lockdown recipes – ¡Comemos!

Octopus on a bed of chilli garlic greens

21st Jun 2020Leave a comment

The amazing thing about cooking fish and seafood at home is, providing everything goes to plan, you end up with some serious restaurant-standard food. After a number of cheesy, creamy delights, I wanted to cook up something a bit lighter, knowing that what I was putting into my body was doing it some good, so that’s where this octopus recipe came into it.

There’s definitely a risk of over- or undercooking with octopus, both sins leaving you with a chunk of chewy, unpleasant meat, and so the key with a thick tentacle like the one I used is to cook it low and slow – a ‘bring to the boil then turn down to simmer for 45 minutes’ kind of cooking. This also allows you to get on with other things whilst cooking, and so your active time in the kitchen is minimal.

The nicest octopus I’ve ever had was at a restaurant in Lisbon. It was the first time I’d realised that octopus could be that tender, and cooked so simply. Served with some basic potatoes in a garlicky, buttery sauce (more like a light drizzle), it was pretty mind-blowing. Or at least I thought at that time that this was a revolutionary meal – changing the way I viewed octopus. Now, having cooked octopus myself that turned out equally as tender and delicious, I’m no longer under the same pretence that it’s incredibly difficult to achieve this beautiful tenderness. So simplicity here is everything. The kale with garlic and chilli will add all the flavour you need, whilst getting in some greens for a satisfying side dish.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large tentacles

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

butter

splash of white wine

1 red chilli

salt/pepper

100g kale

100g spinach

Put octopus in saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil then reduce to simmer for 50 minutes until the meat is super tender.
When done, heat butter in a frying pan and add 1 clove of crushed garlic.
When fragrant, add the octopus, white wine and seasoning and cook on medium heat until liquid has reduced and alcohol evaporated.
Put the octopus to one side, keeping it warm all the while, and add more butter to the pan, adding the sliced chilli and other clove of crushed garlic when melted.
After a few minutes, add the kale, cook for a further 3 minutes, then add the spinach and allow to wilt slightly.
Serve the octopus on top of the bed of kale and spinach

The hardest part of this recipe to be honest is getting hold of the octopus tentacles. Once you’ve managed that, you’re pretty good to go. I got mine frozen from Bradley’s online, which I’ve mentioned before in various scallop and clam recipes. They have an amazing range of frozen fish, all of which has tasted delicious when I’ve cooked with it.

This dish looks beautiful and is super healthy, so don’t let your fear of cooking with seafood put you off trying it. You’ll be surprised by how little effort is involved!

¡Comemos!

Creamy Scallop Pasta with Cheesy Chorizo Crumb

8th Jun 2020Leave a comment

This pasta recipe combines the fanciness of scallops, with the flavour of chorizo and the comfort of gooey melted cheese. Basically, it’s the best of all worlds.

Recently I did a big order of frozen fish and seafood from Bradley’s, a family-run business based in West London. They only sell frozen fish, with the concept behind that being that often, lots of the ‘fresh’ fish we eat isn’t actually fresh at all, and has spent a fair while being transported around before it ends up on our plates. Their fish however, is frozen within 3 hours of being caught, therefore ensuring that both the flavour and the nutrients are bound within the products from the outset, so they taste just as good whenever you choose to eat them later down the line.

Part of my order included the queen scallops featured in this recipe. The kilo bag has provided me with many meals so far, with plenty more to come, and texturally and flavour-wise these small scallops are pretty good quality.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

200g penne pasta

30g chorizo

½ leek

1 red chilli

2 cloves of garlic

150ml double cream

150ml fish stock

2 tsp sun dried tomato paste

small pinch saffron

1tsp chilli flakes

salt/pepper

200g scallops

chives

parlsey

50g cheddar (grated)

Chop the chorizo into tiny crumb/cube pieces then fry until beginning to crisp and set to one side.
Fry the chopped leeks with the chilli and garlic on a low-medium heat until soft and fragrant.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.
Add the cream, fish, sun dried tomato paste, saffron, chilli flakes, salt and pepper to the leek mix and continue to cook on medium heat for 15 mins until reduced slightly.
For a super smooth pasta sauce you can blend the creamy leek/stock mix at this point using a hand blender, although it isn’t essential.
Add the scallops, chives and parsley to the pan with the sauce then mix in the pasta.
Place in an ovenproof dish, and top with grated cheddar and the chorizo crumb. Put the dish under the grill until the cheese is golden and melted.
Sprinkle with more chives to serve.

