FLAVOURED MILK MOUSSE

This is the easiest dessert I know - but you need a siphon ( which you can get for 25 quid). You can also serve it on its own, with berries on the side, with tuiles or beside any simple cake.

You need
- 400 ml single cream
- 100 ml milk (if you like a denser consistency just use 500 ml single cream)
- a stick of cinnamon
- peel of a lemon
- three table spoons of sugar

Heat all the ingredients together until it is about to boil. Take if off the heat, let it cool down and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. Just before you are going to serve it, strain the mixture  though a colander, put it in the siphon, add two charges of air and serve. I normally put some powdered cinnamon and candied lemon peel on top of it, but it is purely for decoration, so no need to bother.

Kids enjoy being how the siphon works, but be very careful if you let them use itas it works with pressure, so you need to manipulate it with extreme care.

ECLAIRS - PETISUS

In my village these are called 'petisus' with an accent in the 'u'. I suppose this comes from the french 'petit-choux' as they are little bits of choux pastry filled with cream, but where I come from we are not good at languages, so 'petisus' it is. Our local bakery sells them with three types of icing: dark chocolate, white chocolate and caramel. And pretty much any celebration in the village happens with a big tray of these, so they epitomise happiness to me.

You need:
For the pastry:
- 65 ml milk
- 70 g plain flour
- 70 g butter
- 3 eggs
- a pinch of salt

For the cream: 
- 540 ml milk
- 60 ml cream
- 4 egg yokes
- 50 gr corn flour
- 120 sugar
- a teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the icing:
- 150 ml double crem
- 200 g dark chocolate

Start with the cream. Heat 400 ml of milk, the cream and vanilla extract until it is about to boil. Separately mix the rest of the milk with the corn flour and disolve it well. Mix the egg yokes and sugar beating well until they get frothy. Mix the egg mixture with the cornflour mixture, still mixing it well. Finally, add the warm milk to the eggs and cornflour mixture. Put it all back in a pan over low heat (while you keep stirring it) until becomes thick. Take it off the heat, put it in a piping bag and put it in the fridge until it gets cold (you can do this the night before you are going to make the petisus) 

Heat the oven at 180 degrees. Put a tray with water in the lowest part of the oven so that the oven produces steam.

Put the butter and the milk in a pan over low heat until the butter is melted. Add the flour and salt (all in one go) and beat well with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and wait for 10 minutes so that the mixture cools down. Beat 2 eggs and add them in little bits (you may not need all of it) Put the mixture into a pipping bag.

Pipe little strips of the mixture on a tray covered with silicone. Push down any peaks by patting them carefully with a wet finger. Beat the remaining egg and paint each blob with the egg wash. Bake for 22 minutes. make a little cut at the side of each strip as you take them out of the oven.

Finally make the icing by putting the chocolate and cream in a pan over low heat until the chocolate dissolves and you get a glossy mixture (around three minutes)

Pipe the cream into each strip of choux pastry and coat each one with the chocolate. 

Wait for 20 minutes or so until the chocolate gets hard and eat. 

BLACK RICE

This is one of my favourite ways to eat Spanish rice. 

You need: 

- 1 large tomato

- half and onion

- half a red pepper

- 3 'fond d' artichokes' ( you can buy them frozen from Picard) 

- 250 g squid 

- one sachet of squid ink (add two if you want the rice really black)

- around 400 g 'bomba' rice, ideally Calasparra

- salt

- fumet 

- olive oil

Start by preparing the 'fumet', which you can do days in advance (see the recipe for 'arroz a banda http://www.mumandsons.com/2018/09/arroz-banda.html) 

Fry the tomato (no need to add oil) in a small pan until it gets mushy, almost liquid.

Separately fry the onion, pepper and artichokes (all cut into small cubes) over very low heat with a table spoon of olive oil for 8-10 minutes until it is all soft.

Cut the squid into small pieces. Take a paella pan, and fry the squid with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for 3-4 minutes (be careful because they 'spit') then add the rice (a handful per person) the ink, three tablespoons of the tomato pure and three  tablespoons of the onion, peppers and artichokes mixture. Stir it for a minute or so, then add the fumet (for each volume or rice, three times the volume of fumet).

