Gazpachos Manchegos

Posted on December 22, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Gazpachos Manchegos is a delicious, wintery stew cooked with game (usually quail and rabbit) and bread-like tortas. It is the pride of Castilla La Mancha and a traditional dish for shepherds, hunters and farmers. Although the original recipe calls for two large flatbreads, one to be crumbled into the stew and the other to be used to spoon it out of the pan and into one’s mouth, our family does a Valencian version which uses little biscuits that require bowls and conventional cutlery. We also use organic chicken instead of quail and a little less rabbit than a real hunter would.
One of the most important parts of this dish is the picadillo – a mortar and pestle mash of cooked chicken liver, garlic, almonds, peanuts and parsley. Be brave!

What you need:
2kg organic chicken on the bone
Half a rabbit (approx. 1/2 kg)
3-4 ripe pear tomatoes
2-3 onions, finely chopped
1 head of garlic
3-4 dried sausages
1/2 kg meatballs (see putxero for mix)
4 packets of tortas (180g/packet)
pebrella (thymus piperella)
sweet paprika
2-3 small dried chillies
2-3 bay leaves
olive oil
water
salt
for the picadillo:
the organic chicken liver, fried
a handful of almonds and roast peanuts
2 cloves of garlic
a bunch of parsley

What you do:
The meat should be on the bone and cut into smallish pieces, as you can see in the photo. Grate the tomatoes, finely chop the onions and chop the sausages into small pieces. Pour a generous amount of olive oil into a large, deep pan and start by frying the meat, together with the full head of garlic, until the meat is beautifully browned and well on the way to being cooked. Season lightly.Remove the fried liver and set aside for the picadillo, then chuck in the onion to soften. After about 5 minutes, add the tomato and fry gently, stirring everything around from time to time. You should have your water handy at this point because the next step is to add the paprika, and you must never let it cook for too long as it will go bitter. So, put a good heaped teaspoon of paprika in, stir it for 30 seconds and then pour in your water. How much? Nobody can answer me. They say, “judge with your eyes,” so here is a photo:Throw in the bay leaves and a little more salt, and bring slowly to a boil. Organic chicken takes a lot longer to cook than the mushy-fleshed variety but is worth every minute, so let things boil comfortably for 20-30 minutes, adding hot water if it seems to be evaporating too quickly. Once the cauldron is bubbling, add the pebrella and pop the chillies in a tea strainer so that you can lift them out before things get too hot.Meanwhile, you need to get on with the picadillo, by smooshing up the ingredients in a mortar and pestle until it resembles a sort of rough paté:This is then spooned into the boiling mixture at the same time as the meatballs are plopped in. Stir everything gently and test the stock for flavour, seasoning as you see fit.
Then it’s time to add the “pasta”. Crush lightly with your hands as you pour the packets in. Then allow to boil for another 15 minutes or so.As the biscuits absorb the liquid, your gazpachos will thicken into a fabulously flavoursome, gravy-laden stew which ought to be spooned into bowls and eaten after it has been allowed to cool slightly. The second bowl is always the best!Serve with: a full-bodied red.

Sardinà: salt cured fish with peppers, onions and egg

Posted on November 3, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Every year our town has its local “fiesta” at the beginning of September. One of the traditional events is a big sardinà brunch served to whoever turns up by a gang of well-dressed, starboard-leaning ladies. We prefer to eschew the multitude and have our own small-scale celebration with a few friends instead. This year was a beautiful autumn morning, and Oscar was the most excellent chef.
What you need:1 salt-cured sardine per person
a few dried “capellà” (trisopterus minutus, or “poor cod”)
1 egg per person
3-4 onions
10-12 Italian peppers (green)
1-2 heads of garlic
oil
grapes and bread to serve

