Nov 28
Fish, seafood & shellfish | Rice & pasta | Traditional Spanish Recipes
Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: The Perfect Meal… did you hear Mr. Bourdain?
My Chef’s “Muse”: Anthony Bourdain
I’ve been hearing a lot about Anthony Bourdain for some time now, but never saw him on TV (I cannot see the No Reservations Tv program here), never read any of his books, never had lunch at his restaurant Les Hailles at New York…not until this summer. I found Viajes de un Chef – A Cook’s Tour: In search of the perfect meal.; I literally devoured it; it was fun, instructive and entertaining. The book tells about Mr. Bourdain’s adventures and misadventures in his Perfect Meal’s search around the world. If you haven’t read the book yet, I highly recommend you to do so.
I’ve been thinking ever since how would the “Perfect Meal” be… and believe it or not… I found it!!! My perfect Meal, of course! So, dear Mr. Bourdain, dear Readers, dear Foodies, please give a try to this Spanish Seafood Menu and let me know if it gets close to perfection or not ;D.
Best Images of the Perfect Meal
Fresh Prawns’ Carpaccio marinated in basil’s extra virgin olive oil with wild trout’s roe.
You can present the carpaccio on a large plate and serve the bread aside or prepare it individually over the toasted bread slices.
The combination of textures and flavours is so pure and amazing! Give it a try, it’s delicious!
Lobster’s Soupy Rice
It’s hard for me to tell what I like the most… rice, lobster, soupy seafood flavour… I couldn’t say it, but the combination of all is superb! Magnífico! The Best!
The rice absorbs the seafood flavours, the lobster is tender and exquisite… Mmmmmm, I bet there will be no leftovers if you try it.
This is a holiday dish, cook it for your friends and you’ll have them knoking on your door every Sunday for lunch!
And Tocinillos de Cielo
They will melt in your mouth; shaky and shiny, eggy and syrup, food lust and glutony… ;D.
One is enough, they have so much egg’s yolk per cm2… but if nobody is looking at you, maybe you would like to grab a second one.
¡Buen provecho! Bon profit! Good Appetite!
Best Fresh Products and Best Landscape to achieve Best Results!
Play this handmade video with pictures of the wild and protected area of Ebro’s Mouth river to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s one of the best places to get these Prawns with designation of origin. It also has the second largest rice fields in Spain. My Bomba rice was bought here.
Pictures of my beloved family and music from P¡nk… hope you like it :D.
Pictures of my beloved family and music from P¡nk… hope you like it :D.
A little tip… when you go and buy your prawns, make sure they are fresh: they should smell nicely, have a bright skin and when pulling their whiskers they should stay hooked to the head.
If you want your lobster to be the best… then go for females! You will recognize them when looking at their bellies and choosing those with the dark blue pieces (see the picture). Males’ are paler.
In some recipes the eggs white is also added; cinnamon and lemon zest are other possible ingredients. You can get as creative as you want ;D.
THANK YOU FOODBUZZ PEOPLE TO LET ME SHOW WHAT MY PERFECT MEAL IS!!!! IF YOU WANT TO TASTE IT… YOU KNOW WHERE I AM ;D. IF ANY OF YOU TRAVELS TO BARCELONA, I’LL BE HAPPY TO SHARE IT WITH YOU!!!
Recipe
Prawns Carpaccio
Ingredients for 4 servings: 16-20 toasted bread slices, 16-20 fresh prawns, 150 grs of fresh salmon's roe, some chives, maldon salt and a small bottle of Basil's extra virgin olive oil (you can find it prepared at the supermarket).
- Cut the prawns' heads off. Don't throw them away, use them another day for a fish soup or a seafood cream. Peel the prawns and take their buds off.
- Place some kitchen film over the clean counter and put the prawns over it. Cover them with more film and press them with a plate or your rolling pin until all prawns get thinner. Wrap them completely with the film and place them in the freezer.
- Half hour before you serve the carpaccio, take the prawns out of the freezer, throw away the film, place the prawns in a big plate, pour the extra virgin olive oil over, cut the chives and sprinkle. Reserve in the fridge.
- Just before serving the Carpaccio, make sure is completely unfreezed; place some wild trout's roe on top and sprinkle with a bit of Maldon salt.
- Serve on the same dish or individually over toasted bread.
Lobster's Soupy Rice
Ingredients for 4 servings: 2 fresh lobsters (frozen ones are not the same), 1 liter of fish stock, 1 carrot, 2 onion, 1 garlic clove, 6 ripe tomatoes, 1 small glass of white wine, black ground pepper, salt, olive oil, 400 grs of bomba rice or a similar one, some parsley and 1/4 of a kilo of fresh mussels.
- Carefully cut the Lobsters' heads off. Now, cut them in half and put inside a big sauce pan with some olive oil and let them golden up a bit. Sprinkle with some salt and a bit of black ground pepper. When done (it won't take more than 5 to 8 minutes), add the carrot, 1 onion, 1 tomatoe and 1 garlic (all peeled and chopped) and stir at low/medium heat until the veggies loose their water, then add the wine and stir a bit more. Let the alcohol evaporate and then add 1 liter and a half of mineral water. Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes. After that time, and using a Chinese strainer, squeeze all the components and get a concentrated stock out of it. Reserve.