Let it bubble over intense heat for 8 minutes. Then lower the heat and wait for another 8 minutes. Finally  add a tiny drizzle of oil all around the edge of the pan and increase the heat for 3 minutes. This is to create what is called 'socarrat', which is only possible if you add fat to the rice.

This is delicious with ali-oli: http://www.mumandsons.com/2018/09/saffron-ali-oli.html

PLUM TART

These are so simple, and yet so handy when you parents in law decide to come for tea unannounced and you have not bought any cake. All you need is:

- A sheet of puff pastry
- 3 plums
- 8 teaspoons of brown sugar
- one egg

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Cut the puff pastry in 8 squares. Cut two 'L's inside each square alongside the borders. Flip each 'cut border' to the other side . Beat an egg and paint the borders of the pastry. Cut the plums in slices and arrange them inside each square. Sprinkle a teaspoon of brown sugar on top of each tart. Bake for 20 minutes (watch them carefully as they burn easily... as you can see with one of them in the picture!)

SAFFRON ALI-OLI

This is a lovely sauce for any Spanish rice dish. It also goes really well with fish. Or indeed just on its own on lots of crusty bread if you have had a bad day.

All you need to do is to prepare a mayonnaise as per our 2 minutes mayo sauce recipe http://www.mumandsons.com/2011/04/2-minutes-mayonnaise-sauce.html with one egg, 200 ml sunflower oil, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of lemon juice using a hand held blender.  Separately, add 10 stems of saffron to two tablespoons of boiling water and let it infuse for 5 minutes. Add the saffron water and a clove of garlic to the mayo and blend well. It has raw egg so keep it always in the fridge and never longer than a day.

ARROZ A BANDA

This is very similar to a paella, but without any of the paella distractions: no need to peel prawns,  open mussels, suck bones, clams or anything like that.  It is typical from the area of Alicante, where I spent most of the summer holidays during my childhood. The chef that cooks this best in Spain is Maria Jose San Roman from the wonderful restaurant Monastrell in Alicante. This recipe is slightly adapted from one of hers. If you are into cooking rice watch her videos in You Tube - she is not only a superb chef but also a great defender of cooking simply and focussing on the a quality of products, which I totally agree with.

You need: 

- 2 large tomatos

- half and onion

- half a red pepper

- 2 ñoras - or alternatively a teaspoon of sweet paprika

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 7 prawns

- 300 g squid 

- around 400 g 'bomba' rice, ideally Calasparra

- salt

- fumet: made with fish bones (a couple of bones of flat fish) and a litre of water. You can get a huge amount of fish bones for very little money - indeed most fishmongers would normally give it to you for free) 

- saffron 

- olive oil

Start by preparing the 'fumet' (which I normally prepare well in advance and freeze): roast the fishbones, a tomato cut into quarters and two cloves of garlic with a couple of table spoons of olive oil at 250 degrees. It takes around 40 minutes until the fish bones are brown with black edges. Put it all in a big pan with two litres of water and boil for 2 hours (or just 20 minutes in you do this with a express cooker) 

Separately, fry the ñoras and remaining clove of garlic with a tablespoon of oil, blend it and reserve it. If you are not using ñoras just grate the garlic and mix it with the tablespoon of paprika.

Fry the tomato (no need to add oil) in a small pan until it gets mushy, almost liquid.

Finally fry the onions and peppers (both cut into small cubes) over very low heat with a table spoon of olive oil for 18-10 minutes until the peppers are soft and the onions translucent.

Up to this point you can prepare it all well in advance or even the previous day.

45 minutes before you are going to eat, boil a little bit of water (half a glass), add the saffron and let it infuse. 