What you do:
First of all, get a fire going and let it reduce it to glowing coals. This is for the poor cod, which needs to be lightly charred just before you serve it. Prep your veg by cutting the peppers into halves or large chunks, separate the individual cloves of garlic but don’t peel them and roughly chop the onions.
Put a generous slug of oil into a large frying pan (we used a paella pan) and heat. Fry the peppers and garlic until softened and beautifully coloured – this will take a little while, so be patient and keep the beer coming for the cook.Transfer the peppers and garlic to a large serving plate. In the same oil, you are now going to soften the onion. Again, patience and lots of pushing about with the tongs to avoid bitter burning. Once that’s done, you have to lay the sardines in the pan and give them a few minutes on each side. Put the sardines and onions onto another serving plate and let your oil heat up to egg-frying pitch. I’m pretty sure you will know how to fry an egg, but I will say that here they like to sort of flick the hot oil over the top of the egg instead of flipping it; the white bubbles and gets slightly crusty, and the flavours that have infused the oil do wonders for the humble huevo.
The poor cod should be put on the coals at about the same time as you fry the eggs – it only needs a minute or two on either side. You might need an extra pair of hands to deal with simultaneous frying and charring.Now all you need to do is fill a plate with a bit of everything and pour some cold beer!

Serve with: grapes (which are at their best in September), bread and beer

Spanish Omelette (aka potato omelette)

Posted on August 10, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Spanish Omelette in Spain means potato omelette, with or without onion. Everyone has their own secrets for making one of the most fantastic omelettes ever, and discussions can get quite heated when it comes to whose is the best! Iaia always uses onion and can turn out a perfect tortilla with her eyes closed. I still need to keep mine open, especially with the flipping.
This dish is incredibly versatile as it can be consumed hot or cold, served as an appetiser, a main meal, a snack, in a roll, on a plate, in bite-sized squares on toothpicks, with tomato, with mayonnaise, with salad, at a picnic, a dinner party, as part of a buffet…need I go on?
The recipe here is for a large dinner-plate-sized omelette which will provide a good slice for 6-8 people. I used a stainless steel frying pan as it’s the only large pan I have, but I highly recommend using a non-stick pan instead.

What you need:
3 potatoes
1 onion
6 eggs
olive oil
salt
a non-stick frying pan

What you do:
Chop the potato and onion into chunky pieces, as you see above. Heat a generous amount of olive oil so that nothing sticks or burns (you can always drain any excess off before adding the eggs), and gently fry the onions for a minute or two before adding the potatoes. Iaia insists on covering the potatoes as they cook so that their edges become sort of fuzzy instead of sharp. This helps the egg stick to the totties later and gives you a much more attractive finish without any air holes between the potato and egg.Beat your eggs in a large bowl and add a good pinch of salt. Once the vegetables are cooked, but not falling to pieces, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the egg bowl. Drain any excess oil from the frying pan, but remember you will need a healthy coating to stop any sticking (even in a non-stick pan). Once the pan is well heated again, pour the whole egg and vegetable mix in and move it gently around (without disturbing the edges) so that the omelette cooks evenly, but take care not to turn it into scrambled egg. You can cover a very thick omelette to help with the cooking but don’t walk away!
After a little while, you will have a browned bottom and edge, and curd-like centre. It is time to flip (for photos of this see the Spinach Omelette recipe). Take your pan off the heat and cover it with a plate. Wrap a tea towel over the top and base of the pan to avoid burning yourself, and grip firmly from either side. Flip with conviction, so the omelette flops out onto your plate in one piece. Put your pan back on the heat and slide your now raw-side-down omelette back into the pan to finish cooking. I like to use a spatula to tuck the edges under a little because it gives a lovely rounded edge; this is especially important if you are cooking a larger omelette.
The trick is now to cook the omelette to the ideal point – neither runny nor rubbery. Practice will show you what it feels like to the touch when it is ready. Turn out onto a plate and allow to cool (or not!) before eating.

Fresh tuna and sweetly softened onion

Posted on July 20, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

A rare and special treat, this tuna dish is one of my absolute favourites. Buy the freshest, reddest, most beautiful tuna steaks you can find and eat at room temperature or cooler, ooping the oil off the plate with lovely soft fresh bread. Mmmm.

