Seafood Pasta

Seafood!

Neptune his favorite meal!

I once read somewhere about Italian farmers combining their gold from the land, being pasta, with the diamonds from the sea, being seafood, and blablabla... Just a romantic story to say: Seafood pasta is AWESOME! Probably one of the best dishes in the world, that is if you like seafood. But who doesn't?!?

When I was a kid, growing up between Italy and Belgium, my favorite meal used to be "spaghetti alle vongole", a very simple pasta dish with cockles (a small kind of edible clams). Actually it still is one of my favourite dishes and my father is a master in preparing it! 

But I've discovered something else... In a restaurant hidden somewhere in Northern Italy, where only locals and their ocasional guests go, I've discovered a pasta called "spaghetti allo scoglio". It really blew me away. So good! The restaurant is called La Fontanina and they make a killer spaghetti allo scoglio, which in English would be called "seafood spaghetti".

Here is my recipe of how to make this dish. It isn't really the same as they serve in the restaurant, but I'm getting pretty close! 

For this dish I use bouchot mussels which are very small mussels. I think they are perfect to use in pasta dishes. If you can't find bouchot mussels just go for the smalles mussels available. It is much nicer to have small mussels in your pasta than having to find your pasta between giant mussels.

Spaghetti allo Scoglio

Ingredients: for 2 large portions

250gr spaghetti 

400gr (bouchot) mussels 

200 gr clams

6 prawns (peeled or unpeeled, your preference)

2 crayfish (1 per person)

3 garlic cloves

1 onion, chopped

1 can (400gr) diced tomatoes

1 tbs fresh oregano

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 small glass of white wine

Olive oil

Preparation:

Take a large casserole and heat 1 tbs of olive oil. Fry one, roughly cut, garlic clove and add the clams. put on the lid. After 1 minute add the mussels and the white wine. Shake once in a while and turn of the heat when the mussels are open. With a skimmer take out the mussels and clams and set aside. Strain the remaining liquid, to prevent potential sand in your dish, and set aside.

Take a large pan and fry 2 garlic cloves and the onion. After about 5 minutes add the diced tomatoes 

Add the herbs, the strained seafood liquid and let it simmer on low heat. Meanwhile start boiling slightly salted water to cook your pasta.

When the sauce has a thick structure add the crayfish and the prawns. At this moment start cooking your pasta. After about 7 to 8 minutes (the spaghetti needs to be al dente) add the mussels and clams to the sauce and stir. Get you pasta out of that water and add to the sauce. Stir the whole thing until the spaghetti is covered in sauce.

Serve on a large plate.

It is nice to have this in the middle of the table and serve everyone right at the table. 

Bellisimo!

Asian Style Mussels

Mussels from ...

... the sea.

Because of the cold weather we are having here in Belgium and surrounding countries, the mussel season had  been postponed with two weeks! But it is finaly there! Here in Belgium the musselseason goes from June until May.

Mussels are one of Belgium's traditional products, known as the famous "Moules frites"... and yeah, it are mussels with french fries on the side. By the way... isn't it weird that something typically from Belgium, talking about the fries here, is called french? But back to the mussels-business!

The traditional method to prepare mussels in Belgium is with white wine, or just nature. But not only the Belgians know how to prepare mussels! I've tasted some great Asian mussels dishes and the mediterraneans also have their tasteful ways of preparing this wonderful product.

Here is a recipe how I prepare Asian style mussels. It is a fresh, spicy and very aromatic preparation, perfect if you like to serve something special for your friends!

Hint: if you like raw oysters, try a raw mussel once; really delicious and a worthy aperitif! And it's cheaper than oysters.

Asian style mussels

Ingredients:

• 1 kg mussels
• 200ml coconut milk
• 1 tsp chopped ginger (a nicely overfilled spoon)
• 1 tsp chopped lemongrass (also a nicely overfilled spoon)
• 1 small chopped chili pepper
• 1 tbs fish sauce (you can find this in every Asian store, or even in a big supermarket)
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 stalk of celery, chopped
• a handfull of cilantro
• 1 tbs peanut oil

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a large pot on high heat. Add the ginger, lemongrass, chopped chili, onion & celery. Only braise shortly for about 1 minute. Add the fish sauce and stew for another minute. Add the mussels and the coconut milk and put the lid on the pot. Shake after 5 minutes to make sure the mussels from the bottom get to the top and vice versa. The will be ready when the mussels are open. You don't want them to get overcooked, causing them to become rubbery.

Take your pot from the heat, add the chopped cilantro and shake up one last time. Serve with bread or white rice.

Delicious!

April 30, 2013

Refried Beans

Mr Bean.

... is very nutritious!

I've liked the Tex-Mex kitchen from when I was small. Taco's, burrito's, quesadillas, and so on. Served with some nice home made guacamole, maybe a salad on the side and of course some refried beans!

Mmmm! Refried beans are something you must have on your table when serving Tex-Mex food!

