Swordfish & Ricotta

An idea from London's Polpetto.

best quality sliced smoked swordfish

best quality ricotta

sea salt

grated lemon rind

EVOO

chopped chives and/or dill

1. mix lemon rind, ricotta and salt to taste together
2. spread inside a slice of swordfish
3. roll up swordfish like a cigar
4. assemble rolls on a platter with a drizzle of EVOO and chives
5. serve right away, or add a bit more EVOO and let marinate a few hours in the fridge before serving (take out 15 minutes prior)

Home-Cured Cod

I got this idea looking at someone else's dish at another table at Paco Meraldo, but also remembering the fabulous cured cod at Bar Boulud.

fresh cod

sea salt

tomatoes

tiny capers

garlic cloves, quartered

parsley, chopped

EVOO

S&P

red wine vinegar

1. confit the tomatoes ahead of time, let cool
2. cure cod by rubbing with salt and letting sit for 6 hours; rinse off well when done
3. either sous-vide or confit the cured cod ; when done break into chunks and put in a bowl
4. toss with tomatoes and other ingredients; let garlic infuse a bit then remove

Cinnamon Butter

This accompanied our little Spanish muffins at breakfast. Why haven't I thought of this before?

french butter

caster sugar to taste

cinnamon powder to taste

1. let butter soften
2. mix sugar and cinnamon into butter
3. pipe with your favorite design onto small, individual plates
4. spread on toast, muffin or all over your body

Patates Braves

The key thing here--aside from cooking the potatoes to perfection-is the spicy tomato sauce that accompanies the aioli. The recipe for this sauce comes straight from the kitchen of Fonda Gaig.

best quality potatoes

aioli using best quality eggs (orange not yellow yolk!)

spicy tomato sauce:

ripe tomatoes

guindillas

pimenta

garlic, crushed

EVOO

1. potatoes are boiled then deep fried (home version is boiled, coated with EVOO, baked until crisp)
2. make aioli, set aside
3. make sauce by frying up tomatoes and other ingredients to taste; blend and pass through sieve
4. serve potatoes on a platter; plop a couple of tblsp on individual plates, drizzle the tomato sauce on top of the aioli, with potatoes on the side

Barcelona Observations

Some good discoveries this time around, and not one vanilla-licorice foam in sight. Traditional Catalonian fare was the key focus, with some good finds here:

• Fonda Gaig: Carles Gaig--the Barcelona institution-- opened this more relaxed restaurant a few years ago; hands down the best patates braves ever; the house specialties of cannelloni with truffle cream and macarones del cardenale (baked macaroni in a creamy sauce with tomato confit, serrano and pork shoulder); lleugera amb gelat de toffe (toffee ice cream with a sabayon mousse); mandonguilles amb sepia (meatballs with sepia); freshly picked ceps sauteed simply sauteed with smoked pork belly.
• Paco Meralgo: a quality tapas establishment with a smart crowd to go along with it; highlights included filet & black pepper and baba au rhum with coffee cream.
• Bar Mut: a bit too cool for school; reminded me of a tapas bar version of Chateaubriand in Paris, where its all gone to the chef's head; the food has taken a hit as a result. Still nice for drinks and simple tapas, love the disco ball.
• Dos Palillos: El Bulli alumni doing their Japanese thing; if you're a regular at London's Dinings, this is an easy skip as it does not come close.
• Tapas 27: tapas bar of star chef Carles Abellan; the highlight here is his signature bikini, a lip-smacking serrano, mozzarella and truffle toast.
• Bar Pinotxo: no trip to Barcelona would be complete without the requisite trip here, more for the charming patron than the food itself. Cuttlefish and cocoa beans is the signature dish.
• Other: although we didn't try, I gather that some foam & sous-vide restos include Abac (2 stars), Moo (1 star) and Alkimia.
• Oriol Balaguer: Barcelona's Artisan de Chocolat.