What you need:
Finger-thick tuna steaks
seasoned flour
3-4 onions
olive oil

What you do:
Chop the tuna into large chunks and pop them into a plastic bag with the seasoned flour. Shake things up until the fish is evenly coated. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and brown the floured fish on both sides. Don’t overcook, or it will go dry on you – best to err on the undercooked side. Take the browned fish out of the pan and set it aside while you deal with the onions. Slice them reasonably finely and fry them gently in the oil you used for the fish (add some if necessary). You don’t want to caramelise them, but you do want them to be cooked through – Iaia tells me the onion has to be “atabollaeta“, but when I asked her what that meant, she shrugged and said, “you know…done just to the right point”. Hm. Inspection of a dictionary provides “ripe coloured” in reference to fruit, so I suppose in this oniony context, it means soft and gently coloured. That works for me, anyway!So, once the onions are atabollaetes, turn the heat off and send the tuna back into the pan with the onions to mingle for a while. We like this at room temperature, or even cold from the fridge.

Serve with: bread and a chilly white – summer essentials!

Arros caldos d’estiu (summer rice)

Posted on July 3, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

This recipe is a lot like the typical Valencia paella, but instead of being cooked in a caldero until the liquid is completely evaporated, it is cooked in a saucepan until soupy. It follows the same principles as Winter Rice, but uses different ingredients which are in season in summer. Iaia always uses organic, free-range chicken, which needs to be boiled for about 20 minutes on its own before you put the beans in. If you are using a normal chook, you can put the veg in when you add the water.
The last time I was in Australia, I tried to find a butcher who would saw some chicken up into paella-sized pieces for me, but it was impossible (mutterings about cross-contamination), so I made it with 2 whole drumsticks and cut the wings into pieces myself.
The quantities here are for four people, calculating about 60 grams of rice per head. Adjust this and the amount of water as necessary, remembering that you want a soupy finish, not risotto-like creaminess.

What you need:
600 g chicken
250g flat green beans*
100g fresh navy beans *
1 prune tomato, grated
125ml olive oil
250g short-grain rice
1 tsp sweet paprika
saffron or food colouring**
1200ml water

*Iaia has some things to say about these ingredients:
The variegated flat beans are tastier and go green upon cooking, so if you can find them, all the better. Otherwise, plain flat green beans will have to do. French runner beans don’t taste nearly as good but will also have to do if there really isn’t anything else.
If you use bottled navy beans, add them about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, or they will collapse into a floury mess.
**See my note in Winter Rice about food colouring

What you do:
Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan that is big enough to hold everything and then chuck the seasoned chicken pieces in to brown. Once they are looking golden, add the grated tomato and fry for 3-4 minutes. Just before you add the water, put the sweet paprika in and stir it around for just a few seconds, making sure it doesn’t burn and go bitter, then pour in all of the water and bring it to a boil. If you are using organic chicken, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes before adding the beans, otherwise put them in straight away, add the saffron/food colouring and another pinch of salt, cover and simmer everything for an hour or so.
As with Winter Rice, you can switch everything off at this point and leave it ready to be heated up when you want to eat it. About half an hour before you do want to serve it, bring your stock to a boil, check the seasoning and add the rice. Don’t overcook or evaporate all the liquid!
Ladle into bowls and then leave it to cool while you have a pre-lunch drink and some nibbles, it will taste better, and you won’t burn your tongue.

Serve with: your favourite red

Ensaladilla Rusa (a not-altogether-Russian potato salad)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

About 10 years ago, a Russian girl called Lana came to stay with someone in the family as part of an exchange programme. My mother-in-law proudly served up a huge batch of Russian Salad to make sure Lana felt at home and was amazed when told that it was about as un-Russian as a salad could get! It seems that our Lana had never eaten at the Hermitage in Moscow circa 1860, where apparently this style of salad was first created by head chef Lucien Olivier. Now Ensaladilla Rusa is a canon of Valencian culinary tradition and another one of those staple nibbles that are plonked on the table before, or during a large family gathering.
It is best eaten the day after prepping and should be served quite cold. Nothing beats homemade mayonnaise, so I am including the (very easy) recipe here. The quantities make enough for 8-10 people to have a good serving-spoon full each, with leftovers.
What you need for the salad:
1 kg old potatoes (old means less water content)
1/4 kg carrots
1/4 kg French beans
4 hard-boiled eggs
2-3 tins of tuna, drained
50-100g of little gherkins
What you need for the mayonnaise:
1 egg
a pinch of salt
sunflower seed oil
a splash of white wine vinegar