Cut the squid and prawns into small pieces. Take a paella pan, fry the prawns until they get pink with a tablespoon of oil (one or two minutes) take them out and reserve. In the same oil fry the squid for 3-4 minutes, then add the rice (a handful per person) a tablespoon of the ñora or paprika mixture, three tablespoons of the tomato pure and three to four tablespoons of the onion and peppers mixture. Stir it for a minute or so, then add the saffron liquid (put it through a colander to get rid of  the saffron stems). Finally add the fumet (for each volume or rice, three times the volume of fumet).

Let it bubble over high heat for 8 minutes. Then lower the heat and wait for another 8 minutes. Finally (and take note because this is a secret trick) add a tiny drizzle of oil all around the edge of the pan and increase the heat for 3 minutes. This is to create what is called 'socarrat', the burn bit at the bottom of the paella, which is something that every Spaniard would fight for at the table.

The key to any Spanish rice dish is not to overcomplicate it with too many ingredients. And to be really precise about timing. As soon as the rice is done you need to eat it immediately or it will become 'pasado' (mushy)... yuck...       

GOUGERES

Once you learn how to make choux pastry, you can make lots of different recipes. These are gougeres, i.e salty choux pastry. By far my favourite recipe with choux pastry, as I like anything with cheese. My children also prefer these over chouquettes. Though profiteroles are of course something else...

You need:
- 65 ml milk
- 70 g plain flour
- 70 g butter
- 3 eggs
- 125 g strong grated cheese
- a pinch of grated nutmeg
- a pinch of ground pepper
- a pinch of salt

Heat the oven at 180 degrees. Put a tray with water in the lowest part of the oven so that the oven produces steam.

Put the butter and the milk  in a pan over low heat until the butter is melted. Add the flour and salt (all in one go) and beat well with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and wait for 10 minutes so that the mixture cools down. Beat 2 eggs and add them in  little bits (you may not need all of it, but the only way to find this out is trial and error. The good news is that when you make choux pastry 4 or 5 times you will never forget what consistency you need). Finally add the pepper, nutmeg and cheese. Put the mixture into a pipping bag.

Pipe little blobs of the mixture on a tray covered with silicone. Push down any peaks by patting them carefully with a wet finger. Beat the remaining egg and paint each blob with the egg wash. Bake for 22 minutes.  

FENNEL SALAD

This is a very simple summer salad - great with blue grilled fish.
You need:

- two fennel bulbs
- 1 orange
- a handful of black olives (pitted)
- pink pepper (to taste)
- 3 tables spoons of (good) virgin olive oil
- 1.5 tablespoons of vinegar
- salt

Cut the fennel in really thin slices (ideally with a mandoline). Add the olive oil and vinegar and let it rest for 20 minutes or so. Then cut the orange in chunks (getting rid of the white skin) Half the olives. Mix the oranges and olives with the fennel. Add salt and sprinkle with the pink pepper.  Done!

CHOUQUETTES

While this year I am working this week, for many years I used to spend a few days at the beginning of August in France. Nothing reminds me more of La Republique than going to a bakery early in the morning to buy croissants and chouquettes - vive La France! While making croissants in a pain in... the neck, making chouquettes is very easy indeed.
You need:
- 65 ml milk
- 70 g plain flour
- 70 g butter
- 3 eggs
- 150 g pearl sugar 

Heat the oven at 180 degrees. Put a tray with water in the lowest part of the oven so that the oven produces steam.

Put the butter and the milk  in a pan over low heat until the butter is melted. Add the flour (all in one go) and beat well with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and wait for 10 minutes so that the mixture cools down. Beat 2 eggs in  little bits) and put the mixture into a pipping bag.

Pipe little blobs of the mixture on a tray covered with silicone. Push down any peaks by patting them carefully with a wet finger. 

Beat the remaining egg and paint each blob with the egg wash. Sprinkle the blobs with plenty of pearl sugar. Put the tray with the chouquettes into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Delicieux. 

