A Day Off for the Chef: El Mercat de Mercats

So this weekend a gastronomer's dream hit Barcelona: the Mercat de Mercats! In a very picturesque little square in front of the cathedral, an eruption of wine and tapas stalls spilled out serving up an array of deliciosities for 2 euros a pop. Safe to say we were in our element! I've popped a few pics onto the blog because they just HAVE to be shared...........

Melons. Make Art.

Very ornate cookies, disguised as muffins.

Ohla Gastronomic Bar

A cheese-lover's dream

What an amazing Saturday night :p...

Wild ceps that absolutely burst with flavour. Awesome they were.

All the participating restaurants presented one signature dish

Cod and baked beans. In tins. What could be simpler!

Does this one even need a caption? (omg!)

The sun sets on the market...

I'll definitely be taking some inspiration from these incredible ingredients for a recipe coming soon to Barcelonenas. Might start with those tantalising wild mushrooms........

Handmade Burgers with Cebolla Caramelizada

Don't buy burgers. Make them!! Another recipe you can easily put your own personal twist on if you like, or keep it simple for a sumptuously juicy, tastylicious beef burger. The quality of the mince is important, always look at the fat content and keep it low. Or better still, buy it fresh from a butcher.

The burgers:

• 400g minced beef
• fresh green herbs (your choice)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 small dried chillies, finely chopped
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt and pepper

The caramelised onion:

• one onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp sugar

1. Throw mince, a good handful of green herbs (basil or mint a great one in this recipe), the crushed garlic, chillies and paprika in a bowl. Mix well with your hands, massaging the meat as you go to make it even more tender, before adding the egg, salt and pepper. Heat up some oil in a pan now if you plan on making homemade chips.

2. Slip the onion in a pan with the sugar and keep on a low heat to caramelise. Heat up a griddle pan and using your hands separate the meat into 3/4 balls and mould into chunky burgers. On a medium-high heat place the burgers on the griddle with a tiny glug of olive oil.

3. While the burgers are cooking, slice up a few potatoes into chunky chips and shallow fry (only when oil is very hot!). When they turn golden brown (after 4-5 mins) fish them out and place them on kitchen towel to drain off the excess fat. Sprinkle with sea salt.

4. When the burgers are cooked to your liking, toast a bun and place the juicy burger on top and dust with a dollop of caramelised onion and mayo. Serve with the crispy homemade chips and a fresh green salad. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

ThaiFishFormas

This week we've got a lot of fresh coriander lurking about in the fridge, and this recipe was a last-ditch attempt to use it up before it withered away. So I looked for something to go with coriander, rather than the other way around! My guest sous-chef decided the best thing for the fishcakes would be geometric shapes, which at the time I doubted, but as you can see he was right, I was wrong, they look awesome.

We'll be needing...

• 3 large potatoes, peeled
• 1-2 salmon fillets
• cream cheese
• coriander (fresh and ground)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
• dried parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• breadcrumbs
• mayonnaise 
• 1 lemon

1. Cut the potatoes into quarters and boil for about 8 mins, or until you can see that they're cooked. While they're boiling bung the salmon in the oven to cook for around 6 mins at 200 degrees (do not overcook, its fine to still be pink inside!)

2. Place the cooked potatoes in a bowl and add a glug of good olive oil, a large tbsp of cream cheese, a handful of fresh and a tsp of ground coriander and parsley, the garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and an egg. When the fish is out of the oven peel off the skin and flake in the fish.

3. Whizz the mixture up with a hand blender/whisk/fork, whichever you have at your disposal! Then pour some breadcrumbs out on the work surface, throw on a large tbsp of the mixture onto it, and coat entirely with breadcrumbs before moulding it into whatever fun shape you like. 

4 If you want to oven bake them, make sure to brush on either some eggwash or olive oil so the fishcakes go golden and lovely in the oven, cook them for 10-15 mins at 200. If shallow or deep frying, fry until golden brown. Make a lovely lemon mayonnaise by mixing 3 tbsp of mayo with the juice and zest of half a lemon. Serve with a fresh green salad, a dollop of zingy mayonnaise, a wedge of lemon and a crisp white wine. Faaaaaaaaantabulous!

Pimping Party Pizza!

Something for the weekend peeps! Everybody feels like they're 12 again when they're making pizza, and the beauty is you can literally put ANYTHING on it. I've even seen a chocolate pizza but I'll make no comments about that one. We've opted for traditional ingredients with lots of bright colours and delicious flavours. Also making pizza dough is a lot of fun, don't be scared, go for it.

To make one 10-12" pizza:

For the dough:

• 250g pizza flour (I cheated with a prepared pizza flour with added yeast, if not use any strong flour and a sachet of dried yeast)
• 125ml warm water (about 30°C)
• good pinch of salt
• a glug of olive oil

For the topping:

• tomate frito
• single cream
• pineapple
• chorizo
• cured ham
• fresh tomato 
• mushrooms
• mozzarella
• dried herbs
• salt and pepper

1. The dough. Pour 125ml of warm water over the flour in a bowl. Using a whisk or hand blender, whip up the mix to combine it. Then add a good pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil, and get stuck in with your hands and knead it until it's a nice smooth ball. Cover the bowl with a teatowel and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes so the dough can rise.

2. Prep your topping! Chop the tomatoes and mushrooms and make the sauce: fill a glass with half cream and half tomate frito and add a few shakes of garlic powder, a teaspoon of parsley and oregano and salt and pepper.