What you do:
Peel and chop your potato into large chunks. All the vegetables need to be boiled but not to total softness – Iaia insists that they need to be al dente so that the whole finished salad doesn’t degenerate into mash. I put the potatoes into cold water, and once it came to a boil, put the egg timer on for 10 minutes with good results. As soon as the totties are cooked, drain them and spread them out in a wide, shallow dish to cool completely. Now boil your carrots and beans, refreshing the latter with cold water once cooked so that they stay a nice bright green instead of going a grisly grey. Let all the veg cool right down before continuing.
A lot of people chop their potatoes and carrots into pretty dice, but Iaia says it’s easier to roughly mash, so that is what I do. You do need to chop the beans, gherkins and eggs into little bits. Mix all of the ingredients together, adding salt to taste and then you are ready to make mayonnaise.
There isn’t any real mystery – you just need a stick blender and a steady hand. Crack the egg into a deep cup, add a pinch of salt and about 1/2 glass of sunflower seed oil (olive is possible, but it makes a very strong-tasting mayo). Start blending, and as soon as you see the mix turning creamy white and thickening, pour a thin, steady stream of oil in as you mix, until you have enough mayonnaise. Add a splash of vinegar to taste at the end, and there it is!
Now you need to spoon your mayonnaise over the salad and mix well until it is evenly gluggy. Iaia uses quite a lot more than I do because I tend to get mayonnaise headaches. Nobody believes me, but it’s true. Pile the salad up into an Uluru shape and spread a thin layer of mayonnaise over the top as if you were icing a cake. Iaia grates a boiled egg yolk over the top to decorate, but I ran out of eggs and so couldn’t. Leave the salad in the fridge until you are ready to eat it. Yum.

Serve with: breadsticks

Arròs a banda (fisherman’s rice)

Posted on March 30, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Another rice-based dish for feeding a crowd, this Arròs a banda is my father-in-law’s specialty and he cooked a beauty for us yesterday for the Good Friday family get-together. There were 16 of us plus Luka, our dog, and not a grain was left over from 2 kilos of rice.

Traditionally this rice was cooked by fishermen who sold off their good stuff but kept some stock-worthy bits for themselves, to be boiled up with rice and scoffed with gusto.

The stock used here was made with about a kilo of morralla which is bits of crab, tiddly little fish, fish heads (the monkfish heads left over from the Caldereta de Rap are particularly prized) and so on. We used just over 5 litres of it for the 2 kg of rice.

Funnily enough, although this rice is cooked in the same type of pan as the Paella, it is never eaten directly from the dish. Apparently, this is because if you leave seafood rice in the caldero it quickly takes on the metallic taste of the pan itself. So once cooked, everything gets piled up in the middle to keep it warm and served onto plates.

I am not putting quantities of prawns and mussels because you can put as many or as few as you like. I suggest that to avoid arguments, use at least one of everything per person!

What you need:
2 kg of (Spanish) rice
5-6 litres of good fish stock
Raw prawns and langoustines
3 cleaned cuttlefish, chopped into small pieces
4 onions, finely chopped
1 whole head of garlic, finely sliced
8 pear tomatoes, grated
Mussels (optional)
Olive oil
Salt
Sweet paprika
Black pepper
Orange food colouring (or saffron)

What you do:
This recipe is very similar to the Fideuà, so if you have cooked that, you will have no trouble with this! Oreto decided to gently fry 2 of the onions with the cuttlefish before putting it into the main dish – this is unusual, but it does save the crazy, violent, oil-flinging spit that cuttlefish always has as it gets dumped into a hot, open pan.

