Patatas Bravas, Stuffed Squid, Goats Cheese and Black Olive Tapenade Crostini

Following on from what was the worlds greatest Tortilla last week, I felt the pressure to use another typical tapas dish. Although we don't have to do Spanish dishes, I still find myself leaning that way, there are really just so many amazing tapas dishes you want to make yourself, I find it's great fun just playing around with them, but the really great thing is the simplicity. Maybe it's the Irishman in me, but I do love potatoes, so what better tapas to kick off this weeks entry with than Patatas Bravas with a super spicy Mojo sauce. I love chilli too. But who cares what I love. Here is our next installment of Tapas Friday.



Patatas Bravas with Mojo Sauce
Patatas Bravas is one of my favourite tapas dishes. I went the healthier route and roasted my potatoes in the oven, instead of frying them, but you can do whatever you feel like. The Mojo sauce is by far my favourite to have with these. First off, peel your potatoes, I usually go by one spud per mouth. Peel and cut them whatever way turns you on. I went for cubes here, although, that is pushing it as they looked more like random out of shape cubes. The kinda cubes that will never be really cool perfect 10 cubes, but until the cube police come a knocking, I'm calling them cubes. Sprinkling with olive oil, salt and a squeeze of lemon juice and plop into a hot (220c) oven. Turn the heat down to 180c once they go in and then give them a toss after 10-15 mins, then give them another 10-15mins until a knife goes thorough the centre easy-peasy.

While the spuds are getting funky in the oven, pound the be-jasus out of a sweet red pepper, clove or 3 of garlic (I roasted mine but you don't have to, raw is cool), about a tablespoon of cumin seeds - if you give them a quick flash in a really hot pan for a few seconds first it brings out the flavour a lot more, some smoked paprika, and a little (a lot) of hot chilli powder, brazil nuts and almonds. Pound it like its 1983 in a mortar & pestle, taking a break to sip some Cremant every 9-10 blows. Add some olive oil every now and then to give it a nice saucy consistency, give it a squeeze of lime juice and a bit of fresh parsley. Season to taste and you are done. I added a bit of homemade mayo to this one, but you don't have to. Serve it a room temp. The sauce, not the sparkly. Also, if you don't have a nice heavy mortar & pestle just put it all into a food processor/blender and blitz.

Stuffed Squid with Romesco (yeah whatever) Sauce

This was a lot of fun to make, and even more fun to eat. I had some mince pork (125g) frozen which was great. OK, so chop an onion and as much garlic as you like and some parsley stalks. Fry them off, add the mince and brown. Through in some smoked paprika, chilli powder, and sweet paprika. Next, soak some saffron threads in a little hot water for a second, then add to the pan with chopped black olives. I also had some bread crumbs which found their way into the mix. Let the liquid reduce a bit and thicken. Season to taste and add some chopped parsley. I let this cool before stuffing as much as humanly possible into the squid, and closing it (in a spectacularly unsuccessful way) with toothpicks. Two should be enough if you are talented, mine was looking a bit like Pinhead from Hellraiser, AND the filling was still seeping out. I think it has something to do with the Squid shrinking in size a little as it's cooked while the filling doesn't. Next stop, NASA. The good news is, before taing a photo I removed most of the toothpicks and tarted her up like a teenager outside Copper Face Jacks on a Saturday eve !

Now that we have our stuffed squid ready to be cooked, put the dirty pan you cooked the filling in onto a high heat. De-glaze it with a liquid, I used port but water is fine if you are eight. Let it reduce a little then add a chopped tomato and the squid. Turn the heat to medium and cover, turn the squid every now and then. I cooked mine for about 35ish mins and it was nice and soft. I was a bit afraid of it being just like rubber but it was OK. I served it on a Romesco (yeah whatever) sauce. For that, I roasted a red pepper and garlic. Once the pepper blackens, remove from the oven into a little bag a tie a knot and allow to cool. God I would love a blue cheese burger now. Just assuming you stopped reading 2 paragraphs ago and are presently en-route to your fishmonger. When its cool it will be easy to peel. Blitz, blend, pound or mash it with some almonds, sweet paprika, salt and pepper. maybe a squeeze of lime, maybe ...

To serve, starting from bottom up I went, Romesco, cooking sauce from squid, then squid. Just let the squid rest a min before slicing it with a knife so sharp you could cut frozen icemen from a cave in Greenland. Some natural yoghurt gives a bit of colour.

Goat Cheese Crostini with Black Olive 'Tapenade'


I love goat cheese. Love it. Love it. Love it. Just thought we should get that out of the way. For the crostini I sliced some bread. Wow. For the 'tapenade' I just blitz some left over black olives. Wow Wow. For the goat cheese I cut it, with a knife!! Spread the 'tapenade' onto the bread, add the goats cheese and stick it under the grill till gratinated. Add a little left over roasted red pepper for colour if you feel fancy. Eat two at a time. This has got to be easier, tastier, healthier and something else ending in 'ier' than any microwave meal. Enjoy!



Shopping List:



Squid (fishmonger) €3.40
Olives (deli) €2.85
Goat Cheese (deli) €2.36
Almonds (health shop) €1.99
Bread (deli) €1.95
Veggies (local veg shop) €3.17
.........................................................

Total €15.72

(I was lucky to have some pork mince in the freezer!)

Drinks:


Cremant De Loire, same as last week
Montezovo Valpolicella 2008, 13%

Chocolate. Delicious. Must have more.

On the strereo:
Notwist, Mo'Horizon, Spoon