The Cod Connection.

It could be the tittle of a film... maybe Kevin Spacey would be the main character, he'd be the smart guy and Gerard Depardieu could be the tortured bad guy... A Cod market shop would be the place for the "business transactions". Do you want it desalted or salty? Would you come with me to the backroom? I've got some good stuff for you ;D

He, he, all this nonsense has a reason.
Nope, I'm not getting nuts, it's only that I did make a Cod Connection with Mel from BouchonFor2. Want to know all about it?

Melody has this wonderful blog and these days she is travelling through Europe and visiting Barcelona among other cities. She asked me if I could prepare a typical Catalan dish so that she could offer it in her blog while she wandered through my city. How could I say no? Of course, I said yes and offered her a dish not only Catalan but also from Barcelona: Bacallà a la llauna. Where Bacallà means Cod and a la llauna means in the tin pan. You can read all about it at her site. I'm just showing you one of the pictures of the recipe hereunder... simple and delicious!

And my recipe today will also be about Cod: Guiso de Bacalao con patatas. 
Yes, you guessed right, I LOVE codfish!

Ingredients for 4 servings: 800 grs of potatoes, 500 grs of desalted cod, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 onion, 3 garlic cloves, some flour, 3/4 of a liter of fish stock, 2 small red chillies, extra virgin olive oil, salt and parsley.

• Chop the onion and the peppers and place inside a sauce pan with just a bit of olive oil. Turn heat on and cook at low/medium temperature until the veggies get some colour.
• Peel the potatoes and cut in slices or dices. Reserve.
• Add the chillies to the sauce pan. Stir and add the potatoes. Pour the stock in and cook for aproximately 20 minutes.
• Coat the cod in flour and fry in a different pan with extra virgin olive oil. 30 seconds per side only.
• Place the cod with the potatoes with the skin on top and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Take away the chillies. Mince some fresh parsley leaves and sprinkle on top. Serve hot.
• Since the cod keeps a bit of its salty previous treatment, it normally doesn't need more salt.

Get into the Cod Connection!!!!!

CAVIAR... my new food discovery.

True Caviar is the female's sturgeon roe. Everything else is just a substitute or other fish roe. The substitutes are often Lumpfish, cod, salmon, mullet... all but Sturgeon. There are twenty-five varieties of sturgeon, three of them can be captured in the Caspian Sea: beluga, Ossetra, sevruga. The price of caviar is reflected in the rarity or availability of sturgeon.

Today, you can also find Caviar in the Spanish Pyrenees, more precisely at Vielha (Catalan Pyrenees Mountain village). This past summer, we visited Caviar Nacarii factory and we bought one small Caviar can. Now I understand why it is a Tzar and king's delicatessen!!!!

Take a look at these black pearls, it is one of the best things I ever tasted. Not that I will be buying it every week, but, I'm so glad we bought a little can (only 70 grs) and tried it :D. It has such a special taste and texture... I loved it! However, it's sooooo expensive that I won't be able to buy it on a regular basis. Maybe another can for my birthday? ;D.

We were told that the best way to eat it is using a nacre spoon so that it doesn't interfere in its taste. We didn't  have a nacre spoon, but we enjoyed it anyway.

What do you think it could fit the best? We had it with a fresh Taittinger Champagne bottle. Yes, you can say I'm a snob, but, it was SUPER!!!

Maybe you can have a fresh gazpacho afterwards, or some fried eggs with caviar on top, or over some foie... but the best way ever will be all by itself in my mouth :D.

Cheers!