Cook and Taste cooking class, Barcelona

While in Barcelona we could not miss an opportunity to have a Spanish cooking class.

http://www.cookandtaste.net/

Our class started at 5pm with a group of about 12 of us.

The menu was:

- Shot of red bell pepper soup flavoured with toasted saffron and cod
- Magret of duck, caramelised onion and foie cake
- Seafood paella
- Crema Catalana

It was a pretty hands on experience with an emphasis on 'experience' rather than learning... with a bit of wine to go with it.

Paella recipe (serves 4)


Ingredients
4 prawns
1/2 squid
300gr mussels
2 cloves garlic
1 or 2 tomatoes
1 green pepper
1 small red onion
6 Tbsp olive oil
320 grams rice
1 Ltr fish stock (4.4 cups)
8-10 saffron threads

 Method
1 Heat the oil in the pan and fry the squid and prawns until slightly browned. Set aside.
2 Chop the onion and the green pepper and add them into the hot oil and fry slightly. After a few minutes add the chopped garlic and fry over medium heat.
3 Add the rice and fry for a few minutes. Then stir in the hot stock. Leave the rice now and do not stir.
4 Cook for a further 8 minutes approx on medium to high heat.
5 reduce the heat to medium and cook for a further 10 minutes.
6 Stir in the mussels and at the last moment add back in the prawns and squid. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Salmon and Red Pepper Spring Rolls

Here is a great finger food dish that you can prepare ahead of time and just do the final cook in the oven before serving. Alternatively you can make bigger rolls for a lunch dish.

Ingredients

500g fresh boneless, skinless salmon fillet

4 tsp dukkah

Zest of a lemon

2 Tbsp chopped coriander

Flesh of one large roasted red pepper cut into 8 pieces

8 spring roll wrappers

Method

1  Cut salmon into batons about 10cm x 3cm.

2  Place one baton on the centre of each spring roll wrapper. Sprinkle with half a tsp dukkah, a little lemon zest and coriander, and top with a piece of roasted pepper.

3  Fold in ends and roll up like a fat cigar. Place on a plate and chill until ready to cook. Make 8 rolls.

4  Heat oil in frypan and brown rolls over medium heat for about 2 mins each side.

5  Transfer to a 200oC oven and bake for 5 mins until golden brown and crispy.

Serve with the following dipping sauce – 3Tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp grated ginger, and juice of half a lime all mixed together.

Annabel Langbein & Regal Salmon

I joined the 'Free Range Cook' last week at Nosh Foodmarket to see some dishes made with Regal Salmon.
Some creative, easy and delicious recipes were
demonstrated , including this Grilled Salmon with Lemongrass and Chilli.

Ingredients
900g boneless, skinless salmon fillets (can do whole or in portions)
2 tsp finely grated lemongrass
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped (or finely grate zest of 2 limes)
2 Tbsp lime juice
1tsp finely grated fresh ginger
salt and ground black pepper

Method
1 Preheat oven to 250oC. Prepare salmon and place in a shallow baking dish.
2 Combine all other ingredients in a small bowl and pour over salmon.
3 Once oven is up to temperature, change heat setting to grill.
4 Grill salmon about 10cm from heat source until cooked through and golden (about 6-8mins) This method is called flash grilling.
5 Rest fish, just like you do meat but covering in tinfoil and then a tea towel for 15 minutes. This helps with finishing off the cooking process.
6 Serve on a bed of rocket. Spoon over the sauces from the pan and any left over marinade. Squeeze some lemon juice over and serve with some lemon cheeks.
7 This can be served warm or cold.

Delicious!

Smoked Salmon Pate

Smoked Salmon Pate

Ingredients
100g smoked salmon
1 x 250g packet cream cheese (I choose to use light, but that's up to you)
half a lemon's zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup raw almonds, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped herbs (I used whatever was in the garden - parsley, chives and dill)

12 slices cooked vogel toast bread cut into triangles - or whatever you prefer to serve it with

 Method
1 Place salmon, cream cheese, lemon zest and juice into a food processor. Process until smooth, pink mixture forms.
2 Spoon into two small dishes for serving. Smooth the tops, cover with gladwrap and refridgerate for at least a couple of hours.
3 Combine chopped nuts and herbs. Remove plastic from the top of the salmon pate. Sprinkle herb mixture over top evenly. Place on serving platter with vogel toasts/ fresh french stick,or whatever you want to serve it wth

Alternative:
If you make this recipe with full-fat cream cheese it will set better and therefore you can grease and line a dish with gladwrap and place the salmon in. Cover and leave in the fridge for four hours min before rolling in double the herb mixture.

Salmon with Mango Salsa

This has to be one of my favourite salmon recipes. I find salmon quite rich, but served with this delicious salsa it balances out the richness of the fish.

Off to the Auckland Fish Market I went to get the freshest salmon I could find to feed three adults tonight. (The recipe is to serve four). I'm pretty sure this recipe is from an old Taste magazine, but I only have the piece of paper, so not sure.

Ingredients
3 x 200g salmon fillets
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salsa:
1 large mango, peeled and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup finely cropped red onion
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
2 tsps finely cropped red chilli (or 1 tsp minced red chilli)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
3 poppadoms

Method
1 Combine the salsa ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper and set aside.
2 Preheat oven to 180Celsius.
3 Heat an oven-proof, non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Rub the salmon fillets with oil and season well with salt and pepper. Place salmon fillets into the frying pan, skin side up.
4 Sear until brown and crisp, about 3 mins. Turn the fillets over and bake in the oven until just cooked through, about 5-10 mins.
5 Place each fillet on a poppadom and top with salsa.

Thai Style Whole Snapper

For something different when cooking fish, try this delicious Thai style whole snapper. It is a really healthy meal, served with white rice and some asian greens.

Ingredients
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp white wine
600g whole snapper, cleaned and scaled
2 spring onions, cut into julienne strips

Method
1 Place the garlic, fish sauce, lemon juice, ginger, chilli sauce, coriander, rice wine vinegar and wine in a jug and mix together well.
2 Place the snapper on a large piece of tinfoil on a baking tray. Pour the marinade over the fish and sprinkle with the spring onion.
3 Wrap the foil around the fish like a parcel and bake in the oven for 20-30mins at 190Celsius. Alternatively, throw it on the BBQ - which is exactly what we did tonight. The fish doesn't look so pretty once it's cooked, but it is delicious!

If you have a large fish, I suggest doubling the marinade recipe. Oh, and by the way, the recipe came from the step-by-step series, Curry and Chilli. Enjoy!