ARTICHOKES WITH HAM

Most of you are already familiar with my obsession with artichokes and their truly exorbitant price in the UK. But this is my new discovery: frozen artichokes fom the French company Picard. In the UK they are only sold by Ocado (Asda, you are meant to have the lead on frozen veggies, what happened?) and they do not come cheap: £7.99 for a Kg, even though you can buy exactly the same product for £6.17 if you cross the Channel tunnel (or less if the pound was not underperforming due Brexit). But put it in context: at Sainsbury's you get three small artichoke slices (250g) for £1.90.  And at Waitrose you pay £2 just for an artichoke! You can feed 8-9 for starters with just a packet of frozen artichokes. And the wonderful thing is that is it just the really good bit of the artichokes,  the 'creme de la creme',  the  'fond d'artichaut': no leaves, no waste...and of course good bye to those black nails when you clean the artichokes to get just the cores - simply open the bag and that is all.

For this you need:
 - a packet of frozen artichokes (put them in hot water for two minutes and then cut them in slices)
- 200 g of cubed serrano ham ( if you are lucky enough to leave in london near a Casa Manolo you can buy this already pre-cut)
- 1.5 gloves of garlic
- two tablespoons of wine vinegar (I add 2.5 because I am addicted to vinegar)
- three tablespoons of olive oil
- and half  glass of water
- salt (not much as the ham is naturally salted)

Heat the oil in a shallow pan ( I use a paella pan). Add the ham and the artichokes and wait for 5 minutes or until the edges of the artichokes get golden. Add the salt. Grate the garlic and add it to the artichokes (tossing them well so that the garlic does not get burnt). Add the water, sprinkle it all with the vinegar, wait for 2-3 more minutes and done.

SWISS BUNS - BOLLOS SUIZOS

I am being told these are called Swiss buns in Spain because they were the signature bun of the famous Swiss Cafe in Madrid. But they are eaten all over Spain. A milky coffee (cafe con leche) with a  suizo is a breakfast that you can have perching around the counter of many Spanish 'bares'. In my village this is done at around 10 am while you read the newspapers and listen to the gossip of the day.

You need:
- 320 g bread flour
- 3 eggs
- 8 g dry yeast - though I have recently discovered fresh yeast, that you can buy in Amazon (and freeze) or at some supermarkets in the UK. It is a fantastic ingredient for baking. The proportion is 10g fresh yeast to 4g dry yeast. 
- 75 g butter
- 75 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- a pinch of salt

Heat the milk, butter and 55 g of sugar until the butter has melted and the whole mixture is warm. Add the yeast, mix well and wait for 3 minutes. Then add two of the eggs. And finally the flour and salt. Knead the mixture, put it in a bowl and let it rest (and rise) for 1.30 or 2 hours until it doubles its size.

Cut the mixture into 8 bits (around 50 g each) and shape them as little buns. Put them on a baking tray (with baking paper or silicone mat underneath) cover them with a tea towel and let them rest for 1.30 hours.

Preheat the oven at 210 degrees.Make a cut with a sharp knife half way through the buns, paint them with the remaining egg, damp the remaining 20 g of sugar with a few drops of water and sprinkle the wet sugar on each bun. Lower the temperature of the oven to 190 and bake for 12 minutes.

 

MARINATED CARROTS - ZANAHORIAS ALIÑADAS

This is called 'zanahorias aliñadas' or 'aliñás' if you happen to be in Andalucia, which is where this dish comes from. A bite of this on a sunny day and you will feel as if you are in Sevilla, my favourite town in Spain and a truly happy place. 

You need:
- 3 carrots
- a teaspoon salt
- a teaspoon of sweet paprika or pimenton
- a clove of garlic
- a teaspoon of ground cumin
- half a glass of olive oil
- a glass of water

Boil the carrots until they are 'al dente'. Cut them into thick slices and let them cool down. Ground the garlic with the salt in a pester and mortar. Add the pimenton, cumin and oregano, then the olive oil and finally the water. Put the carrots into a plastic container (with a lid), cover them with the marinade and keep them in the fridge over night. Serve this cold (if you want to do this authentically serve them as a snack, with  toothpics on the side and a glass of cold 'fino' sherry) . I normally dry the carrots with kitchen paper before serving them as the marinade can be too strong, but that really depends on your taste... 

