Squid in its ink croquettes

Next to my house there is a small bar where I had croquettes of squid in its ink. Delicious, really loved it. So I tried to do the same. It was very good but I still didn’t find the trick that she put in her own croquettes as the taste was still a bit different.

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What do you need?

• 1 shallot
• 1 small onion
• 1 large squid
• Squid ink
• 65g of flour
• 45g of butter
• 300ml of milk
• 2 eggs
• Flour
• Bread crumbs
• Salt, black pepper, dry garlic

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Steps:

• Start by preparing the bechamel sauce that you will need to reserve in the fridge for 2hrs at least.
• Fry the shallot that you will cut very thinly in a bit of oil
• In a deep saucepan, melt the butter completely and add the flour and stir immediately
• Add the milk and mix well. Add the shallot
• Cook at medium fire for about 15mn or until the bechamel becomes thick (It needs to be well thick otherwise you will have difficulties to form the croquettes)
• Let it cool and put in the fridge. Cover the bowl with a plastic film on the surface
• In the meantime, cut the onion & squid very small and fry a few minutes in olive oil. Add the salt, pepper and garlic
• Once cold, add to the bechamel with the ink, reserve in the fridge before starting to form the croquettes.
• Prepare three deep plates with the flour, the bread crumbs and the beaten egg.
• Form your croquette, try to have them all the same size.
• Roll the croquettes in flour, then in egg and bread crumbs
• Fry in abondant and hot oil a few minutes until cooked.
• Let it cool on kitchen paper to remove the excess of oil.

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'Mariscada' and veg a la plancha

An alternative to the Sunday Paella when we go down to Valencia was this delicious, sort-of-Mariscada. It normally is more seafood but we preferred to add fish with the muscles, shrimps & gambas.

The vegetables cooked a la plancha are also delicious.

Volvemos este mes con el reto de Cooking The Chef! Las chicas proponen un nuevo reto, sabores españoles y catalanes con las recetas de Carme Ruscalleda.

Michelín, la ha consagrado como la primera chef española en conseguirla una estrella. Además, su establecimiento forma parte de la exclusiva y lujosa cadena de restaurantes y hoteles Relais & Chateaux.

A las tres estrellas de ‘Sant Pau’ se le suman las dos concedidas por esta célebre guía en 2007 al local que la chef posee en Tokio, a imagen y semejanza de su restaurante catalán.

La elección ha sido complicada, teniendo la receta de las almejas un aspecto tan delicioso, que opte por este y la forma en que las prepara Carme.

Ingredientes:

• 250 g de espaguetis o fideos gruesos (del nº 4)
• 1 kg de almejas
• 3 dientes de ajo
• Perejil
• 1/2 copa de cava
• 150 g de tirabeques
• Aceite de oliva virgen extra
• Sal
• Pimienta

Para la picada:

• 200 g de tomates
• 3 dientes de ajo
• 3 g de perejil
• 30 ml de jerez seco
• 10 g de escalonia o tomillo

Elaboracion:

• Para limpiar las almejas, ponerlas en agua con sal. Dejarlas 1 hora y aclarar en agua dos o tres veces.
• Triturar las tomates, el ajo, el perejil, el jerez en con una batidora. Verter la mezcla en la cazuela Le Creuset con aceite, sal y pimienta y saltear 5 minutos.
• Incorporar a la mezcla 1 litro 1/4 de agua hirviendo y cocer 5 minutos más. Colar y reservar.
• En otra cazuela Le Creuset sofreír los tirabeques cortados en aceite de oliva durante 1 minuto y reservarlos.
• En la misma cazuela, poned 1 litro del caldo preparado antes, llevar a ebullición y echar los espaguetis con una pizca de sal. Dejar que cueza 5 minutos a fuego medio y 3 minutos más a fuego más lento.
• Cuando falten 3 minutos para acabar la cocción de los espaguetis, en la Le Creuset sofreír el ajo y el perejil picados con un poco de aceite, incorporar el cava y las almendras. Remover hasta que se abran y reservarlas en su propia salsa.
• Incorporar a la cazuela los tirabeques y dejad que cueza todo junto 30 segundos más.
• Verter las almejas con su salsa, remover, rectificar de sal y apartar la cazuela del fuego.
• En este punto, los Espaguetis estarán a punto de servirse.

