Portuguese pork with clams

Another Portuguese dish! But I make no apologies because it's awesome. The sweet saltiness of the pork and clams and the sweet acidity of the tomatoes works brilliantly. The recipe is an Anthony Worrall Thompson effort from the BBC site and I think it's pretty much perfect. Find it here. Instead of rice I made crunchy little sauteed potatoes and served with plenty of fresh herbs. Filipa reckons it's the best Portuguese dish I've ever made so it must be alright. 

I believe pork with clams is a signature dish of the Alentejano region of Portugal which also just happens to produce some great red wines. Fate! This is a 2010 Terra D'Alter from the region and it's a beauty.  The surf isn't bad either in this south central region of the country. What more could you want...

Sizzling prawns with garlic, chilli & olive oil

It's the simple things in life hey. I love a good recipe with only five ingredients. Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken, Roasted Piedmont peppers, Spanish tortilla, Crab linguine with chilli & parsley, Steak sandwiches....  And this little corker.

The Spanish call it Gambas al ajillo and it makes an amazing starter or tapas and takes literally minutes. Stolen from Rick Stein's excellent book on Spain.

serves 4 as a tapas or starter

750g raw unpeeled prawns
8 garlic cloves
5g flat parsley leaves
300ml olive oil
2 tsp crushed dried chilli flakes
   or 4 whole small dried piri piri chillies
salt
crusty fresh bread to serve

Peel the prawns leaving the last tail segment in place.

Put the garlic and parsley on a chopping board and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Chop it all into a coarse mixture.

Put the olive oil in a deep frying pan or wok and put on a low heat. As soon as it is hot, add the chilli together with the garlic and parsley mixture and cook gently, stirring until the garlic is sizzling and fragrant.

Increase the heat slightly to medium, add the prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes. Season with more salt flakes and serve with slices of crusty bread.

No photograph because they were gone too quick. Sorry

Roast octopus with red wine and potatoes

We love this dish so much that I'm shamefully known as octopus girl at the fish counter. This is a recipe from the amazing Piri Piri Starfish by Tessa Kiros which showcases Portuguese food beautifully and brilliantly.

Spanish food has seen something of a surge in popularity in recent years whilst Portuguese food remains as enigmatic as ever. And yet it's tasty, less greasy than the food of its larger neighbour and arguably more interesting with the use of piri piri chillies and other spices inherited from its colonial past in Africa and beyond. Then again, I know lots of fantastic Portuguese people so I am a little bit biased...

I'd still rate this as an outstanding dish and with octopus at only £5 a kilo it's well worth trying if you see it in the market.

serves 4 (or 2 of us!)

600g octopus cleaned and cut into thick chunks
5 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 or 3 garlic cloves chopped
2 or 3 heaped tbsp parsley
tin of chopped tomatoes
pinch of piri piri or dired chilli flakes
600g potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
185ml red wine
lots and lots of good bread to mop up the sauce

Preheat the oven to 200°/gas mark 6. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Saute the onion until sticky, add the garlic and cook until you can smell it. Add the parsley, saute for a moment and add the tomato. Season well, add the piri piri and let it bubble up. Simmer for a couple of minutes, squashing down the tomato, then remove from the heat.

Put the octopus and potatoes in an 11 x 7 inch oven dish that will fit everything in one compact layer. Scrape the tomato mixture over the it. Pour in the wine and shuffle everything about. Season well. Cover with foil (very important!) and cook for nearly an hour until the octopus and potatoes are tender when poked with a fork.

Remove the foil (also very important!) and turn the oven down to 180°/gas mark 4. Cook for 30 minutes or more until the top is deep roasty-looking and there is an abundance of jammy-looking sauce. The last half hour of cooking is vital - the octopus needs to soften in the oven first and then roast until it is a bit crusty. Lots and lots of good bread is essential.

Filipa's spaghetti with prawns, chorizo & chilli

So simple, but so good. The sauce includes a splash of bone dry fino sherry which gives it depth. Fino also works really well in risotto dishes instead of white wine.

Buy a decent half bottle and try a glass with some green olives, salted almonds and Iberico ham. Beauty.

Serves 2 with leftovers

250g raw king prawns
100g chorizo sliced
250g spaghetti
1 red chilli
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp parsley
1 red pepper
splash of fino sherry
small handful frozen peas

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of salted water for 10 - 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the crushed garlic in olive oil until you can smell it. Add the chilli, chorizo and red pepper. Cook until the chorizo is sizzling. Pour in the fino sherry and add the king prawns and peas. Cook, stirring for a further 4 to 5 minutes.