They are a perfect side dish. Or maybe put some in your wrap, or stick some tortilla chips in some refried beans and heat in the oven with some grated cheese on top. Delicious! And really easy to make.

Refried Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Pinto Beans (or dry pinto beans)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• additional: cumin powder, grated cheese, sour cream, ...

Preparation:

If you use dry beans, put them a night in slightly salted water to soak.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and fry the onion and the garlic. Add the chili powder and give it a stir (I like to add 1 tsp of cumin to). Now add the beans and cook until the beans are warmed through.

Mash the beans with a wooden spoon. If the beans are to dry, you can add some chicken broth to moisten. Stir in the cilantro.

Your refried beans are ready to serve! You can also put the beans in the oven with some grated cheese on top before serving. Or serve with some sour cream on top.

Enjoy!

July 10, 2013

Sausage with beer sauce

Chutný!

Means Bon Appetit in Czech.

This something for the beer lovers out there! 

Some time ago I wrote e Belgian recipe with beer; "Genste Stoverij". Now I travel 900km to a country next to Germany and Poland. The Czech republic is not really known for it's culinary delicacies, but that does not mean you can't have a good meal over there!

So as I told you, this recipe is going to be with beer. Not a strong beer this time, just a pilsner. And what goes hand in hand with beer? Sausage! Just ask the Germans, their Oktoberfest is nothing but sausage and beer!

This dish is perfect to make when you are home alone or want to make an easy and cheap meal.

Sausage with beer sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 nice sausages
• 1/2 onion
• 1 potato
• 1 garlic clove
• a hand full of parsley
• 1 tbs flower
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tbs worcestershire sauce
• 2 cans of beer (about 33cl)
• pinch of salt
• butter (to bake)

Preparation:

Boil some water in a pot, when it reaches boiling point turn down the heat and put in the sausages. Let them swell for 5 minutes and dry when done with a paper towel. Meanwhile cut the onion into rings, slide the garlic and cut the potato into small fries from about 2mm on 2mm. 

Take a prying pan and fry the sausages in the butter. After a few minutes add the onion and the garlic and let them stove with the sausage. When the sausage has a nice brown color and the onion looks glassy, add the  flower and let it bake a few minutes. Now pour over 1 can of beer and add the potatoes, the sugar and the worcestershire sauce.

Put on a lid and let it simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. In the meantime cut the parsley. When the potatoes are ready, turn of the heat. Serve on a plate and garnish with the parsley.

Take the other beer and enjoy it with this dish!

July 5, 2013

Caesar salad

All hail Caesar!

... the salad not the emperor.

I love a salad once in a while and this must be one of my favorites! The Caesarsalad. It is so simple yet so tasteful and rich. The original caesarsalad was not named after the great Roman emperor Julius Caesar... No, there once was an Italian chef, who lived in San Diego and worked somewhere in a restaurant in Tijuana. He prepared a salad and named it after himself; Caesar Cardini. Egocentric? Maybe. But genius! Because this salad nowadays is one of the most popular salads and you can find it in loads of different restaurants prepared in different ways. The original salad only consisted of romaine lettuce, croutons, garlic, parmesan, worcestershire sauce and a hard boiled egg. 

This original version sounded a bit boring for me, so in my recipe I add chicken, bacon and a dressing inspired on the other ingredients.
Imagine sitting poolside in the summer sun with a homemade caesar salad and a glass of red wine or a cold beer... Heaven!
This salad is perfect as a lunch, side dish or starter!

Caesar salad my way

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast
• a few slices of bacon
• romaine salad
• 1 egg, raw
• 1 garlic clove
• worcestershire sauce
• lemon or lime
• corn oil or sunflower oil
• mustard, without seeds
• yoghurt
• old bread
• olive oil
• parmesan, not grated
• salt & pepper

Preparation:

Start by cutting your chicken into small pieces and season them with salt and pepper. Bake your bacon until it is crunchy and put aside on a paper towel. Before adding it to the salad in the end, break the slices into smaller pieces.Bake the chicken in some olive oil until it has a nice brown color. Cut the bread into small squares and toast them in a frying pan in some olive oil.

Now take a bowl and a mixer. The dressing we are about to make looks a bit like mayonnaise, the making process is the same. Add the egg yolk to the bowl and squeeze in the garlic clove. add a tablespoon of mustard and the juice of half a lime or lemon. Put in your mixer and start mixing on a low speed. Slowly start adding some corn or sunflower oil while mixing. The mixture will begin to thicken as you add more oil. Once you've achieved the same density as a nice mayonnaise (which is pretty thick), add a tablespoon of yoghurt and a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce. Mix again on low speed until you have a smooth, liquid substance. (hint: you can add some anchovies to this mixture if you like!)

Now take a large salad bowl and add the salad. Now add the chicken and the bacon and pour over some dressing. Add the croutons and finish by grating some parmesan on top. (I use the slice grater to have nice "slices" of parmesan of about 2cm on 2cm)

Isn't this salad gorgeous?!

Enjoy!!!

July 3, 2013