My Chef's "Muse": Anthony Bourdain
I've been hearing a lot about Anthony Bourdain for some time now, but never saw him on TV (I cannot see the No Reservations Tv program here), never read any of his books, never had lunch at his restaurant Les Hailles at New York...not until this summer. I found Viajes de un Chef - A Cook's Tour: In search of the perfect meal.; I literally devoured it; it was fun, instructive and entertaining. The book tells about Mr. Bourdain's adventures and misadventures in his Perfect Meal's search around the world. If you haven't read the book yet, I highly recommend you to do so.
I've been thinking ever since how would the "Perfect Meal" be... and believe it or not... I found it!!! My perfect Meal, of course! So, dear Mr. Bourdain, dear Readers, dear Foodies, please give a try to this Spanish Seafood Menu and let me know if it gets close to perfection or not ;D.
Best Images of the Perfect Meal
Fresh Prawns' Carpaccio marinated in basil's extra virgin olive oil with wild trout's roe.
You can present the carpaccio on a large plate and serve the bread aside or prepare it individually over the toasted bread slices.
The combination of textures and flavours is so pure and amazing! Give it a try, it's delicious!
Lobster's Soupy Rice
It's hard for me to tell what I like the most... rice, lobster, soupy seafood flavour... I couldn't say it, but the combination of all is superb! Magnífico! The Best!
This is a holiday dish, cook it for your friends and you'll have them knoking on your door every Sunday for lunch!
And Tocinillos de Cielo
They will melt in your mouth; shaky and shiny, eggy and syrup, food lust and glutony... ;D.
Best Fresh Products and Best Landscape to achieve Best Results!
Play this handmade video with pictures of the wild and protected area of Ebro's Mouth river to the Mediterranean Sea. It's one of the best places to get these Prawns with designation of origin. It also has the second largest rice fields in Spain. My Bomba rice was bought here.
Pictures of my beloved family and music from P¡nk... hope you like it :D.
Pictures of my beloved family and music from P¡nk... hope you like it :D.
Recipes of the Menu
Prawns Carpaccio
Ingredients for 4 servings: 16-20 toasted bread slices, 16-20 fresh prawns, 150 grs of fresh salmon's roe, some chives, maldon salt and a small bottle of Basil's extra virgin olive oil (you can find it prepared at the supermarket).
- Cut the prawns' heads off. Don't throw them away, use them another day for a fish soup or a seafood cream. Peel the prawns and take their buds off.
- Place some kitchen film over the clean counter and put the prawns over it. Cover them with more film and press them with a plate or your rolling pin until all prawns get thinner. Wrap them completely with the film and place them in the freezer.
- Half hour before you serve the carpaccio, take the prawns out of the freezer, throw away the film, place the prawns in a big plate, pour the extra virgin olive oil over, cut the chives and sprinkle. Reserve in the fridge.
- Just before serving the Carpaccio, make sure is completely unfreezed; place some wild trout's roe on top and sprinkle with a bit of Maldon salt.
- Serve on the same dish or individually over toasted bread.
A little tip... when you go and buy your prawns, make sure they are fresh: they should smell nicely, have a bright skin and when pulling their whiskers they should stay hooked to the head.
Lobster's Soupy Rice
Ingredients for 4 servings: 2 fresh lobsters (frozen ones are not the same), 1 liter of fish stock, 1 carrot, 2 onion, 1 garlic clove, 6 ripe tomatoes, 1 small glass of white wine, black ground pepper, salt, olive oil, 400 grs of bomba rice or a similar one, some parsley and 1/4 of a kilo of fresh mussels.
If you want your lobster to be the best... then go for females! You will recognize them when looking at their bellies and choosing those with the dark blue pieces (see the picture). Males' are paler.
- Carefully cut the Lobsters' heads off. Now, cut them in half and put inside a big sauce pan with some olive oil and let them golden up a bit. Sprinkle with some salt and a bit of black ground pepper. When done (it won't take more than 5 to 8 minutes), add the carrot, 1 onion, 1 tomatoe and 1 garlic (all peeled and chopped) and stir at low/medium heat until the veggies loose their water, then add the wine and stir a bit more. Let the alcohol evaporate and then add 1 liter and a half of mineral water. Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes. After that time, and using a Chinese strainer, squeeze all the components and get a concentrated stock out of it. Reserve.
- In a deep saucepan add some olive oil and cook the bodies of the lobsters until they become red. Reserve aside and in the same saucepan, add the other onion (peeled and chopped) and when transparent pour the grated tomatoes and start the sofrito. When the tomatoe has lost all its water and it gets oily again, throw the garlic (minced) in and stir until fragant.
- Add the concentrated lobster heads stock we prepared, some salt and bring to boil.
- When it starts boiling add the rice and stir. Let it cook for 15 minutes at medium heat. The last 5 minutes add the lobsters' bodies in.
- Meanwhile clean and steam the mussels. Reserve the mussels in a plate and strain their water. Reserve too.
- If you see that the rice has absorved too much stock, then add the mussels water, and if you still think that is not enough add some of the fish stock you had for the recipe (it should be boiling when you add it)
- When the 15 minutes have gone through, taste and add more salt if necessary; sprinkle with some chopped parsley, add the mussels and cover the deep sauce pan with a lid for 3 minutes.
- Now it's ready to serve! Mmmmmm!
If you want your lobster to be the best... then go for females! You will recognize them when looking at their bellies and choosing those with the dark blue pieces (see the picture). Males' are paler.
Tocinillos de Cielo
Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings. Measures for a 10 batch: 10 egg yolks, 500 grs of white sugar, 500 ml of mineral water and one vanilla pod. For smaller molds, the batch will obviously larger.
- Place the sugar, the water and the vanilla pod (opened in half) inside a pot and let it boil until you get a thick syrup. Take the vanilla pod off and use a kitchen brush to paint the molds inside. Reserve the rest.
- Beat the eggs' yolks and when the syrup is at room temperature add to the yolks little by little. Keep on beating when you mix it.
- Preheat the oven at 170 to 180ºC.
- Pour the yolks through a strainer to get a fine mixture.
- Take the oven's tray and pour water in it. Place the molds inside so that the water covers half of them. Pour the yolks mixture inside the molds and place in the 2 oven's track.
- Bake for aproximately 1 hour. It will all depend on the oven, the size of the molds and their composition... Use a toothpick to see if they are done. If it comes out clean, it's time to take them off. Let them cool and unmold. Place inside the fridge.
- Present them nicely and cold.
In some recipes the eggs white is also added; cinnamon and lemon zest are other possible ingredients. You can get as creative as you want ;D.
THANK YOU FOODBUZZ PEOPLE TO LET ME SHOW WHAT MY PERFECT MEAL IS!!!! IF YOU WANT TO TASTE IT... YOU KNOW WHERE I AM ;D. IF ANY OF YOU TRAVELS TO BARCELONA, I'LL BE HAPPY TO SHARE IT WITH YOU!!!
