huevos rotos

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Huevos rotos (literally “broken eggs” in Spanish) is a very traditional dish with many variations, but all including perfectly crispy fried eggs with soft yolks and fried potatoes. The ones you see below include jamón and chorizo Ibérico, caramalised onions and shaved truffle. The one you see above is my first attempt at making this at home. I used chorizo criollo and added some pimentón piquante as my favourite version so far (from Vineria San Telmo) includes spicy chorizo with lots of pimentón inside, which blends perfectly with the hot egg yolk and fried potatoes.

I served it with a tomato and spring onion salad, both of which are just coming into season now, and it was a great side dish that added a fresh touch and balanced the meal out quite nicely.

[huevos rotos at Gusto Ristobar, Vineria San Telmo & El Gallinero de Sandra]

Ingredients and instructions below…

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grilled soy(a) tuna

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This isn’t so much a recipe as just a great idea – came across it on Twitter the other day and now can’t remember who posted it. Anyhow, you just take some fresh tuna steaks, lightly salt & pepper them and set aside. Then sautée some spring onion and garlic in olive oil; when nicely browned push to one side of the pan and add the tuna. When the tuna is cooked to your liking splash some soy/soya sauce into the pan, turn tuna to coat in sauce. Done!

Very simple and very tasty.

fabada asturiana

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I’d had a kilo bag of alubias blancas in the cupboard for ages and so finally decided to do something with them. But what? Foodie friends on Twitter suggested a Fabada Asturiana. This is traditionally made with fabes de la granga and saffron, but since I had alubias blancas I just went with those, and substituted paprika for saffron. Turns out alubias and fabes are the same thing, basically meaning “large white bean” in different regions of Spain. I think my large white beans were either haricot or cannellini (?). I also picked up a “fabada prep” vacuum-package at the supermarket, containing 300 grams of very serious looking chorizo and morcilla (black pudding) along with a chunk of fatty salt pork, or tocina. Love that they do this here. There is also a “puchero prep” pack available. One day… maybe.

As usual, when trying something new, I checked out a few different recipes on the internet and then did a sort of mash up while adding a twist or two of my own. And the result was very tasty indeed. Rich smoky flavour from the spicy pimentón, a lovely thick beany sauce and lots of meaty goodness. Perfect eating on a chilly January day.

Ingredients and instructions below…

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tortilla-style pasta frittata

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Today I was going to make a tortilla de patatas for my flatmate (really, you want to be my flatmate!) and then saw that there weren’t any potatoes in the house. So then I thought that I would try making a tortilla with pasta instead, which of course is a frittata. Which I have never made before.

Except I didn’t want to have to bother with turning on the oven and all that.

So I decided to try making a frittata but “tortilla-style”. Which means that instead of popping the frittata into the oven when it’s partially cooked, I would flip it and finish cooking it in the pan. And I think it turned out really well.

One day I’ll try a proper frittata, but this is a great option for people who either don’t have an oven or, like me, can’t be bothered to use it most of the time. It’s also a great way to use up left-over pasta.

Ingredients and instructions below…

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hot butter lobster with chilli, scallops & parmegiano pastries

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Another great recipe from guest contributor, fellow foodie & friend WeeRascal…

Everyone has their own theory about how best to kill lobster. Below is a link that will help you. Either way, you need to boil it. There should be 10 minutes at a boil for the first pound of lobster, and three minutes for every following pound. Unfortunately, this dish isn’t very linear and you will have several things on the go at the same time, but I have tried to explain the sequence as best I can.

How long to boil a lobster

Ingredients and instructions below…

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marinated tuna brochettes

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[click to enlarge]

This dish was inspired by a lovely tuna ventresca marinated in soya sauce and served with black olive paté that I had the other day at La Azotea, which somehow ended up as brochettes and I forgot the olive paté. Anyhow, they were delicious and super easy to make – can’t wait to try them on the barbeque!

Ingredients and instructions below…

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chicken in spicy peanut sauce

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I kind of just threw this together one day last week and have ended up making it three times since. It’s very satisfying and also low-carb, though my flatmate had it over basmati rice and said it was wonderful. I’d never made peanut sauce before so just used some crunchy peanut butter as a base and it turned out quite well. Measurements for the sauce are a bit slapdash, but it’s easy to just add and taste as you go along.

Ingredients and instructions below…

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chicken pesto risotto with portobellos

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a risotto recipe (or for that matter – anything!). This one actually happened “by accident” when I was planning to make some chicken pesto with spaghetti for my friend and she informed me she’d had a rather pasta-heavy week. So I improvised and used the same ingredients in this risotto. It was really good!

Ingredients and instructions below…

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potato “raclette” casserole

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Just so you know, this has nothing to do with a proper raclette, nor does it use raclette cheese. But as it does involve mostly potatoes and melted cheese this is what came to mind as I was making it. It all started yesterday when I realised that the very special Swedish Vasterbottensost Cheese that my friend Karin had brought for me in October was about to reach its expiry date. I’d been saving it for a special occasion…

Anyhow, it was such a miserable wet and cold day that some comfort food was definitely required and, after trying a bit of the Vasterbottensost (delicious!) decided it needed to be eaten as simply as possible. And so I came up with this. It was a perfect rainy day meal … and also made for great leftovers!

Ingredients and instructions below…

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