Once that is done, heat your pan and pour a good half litre of oil in to heat up. Eduardo always fries the prawns and langoustines first to flavour the oil. They only need five minutes or so, then you should take them out of the pan and reserve them for later.
Onions and garlic get fried next, moving everything about so there is no burning. Once they have softened slightly, pour in the tomato and cook until some of the liquid has evaporated. When it looks nicely done, stir in the mussels and the cuttlefish. Then it is time to fry the uncooked rice a little. This coats it with oil and helps stop any clumping. Give it about 5-6 minutes, moving it around constantly, so it doesn’t catch.Just before you put the stock in, remember to add a good spoonful of sweet paprika to the pan. It is really important not to burn this spice – 30 seconds or so is enough, and then you need to pour your stock straight in.
Check for salt, add the colouring or saffron, give everything a gentle push to evenly distribute the rice and bring to a boil. When you have a lovely rolling boil going, place the prawns and langoustines on top and stand back. You may need to add a tiny bit more stock if you see it evaporating faster than the rice is cooking, but other than that, leave it alone.Just before the stock has disappeared, get a healthy pinch of ground black pepper and sprinkle generously over the rice.

Serve with: allioli and bubbles

Coca gallega (Galician-style pizza)

Posted on March 29, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

A compulsory part of any major meal here is the picaeta, which is a rough equivalent to “nibbles”. In our family, one of the most appreciated nibble foods (apart from the ubiquitous home-roasted peanuts, olives and crisps), is Auntie Joaquina’s Coca Gallega, a pizza-like pasty which is cut up into squares and devoured almost as soon as it gets to the table.
This recipe is easy, although you should remember to do the basic tomato mix the day before to ensure that it has the right texture and depth of flavour. Feel free to leave out the tuna if you don’t like it, or don’t want to consume the noble fish, and (speaking from experience) it is no great disaster if you forget to add the pine nuts, although they do provide good little nubby bits to bite.
The most complicated part of the recipe is moving the pastry once you have it rolled out, but a rolling pin and a bit of flour solve things admirably.
This recipe gives you quite a bit of pizza. We had four friends staying over for the Easter weekend, and I served it with a big green salad and a plate of Serrano ham for dinner – there was enough left over for morning tea on Sunday. It’s perfect for taking along to a buffet-style party or picnic!

What you need for the filling:
1/3 glass of olive oil
1 kg of tinned tomato
1 green Italian pepper
1½ spoonfuls of sugar
5-6 cloves of garlic
3 tins of tuna in oil
50g of pine nuts
4 boiled eggs
What you need for the pastry:
1 glass (200ml) sunflower oil
1½ glasses (300ml) beer
a good pinch of salt
plain flour (as much as the liquid admits)

What you do:
It’s best to prepare the tomato base the day before you want to cook the pizza. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and gently cook the garlic without letting it burn. Chop the pepper into small pieces and add to the garlic, frying lightly. If your tinned tomatoes are not already pureed, smoosh them up in the blender until they are smooth, then add to the pan. Chuck in the sugar to reduce the acidity of the tommies. You now need to let as much liquid as possible evaporate, while the tomato fries itself tasty. It took about ¾ of an hour the other day, on a medium flame and with a piece of foil over the top of the pan to stop tomato splatting all over the place. Once you think the mixture is dry enough, remove it from the heat and leave it in the fridge until tomorrow. The following day, drain the tuna of all oil (or brine), chop the eggs into small chunks and add both, together with the pine nuts, to the now cold tomato. Mix well and taste for seasoning. Set aside while you make the pastry and get the oven warm.Heat your oven to 160ºC, preferably with the heat only coming from the bottom. If you can’t choose, then place the pizza down low in the oven to avoid any burning on top. Pour the beer and oil into a large mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt. Now add flour bit by bit (about half a glass at a time) and mix in with a metal spoon until a dough begins to form. You are looking for quite a soft, oily dough but one that doesn’t stick to your fingers. When it’s ready, turn it out onto a floured surface and work it lightly – this isn’t bread, so there is no need to knead for any longer than a couple of minutes. Divide the dough into two parts, one slightly larger for the bottom layer. Using a flat oven tray (about 60 x 60) lined with baking paper as your guide, and enough flour to stop things from sticking, roll out the bottom layer until it is about 2-3mm thick. Prick with a fork. Spread your tomato mix over the pastry, exactly as you would a pizza. Use it all.
Now roll out your lid; it should be a little thinner than the bottom. Transferring it to the pizza can be tricky, but if you lightly flour the surface of the pastry and your rolling pin, you should be able to carefully roll the flat dough up onto the pin and then unravel it over your tomato.
Use a fork to press the edges together and prick the top surface. Brush with a beaten egg and pop it into the oven for about 40 minutes, checking from time to time. If you find the base is cooked, but the top is still very pale, you can switch to the grill only, keeping your eye on the pizza to make sure it doesn’t get frazzled. Allow to cool completely before serving (it’s even better the next day!)