Smoked Eel & Leeks

Another tasty dish from Koffman's but I think I can do it better by caramelizing the leeks rather than just serving them boiled (use Leeks Vinaigrette David recipe). What I really liked about the dish though was the cute little side salad of frisee with tiny julienned radish from a Japanese mandolin. I can see the Alsacian influence of including radish in a green salad.

leeks

best quality smoked eel

frisee

radish

vinaigrette (rapeseed oil, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, S&P)

1. make Leeks Vinaigrette David
2. julien radish, dress salad
3. assemble leeks and filet of smoked eel on a plate, with bundle of frisee alongside

Artichokes & Foie Gras Salad

Another number from Koffman's Knightsbridge.

artichoke hearts, cubed

green beans

bibb lettuce

best quality terrine of foie gras

vinaigrette:

EVOO

walnut oil

lemon juice (or red wine or sherry vinegar)

egg yolk

mustard

shallots

sea salt

pepper

1. steam and de-beard artichoke; soak hearts in lemon water before cutting into small 1-2 cm cubes
2. steam haricots verts, slice in half lengthwise
3. cut foie gras into same size cubes as artichokes
4. make dressing with a blender (egg yolk will make this more of a thing mayonnaise)
5. dress all ingredient and serve on a nice white platter

Crab & Celery Remoulade

Not sure I've seen celeriac and crab before. I've seen a green apple celeriac though. To make this delicate, the celeriac and apple julienne need to be as thin as the crab strands. To provide an added dimension, remember to use lime in the remoulade and lemon to dress the crab.

best quality white crab meat

mild EVOO

lemon juice

sea salt

shallots, minced finely

green apple

celery remoulade

1. dress crab meat with EVOO, lemon juice, salt, pepper and shallots
2. make the green apple celery remoulade with super fine grater (use Japanese mandolin for the apple)
3. the remoulade should include dijon mustard and lemon or lime
4. in a small, chilled, shallow bowl, spoon some celery remoulade; flatten the latter out, and spoon crab on top in about the same quantity
5. thin out a little bit of mayonnaise with lemon or lime juice and drizzle around (but not on top)

Escargots, Girolles & Mash

A recipe coaxed from the lovely Sicilian waitress at Koffman's Knightsbridge. This dish literally transported me from Summer to Autumn. It helped that temperatures dropped today.

best quality escargots

girolles

clarified butter

normal butter

mash

parsley

garlic

shallots

rapeseed oil

sea salt

ground pepper

home-made chicken broth

soy lecithin

1. braise garlic in milk until they soften a bit; blitz with parsley, adding some cooled chicken stock to loosen; set aside
2. saute girolles in a hot dry pan; when it starts to smoke, add rapeseed oil and toss; repeat if necessary but not more than about 30 seconds; set girolles aside
3. make persillade emulsion; blanch parsley 10 seconds in boiling water, put in ice water then puree; saute equal quantities of normal butter and water but do not boil; blend and mix with parsley; add half tsp of soy lecithin let warm through and blend; mix with hand-held just shy of boiling
4. make mash Robuchon-style but not overly buttery; keep warm until needed
5. in a very hot pan, saute snails in clarified butter but not more than two minutes; add garlic and shallots a bit less than halfway through (about the 50 second mark); at the 1.30 ad the girolles; season
6. fill half a warmed cup with mash, top with snails and girolles, and a couple tablespoons of the persillade frappe

Scamorza & Lardo

I'm going manic over smoked scamorza at the moment. I fell asleep concocting this combo in my head last night, thinking I would forget it by the time I awoke this morning. But that was not the case. These ingredients will be my first go, but subject to revision.

smoked scamorza

lardo colonnata

rosemary, minced finally

micro herbs (rucola, coriander, parsley)

EVOO

juice of lemon

lemon rind

sea salt

ground pepper

toothpicks (preferably thicker Japanese type)

1. make herb dressing/dip by whizzing micro herbs, EVOO, lemon juice & rind, salt and pepper until it reaches a smooth consistency
2. cut scamorza into rough pieces about 3x3 cm, wrap in slices of lard , sprinkle some minced rosemary over the lot
3. broil until lard and scamorza begin to melt
4. jab each with a toothpick, place onto a platter with a small bowl of herb dip in the middle

Pesto Ricotta Rigatoni

An accident since I didn't have enough parmesan to make my pesto. The ricotta serves as a refreshing contrast to the garlicky pesto.

rigatoni, or torglioni

make pesto without parmesan

best quality ricotta

parmesan

sea salt

1. mix roughly equal parts of pesto and ricotta
2. boil and drain pasta
3. mix mixture into pasta
4. serve onto hot plates, season with salt and grate some parmesan on top
5. drizzle a tblsp of pesto over the pasta

Mozzarella & Treviso

The creaminess of the buffalo mozzarella contrasts nicely with the bitterness of the treviso. I like the white and purple color combo too. One could add some rucola if they prefer a more colorful plate.

