Seafood pasta

I first ate this pasta dish,  known as Fideua in Spanish, with an elderly couple that I had met in the village of Alcover in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain over 10 years ago.

Mercedes was originally from the village but her husband was from the south of Spain.  They had met  in England in their early 20's when both their families had fled Spain after the civil war.  They lived in England for over 40 years.  Jo, her husband, had imported bananas from the Canary Islands and once a year he would put his car on a banana boat and go to the islands for 6 weeks to sort out business. 

He was based in Covent Garden when it was still used as a major fruit and vegetable wholesale market.  He told me there was such a great camaraderie in those days.  In the very early, cold mornings of London they use to light fires in old oil drums and drink tea and rum and the workers use to throw rotten vegetables at the city gents, passing in their bowler hats carrying their brief cases.  It didn't at the time seem to bother the gentlemen nor was it frowned upon, it was almost expected.

When they retired, they moved back to Spain and settled in Alcover and the strange thing is that they continued to speak English together in the house, even though it was neither of their mother tongue. 

I loved this dish when I first ate it.  Simple ingredients, robust flavours,  it is a dish that I continue to make  regularly to this day.

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g unpeeled, raw prawns

300g of live clams, washed

4 squid, cleaned and cut into rings

500g live mussels, debearded and washed

9 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

olive oil

salt and pepper

good pinch of saffron

600g fideos, if you can't get these, break up spaghetti into 2 cm pieces

fish stock

 

Allioli

2 egg yolks

4 cloves garlic

olive oil

salt

How to go about it

If you are smart, get someone to make the allioli for you.  Give them these instructions.  Peel garlic and roughly chop and put into a mortar with the salt and grind with the pestle.  Add the egg yolks and grind to mix and add the olive oil in a fine drizzle moving the pestle all the time.  It should start to emulsify, add the oil until it reaches the required consistency.

• It can be made with 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk and made in hand whizzer, adding oil in same way.  It is not as thick but still okay.
• When you make it in the pestle and mortar when it has reached required consistency, you can add 2-3 teaspoons of boiling water, mix and then add a bit more oil.
• True allioli has no egg yolk.  It is hard work to get an emulsion but it is sublime made in this way.
• If it splits or won't emulsify, start again with another egg yolk in a clean bowl and add split mixture in a drizzle until emulsifies.
• It is better to have eggs and oil at the same temperature, not too hot or not too cold.
• Rule -  always store allioli in fridge after making.  Throw away allioli after the first day,

Peel and dehead prawns.  Put heads and body peel in a saucepan and cover in water.  Cook for 10 minutes, mash the heads and peelings with a potato masher to extract the juice from the prawns.  Drain and keep hot, add extra fish stock as needed. 

Fry the whole garlic in olive oil, in a large, shallow frying pan.  Do not let burn, fry for 5 minutes and discard garlic.  This is only to flavour oil.  Fry squid in the same pan for 5 minutes them add pasta.  Fry for 5 minutes longer until the pasta starts to become transparent.  Soak safron in a little hot water then  add to pan with salt and pepper.  Start to add laddlefuls of prawn stock one by one, let cook then add clams and mussels and 2-3 laddles of hot stock until just covered.  Let cook, don't stir, let it form a film on the top, as this acts as a lid.

When the stock is just about absorbed, turn off heat and cover with tea towel.  If you are lucky the pasta will stand on end, pointing skywards. 

Serve with the allioli.

Artichoke and black pudding Pasta

When you grow your own veg, you don't always have the choice of what you are going to eat.  It's a question of what needs harvesting in the garden and how am I going to cook this.  This is a recipe that works with different combinations of early Summer vegetables.  I bought these artichoke plants about 3 months ago and was told that they didn't need cutting down to the ground at the end of May and they wouldn't be any artichokes till the following Spring, so I was surprised to see these artichokes in June!

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 artichokes
bunch of swiss chard
1 courgette
handful of broad beans, fresh or frozen
2 black puddings
olive oil
salt and pepper
400g macaroni pasta

For the sauce

100 dl olive oil
100g parmesan cheese
1 lemon
fresh basil
3 cloves fresh garlic
small bunch of basil


I had in my garden an enormous plant which I knew to be of the onion/garlic family but was told by a neighbour it is what they call french garlic and it is used to make allioli (Catalan garlic mayonaise) as it is milder.

How to go about it

First make the sauce by finely chopping garlic and basil, add olive oil and the juice of lemon and parmesan, mix with a fork.

Put a saucepan of water on to boil for pasta.

Prepare artichokes, discarding outer leaves and cut into eights, fry in olive oil.  Wash and separate stalks of chard, chop stalks and add to artichokes.  Finely slice courgettes in semi circles and add to pan.  Fry on low heat for 5 minutes.  Add chopped chard leaves and broad beans and fry for another 5 minutes.  While this is cooking, put pasta on to cook.  Follow cooking instructions on packet.  Drain but DON'T RINSE.   Add a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Cover and keep warm.

Slice black pudding and gentle fry on both side for a few minutes. Remember that black pudding is already cooked so it just needs to be heated through and browning a bit. 

Mix pasta into veg, then mix in sauce.  Serve in bowls or on plates and arrange black pudding on top.

Broad bean, pea and artichoke orzo

When I look at this selection of vegetables I automatically think of 'Risi e Bisi' but I have no risotto rice or even bomba (Spanish paella rice).  I could make a 'Vignole' but I had that last night with black pudding.  I have a couple of artichokes in the fridge, a courgette and half a tin of anchovies.  I search through the cupboard and come across a packet of orzo.  A pasta that resembles barley, which is what its name means in Italian.  I ponder for a moment on how to go about it, I don't want a glutenous mush at the end , yes it is possible to cook it in the same way as a risotto.  So in the selection of vegetables I have the following

handful each of rocket, spinach, broad beans and peas 
sprig each of fresh parsley, rosemary and mint. 
2-3 fresh, green garlic,chopped
wild asaparagus, chopped
2-3 artichokes, prepared and cut into small pieces
1 courgette, finely sliced
olive oil
4 anchovy fillets
2 dried cayenne peppers
parmesan
1 onion, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
300 g orzo

Firstly, make a vegetable stock from all of the vegetable trimmings, strain and have at a simmer at the side of frying pan for cooking the pasta.  Gentle fry onions in olive oil, when they are soft add artichokes and courgettes and continue cooking for 5 minutes, pour in lemon juice.  Add garlic, anchovies and dried chillies, fry for 2 minutes then add pasta.  Gentle fry pasta for a few minutes until it is coated in oil and starts to take colour, add laddlefuls of stock little by little with a pinch of salt.  Cook for 3-4 minutes then add the broad beans, peas, rocket, spinach and aparagus, add another laddle or two of stock, stir in parmasan, turn of  heat and cover with a tea towel for 5 minutes before serving.