Calling all pork lovers with a foot fetish...

What did you think? Dirty minds you...
Just messing around with some pig trotters the other day and came up with this...purely experimental for now, but I think it's worth sharing!

Pig's trotter and fava beans terrine

I started by boiling dry fava beans till "al dente" .
While this was going on, I was slowly boiling a pig trotter in lightly salted water, covered, along with a good splash of cider vinegar and onion, some garlic cloves, a couple ribs of celery, couple carrots ,all roughly chopped.

After a couple hours, I drained the meat and the vegs and added the drained fava beans to the pig stock and cookes a little longer until done.

In the while I picked and chopped the meat, rind and cartilage.

Drained the favas, again, and added the bones of the trotters to the stock and let reduce by more than half, slowly and uncovered.

Time to get it all together:
In a skillet I warmed up equal parts of vinegar and stock, a couple cloves, a few berrie of allspice, a sliced jalapeño pepper, salt and sugar.

When all this started boiling I poured it over the meat and vegs, along with some fresh cilantro and thinly sliced red onion.

I let it pickle for a while, waiting for it to cool down.

Once cold, the fava beans and the reduce fatty, sticky stock went in too and I transferred everything to a mold

which I wrapped with film and set to chill overnight in the cooler.

The next day, yesterday, I just took it out, carefully scored the edges with a knife and inverted it onto a plate.  GOOD!

We'll have it today at lunch, sided by a fresh garden salad to fight back the guilt trip....

Try it and let me know....

Grilled squids with carrot neige, chickpeas and charmoula

You can substitute small tender squids for baby octopus, cuttlefish or slices of THICK octopus tentacle.
Even though it might look complex and labour intensive, a bit of planning ahead and good prep will make this dish a breeze...

1) Chickpeas: you'll have them soaked overnight . Rinse them and boil them with some garlic, bay leaves and some chili flakes.Give them 20 minutes a full boil, check for doneness and salt.

When tender, but not soft, shut the heat and let cool.

2) Carrot neige: while the chickpeas boil, prepare this.

Peel and slice carrots in round, quite thin (couple mills), place them in a pan  with a big chi¿unk of butter, a good amount of sugar and enough water to almost cover the carrots.

Add a small splash of vanilla and simmer  until tender.

Transfer to a blender, add enough cream and blend life out of it...

If you feel fancy and proper, go ahead and strain.

3) Charmoula:Think you're making a pesto with half cilantro and half Italian parsley. Add garlic, paprika, coriander and cumin ( all to taste..), salt and lemon juice. Lube with a generous amount of olive oil and pulse in a robot or a blender until you achieve the "pesto texture".

Flavour wise, you'll want to taste the citrus of the lemon and of the coriander seeds, above the cumin... but still the herbs are going to be there..present and fragrant.

4) Protein: marinate briefly with vegetable oil, garlic, S&P and a bit oh heat.

Place on a HOT grill and cook until tender and nicely charred/marked on the outside.

That's it, just put the dish together as in the pic and enjoy...wine? BEER!

Buon Appetito! ; )

Roasted sweet peppers and sheep's cheese rolls

Here's Sicilian inspired dish. It delivers all the sunshine and flavours of Sicily (or Mediterranean Spain...) in this chilly winter days.
A favourite in my catering menus as well...

For this great appetizer, or side to a grilled fish, start by charring the skin of a large red bell pepper over an open flame. Place the blackened pepper in a plastic bag and let it rest for around 15 minutes for the steam to loosen the charred skin.

While this happens, work on the stuffing:

Take the crust off a 2 days old country bread, sourdough or any other rustic bread and cut it into small cubes.

Place the bread into a mixing bowl and add freshly chopped Italian parsley, basil and garlic to taste.

Season with S&P, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and drizzle liberally with olive oil...the stronger and heavier, the better.

Mix everything, taste, and coarsely grate the aged sheep's cheese until you get just the right bite  (note: ideally I would use a good pecorino from Sardinia, but any good aged Spanish sheep's cheese will work way more than ok..look for  Roncal, Canal or Idiazabal at your cheese store).

At this point the stuffing should still be quite dry and coarse.

Place a ripe tomato in a blender and liquefy it; add it to the stuffing and mix it; if needed, repeat with more tomato. Adjust with S&P and reserve.

Peel the roasted pepper and get rid of the seeds and veins, rinse it and carefully cut it in fillets.

Place some stuffing on the inside of the pepper, roll it up as in the pic and place it on a plate.

Top with an anchovy fillet (optional, but strongly recommended...), a few fried capers and a drizzle of best olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar - or balsamic syrup.

There you have it...sunshine in a plate!

Well dressed at a dinner party...

At home...

Buon appetito.

Stuffed mussels with chorizo and Manchego

Here's an easy and yummy recipe fora mussels appetizer with distinct Spanish accent.

Scrub the mussels, pull the "barb" away and open them.

Prepare the stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, grated aged Manchego (or Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano) in a 3 to 1 blend and chopped parsley.

Sautee diced Spanish chorizo with olive oil, a bit of onion, some celery and a touch of garlic.

Render the fat and add everything to the bread mixture.

If the stuffing results too dry, add olive oil until moist enough to handle.

Now take a mussel, use it to scoop up a "load" of stuffing and slightly press it with cupped hands.

Repeat.

Arrange the mussels on a baking dish (I use a cast iron skillet), sprinkle a bit more of cheese and bits of butter on top and bake in a medium hot oven until a nice crust appears.

Serve with parsley and a wedge of lemon.

Chardonnay,stainless steel, would be great or, better, a Gavi, an Orvieto or a good dry rose'.