Drain the pasta but keep some of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the prawn and chorizo mixture. Coat the pasta and check the seasoning. If the mix is too dry then add a little of the pasta water. Serve with parsley and grated parmesan.

Unlike me, Filipa doesn't do recipes. Everything she cooks is from her head and she'd probably argue her heart too because she's a bit fiesty like that. She is the better cook by far.

Poached turbot with oysters and champagne

I didn't intend to make such a ridiculous dish. That's the thing about fish markets. You have to wing it sometimes and make the best of what looks promising. Which is why I ended up attempting poached turbot with oysters and bubbly, dauphinoise potatoes and sauteed samphire.

We arrived at Saturday lunchtime, a time which coincides with hoards of silver haired shoppers scrambling for yellow haddock. Little looked good except one stall which had 5 terrific whole turbots at £10.50 a kilo. That's the same price as squid, for a beautiful firm flatfish with a flavour and reputation equal to Dover sole. I remembered an Escoffier inspired recipe in Leith's Fish Bible and with a bit of googling managed to work out that I had all the ingredients at home except soured cream, oysters and the turbot.

Escoffier was France's pre-eminent chef in the early 20th Century and still known today as the patron saint of chefs. He was head chef at the Savoy where he invented dishes such as the Peach Melba whilst also devising kitchen management principles that are still employed in virtually every restaurant you'll ever visit.

I'm afraid I couldn't justify using champagne to poach the fish. But we had a leftover bottle of Freixenet Cava from New Year which did the job nicely enough and still allowed for a cheeky glass each. Not being owner of a fish kettle (let alone a turbot kettle!) I used a large roasting tin covered in foil.

The result was very good indeed, but predictably dated. The flavour relies on the classic combination of wine, herbs, lemon and butter, but twisted by the throaty dry saltiness of the cava and oysters. The Savoy now serves pan fried turbot fillet with poached rock oysters, potato terrine, cucumber tagliatelle and saffron miso - an altogether more interesting and glamorous affair I'm sure, but for now I'm happy with my Escoffier homage.  

Serves 2

1kg+ turbot

1 bottle champagne, cava or prosecco

1 bay leaf

6 black peppercorns

4 sprigs thyme

1 sprig parsley

2 shallots finely chopped

For the sauce

15g beurre manié (equal quantities of butter & flour mixed to a paste)

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped chives

3 tablespoons soured cream

6 oysters

Put the fish in a large roasting tin and add the bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme, parsley and shallots. Pour over the champagne and cover loosely with tin foil. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 180º/gas mark 4, removing the tin foil and basting half way through.

Remove the oysters from their shells, reserving any juice.

When the turbot is cooked, lift it onto a serving dish and keep warm. Strain the turbot cooking liquid into a saucepan and bring to the boil until it is reduced by half. Reduce the heat and whisk in the beurre manié a little bit at a time until the sauce is syrupy. Season to taste carefully and then stir in the chives and sour cream. Continue to taste whilst adding the lemon. 

Add the oysters and juice to the sauce and bring back to the boil. Remove from heat and pour over the turbot. Serve with dauphinoise potatoes and sauteed samphire. 

A change in direction

After a bit of thought this week, I've decided to turn this blog into a fishy adventure. 
 
I've always loved fish and seafood and I got some new seafood cookbooks for Christmas from friends and family, which is the spur I suppose. My girlfriend is Portuguese and also loves seafood and so I guess that's another reason. 

I grew up in North Wales on Menai mussels and mackerel caught on flamboyant feathers. Ironically, it’s only since I moved to Manchester in June that I've had access to a great range of seafood at markets such as Bury and Bolton. Back in North Wales you have to get up at the crack of dawn on a Friday or Saturday and race down to the little fishmongers stall by 7.30am to join the line or miss out. 

Anyway I’ll hopefully mix cooking with getting to the beach kitesurfing and who knows, maybe a little bit of fishing mixed in too. I warn you though…. All I ever seem to catch is dogfish.
 

New year. New start. No hangover. That's a first. Made the most of New Years Day with a sesh at Criminal Bay with some of my favourite fellas. Nice steady 20 knots. 7m Vegas. Waves pretty heavy and messy as they are at KB. Session #01. My girl took photos from the sand and made friends with Dave's Great Dane. Then back to the shire for a meal with the family. Goodbye 2012.... I won't miss you.