SCALLOPS WITH CAULIFLOWER AND CHORIZO

In the US it is easy to make this dish because most supermarkets sell frozen scallops (which at least in California are rather good quality). If you manage to get proper fresh scallops just grill them with butter and serve them with lemon and bread. But if you get the frozen scallops, this is a good option. You need:

 - three/four scallops per person (score them very lightly with a sharp knife) - the recipe is for 5 people

- four small potatoes

- half a cauliflower

- half a glass of cream

-100 g chorizo (cubed)

- olive oil

-salt 

- a little bit of parsley

Boil the potatoes until they are tender. While they are boiling, roast the cauliflower, tossing it with olive oil and salt and then putting it in the oven at 220C degrees for 25 minutes or until it is golden (I make roast cauliflower at least once a week, so I normally use the leftovers). Put the potatoes, cauliflower, cream and a tiny pinch of salt in a blender and blitz it all to a fine but thick pure).

In a frying pan heat the chorizo cubes (without oil) until they release the fat (3-ish minutes under low heat). Put them aside. Add a little bit of oil to the pan, add salt to the scallops and fry them (two minutes on one side and one minute on the other side). Don't overcrowd the pan or the scallops will boil (not nice!)

Cover the dish with the pureed cauliflower and put the scallops on top of it. Scatter the chorizo on top of the scallops and sprinkle the parsley on top of it all. 

 

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

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...       

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.

FISH 'BACK STYLE' - 'A LA ESPALDA'

This recipe is normally done in Spain with red seabream, which is difficult to find (and has ginormous fish bones, so not great for children) or with John Dory. I use it with all sorts of fish (the one below is with cod) and it is one of the simplest dinners to make - and also one of my favourites recipes with fish.

You need:
- 5 steaks of cod
- 5 fat cloves of garlic (sliced thinly)
- (good) olive oil (6-8 tablespoons)
- 2.5 tablespoons of vinegar (preferably sherry, but any other vinegar will do too)
- a little bit of parsley (chopped)
- salt

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Salt the cod and put it on a roasting tray. Put it into the oven (it should be ready in 10-12 minutes, but check after 10 minutes as overcooked fish is vile) While the cod is roasting fry the slices of garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until they get light golden ( it should take 2-3- minutes but again make sure you do not burn it or the garlic will taste bitter) Add the vinegar to the pan with the garlic, take it off the heat and stir it well with a fork so that the oil emulsionates with the vinegar.  Pour the oil over the fish and spinrkle the parsley on top. That is all there is to it!

It tastes great with mashed potatoes. But if you want to make an even more authentically Spanish recipe then start by slicing some potatoes, put them on a roasting tray with salt and olive oil, roast them for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Then put the cod on top of the potatoes and continue the recipe as per above.

MUSSELS SOUP

This is one of my favourite soups. And mussels are a good source of iron, so it is good to feed them to children.
You need:
- about 750 gr mussels (don't worry too much about the precise quality)
- 300 ml white wine ( I also do this some times with 'manzanilla', a light Spanish sherry, which is wonderful to cook with and goes really well with sea food and also with pork)
- an onion (chopped finely)
- one leek (chopped finely)
- a clove of garlic (grated)
- three tablespoons of olive oil
- 250 ml water.
- a pinch of saffron
- 150 ml double cream
- a pinch of parsley


Clean well the mussels (discard any that are open and do not close after tapping them before you cook them, and also any that remain closed after you cook them). While you are cleaning the mussels, fry the onions and leek in the olive oil over slow heat so that they get soft but not golden (15 to 20 minutes). If you worry that they might burn just add a tablespoon of water.

Put the mussels in a separate pan, add the white wine and let the muscles cook over high heat until they all open up. Take the mussels off their shells. Reserve the wine (it is a good idea to get it through a colander in case there was any sand in the mussels)

Go back to the pan with the onions. Add the mussels and parsley. Dissolve the saffron into the white wine. Add it all to the onions and mussels and add also also the water. Let it all bubble up for 5-8 minutes.

As you take it off the heat, add the cream and blitz it all with a hand held mixer.

Serve it immediately. I sometimes reserve some of the mussels, chop them and add them to the soup for texture. You can also serve this with a slice of grilled crusty bread and alioli. Or just serve it like that with bread - it is delicious so it does not need anything else.

