Stewed Cuttlefish in Hot Tomato Sauce

Hi everyone! Today I cooked this delicious dish for dinner. Cuttlefish is highly consumed in Spain. There are different ways of cooking cuttlefish. The secret to get a soft result and keep the natural flavour of cuttlefish is that it has to be cooked  for just a few seconds over a high heat, or for a long time over a low heat. I usually serve this dish with rice, however steamed potatoes or chips are great too with this spicy homemade sauce.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

800g fresh cuttlefish
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
250 ml Spanish white wine
200 ml passata (mashed) tomato
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of hot paprika
Salt to taste

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
40 minutes

Method:

Clean the cuttlefish, removing guts, internal shell and rinsing well under cold running water.Keep the tentacles because they are very tasty. Then cut the cuttlefish tube into stripes like these.

Finely chop the garlic and onion. Peel and dice the tomato.

Stir- fry the garlic and onion until golden brown.

Add the cuttlefish, salt to taste, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes over a medium heat.

Then add the diced tomato and cook for 2 minutes.

Pour the passata tomato into the pot and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Then add the white wine, reduce heat, cover with lid and cook for 20 minutes stirring from time to time.

When the cuttlefish is done add 1 teaspoon of hot paprika and stir well.

Cook for a couple of minutes and our dish is ready.

Serve hot with rice.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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Lentil and Chorizo Stew

Hello everyone! Here you have one of my favourite dishes for cold days. This Spanish traditional stew is full of flavour provided by several spices and it is also very easy to cook. Legumes are an important part of our Mediterranean diet. Lentil is a legume high in minerals, mainly iron, protein, vitamin E and B- complex vitamins. Chorizo, cumin and paprika give this dish that characteristic Spanish touch different from other ways of cooking this legume.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

400 g brown lentils
1 l of water
1 chicken stock cube
200 g diced unsmoked bacon
200g sliced chorizo ring
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
100 ml extra virgin olive
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
Salt to taste

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
45 minutes

Method:

Rinse the lentils under running cold water, then put them in a large pot with cold water, add salt to taste and bring to the boil.

In the meantime, dice the bacon and slice the chorizo.

Remove any froth with a spoon and add the chicken stock cube.

Then add the bacon and chorizo, stir well, cover with lid and simmer for about 30 minutes. (Additonal cold water can be used in case the stew becomes too thick)

Peel and chop the garlic and onion.

Put the extra virgin olive oil on a frying pan, stir fry the garlic and onion until golden brown, reduce heat and then add the paprika.

Pour the resulting sauce in the pot with the lentils.

Stir well, then add the ground cumin, cayenne and black pepper. Simmer for a couple of minutes and our dish is ready.

Serve piping hot, specially in winter.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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Homemade Custard

Hello everyone! Today I've been cooking this traditional recipe for you. I can remember my granny cooking this dessert in her kitchen, that nice smell filled the house. She always served this custard topped with a biscuit, and the combination of that flavour, together with the custard was really good. I still do the same when I cook this for my son and his friends. For grownups I usually sprinkle a little ground cinnamon on top. This dessert is very easy to cook and a favourite for any meal with family or friends.

Ingredients:

(Serves 6)

1 l. milk
50 g. corn flour
130 g sugar
5 eggs (yolks only)
1 lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
ground cinnamon

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
30 minutes

Method:

Put 750 ml of the milk in a large saucepan together with the lemon zest and the vanilla extract and heat until it just come to the boil.

Leave to cook and remove the lemon zest.

In the meantime put the sugar and the yolks in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Whisk well until you get an even mixture like this.

Separate 250 ml of the milk in a glass, add 50 g of corn flour and mix well using a spoon.

Put this mixture together with the beaten yolks and the sugar.

Stir well for a couple of minutes.

Pour the resulting mixture over the milk and stir thoroughly using a wooden spoon.

Stir over a low heat until the mixture is thick enough, this would take about 8 minutes.

Drain the custard into individual bowls, sprinkle with cinnamon and leave to cool.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and this delicious homemade custard will be ready to serve.

I think you're going to love this recipe.
Hopefully see you soon,

María

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Cod Loin in Vegetables Sauce

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to show you how to cook this delicious and healthy dish. Cod has a white, mild flavoured flesh and it is highly consumed in Spain, mainly in the North. A colleague from the Basque Country gave me this recipe years ago.I always use dried salted cod loins whenever I cook this dish in Spain. It's quite difficult to find salted cod where I'm living now, so I've used fresh cod loins instead and the result has been really good.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

800 g cod loins or cod fillets
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tomato
200 ml extra virgin olive oil
150 g wheat flour
Salt to taste

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
20 minutes

Method:

First wash the vegetables. Chop the peppers and the onion, peel the garlic and the tomato, then cut the tomato into small pieces.

Put 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan. Add the cloves of garlic and stir fry until golden brown.

Then add the onion, the peppers and the tomato, salt to taste and stir fry for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are done.

In the meantime salt cod loins to taste.

Coat the cod in wheat flour, shaking off flour excess.

Put the extra virgin olive oil on a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the cod for 1 minute, then turn over and  fry the other side for 1 more minute.

Place the cod loins on a dish and save for later.

Put the vegetables in a mixing jug and mix using a blender.

Mix the vegetables until the sauce has an even and thick consistency like this.

Put the resulting sauce on a frying pan over a medium heat. Once the sauce is hot enough add the cod, then reduce heat and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot covering the cod loins with this sauce. Optionally you can pour a little extra virgin olive oil on top. This would strengthen the flavour of our dish.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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Roasted Peppers

Hi everyone! Today I've been cooking these delicious roasted peppers for you all. They are very easy to prepare, and the result is amazing. Red peppers have great antioxidant properties,they are rich source of vitamin-C and A and they are very low in calories and fats. Their light flavour combines with a wide variety of dishes. This is the perfect side dish for any occasion. I often cook these peppers once a week, then I keep roasted peppers in the fridge and I use them as I go. I love them cut  into strips on a sandwich, or together with my favourite cheese.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

8 red bell peppers
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
45 minutes

Method:

Wash the peppers under cold running water and place them on a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Place the peppers in the upper side of the oven and roast for 20 minutes.

 When the skin turns black, turn over the peppers and cook the other side for about 15 minutes.

Leave to cool.

Carefully peel the peppers. (The skin will easily peel away off the peppers when cooled)

Then remove stalk and seeds.

Salt roasted peppers to taste.

Pour with extra virgin olive oil and our dish is ready to serve.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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