3. Now for the fun part! Take the dough which should now be about double the size, place on a floured surface and sprinkle over some flour. Now you will need some sort of rolling pin, we unfortunately don't have one so we used a half-drunk wine bottle. Roll out to the desired shape, as thin as you can, and put on a sheet of foil on a baking tray.

4. Spoon the sauce mixture over the dough and arrange the rest of the ingredients, then top with mozzarella cheese, a glug of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, pepper and dried herbs. Whack in the oven for 15 mins at 200.

5. Serve with a fresh green salad! So so sooooooooooooo tasty!!!!

Whilst we were making these beauties, we were jamming to this tune: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac08rCzDUB0

Booming Breaded Panga with Oriental Peas

OK, so first a confession to make about this recipe. I genuinely have no real idea what 'Panga' fish is. It tastes somewhere between catfish and mackerel, is apparently called Swai in the US, the 'Iridescent shark' on Wikipedia, and available at every supermarket in Spain. It's a mystery. Choose any white fish fillet and you're good to go!

For the fish:

• 2 white fish fillets
• an egg, beaten
• olive oil
• breadcrumbs
• salt/pepper/dried parsley

For the oriental peas:

• a bag of frozen peas
• half an onion, finely chopped
• a garlic clove, crushed
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
• tsp ground coriander (and a handful of fresh if you have it!)
• tsp dried mint (or fresh even better)
• butter

1. Preheat oven at about 200. Beat an egg in a bowl and pour a thin layer of breadcrumbs on a plate.
2. Take the fish fillets, first dip both sides in the egg and press into the breadcrumbs so they are fully coated. Place on a baking tray and drizzle over some olive oil. With a pastry brush I like to brush the fillets with the remaining egg as it makes the coating go a lovely golden brown! Sprinkle over some salt, pepper and parsley, and pop into the oven for 15-20mins.
3. While the fish is cooking, get stuck into the peas. Melt a nice knob of butter in a pan and add the onion, garlic, ginger and coriander. When the onion is starting to brown, add the peas and cook for 3 mins.
4. Add a glug of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt, pepper and mint. Then if you have one, take a hand blender and blend the mixture until its a kind of chunky puree. If you don't have a hand blender, use a masher or even just a fork!
5. When the fish is golden brown and fluffy white inside serve it up with a generous tablespoon of the peas and any other accompaniments you like.We had it with a jacket potato with pesto and fresh coriander, a lovely dollop of mayonnaise with the fish and a squeeze of lemon.

A rather wondrous take on battered cod and mushy peas! Have fun with it!

Love the BarceloNenas xxx

Truitalberginia

Totally delicious. Very cheap. 4 ingredients.

Making the most of the bazillion aubergines in season at the moment in Catalunya, it's so worth trying your hand at a homemade tortilla.

You'll need....

• an aubergine
• 4 medium-sized potatoes
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper

1. Chop the potatoes and aubergine length ways into 3mm thick slices (and an onion if you have one lying around to add a bit of sweetness). It's nice to cut everything up a bit haphazardly too as it gives it an extra homemade look!
2.  Fry in a large frying pan on a medium heat for about 20 minutes or until you can see the potato is cooked.
3. Crack your eggs in a large bowl, beat, and pour the potatoes and aubergine into it. Mix with a fork so the egg just coats the mixture and throw in a good pinch of salt.
4. Pour the mixture back into the frying pan straightaway and cook for 3-4 minutes on a medium heat.
5. Now for the fiddly part! Take the pan off the heat, place a large plate face-down over it, and pressing the pan and plate firmly together flip the pan over so the tortilla is on the plate. Then carefully slide it back into the pan (uncooked side down!) to continue cooking for another 3 minutes.
6. Depending on the thickness of your tortilla it might need another flip, but when both sides have been cooked its generally a lot easier to handle. When the tortilla is golden brown, serve it up immediately!

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious on its own, in a bocadillo with a few slices of juicy tomato and a glug of extra virgin olive oil, or even as part of a gorgeous Spanish lunchtime medley.........

Artichoke and Anchovy Tartaletas

I am a girl who likes to pretty much make Ready Steady Cook happen every night in my kitchen. This recipe is a result of another one of these amazingly simple fridge/cupboard emptiers. Very pretty with beaut summery vibes. And it's BOOMING delicioso.

 Rustle up.....

• an array of brightly-coloured veg (a courgette/a red pepper/an onion/whatever's in the veg draw)
• tomate frito/ passata
• a jar of artichokes, sliced
• a tin of anchovies
• puff pastry
• other racy kitchen flavours- garlic/extra virgin olive oil/salt/pepper/oregano/honey/pesto
• aluminium foil (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 200. Slice up all the veg into slender lengths.
2. Roll out pastry, then cut into 12x12cm squares. Take aluminium foil and crunch up to make a ring (12cm radius) for each tart to sit in (optional but makes them look pretty!). Place one pastry square on each ring to make cute little pastry cups.
3. Spoon a bit of tomate frito into the bottom of each square then crush a garlic clove and sprinkle on top of the tomato. Then layer up the veggies, a few slices of artichoke and finally an anchovy or two on top.
4. Season with salt, pepper, oregano and then add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and honey.
5. Whack the little tarties in the oven for about 15 mins or until golden brown.
6. Serve with lambs lettuce and pesto drizzle.

This recipe is awesome because you can literally substitute any of the ingredients for some other delicious thing and its still.......delicious! If you're an anchovy-phobe try swapping them for chorizo, ham, tuna, salt cod....................the list is endless!