SKATE WING WITH BUTTER

This is always a winner in my home. One of the best fish to get children to eat fish with bones because the bones are huge and therefore easy to spot  - and also they are all facing the same direction, so it is easy to find your way through them. You need:

- a skate wing stake per person (we do 5 portions)
- 100 gr of butter
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
- juice of a lemon
- three tablespoons of flour to dust the fish
- salt

Put skate wings in a big pan. Pour boiling water on them and let it all simmer for 3 minutes. Take the skate wings out and pat dry them with kitchen paper. Salt them on both sides and dust them with the flour also on both sides.

Put half of the butter on a frying pan ( I do this with two frying pans so that the fish is ready for all at the same time, as indeed this dish is best if you eat it very hot). Fry the skate wings over medium heat on both sides until golden  ( it takes 3-4 minutes on the first side and 2-3 on the other side). Take the wings out and put them on a serving plate. Add the rest of the butter to the frying pan together with the parsley and let it all warm up for 2-3- minutes. Add the juice of the lemon to the butter and parsley and pour this sauce over the wings. It is simple and delicious.  I serve it with boiled potatoes.

CRAB CHICORY BOATS

This is a good way to get children to get used to chicory. You can vary the fillings (tuna mayo, shrimps and cocktail sauce,  a mixture of cream and blue cheese…) but it works particularly well with crab. You need:

- a chicory (separate the leaves)
- 100 gr crag meat (I normally use white meat as it is a softer flavour)
- half a chill chopped very thinly
- a teaspoon of chopped coriander
- 2.5 tablespoons mayonnaise (home made really works best on this as shop bought mayo is far too strong for crab) - see our two minutes mayo recipe: http://www.mumandsons.com/2011/04/2-minutes-mayonnaise-sauce.html
-juice and zest of half a lime


Mix the crab, mayo and lime juice. Put the mixture in the fridge for 20 minutes or so. Then put a bit of the mixture on top of each chicory leaf. Sprinkle with the chile, coriander and lime zest. That is all there is to it.

TUNA WITH ONIONS or BONITO ENCEBOLLADO

The last few weeks have been crazily busy and as a result we have not cooked much, but we are now approaching the holidays and back on track.

This is a very Spanish dish. We cook it in Summer when tuna fish is 'in season'. Broadly speaking there are three main ways to eat tuna in Spain: in marmitako (see our recipe http://www.mumandsons.com/2013/07/marmitako.html), as they do in the North; 'encebollado', as they do in the South; and with tomato sauce (see recipe http://www.mumandsons.com/2014/07/tuna-with-tomato-sauce.html) as they do all over Spain. We like tuna so much that the white tuna from the North Cantabric sea is called 'bonito' (i.e. beautiful) and it is indeed a very beautiful fish.

You need:
- a thick steak of tuna for every three people (cut in not too small squares)
- a generous amount of olive oil (8 to 10 table spoons)
- 4 onions (sliced or just chopped in little squares)
- two cloves of garlic (sliced)
- a bay leaf
- a pinch of sweet paprika (pimenton dulce)
- salt
- three quarters of a glass of water
- two table spoons of wine vinegar (needless to say, Jerez is best)
- 4 table spoons of flour
- a pinch of oregano
- a tablespoons of chopped parsley

Salt the tuna and dust it with the flour (this is just to add a bit of consistency to the sauce, so no problem if the fish  is not perfectly coated in flour). Heat the olive oil in a shallow pan (or a frying pan) over medium heat. Fry the tuna on both sides until it is golden (do not stir it too much or otherwise the fish will break; and if you are preparing this with a lot of tuna just do it in batches). Take out the fish and reserve.

In the same oil fry the garlic for two minutes over very low heat, then add the onion, increase the heat to medium for 4 minutes and then lower the heat to its minimum setting for another 15 more minutes.  Then add the paprika, oregano, and half a teaspoon of the chopped parsley. You may need to add a bit more salt (just taste it). After a minute add the vinegar and finally the water. Put the tuna back into the sauce and let it all simmer for 10 minutes. Before  you serve it sprinkle some parsley on top.

You can serve this with plain white rice or with fried potatoes (frankly much better and also more authentic than with rice)

CRAB LINGUINI

Simple-simple, but my children love it. You need:
- 250 - 350 gr crab meat
- a packet of linguini
- two tablespoons of olive oil
- three cloves of garlic, chopped thinly
- a glass of white wine
 - half a lemon (juice and zest)
- a handful of parsley (flat)
- salt

Boil the linguini in plenty of salty water according to the packet instructions. Separately heat the olive oil in a pan, fry the garlic (over low heat) for 3 minutes, add the lemon zest and half of the parsley (chopped thinly) and after 20 seconds add the wine and salt and let it reduce for 10 minutes. When the linguini are boiled, add the crab to the wine sauce, let it simmer for a minute , pour the linguini on top, mix well and serve. You can add a bit more lemon juice and olive oil on top if you wish. Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top. That is all.