COD WITH PARSLEY AND GARLIC

This is great and really simple way to cook any white fish. Perfect for a quick dinner. And very healthy as well.

You need:
- a cod stake per person
- a fat clove a garlic
- two tablespoons of parsley
- half a glass of olive oil
- salt
- one lemon cut in really thin slices (preferably with a mandoline)

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Cover a roasting tray with baking paper. Salt the cod stakes and put them on the tray. In a food processor (or with a hand held blender) blitz the garlic, parsley and olive oil. Pour a table spoon of this mixture over each of the cod stakes (if you have too much sauce just keep it aside and eat it with prawns,  or even with chicken). Put the lemon slices on top of the sauce. Bake it all the oven for 8 minutes. Then set the grill on high and grill for a couple of minutes until the lemons get golden.  as always with fish, do not overcook it (e.i if the steaks are very think just bake them for 6 minutes)

PROFITEROLES

These are sinful: you can get fatter by just looking at the picture; and so very difficult to resist. But they are just great for a party.

You need:
- 65 ml milk
- 70 g plain flour
- 70 g butter
- 2 eggs
- half a teaspoon of salt
-400 gr double cream
- half a teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 gr dark chocolate

Heat the oven at 180 degrees. Put a tray with water in the lowest part of the oven so that the oven produces steam.

Put the butter and the milk  in a pan over low heat until the butter is melted. Add the flour and salt (all in one go) and beat well with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and wait for 10 minutes so that the mixture cools down. Beat the eggs in (in little bits) and put the mixture into a pipping bag.

Pipe little blobs of the mixture on a tray covered with silicone. Push down any peaks by patting them carefully with a wet finger. Put the tray with the profiteroles into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

When you take them out cut a little hole with a skewer or a tooth pick on the base of each profiterol and let them cool down on a rack.

Whip 275 gr of cream with the vanilla extract until you get a hard peak consistency. Put the mixture into a pipping bag and pipe the cream into each profiterol.

Finally, melt the remaining cream with the chocolate over a bain marie or in the microwave (check every 15 seconds). Pour the sauce over the profiteroles.

They are much easier to make than they seem.

LADY FINGERS - BIZCOCHOS DE SOLETILLA

These light little things are called bizcochos de soletilla. It is what elegant ladies eat with hot chocolate in Spain. As far as chocolate is concerned the Spanish population is divided in two: posh ladies who drink hot chocolate in the afternoon, served in fine china and with 'soletillas' on the side; and everybody else who drinks hot chocolate in the morning in normal cups with fried churros (see our recipe). I know what you are thinking, but elegant men eat churros and that seems to be fine.

After 382 posts in this blog I am sure you already know that I am more churros than soletillas. But still, I loved soletillas when I was growing up. In my village there was a really good bakery (Pasteleria Frias) which actually still exists. They used to make soletillas and sold them on strips of baking paper. Eating these with a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of milk seemed the height of sophistication at the time - little did I know then that they can be made cheaply and in almost no time!

You need:
- 2 eggs
- 60 g self raising flour
- 50 g sugar
- a teaspoon of vanilla essence
- half a teaspoon of baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- two tablespoons of icing sugar

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and beat well. Add the vanilla essence. Separately whisk the egg whites with the salt until they are stiff. Fold the whites into the yolks mixture.  Then sift the flour and fold it into the mixture. Pipe the mixture into 6 cm strips on a sheet of baking paper. Dust the strips with the icing sugar just before getting them into the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes (the precise timing depends on your oven, but they should be pale)

GRILLED OCTOPUS - PULPO A LA PARRILLA

This is lovely for a hot summer day.  Very easy to make, though cooking octopus requires a physical and emotional battle with the 'pulpo' (see below)

You need:
- a medium octopus/pulpo (should be enough for 4/5 people)
- a handful of parsley
- 4 tablespoons of really good olive oil
- a clove of garlic
- the juice of half a lemon
- salt

Start by boiling the octopus in a big pan with lots of salty water. If you do this recipe with a fresh octopus then you will have to hit it (literally) many times with a rolling pin or equivalent so that it becomes tender. If you shy away from displays of physical violence in your family, then do as I do: freeze the octopus first and then defreeze it overnight (for some weird reason this makes the octopus 'decontract' and become tender). If you do not do this the pulpo will be rock hard.

