A Foie Gras Odyssey

One month after our one night of tastes sensations at Tickets Bar and El Cellar De Can Roca (posts to follow), I return to Barcelona for the next chapter. This time on my eating agenda, I plam to visit a few simple tapas bar - for my stomach, wallet and heart was still recovering from the previous trip of overindulgence. Two nights and two full days of gorging on Jamon, Foie Gras and Pimientos del Padron, I was to be in heaven - or was I?

First meal was at La Pepita, a new small tapas bar in the Gracia district, with a small menu of hot and cold tapas, "tapalatas" and "pepitas" - a type of sandwich with various fillings and sauces on thinly sliced bread. We had a mix of cold plates, marinated mussels, a generous serving of foie gras mi-cuit complemented by fig vinaigrette and thinly sliced fennel. This dish was rich and slightly gamey; whilst a pumpkin and red pepper gazpacho with sliced Iberico ham was surprisingly refreshing. Croquetas wtih Iberico ham - one normal serving and one V.I.P portion(i.e with extra shaved jamon on top) was disappointing, doughy and rather heavy. A blue cheese, mushroom and pork loin pepita followed and whilst it was nice to have something warm, I have to admit that looking around the small room, plates of eggs with shaved ham, potatoes or grilled foie - if you so desired; along with other larger plates, we didn't order the best here. La Pepita was a small intimate place, with menu written on the mirror behind the bar, friendly staff and a buzzy feel and really my disappointment lay mostly in our choice of dishes.

Saturday morning started with the famous La Boqueria market on Las Ramblas and ended with a rather heavy heart and cholesterol laden body. Foie Gras overload. Grilled prawns, razorclams and padron peppers at Boqueria was followed by a trip to a small wine and tapas bar called Quimet y Quimet; a tiny space with just a few standing places at the bar and a couple of makeshift wine barrel tables and floor to ceiling of wine bottles. I like this place already. We arrived just after 12, which was ideal as not before long, the place filled up; whilst we maintained prime position in the front counter, watching the one man show carefully construct various little pinxtos like snacks. We sampled a few of these - smoked salmon, yoghurt and truffled honey, tuna tomato and fig, mushrooms and pate with truffled balsalmic vinegar as well as foie gras on a cracker with volcanic sea salt - I love small plates and sampling a multitude of dishes. My kind of place. Thinking we had not yet had enough of Quimet y Quimet, we go on to order a mini plate of meat, which included yet more foie, pate and various cold cuts; a small plate of cheese and yet more bread to accompany these. All washed down with some Muscadel wine made for an extremely enjoyable way to spend an hour.

Some obligatory shopping and walking followed to allow for digestion and further consumption. We walked up and then down the Passage de Gracia. On the way back down, late afternoon, we pass by Tapas24, a former El Bulli chef and think a snack is in order. A Bikini Commerc 24 - a posh toastie, filled with jamon iberico, bufalo mozzarella and black truffles along with their McFoie burger - a mini burger with a beef pattie that was mixed with foie gras and was accompanied by an indulgent foie gras ganache, was in order. At EUR9.50 each, this was rather expensive, although I was happy to pay for it until I see a chef bring out a bag of what appeared to be frozen pre-made toasties. The appeal was lost as fast as this little snack was consumed.

The weekend so happened to be holding the Menja de Mercat, an annual food and wine festival with various traders and plenty more to eat. More generous servings of foie gras, oysters, chorizo, chicken dumplings with foie, smoked salmon and cakes, to name but a few. We definitely could not have dinner, or could we. Settling back to the hotel, with the chef being a reknown pastry chef, we have intentions of dessert and tea. We end up however, with grilled foie and mushroom consomme, a well cooked venison fillet followed by chocolate souffle and creme catalan. It was this last piece of foie that did it... I did not want anymore foie gras...least not until tomorrow.

Tomorrow came...more we had. Back to the market and another mini burger, this time with wagyu beef and foie at a fraction of the price. However, this truly was all we could manage.

The final place I had wanted to return to was La Fonda, a place reknown as much for its queues as it was for its paella, generous servings and low prices. We queued, we ordered the black rice paella and we ate. The rice was tasty and moreish, and it was nice to have a sit down proper meal.

I did not think I could tire of foie gras - I did, but, I got over it fairly quickly.

La Pepita 

C/ Còrsega, 343  

08037 Barcelona, Spain

932 38 48 93

La Boqueria

C/ La Rambla, 91  

08002 Barcelona, Spain
933 18 25 84

Quimet y Quimet

Carrer del Poeta Cabanyes, 25  

08004 Barcelona, Spain 
934 42 31 42

Tapas 24
C/ Diputació, 269  
08007 Barcelona, Spain 
934 880 977

La Fonda

Passatge Escudellers, 1  

08002 Barcelona, Spain
933 01 75 15

La Pepita - Croquetas - one standard and one V.I.P

La Pepita - Foie Gras with shaved fennel and fig

La Pepita - Pork Loin and blue cheese "peptia"

