with inspiration from Provence! Here´s how we made them:



For my sins I had never heard of - let alone eaten - a Fideuà. A first time for everything! Rather than the shrimps and scallops used in "Fideuà made in the USA" we managed to get cuttle fish from the market, but aside from that the process was the same. Ask the fishmonger to keep the pancreas (the brown part) in the cuttle fish as this adds loads of flavour in the cooking. The fideuà is quite straightforward to prepare for a small group, and served with a spoonful of alioli on the side it makes for a delicious lunch on the terrace! Of course, remember to serve it with a well chilled white wine.



The weekend so far was going very well. I am soon to move to the United States to study for a PhD in Iberian and Latin American Cultures, where I will also be learning Catalan. To be able to sample Catalan cuisine in Catalonia was a real pleasure for me, and in such a beautiful location that I did not know before. And so after a siesta it was time to get my head slightly in the books and learn a little Catalan before beginning the evening with a sunset stroll around the town.

Food was - of course - the focal point of the weekend. And, as ever, with food it is a time for experimentation and seeing what you can do with the locally-sourced ingredients available to you. For the starter at supper we would try a dish that, the Unfaithful Cook informed me, she had only seen in the USA and never with shrimps at home. Put a layer of oven salt in a dish, lay the whole shrimp on top, and then completely cover the fish with more salt. Put in the oven for 15 minutes and serve. A new way of cooking shrimp that I will certainly try again!




(The Unfaithful Cook says the shrimp were overcooked. So next time a 7 minute oven bake will be just enough... Remember!!)

The main course today would be a three-layer fish cake. Again, fresh and local ingredients are the key to giving this dish great flavour. One layer of carrot, one layer of fish, and one layer of spinach. It is normally cooked and then eaten cold - however it was already getting quite late and our stomachs were ready for food, so it had a few minutes standing out of the oven and as you can see it turned out just fine! Wonderful for a summer evening, with - you guessed it - some chilled white wine.

Here´s how we did it:



For dessert, Felicity took on a challenge fully in the spirit of this blog: to recreate a dish that she can make without problem in other places, but for which - locally - the ideal ingredients are hard to come by at a reasonable price. And it came out just fine: a low-fat citrus cheescake.




Felicity had already been unfaithful to the original recipe to this in England, by changing the cheesecake from lemon to lime, to make the flavour stronger and the dish more refreshing, but here she was forced into being more faithful.

Firstly, the base was made with digestive biscuits and melted butter with ginger





(Ginger nut biscuits are used in England). While this base is cooling in the fridge, the cheese mixture is prepared. This is made with 2 packs of lemon jelly (formerly lime) with 60ml water, heated together. When heated, we add a mixture of 300ml milk and two egg yolks and heat some more. Then we add the juice and finely-grated rind of 3 limes.







Then we add 500g "queso fresco" (formerly cottage cheese) to the jelly mixture and blend. Then we add 150ml whipped cream and finally we beat the two egg yolks until stiff, add 15ml sugar and beat again. Fold in the egg whites and pour the mixture onto the base.




Leave in the fridge to set and then enjoy the zesty, light, "low-calorie" cheesecake without the usual associated guilt!

My foodie delight did not stop there. Sunday would see us enjoy a marinated flank steak accompanied with "escalivada" - a typical Catalan dish of whole roasted onions, peppers, and aubergine which are sliced and then served with garlic, olive oil and parsley.




The steak is marinated for 24 hours (and turned every once in a while) in soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic. Cook in the oven, 7 minutes on each side. Tender and delicious, it is best enjoyed with a full-bodied Catalan red wine.



At the end of the experience we were really happy and satisfied with the results... Don't we look like so...?

A "pinchos" evening

Ski, the great traveler and friend, is leaving for another trip. This time, an impressive one; to Alaska! So we got together and wished him the best for this trip while we remain here, green with envy!

To organize dinner with these friends is easy. You name it, you have it! So I started suggesting that I'd make a few varied "pinchos", Sole added delicious "croquettes", Teresa a zucchini and onion "tortilla", Maite a delicious "jabugo" ham, Asun brought varied Italian ice-cream and Ski a delicious coconut cake.

I'm sure you would have liked to join...

It was a wonderful evening and even though we tried to solve the world, our suggestions never reach the top. Cava made a nice effect along the evening with our delicious food.



Pinchos are easy to make and you can recycle anything you may have in the fridge. Just use your imagination. You can use all sorts of bread but the best one is the baguette. I'll tell you how I prepared these:





1. Pincho "caprese"

A slice of bread, basil leaves, a slice of tomato, mozarella, black olive. Hold everything with a toothpick. Pour the sauce: olive oil, balsamic vinegar and finely chopped basil. Spread some sea salt flakes on top.

2. Hummus

You can make hummus with boiled chickpeas, yogurt, olive oil, garlic, mint, cilantro, cumin, black and chili pepper and a pinch of sea salt.

Spread a paste on the bread and cut one black olive in two halves. Decorate and add the sauce: Chopped parsley and olive oil.

3. Tuna

A slice of bread, a mixture of chunky tuna and mayonnaise. Put a fine slice of red roasted pepper and a green olive on top. Hold with a toothpick.

4. Artichokes

Blend canned artichokes and two anchovies with mayonnaise, add pepper, sea salt and spread on bread. Decorate with an anchovy and a slice of fried or roasted green pepper.

5. Sea food

Mix boiled eggs, mayonnaise, boiled fish, pepper, sea salt. Put the mixture inside an endive leaf and decorate with shrimp.

"Pinchos" are delicious and appetizing. You can invent all sorts of shapes and colours.



It was an enjoyable evening. We all look happy and amazed, don't we?








The Unfaithful Cook, who was taking pictures... and does not appear on this post.