Gambas curry

Tonight I was wondering what I could cook for dinner without having to go shopping. I had red peppers, mushrooms, coconut milk, tomatoes, basmati rice. So I decided to do a coconut curry sauce but of course I then really wanted gambas so I had to go to the supermarket at the end 🙂

What do you need? (for 2 serving)

• coconut milk (200ml)
• basmati rice
• 12 gambas
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 onion
• 1/2 red pepper
• 4 flat green beens (helda beens)
• 3 white mushrooms
• 1 tomato
• 5cl of white wine
• olive oil
• Salt, black pepper, coriander, grass lemon

 

First peel the gambas and keep them aside – if you have a green lemon, you can put a bit of lemon and reserve them aside. Stir in a work the red peppers, flat green beans and onion. I prefer to cut the pepper and beans in big chunk but it’s up to you. After a few minutes, add the mushrooms cut in pieces and the garlic. Stir and add the tomato.

Add the salt, black pepper and lemon grass and spread the white wine. Cook for 10mn or a bit less if you like the vegetables to be crunchy.

Meanwhile start cooking your basmati rice.

Add the gambas into your wok, fry for a few minutes, add the coriander and the coconut milk. Stir at very low fire for a few minutes.

You can now serve in bowls the curry and rice separately.

 

ps. I don’t like to take pictures of my dishes in the evening as the light is not as nice as the natural day light but didn’t really have a choice as it’s dark so eaaaarlyyyy!

Gambas, calamares and mushrooms

 

Nothing really difficult to cook with this simple diner obviously but, it’s something we look to have for dinner.

The mushrooms are the big size one, cut in 6 and prepared in the wok with onions and garlic. I cook them just enough so that they are still a bit crunchy when eating them.

The gambas are cooked in a bit of olive oil and garlic and the calamar also in olive oil and parsley with garlic. I usually prefer them “a la romana” but this time I just cooked them without hassle.

Salmon/Hake with courgettes & cherry tomatoes à la provencale

Tonight I went to the gym so I had to find a recipe that was kind of light and healthy. Fish and vegetables. 2 different fishes because we don’t like the same but it doesn’t matter, does it? 🙂

What do you need?

• Hake or salmon fillets
• Garlic
• Cherry tomatoes (20)
• 1 courgette
• 1 shallot
• Thyme, herbs de provence, salt, black pepper
• olive oil

Clean the cherry tomatoes, cut in half. Peal the courgette and cut in small pieces – I use my kitchenaid to get it done in 5 sec.

Heat up a small spoon of olive oil and stir in the garlic and shallots. When it starts to get brown, through in the tomatoes, stir for 5mn and then add the courgette.

Add salt, pepper, thyme and herbs and continue to stir for 10mn at medium fire and finish with low fire.

In the meantime, heat up a bit of olive oil and fry on the skin the fish. I like the salmon very lightly cooked so I cover it and let it cooked only a few minutes. I’ve added a bit of salt and pepper and 2 full garlic cloves.

Serve and enjoy!

Nb. The pictures don’t look as beautiful as I wanted but that’s the issue with evening cooking, the light is crap 🙂

Seafood fideuà

What do you need?

• Fish broth
• Gambas
• Mussels
• Fideua size 4
• 1 lemon

Steps:

• Prepare the fire in the barbecue and make sure it’s strong
• Fry the gambas with a little bit of oil
• Add the fish broth that you will have prepared before, much better than a already made one of course
• Once the broth is boiling add the fideua y dejar cocinando hasta que no hay mas liquido.
• Add the mussels half way on the top to make them to open
• Best to serve with a bit of fresh lemon and aioli

Enjoy!