Mirrored menu behind the bar at La Pepita

La Boqueria - grilled prawns

La Boqueria - Pimientos de Padron

La Boqueria - Grilled Razorclams

Quimet y Quimet - foie gras with volcanic salt

Quimet y Quimet - Snoked salmon with yoghurt and truffled honey

Quimet y Quimet - Tuna with tomato and fig compote

Quimet y Quimet - Chunky pate with mushrooms and truffled balsamic

Quimet y Quimet - Mini "meat" platte

Quimet y Quimet - Mini cheese platter with bread

Quimet y Quimet

Quimet y Quimet menu

"snack"

Tapas 24 Menu

Tapas 24 - Commerc Bikini 24

Tapas 24 - McFoie Burger with Foie Gras ganache

Which you add to the pattie

Various market snacks

Seafood market snacks

Fonda Espana - Grilled foie with mushroom consomme

El Quim (from La Boqueria) stand at the market

Wagyu Beef patty with foie

La Fonda - Squid ink black rice

Paris in North West London

Lazy sunny Sundays, a mug of coffee, a puddle of soft, chocolate cake  that resembled more a melted cookie. The simple things in life makes me happy. On the few days a year when London basks in somewhat sunshine, I am reminded of why I love it here. The days I can wear shorts and flip flops and feel my arms roasting under the warmth of the Summer rays. London, oh how I heart you. The Wetfish Cafe in West Hampstead derived its name by being an old wet fish shop in the 1900's and is a brasserie which serves up a solid weekend brunch menu of generous and tasty egg dishes, delicious smoothies and of course coffee. On my last visit in August, hazy in the Summer sun, I could hear the coffee machine, as the beans were being ground to make a rather nice, creamy flat white. Soft music is played and this small local cafe with its four Paris-esque round sidewalk tables, complete with woven chairs may just become a local favourite. The company beside me has changed three times as we move into late afternoon, and with this, the chalkboard menu of weekend specials has also been replaced by an inviting message for the wave of afternoon coffee drinkers and pre-dinner dwellers. If I block out the voices of the English speakers around me, for a moment I can pretend I am in Paris. Happy Days. Indeed they are.

Soft chocolate "cake"

Return visit: 29 October 2011: Potato, chorizo and egg scramble w refried black beans 

Return visit: 29 October 2011: Bubble & squeak w poached eggs, crispy pancetta, chipolatas & hollandaise

Of Babies and Basketcases

A good friend of mine just had a beautiful baby girl a couple of days ago and on this same weekend it appeared we were going to get our last rays of summer. She was discharged from hospital yesterday and a group of us had also planned to have a picnic in Primrose Hill to embrace the last of the summer sun, for being September, hopeful as we are for a late summer, we are reminded today by blistering showers, that it is London afterall! Hopeful of being discharged early on Saturday and surprising us all by bringing little Amelia Ruby, weighing in at 2.51kgs and measuring 46cms, to meet us at Primrose Hill. As they were unable to make the picnic, I thought I would bring the picnic to them when visiting their new family! As I was cooking for the picnic anyways, I tried to think of what I could make that my friends would enjoy and thus make for them as well as to bring along to the park. In the end I went with some tried and tested, safe recipes plus a couple of new recipes.

On the menu was:

Yotam Ottolenghi's Mango, Aubergine and Soba Noodle salad with a sweet chilli citrus dressing

This dish featured at her babyshower recently and I knew she was wanting to make it herself as she had just bought the ingredients last week. I love the Ottolenghi shop in Notting Hill -it has scrumptious displays of colourful salads and mouthwatering cakes, almost too good to eat. It is tiny though, bar a few seats outside and a couple of tables inside. I have been told the branch at Angel is also good and also bigger so if you are after a lunch date and coffee spot to sit and chat, this may be a better choice. My adapted version included the addition of red peppers and fried onions, which added a nice crunch to the dish. I couldn't find any sweet ripe mangoes, so mine was the in between variety, what I usually like to eat, not to sweet and not sour. The recipe calls for the mango to be cut in chunks, but I decided to grate it instead as it was not sweet and juicy. It worked but the riper mango does add an element of juiciness and freshness to contrast the other ingredients that the subpar mango did not. So if you have a choice, sweeter one and chunks of it worked better in this recipe - Australian Bowen mangoes would do well here! My version with the grated mango resembled more of a VIetnamese mango salad or a Thai papaya salad - with the ingredients all similar textures and sizes. Crunch was needed. I also used Japanese rice vinegar, which is more mellow that rice wine vinegar which worked just as well. I had visions of packing this in white cardboard Chinese takeaway containers with little handles and providing wooden chopsticks as well. Alas, upon searching a couple of grocery stores and asking a few Chinese restaurants, it appears it is only the Americans who really use these. Well, at least that is what the American sitcoms depict. So I had to settle for more unsightly plastic and foil containers.

Mango Soba Salad Ingredients

Nigel Slater's Sticky Rib marinade, used for chicken wings. This is one of my favourite marinades. I have used it for ribs, which was Nigel Slater's original calling for the marinade and for which the sitckiness of the marinade emulates traditional bbq baby back rib recipes - think sticky fingers and all. However, the marinade also works well with Lamb Cutlets/chops and in this case chicken wings. I imagine it would complement most meats, slightly spicey, yet sweet and savoury at the same time. You could serve this with a nice baguette and some salad, or, as there is the addition of star anise to give it its Oriental influences, it also tastes great with plain jasmine rice. Everyone loves chicken wings (except for maybe, say, Vegetarians).