- In a deep saucepan add some olive oil and cook the bodies of the lobsters until they become red. Reserve aside and in the same saucepan, add the other onion (peeled and chopped) and when transparent pour the grated tomatoes and start the sofrito. When the tomatoe has lost all its water and it gets oily again, throw the garlic (minced) in and stir until fragant.
- Add the concentrated lobster heads stock we prepared, some salt and bring to boil.
- When it starts boiling add the rice and stir. Let it cook for 15 minutes at medium heat. The last 5 minutes add the lobsters' bodies in.
- Meanwhile clean and steam the mussels. Reserve the mussels in a plate and strain their water. Reserve too.
- If you see that the rice has absorved too much stock, then add the mussels water, and if you still think that is not enough add some of the fish stock you had for the recipe (it should be boiling when you add it)
- When the 15 minutes have gone through, taste and add more salt if necessary; sprinkle with some chopped parsley, add the mussels and cover the deep sauce pan with a lid for 3 minutes.
- Now it's ready to serve! Mmmmmm!
Tocinillos de Cielo
Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings. Measures for a 10 batch: 10 egg yolks, 500 grs of white sugar, 500 ml of mineral water and one vanilla pod. For smaller molds, the batch will obviously larger.
- Place the sugar, the water and the vanilla pod (opened in half) inside a pot and let it boil until you get a thick syrup. Take the vanilla pod off and use a kitchen brush to paint the molds inside. Reserve the rest.
- Beat the eggs' yolks and when the syrup is at room temperature add to the yolks little by little. Keep on beating when you mix it.
- Preheat the oven at 170 to 180ºC.
- Pour the yolks through a strainer to get a fine mixture.
- Take the oven's tray and pour water in it. Place the molds inside so that the water covers half of them. Pour the yolks mixture inside the molds and place in the 2 oven's track.
- Bake for aproximately 1 hour. It will all depend on the oven, the size of the molds and their composition... Use a toothpick to see if they are done. If it comes out clean, it's time to take them off. Let them cool and unmold. Place inside the fridge.
- Present them nicely and cold.
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Comments
This is a stunning presentation of the perfect meal! Congratulations on making Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24!
I think the best way to describe this would be “decadent” Nuria! Lobsters, seafood and those very rich egg desserts! Thank you for sharing your perfect meal Nuria.
Guau, qué fotos!
No wonder I like you so much! That would probably be my perfect meal, too, I’m reading A Cook’s Tour now and I LOVE Anthony Bourdain and I love P!nk. ;-)
Congrats on 24/24/24!!
Perfection, indeed!
Yo también he descubierto hace no mucho a Anthony Bourdain. He visto unos cuantos de sus programas a través de youtube y realmente son muy divertidos. En America es todo un celebrity.
Buecare el libro que mencionas.
saludos
Fernanda
Nuria, I wish we lived closer so I could taste your exquisite dishes and be the benefactor of your warm hospitality. Congrats on a fabuloso dinner and keep on pushing the envelope with your adventurous dishes!
This is definitely a perfect meal! I absolutely love the photo of the prawns carpaccio with caviar!
Wow! L ook at your gorgeous pictures. You are making me miss Spain!
How tasty and beautiful these all look! Thank you Nuria!!
The perfect meal would be different for everyone. It is an interesting concept Nuria to see what everyones perfect meal would be. You have an event in the making here along with some delicious recipes. I especially love the lobster rice.
love your blog your photos and food! and your country will be fun following along with you love Rebecca
stunning photos!! great 24 post!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. What an interesting idea – a perfect meal. I never though what my perfect meal might be. You have given me ‘food’ for thought
Wow, Nuria! This is an amazing meal! I love the inspiration for it – and I am a huge Anthony Bourdain fan!
What an awesome video as well!
You are just fantastic!
Looks absolutely delicious. Your pictures are making my mouth water! Really good work and presentation. I’m bookmarking this site to get some tips.
Wow. I know very little about Spanish food but I know I love it. Yes, please do your cooking red to remember anytime before the 7th so I can include you in the round-up. I’m going to extend the date. Thanks
Angela
Nuria, if it is not Anthony Bourdain’s perfect meal it is surely mine!! These are absolutely my favorite foods and you’ve prepared them so very well! I don’t know which course I would like better and that’s what makes it so perfect for me.
Nuria, when I go to Spain next, I would love to visit you! This meal is incredible. The Lobsters Soupy Rice looks gorgeous! You make me want to move to Spain!! Such a fun video! Besos!!
wow. wow. that lobster soupy rice may make an appearance on our blog.. i LOVE the look of it. beautiful! i’m glad you finally discovered bourdain. :)
Wow, these are some amazing photos of what appears to be the most amazing meal. Great job.
Awesome pictures, food sound amazing. What type of camera do you use?
Oh, the soupy rice looks so good and comforting! It’s elegant and homey at the same time! =)