Serve with: other nibbles, or a salad and some cured meats for a main meal.

Caldereta de rap (monkfish stew)

Posted on March 2, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

This is one of Iaia’s signature dishes. She tends to cook it for us on birthdays and we all love it, especially the thick sauce, which can be either scooped up with fresh bread or spooned up after mashing it into the potato chunks.

Fresh monkfish flesh is a lovely rosy pink. The frozen stuff does not taste the same, and Iaia refuses to use it. Try to buy smaller fish as their muscles are less fibrous and far more pleasant to eat. Leave some of the skin on if you don’t find it irksome, as this will act as a natural thickening agent for the sauce and enhance its sweet, fishy goodness.

Get the fishmonger to clean the fish but bring them home with the heads on, which you can then scissor off and freeze for the best fish stock ever. The cuts that go into the stew are the whole tail and the loin, both with the bone in.

Iaia swears by olive oil for just about everything and quite happily pours a good half litre into her pan to fry the potatoes. Once they are done, she siphons off about two-thirds of that oil and saves it for paella on Sundays.

What you need for 6:
About 850g fresh monkfish pieces
1 kg potatoes
2 pear tomatoes
2 onions
3-5 cloves of garlic
small bunch of parsley
50g toasted almonds
½ litre of oil for frying (Iaia uses olive)
sweet paprika
2 small chillies, whole*
750 ml good fish stock
flour for dusting the fish
salt and pepper to taste
*optional and to be taken out before the whole dish becomes mouth-numbingly hot!

What you do:
Finely dice the onion, slice the garlic, grate the tomato and chop the parsley. All of these ingredients will end up being blended, so don’t be too fussy about perfect knife work.

Cut the potatoes into chunks. Iaia has a special technique – she stops each cut about ¾ of the way through and then breaks the piece off, saying that this will stop the potato chunks from breaking up as they cook. It seems to work!

Heat your olive oil in a deep pan and fry the potatoes in batches until golden, but not necessarily cooked through. Iaia says she uses so much oil because you have to have enough to cover the potatoes so that there is no chance of them getting crushed and deformed by constant turning and stirring.

Once the potatoes are done, remove two-thirds of the oil and reheat. Season your fish well with salt and pepper and dust with flour before laying it gently into the hot oil to fry. You don’t need to cook the fish through; 2-3 minutes on each side is enough. When you remove the fish, place it directly into a wide, shallow, flameproof casserole dish, which is where you will cook and present the final dish. Distribute the fried potatoes evenly over the fish pieces.

In the same oil, lightly fry the sliced garlic and then add the parsley and onion, cooking until the onion is softened. Pour in your grated tomato and fry until you notice the mix thickening slightly as the water from the tomatoes evaporates. If you are using chillies, settle them into the mix now, but take them out before you blend! Just before you take off the heat, pop the teaspoon of sweet paprika in and give it all a quick stir.

Pour the tomato and onion mixture into a blender along with the whole toasted almonds and pulse to a thick paste. You can also do this with a stick blender, but avoid over-blending; texture is important here.

Pour this picadillo, or flavour base, over the fish and then add just enough stock to cover everything. Check for salt – fish can be tricky and very easy to over-salt, so it’s best to add small amounts throughout the process than try to rectify with a great handful at the end.

Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes, adding stock if you see that it gets too dry, aim for a thick gravy-like consistency.