buffalo mozzarella

treviso

EVOO

white balsamic vinegar

maldon sea salt

1. slice treviso as thinly as possible with a large knife
2. dress with ingredients listed
3. rip up the mozzarella into larger than bite-size pieces, scatter onto a serving plate
4. arrange treviso haphazardly around the mozzarella

Spaghetti Bottarga

Having totally destroyed this dish the another night, I gave it another go. Bottarga purists will scoff at combining anything but olive oil to this dish, but since I am using the dried version I think I am absolved of sins. I thought let's go all the way and add some white wine, an obvious paring which I don't think I've ever seen. The beauty of this dish is that the dried bottarga acts as a thickening agent during the last phase of cooking. The pasta should be lathered with a nice creamy bottarga, buttery sauce.

dried bottarga to taste

150 gr of spaghetti

EVOO

good white wine

1 red chili pepper

rind of one lemon

juice of a half lemon

chopped parsley

garlic

butter

maldon sea salt

1. saute garlic until golden; add chopped chili half way through
2. add a glass of wine, saute further and let thicken
3. add pasta two minutes short, make sure 3-4 tblsp of pasta water is included
4. add 2-3 tblsp of bottarga to thicken sauce
5. add butter, parsley, salt, lemon rind and lemon juice at the very last second
6. serve on hot plates, sprinkle more dried bottarga over serving

Chestnut Trofie & Pesto

One will find this in just about every restaurant in the hills above Genoa. Can be made with walnut pesto as well. Yummmmmm!

chestnut trofie recipe

pesto

parmesan

1. make chestnut trofie
2. make pesto using recipe from previous post
3. mix together, serve on a hot plate, add more parmesan

Olive Spaghetti

A tasty pasta from Da O Battj in Santa Margherita. Since most people have the pesto lasagnetta, it usually takes a third or fourth visit before discovering this little gem. This is an olive spaghetti, so all the other ingredients play second fiddle!

spaghetti

EVOO

garlic

best quality salted anchovies

best quality tinned marzano tomatoes

green olives, roughly chopped

house-dried oregano

parmesan

1. saute garlic in EVOO, remove when golden
2. add anchovies, saute until they melt
3. add olives and oregano, let saute a while
4. add a few tinned tomatoes-don't overpower-let cook for 15 minutes or so on low heat
5. stir in spaghetti 2 minutes short, saute further
6. serve on hot plates, with parmesan if you like

Med Squid Salad

I've had many Asian, especially Vietnamese and Thai squid salads. But rarely on the Med! The key to this salad is to cut the squid into thin slivers. The smaller the squid and thinner its skin the more delicate this dish will be.

small, delicate squid

lemon

EVOO

radicchio, sliced very thinly

tiny capers

parsley, chopped finely

1. boil squid 30 seconds
2. cut paper thin
3. dress in a bowl with other ingredients, squeeze lemon juice to taste and serve

Palma Observations

A second visit in as many years.

• Portixol: orange peel & honey, anchovy-stuffed olives dip
• Roqueta: my new favorite fish restaurant in Portixol, highlights included squid & chickpeas, tomato, onion & anchovy salad, apricot cake & almond ice cream, a Mesclades digestivo and the best grilled prawn I've had in a long time; also noticed the patron eating grilled squid with mayo for lunch; and to accompany the delicate paella a classy little side plate of radish, green pepper and lemon.
• Fabbrica 23: unique caprese, with honey vinaigrette!
• Orient Express: hearing that it's worth a visit, but no luck going this time.

Bucatini Roquefort Salami

A pizza topping of contrasts from Princi. I thought maybe translate this beautiful combo into a pasta dish. Haven't tried but I think it would work.

calabrian salami picante

mellow roquefort

panna (or single cream)

chives

black pepper

1. melt panna and roquefort in a pan, add black pepper
2. broil slices of salami until caramelized but not overly crisp
3. add pasta two minutes short, cook in the sauce
4. chop up salami roughly
5. serve pasta on hot plates, sprinkle generous amounts of salami and some chives

Herby Fromage Frais

A regular dish on my grandmother's table growing up. Delicious with some crusty bread, and perhaps some radish-butter-sea salt. And some slices of saucisson sec. And maybe some cornichons. And an unfussy red.


best quality fromage frais
shallots
tarragon
dill
chives
parsley
S&P
EVOO

1. mince shallots as finely as possible
2. chop herbs finely
3. put fromage frais into a rustic ceramic bowl
4. mix in the other ingredients to taste
5. add a couple glugs of EVOO at end, blend this in as well