In any case, when you put the octopus in the water take it in and out of the water three times in quick succession. This is so that the pulpo 'gets scared' (I kid you not) and therefore gets 'tense' again. I do not know whether the physics of this are right, but Galician cooks (as far as I am concerned the best cooks of pulpo in the world) swear by this method, and therefore so do I.

Once the pulpo is boiled ( which you can do well in advance) cut it into chunks, pour two tablespoons of oil over it and toss well with your hands so that all chunks are well coated.
Heat a cast iron pan until it is very hot. Put the pulpo chunks on it and cook them for a couple of minutes on each side until they get a bit charred.

Meanwhile blend the remaining oil with the garlic and parsley. Pour this mixture over the grilled octopus, sprinkle the juice of half a lemon on top of it and that is all. You can eat this with boiled potatoes, rice, salad, crusty bread... or on its own!

HADDOCK 'A LA EUROPEENNE'

This week we saw the Brexiteers throwing haddock into the river Thames, a sin worthy of ex-communication to any Spaniard. Most of the fish from UK waters is actually sold to Europeans, so when Brexit kicks in the Brexiteers are going to have a hell of a lot of fish to eat. Since deep down I am a good girl (very-very-extremely deep down as far as Brexiteers are concerned) I though I would give them a fish recipe so that they can start practising.

We do not make this recipe with haddock in Spain, but with hake, simply because do not eat much haddock there. In fact most Spaniards would not even recognise haddock's Spanish name: 'eglefino'.  I am pretty sure that if you say 'eglefino' to most Spaniards they would think you are calling them names and it is most likely they would respond 'eglefino tu!'  or perhaps even something less polite than that...

Anyway, back to the recipe. Though I have called it fish 'European style', in Spanish this is called fish ' a la marinera'. It is a bit confusing, because the recipe for one of our most traditional and delicious dishes, 'almejas a la marinera' (clams seaman style) does not call for sweet paprika (pimenton) and tomato -  but this one,  merluza 'a la marinera' (hake seaman style) does. Nobody knows the reason for this. But I am sure we Spaniards did this many years ago with the single objective of confusing the Brexiteers, because of course everything we do in Spain, on indeed in the rest of Europe, is all directed to them.

The recipe is very easy to make. You need:
- four steaks of haddock (preferably a bit thick... and if you want the proper recipe then use four steaks of hake)
- half a lemon
- 12 raw prawns (this is not essential)
- an onion (chopped very thinly)
- a quarter of a red pepper (chopped very thinly)
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped very thinly)
- a bay leaf
- a tablespoon of tomato sauce
- a teaspoon of sweet paprika- pimenton
- half a glass of sherry.
- a glass of water
- half a teaspoon of cornflour
- a tiny bit of parsley
- too tablespoons of (not too strong) olive oil
- salt

Salt the haddock. Sprinkle the lemon juice on it and leave it aside while you get on with the sauce.

In a shallow pan, fry the onion, red pepper and garlic over very low heat in the olive oil (it should take 12-15 minutes). Then add the tomato, paprika, a tiny bit of salt and the bay leave. Wait for a couple of minutes and add the sherry, let it bubble for a couple of minutes and then add the water.  Take three spoonfuls of the bubbly sauce and mix them in a cup with the cornflour - get this mixture back into the pan so that the sauce thickens. Wait for another couple of minutes and add the haddock, cover the pan with a lid and wait (it should take 3-4 minutes maximum though this really depends of the thickness of the haddock of course) Then add the prawns and after a minute it should be all done. Just sprinkle a little bit of parsley on it before serving it.

Do not be tempted to overcook the fish as overcooked fish is awful. If you are a Brexiteer you should be particularly careful with this because, let's face it, you are prone to overdoing things.

So here you are: fish 'European style'.  If eating this does not get you to like Europe, then nothing will.