Like most stews, this one is even better the day after it’s cooked, but it will also benefit from standing for half an hour or so before serving.

Serve with: fresh bread and your best bubbly.

Fideuà

Posted on February 23, 2013 by lisajaneroberts

Last week Iaia turned 70, and not realising that her two boys had planned a surprise party for her, she got all the ingredients together for a celebratory fideuà. Of course, there was no way we were going to let such deliciousness go to waste, so we had a second celebration today, and Eduardo, my father-in-law took the reins and talked me through the art of this fabulous dish.

The stock we used was homemade fish stock. Iaia often goes to the Friday market and buys a bag full of “stock stuff”, including monkfish bones, hake heads, little crabs and other odds and ends that are not otherwise sellable. She boils up a huge batch – maybe 10 or even 20 litres of stock – and freezes it in various-sized containers.

If you can be bothered, and if you can stand the stink, homemade stock is the best by far. Otherwise, buy the best quality fish stock you can find. Please, please don’t use stock cubes – they just don’t cut it for this sort of cooking, and I’m afraid Iaia would be horrified.

What you need for 9-10 people:
Uncooked langoustines and prawns (1 or 2 of each per person)
2 cleaned cuttlefish (or squid)
2 large onions
6 cloves of garlic
3 pear tomatoes
1 kg of fideos*
about 2½ litres of fish stock
250 ml of olive oil
1 tbsp sweet paprika
salt and pepper

*fideos are short lengths of thick, bucatini-like pasta with a hole running through them. If you can’t find them, try breaking spaghetti or bucatini into 1-inch pieces and adjust the cooking time and amount of stock to suit the pasta you use.

What you do:
Eduardo cooks over an open fire, which is difficult and can be dangerous. If you can get hold of a paella gas ring and paella pan, then I would use them. Otherwise, if you scale down the recipe, you could probably do a pretty good version for 2 or 3 people in a large frying pan over a gas flame.

Slice the cloves of garlic and finely chop the onions. Grate the tomatoes and discard the skins.
Cut your cleaned cuttlefish into short strips and get
everything else assembled within easy reach before
you start cooking.

Pour the oil into your chosen pan and heat well. Carefully place the langoustines into the hot oil and fry for a few minutes, turning them from time to time. Add the prawns and do the same, then haul all of the critters out and set them to one side. This is not so much to cook the crustaceans as to perfume the oil, and it does wonders for the final
flavour of the dish.

Lower the heat a little and fry the garlic and onion for a couple of minutes, or until they soften slightly. Add the cuttlefish. It’s a good idea to keep things moving throughout these early stages so that nothing catches and burns. Eduardo also mentioned that when he buys fresh cuttlefish or squid, he scalds it and then lets it dry before frying it,
apparently this stops it from spitting oil all over you, which is a good thing. After about 5 minutes, the cuttlefish will be opaque, and the onion and garlic well-softened. It is time to add the tomato and your first seasoning of salt. Keep pushing everything around the pan; burnt is bad.

(At this point, we had to take everything off the fire because my brother-in-law was late, and he was bringing the pasta. While we were waiting, we gave in to temptation and dunked some bread into the tomatoey base. It was superb. Be tempted.)Once the fideos arrive, pour them all into the hot sauce, adding the paprika at the same time. Give them a thorough swirl to coat them with the flavoursome mix, and then pour your stock in. It is a bit of a hit-or-miss calculation; experience seems to be the key. Eduardo used about two and a half litres today, and the pasta was perfect.

As the liquid comes to a boil, lay your langoustines and prawns over the top and check for salt. Allow to boil vigorously for the time stipulated on the packet – usually about 9 or 10 minutes. The liquid should have all but disappeared by then.

We don’t eat this one from the communal dish but serve it on plates and sit at the table. It’s important not to leave the pasta in the metal pan for too long, or it will take on a slightly metallic tang. If there is any leftover after your initial serving, pop it onto a large dish and bring it to the table – most people will want seconds anyway!

Serve with: bubbles or a cold, dry white

Iaia's kitchen

Traditional recipes from my Valencia mother-in-law

Category Archives: Mains