MALTESE OCTOPUS

This is a typical Maltese dish. I came to look into food from Malta after a prominent member of the UK Conservative party insulted the Maltese by saying that their  Prime Minister 'should go back to his tiny little island'. How sad is it that members of the UK governing party now feel free to insult other Europeans gratuitously like this - and without the government offering any apologies for it?

On the positive side this has led to me talk to the children about Malta, its geographical position, history, size and culture. It has not been difficult because my bother was on holiday there a few months ago and he could not stop praising the island. We have looked into Maltese recipes, which are great. I have found many good blogs, including a superb one called www.amaltesemouthful.com. So utterly yummy. I tell you, the island may be small...but boy they know how to eat well!!

Best is obviously to follow the authentic recipe in any of the numerous blogs. The best we saw is here: http://www.amaltesemouthful.com/octopus-stew-stuffat-tal-qarnit/ But we  made a few changes as we went along. You need:

- an octopus, cut into mouth-bite chunks. If the octopus is fresh you need to tenderise it by hitting it everywhere many times for 3-4 minutes. This is a bit off putting, because normally octopus are sold with their eyes on, so you risk looking like a sadistic person while the eyes of the octopus beg you to stop. The easier alternative is to freeze the octopus when you buy it (when it freezes the muscles contract and then let go, so it becomes tender and there is no need to torture the poor octopus anymore)
- 3 onions, chopped thinly
- 4 garlic cloves (grated)
- 1glass of tomato sauce (see our recipe http://www.mumandsons.com/2011/03/tomato-sauce.html- alternatively used a good passata, or 2 tins of chopped tomatoes )
- 2 handfuls of olives
- 2 teaspoons of small capers
- lemon zest and juice of a lemon
- a glass of white wine
- a tablespoon of parsley, a tablespoon of basil, and the leaves of three springs of thyme.
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt
- a glass of frozen peas.
- more parsley and basil to garnish
- a tin of chickpeas (drained)

Fry the onions in the olive oil under low heat until they are tender. Then add the garlic and after a minute or so the tomato sauce. Then add the octopus, increase the heat to medium and wait for 15 minutes and add the olives, capers, lemon zest,  wine and lemon juice. Add the salt, reduce the heat, cover with a lid and let it summer for 40 minutes. Add the peas, let it cook for a further 10 minutes, and finally add the chickpeas, wait for a further 5 minutes, sprinkle the basil and  parsley and serve.

BEETROOT AND SARDINES DIP

I know I am boring you with beetroot, but I still have some in the fridge. The recipe for this dip was given to me many months ago by my brother in law, but I may have altered it as I could not remember all the ingredients by heart. The children liked-ish it, though they would have liked it even more if it did not look so pink.

You need:
 - 2 small beetroots or a big one.
- a tin of sardines
- a pinch of paprika
- an onion (diced very thinly)
- two table spoons of sour cream
- a table spoon of chopped dill
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of pepper
- juice of half a lemon

Start by peeling the beetroots and boiling them in water (for a good 5 minutes or until tender). When the beetroots are cooled down, chop them very thinly, i.e. once you think you are there, keep chopping for another couple of minutes. Then cut the sardines in really small chunks and add them to the beetroot. Add  all the other ingredients and put them in into the fridge for at least 20 minutes so that it thickens up.

If you like dips with a kick you may want to add a teaspoon of horseradish sauce.

And you can do this all in a  food processor but then you will loose the texture of the ingredients.

The mess that children can make with beetroot is indescribable, so best if they just look rather than help…

FISH SOUP WITH MAYONNAISE

This soup is divine. I had never cooked it before this summer, but it has become a regular at my home.  The recipe is from Concha in Malaga, who kindly shared it with me after the Daily Mail made a fuss about my Made in Spain book and my recipe for mayonnaise there  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Made-Spain-Recipes-stories-country/dp/147363900X ) I have actually received a recipe for a chocolate cake with mayonnaise as well - but I had not had the courage to test it yet!

Anyway, back to the soup, it is a really basic, almost humble, fish soup - the kind soup that fishermen would cook in Spanish fishing villages, with a really wholesome taste. You can make it with any white fish. We did it with monkfish, that works particularly well. But you can also try with hake, haddock or cod. My children love it.