Nigel Slaters Sticky Rib Marinade (can be used on all meats)

Ingredients for 1.5kg meat

1. 6 tbsp thickish honey

2. 3 heaped tbsp oyster sauce

3. 4 cloves garlic, crushed

4. 1 tsp dried chilli flakes(fresh chillies/extra flakes to suit)

5. 4 whole star anise
6. 1/4 tsp salt flakes
7. 1/4 tsp black peppercorns, crushed

Method

1. Marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.

Cook at 180'C for approximately 40 minutes for chicken wings.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Maple Syrup Glaze and Tomatoes: I saw this recipe linked off WhatKatieAte - a blog I absolutely love. So I decided to make it in the morning before packing up my picnic for my visit. I didn't read the recipe right and baked it in the oven with the lid on, which meant the chicken was tender and soft form baking in its own juices, but lacked the caramelisation that the maple syrup would have brought to the dish had the lid been off. A quick and easy recipe that I would do again, perhaps with less maple syrup, depending on how sweet your palate is. Don't forget to season!

Maple glazed pot roasted chicken

Pan-roasted chicken with maple syrup

Ingredients

1. 1/3 cup maple syrup
2. 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3. 1½ tbsp olive oil
4. 20g butter
5. 4 courgettes, quartered
6. 8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
7. 2 rosemary stalks
8. 8 chicken thigh fillets on the bone, skin on
9. Sea salt & cracked black pepper
10. 200g punnet cherry or grape tomatoes
11. Crusty bread and/or leafy green salad, to serve

Method

1. Place maple syrup and mustard in small bowl and stir to combine.
2. Heat olive oil and butter in large frying pan over high heat.
3. Cook courgettes, garlic cloves and rosemary for 4 mins until beginning to colour. Remove from frying pan and set aside.
4. Season chicken thighs and cook skin side down in frying pan for 5 mins, until golden and crisp. Drain off excess fat.
5. Turn chicken skin side up and drizzle with maple syrup and mustard mixture.
6. Put courgettes, garlic, rosemary and tomatoes in between chicken thighs in frying pan. Season to taste. Place in oven for 25 to 30 mins until chicken is cooked through.

Cook at 200'C (fan forced) for 30-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Banana mini muffins:
This is a tried and tested recipe and probably one of the quickest and most foolproof banana cake recipes I have tried. I usually make this in a loaf tin and have on many an occasion, with the sight of brown overripe bananas sitting in my fruit bowl, thrown this together after work. On some occasions, I felt I really should buy less bananas to save the extra calories bestowed upon my workmates. On one occasion, I made my flatmate take them in to her workmates instead. Calories shared are calories spared. The quickest time was 20- 25minutes from measuring, mashing and mixing to the time this loaf went into the oven. So you can have freshly baked cake most nights of the week! No creaming of butter is involved and with the use of vegetable oil this recipe stays fresh and moist for days. It also freezes very well for times when you just can't face another banana. I chose to make them in a muffin tin this time, thinking of how I was going to package them for my care picnic basket after and know the muffins would be better presented. Worked just as well, though obviously a loaf required less greasing and also meant for more soft cakey parts vs more crusty edges of muffins. Cooking time was reduced to approximately 17 minutes. 

Mini muffins

Moist Banana Cake

Ingredients
1. 2 eggs
2. 3/4 cup vegetable oil
3. 3/4 cup caster sugar (170g)
4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
5. 2 mashed ripe bananas
6. 1.5 cups plain flour (143g)
7. 1 tsp bicarb of soda

Method
1. Beat eggs and add oil. Beat well.
2. Add sugar, vanilla, bananas and beat again
3. Fold in flour and bi-carb
Cook at 180'C for 45-50 minutes for a standard loaf tin. 17 minutes as mini muffins.

Peanut Butter and Choc Chip Muffins: I made this at about 1am. I have a habit of baking or cooking or marinating or anything else I feel will save me some time of a weekend morning. Only I choose to do it at weird hours - sometimes after a few drinks so sometimes recipes may be abit hazy and not quite go to plan. I like peanut butter and I love chocolate, but I thought these muffins weren't great. Perhaps slightly undercooked, but I thought the muffins weren't sweet enough, actually, rather bland and heavy. They did however, puff up nicely and have a dome muffin top. Ah, the familiarity.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Muffins

To ensure all food groups were met, I threw in some cut up melon, a fresh baguette (not homebaked unfortunately!) to accompany the maple glazed chicken, as well as a couple of Mars Bars, Ferrero Rochers - chocolates they like; a rough handwritten menu and a basket sourced from my local Oxfam store. I enjoyed putting it together, it felt personal and satisfying to bring something I had cooked and hoped they would enjoy. It also gave me a chance to try a few new recipes with guinea pigs to test them on. Work in progress on flavours and all but the process is fun. Guineas pigs are always in demand... please apply at your own risk.

Homemade hamper