Chourico Cake, Steamed Moules, Courgette Volcanoes

On a week where tickets for The National sold out faster than baseball bats at a Jedward gig, it would be hard to imagine how the weekend could be enjoyable. I am still asking myself as to exactly how that happened.

Another question I was asking this week was how did I manage to get covered in red wine whilst catching up with some friends earlier this week. I remember the amazing foie gras terrine and the excellent dark celeriac puree that came with the rack of pork, I just don't remember how wine jumped from Miss Salty Squids glass (YES! the very same 'angel' that takes these beautiful photos and cooks some top nosh , eh nosh) and landed on me. All over me. Down the back of my shirt, over my right shoulder and down the front of my shirt to my belly button fluff holder. Perhaps I was getting a bit too much pleasure from the food? I don't know. It was as if Miss Salty Squid suddenly found a tiny frog on her hand and tried to shake it off. While holding a glass of wine. Quite a big glass of wine in fact because even after giving me the tie-dyed shirt luck there was STILL wine in her glass! You know it's time to leave a restaurant when the waitress brings your a spray of carpet cleaner.

Alas, ticket-less, shirtless (kinda) and stuffed on rich food, Salty Squid waddled into this weeks tapas determined to make something that will set the tone for the week ahead. Fresh Irish mussels, a chorizo cake and courgette volcanoes....what more does one need, apart from tickets to the National and a new shirt?


Chourico Cake

5 eggs; 100 g melted/cooled butter; 4-5 tbsp olive oil; 185 ml milk; 310 g flour; 2 tsp baking powder; salt; 250 g chorizo (the best quality you can get); chopped fresh coriander/parsley; 1 small onion; 2-3 garlic cloves - finely chopped.

When oh, when will we run out of chorizo recipes? Or when will we turn into chorizo ourselves? One excellent way around 'not' having chorizo again is to cook a recipe from the excellent 'Piri Piri Starfish' cookbook from Tessa Kiros.



Sweat the onions and garlic off until soft. Add the chopped chorizo and cook for about 5 mins. Add the chopped coriander and set aside to cool. Season.

Beat the eggs until fluffy and add the butter and oil, continuing to whisk. Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour and whisk into the mix. Then add the milk and continue to mix until it is all nice and smooth.

Add the chorizo and mix well. Pour the mix into a greased and floured cake tin and pop into a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 25-30mins.

Moules Mariniére with Crémant-cream

600g fresh mussels; enough garlic to cancel Season 3 of True Blood; couple of shallots; chilli; a sarcastic handful of parsley; cream to taste; butter to cook; a big pot with a lid; white wine or Crémant

Wash your mussels in plenty of cold water. I really want to make jokes about mussels here but I am going to rise above it. Nope, not going to do it. It's childish and we here at Salty Squid are really really mature. Half German remember!! For washing the mussels, I like to fill the bath with water, add the mussels then dive in myself in full scuba diving gear and pretend that I am actually catching them myself, but you don't have to do do this.

Perhaps, placing them into a big bowl or pot and leave the cold tap running over them for few mins would better suit your lifestyle. If the shells are open gently smack them off your neighbours car - they should close. If not, feed them to Jedward.

Finely chop the garlic and shallots and chilli and cook gently in butter until soft. Not coloured. Add some white wine or Crémant*, the mussels, crank the heat up to 11 and put the lid on. Shake the pot about from time to time - well you are only cooking them for 3 or 4 mins so don't go for a trek in the hills or anything. Once they have opened, add the cream and parsley and remove from the heat. Serve with crusty baguette.

* we happend to be drinking Crémant, and were not going to but some vino just for this - 15 eur budget and all that!

Courgette Volcanoes w/ Fennel & Ginger purée

2 x courgettes; 2 x fennel; knob of ginger, finely chopped; 2 x onion chopped; 2 x garlic crushed; 1 celery stick chopped; bunch of coriander; 500ml chicken stock; thin slices of Parmesan; thin slices of prosciutto

Depending on the size of the courgettes, cut the into 3 or 4. Remove the seeds with a knife. Cook one of the onions and some garlic until soft. Add the courgettes and the hot chicken stock and cook until the courgettes have softened a little - about 3 mins. Remove them and set aside. Reserve the cooking stock.

To make the fennel puree, sweat of the rest of the onions and garlic and the celery and ginger. Once softened, add the fennel which has been roughly chopped and cook for a few mins. Add the chicken stock and cook until the fennel is soft. Blitz and pass through a sieve. Season to taste.

Line the courgettes on a baking tray and fill them with the puree. Arrange a slice of Parmesan and a slice of prosciutto on top and place under a hot grill until the ham is crispy. Devour at once!

In the glass
Crémant De Loire, 12.5% Bodegas Abanico, Eternum Viti, Toro 14.5%

On the stereo
Lali Puna, Red Hot Chilli Peppers (why?), The National (Cry!)