You need:

- 2 large potatoes.
- 300 gr white fish (either monkfish or cod, hake, haddock…)
- 2 white fish bones (just ask the fishmonger for these - they will normally give them to you for free)
- a bay leaf
- an onion
- 300 gr prawns (this is optional but it gives a nice variety of textures to the soup)
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 180 ml olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- salt
- 1.5 l water

Boil the potatoes (peeled and cut in half), onion (cut in half), fish bones and bay leaf in the 1.5 l of water with salt for around 25 minutes. Seven or eight minutes before you are going to take this fish stock off the heat add the white fish. And after a couple of minutes add the prawns. As soon as the fish and prawns are cooked (it really is a matter of a few minutes only) take the stock off the heat. Take the potatoes, white fish and prawns out and reserve them (after cutting them in mouth bite chunks). Discard the onion and bay leaf, get rid of any foam at the top of the stock and pass it all through a sieve.

White the stock is boiling, make a mayonnaise with the egg and the olive oil. The easiest is to make this with a hand blender following our recipe for two minutes mayonnaise (i.e put the egg and olive oil in a tall beaker, put the hand blender into the beaker and blend for a minute without moving it at all, then move it up slowly). As soon as the mayo is ready add the lemon juice and a bit of salt.

Let the fish stock cool down a little. Then take half a glass of the fish stock and pour it over the mayo (in the beaker), mix it well with a balloon whisk. The pour this mixture over the fish stock and mix well again.  You can use as much or as little mayo as you wish - the more mayo, the ticker the soup. If you like a thiner soup (as we do) use only half of the mayo.

When you are going to serve the soup put some potato and fish chunks as well as a couple of prawns on each plate. Then pour the liquid on top.

This soup is best warm but not hot. The only rule to remember is that once you mix the mayo with the fish stock you should never-ever boil the soup. If you boil it, the mayo will split and you will end up with scrambled soup - not good!

 

SARDINES DIP

This is a very easy dip to make.

You need:
- two tins of sardines
- five tablespoons of Philadelphia
- a pinch of salt
- a small pinch of paprika
- a tablespoon of lemon juice

Just put all the ingredients in a food processor (including the bones of the sardines, which are meant to be very good as they are full of calcium) and blitz it all for a minute. Put the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and serve.

MY GRANNY'S MACKEREL

This is one of my favourite recipes ever.  It comes from my grandmother Maria and is a sort of 'escabache' but without the sharpness of it. The fatiness of the blue fish goes really well with the acidity of the vinegar. It is best prepared with whole rather than filleted mackerel. The downside to that is that mackerel has many bones (and some of them very thin) so you would have to ask the children to be really careful eating it (and be very careful yourself!)

Talking of fish bones, I am being told a female journalist was outraged during the summer because I had said that one of the main differences in eating habits between the UK and Spain is that in Spain we are used to eating fish with bones while in the UK most of the fish is filleted. Though she chose to take  it as an insult, I am afraid this is a matter of fact, not a matter of opinion. Her main counter-argument apparently was that British people have been eating fish with bones for many years…now, wait for this…  in the River Cafe!! Oh yes. And then they say it is politicians who are out of touch…

You need:
- a mackerel per person (ask the fishmonger to cut the head off and gut it)
- 100 gr flour ( for five mackerels)
- 5 tablespoons of olive oil
- two bay leaves
- 7 cloves of garlic (sliced)
- 2 teaspoons of chopped parsley
- a third of a glass of red vinegar
 - a glass of water
- salt

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Salt the mackerel and dust it with the flour on both sides. Fry it for 3 minutes or so on each side (over medium heat) until it is golden on both sides.  Put the mackerel aside in a shallow pan.

In the same oil where you have fried the mackerel add the garlic and fry it over medium heat for a couple of minutes until golden, then add the bay leaves, a teaspoon on parsley and the vinegar, wait for a minute while the vinegar gets hot and bubbly and then add the water. Wait for another minute and pour all this over the mackerels. Let them simmer for 3 minutes.

You can either eat them at this point or leave the in the fridge until the following day ( this dish actually improves over night). Sprinkle the other teaspoon of parsley on top just before you are going to serve it.