I always like to include alternative adaptations of my recipes, and this one is no different. If you can’t get hold of, or don’t want to use scallops, other seafood would also work. Admittedly, if you’re desperate to showcase amazing scallops, you probably won’t be serving them in a pasta dish, so for me, the scallops aren’t actually the most important part here. Pasta + salty chorizo + cream/cheese + seafood is always going to be a success, whatever ocean-dwelling treat you choose to include!

¡Comemos!

Creamy Marsala, Mushroom, Chestnut and Pancetta Tagliatelle

9th May 20209th May 2020Leave a comment

A bit of a long-winded title but seriously, all the elements that go together in this dish deserve as much credit as each other.

My mum would always use Marsala in cooking, particularly in pasta and risotto dishes, and despite having no idea what it was, or that it even existed (nothing to do with Garam masala), I knew that every dish I tasted that had a splash of Marsala added was just that little bit tastier. This fortified Italian cooking wine, combined with salty pancetta and meaty mushrooms and chestnuts make the perfect combination. You can buy it from Italian delis or online. You should also try to use deli-style thick pancetta rather than the super finely cut supermarket slices, which just don’t have anyway near as much flavour.

This was also my third time making pasta. You absolutely don’t have to make the pasta yourself, and I’ll openly admit that I haven’t got it spot on yet. I absolutely loved the finished result, but I know this isn’t the classic light, silky fresh pasta you’d expect served to you in a restaurant, so feel free to either skip that step or use your own recipe or techniques. I actually ditched my pasta machine this time round because I found it way too fiddly to use, and a good old-fashioned rolling pin on the kitchen table did the trick, providing you persevere, getting the dough super thin.

I’d also like to highlight that the pasta dough recipe below is not my own, and is taken from Gino D’acampo’s Gino’s Pasta.

The pancetta does add a delicious crisp saltiness to the dish, but you could also use egg-free pasta and skip the pancetta for a plant-based meal. A small amount of miso paste could be a decent replacement just to hold on to some of those umami flavours.

Serves 2

For the pasta:

200g strong white flour

2 eggs

1tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:

150g mushrooms (button/chestnut)

50g cooked chestnuts

50g pancetta, diced

splash of marsala

100ml double cream (or plant-based alternative)

pinch of nutmeg

salt/pepper

a few sprigs of thyme

fresh parsley (optional)

Sift the flour onto a work surface and make a well in the centre.
Add the eggs, salt and olive oil.
Mix the wet ingredients with the dry, slowly combining from the inside out (bring the flour on the inside of the well into the wet ingredients first and work your way outwards).
Gather and knead to a soft dough (8 ish minutes).
Roll into a ball and leave to chill for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile start on the sauce. Brown the pancetta in olive oil then add the mushrooms and chestnuts.
Pour in the Marsala, add the thyme and seasoning and cook on low-medium heat to reduce.
Now back to the pasta. Remove the dough from the fridge, roll out very thinly so that you can see your hand through the dough either using a pasta machine or a rolling pin.
Fold the rolled dough in half and slice into ribbons of equal width.
Toss with a small amount of olive oil to stop the pasta from sticking together.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. It will cook super quickly and generally is ready when it rises to the surface. Drain, reserving a tiny bit of the cooking water for the sauce.
Finish off the sauce by adding a couple of tablespoons of pasta water, the double cream and nutmeg. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes before removing from the heat and tossing the pasta through the sauce.
Serve immediately topped with a little extra thyme and/or fresh parsley.

Pasta-making aside, this recipe is super straightforward, and the sauce is easily customised. The creamy Marsala is beautiful on its own and so even if you didn’t want to add the mushrooms and chestnuts, it should still taste fab.

Enjoy, and…

¡Comemos!