PRAWNS / GAMBAS

This is how to prepare prawns, shrimps, langoustines, or any over similar sea food so that the flesh stays terse rather than mushy:

Boil water (without any salt) in a large pan. Separately prepare a bowl with very cold water and lots of ice and throw a handful of coarse sea salt in  (a handful of salt for a kilo of prawns). Throw the shrimps or langoustines into the boiling water. Wait for a minute or two until they turn pink (the precise timing depends on the size of the prawn). As soon as they are pink take them off the boiling water and throw them into the salty icy water. Wait for a couple of minutes and serve them  ( or keep them in the fridge covered with a damp tea cloth).  They come out perfect.

According to my foodie brother then reason this works is that you create a process of osmosis with the salt and ice. My physics teacher mother agrees. If my mother says so it must be true!

BARNACLES / PERCEBES

In order to celebrate that we have reached 200,000 views I am bringing to you one of the most loved foods in Spain and indeed one of my favourite ones (which my children like as well): barnacles, or 'percebes'. The mother of all delicacies in Spain. It really is big celebration's food. Hideously expensive (unless you happen to be in a Galician fishermen village when they are in season and then you can have the pleasure of stuffing yourself with these). They epitomase the essence of the Spanish cuisine: if you find a great ingredient do as little as possible  to it. Eating barnacles is like 'eating the sea'.

In order to prepare these you need to get as many barnacles as you can afford (normally when we eat these in Spain we just get a very few per person given their price). When you buy them, ask for where do they come from as the colder the water the barnacles come from, the better they are (and I honestly think that barnacles from Galicia are the very best).

Ideally they should be boiled in sea water, but if you are not living near the sea just fill a big pan with water and add 70 gr of sea salt for every litre of water. Add a bay leaf per litre as well.  Once the water is boiling add the barnacles. As soon as the water boils again (a matter of a couple of minutes, if at all) take them off the pan (in some Galician villages the recipe calls for putting the barnacles into the pan , praying an 'our father' and taking them off the water…though this obviously depends on how fast you pray!). Cover the barnacles with a clean tea-cloth and serve them while they are hot. Simply superb.

TUNA SANDWICH

This is one of my favourite sandwiches from my 'most-est favourite' tapas bar in Spain: La Criolla (in Valladolid). They serve it with mini ciabatas as a tapa, but you can make it with normal size ones so that it becomes a lunch.

You need:
- a ciabatta roll (you can also do this with a baguette)
-1.5 piquillo peppers (open them up so that you cover the whole of the roll with the peppers)
- tuna (half a small tin) - the original recipe is with ventresca, i.e. the belly bit of the tuna which is very moist, but good quality tinned tuna works well.
- two green olives
- 2 prawns
- an anchovy fillet
- a teaspoon of mayonnaise
- a drizzle of olive oil
- tiny bit of salt

Open the ciabatta roll. Drizzle each side with a tiny bit of olive oil. Put (in this order) the piquillo peppers on top of the bread, then the flaked tuna, followed by the prawns (cut them in half horizontally so that you end up with 4 thin prawns) a bit of salt, the olives (cut in half) the anchovy fillet and finally the mayonnaise. Put the other half breadroll on top. Put it in a sandwich bag and into the toaster, or under the grill for a few minutes so that the bread gets warm. Eat immediately.

SEFARDI SALMON

This recipe was given to me by a Spanish ex Minister who happens to be an outstanding cook (and great host as well, in addition to being an outstanding lawyer)  It is part of the culinary heritage of the Sefardi Jews who were expelled from Spain centuries ago at the time of the brutal Inquisition. I am not sure at the time they would have used salmon or rather white fish. In any case it goes work well with a salmon nowadays.

You need:

- a steak of salmon per person ( we used four)

- 2 onions (diced thinly)

- 2 handfuls of kalamata olives (pitted and chopped) - haf a jar

- a teaspoon of chopped parsley

- two tablespoons of olive oil

- half a lemon

- salt

Put the oil on a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions, lower the heat and wait for 6-8 minutes until they get soft. Add the olives and cook it all for another 5-6- minuets so that you get a mellow mixture. Add salt and the parsley and mix well.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Grease an oven tray lightly. Salt the salmon steaks and put them on the tray (skin side down) Pile the onion and olives mixture on top of the salmon (it is easier to do this if you put the steaks close to each other and just pile up all the mixture on top). Sprinkle with the lemon juice and bake for 13-15 minutes. If you like it very well done then bake for 18 minutes - but be careful with the timing because dry salmon is really not nice to eat.

Feel free to add a few capers or a couple of fillets of chopped anchovies to this ( in which case, do not add any salt to the onions)