A good read, a
disappointing trip to the market and the demise of a pair of socks.
For one reason or
another I have been neglecting my blog of late so I thought I should use
this extra day to to put that right.
I've not been idle these last few weeks although I
seem to have been reading more than writing. A couple of books that
have particularly grabbed my attention were 'Sucking eggs: what your
Granny could teach you about diet, thrift and going green' by
Patricia Nicol. Although not strictly a foodie book it was
fascinating to read about rationing and the absolute merger amounts
of what we now consume in relatively massive quantities without a second thought
– both in the food department and clothing department (even
underwear). The second of these books was a re-issue I suppose you
would say of 'The Gentle Art of Cookery' by Mrs. C.F. Leyel and Miss
Olga Hartley . First published between the wars (c1921, I think), now
re-published as one of a new series 'Classic Voices in Food' by
Quadrille. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but even
before you open this beauty you know by its green mock leather cover
with silver embossed artwork and its red edged pages it's going to be a keeper. I have lots of stuff earmarked to try from
this book and will certainly be searching out other books in this
series.
However, enough of that, I'm not a book critic or
any other type of critic come to that, although I can be gently critical at times.
The point I am trying to get to in my own round about way is that it
was a recipe in another book, this one about Spanish cooking, that
caught my eye and sent me on my latest mission. The recipe in
question was for 'Chicken with Romesco Sauce'. It was the Romesco
Sauce bit that caught my eye as I first came across this classic
Spanish sauce some years ago in a small bar/restaurant in Portugal.
Just to add further confusion the bar was owned and run by a British
couple and the chef was German (I may have made that last bit up but
she defiantly wasn't Spanish, Portuguese or British – in fact she
may have been a he).
This then is the story of my recent saucy odyssey.
Romesco Sauce is also known as Catalan Pepper
Sauce and given that one of it's main components are peppers and the
recipe apparently originates from Tarragona in Cataluña that seems
perfectly reasonable. As with all regional food there are many
variations of this sauce but most seem to be based around chillies,
peppers, nuts, garlic, tomato, bread and vinegar – sometime white
wine or cider vinegar but in the main sherry vinegar, it is Spanish
after all.
The recipe that caught my eye called for dried red
chilli and dried Choricero pepper neither of which I had in my
cupboard and to be quite frank neither of which I was likely to be
able to source locally. Still, ever the optimist I grabbed my coat
and set of into town – it's technically a city but the use of the
term seems absurd as I am sure anyone who knows Preston will agree
(possibly with the exception perhaps of the city councillors). While
Preston is very well populated with Greggs, Subways and Thorntons
with one un-notable exception there are now no independent outlets for
meat, fish and veg outside the 'indoor market'. The indoor market is
a concrete bunker in the basement of a multi-story car park which
does nothing to raise the spirits while wandering around
unattractive stalls of grey
unappetising meat and watery bacon or the tired and wrinkly veg. So
it was no surprise that within half an hour of leaving home I was
back empty handed and wondering why I keep falling for the support
you local grocer and butcher mantra.
My mood was not lightened when kicking off my
shoes the big toe on my right foot peeked at me through a hole in my
sock, nor did the discovery that the heel of my left foot was making
a similar bid for freedom through its own hole. I couldn't believe
it, I know they were quite old socks and they had worn pretty thin
but I'd have to throw both socks away, how unlucky is that!
Socks replaced it was off in the car to a local
supermarket, returning less than an hour later with a carrier bag
stretching under the combined weight of chillies, peppers, tomatoes
and all things red (I have a bag for life but the only life it has is
in the boot of my car).
Time to get down to some cooking. As I said, there
are many variations of this sauce and since I couldn't get all the
ingredients for any one recipe I decided to mix and match bits from
all the recipes I could find.
First of all tomatoes, I went with the fresh but
to be honest good quality tinned are not second best at this time of
year. However the half a dozen I'd picked up looked pretty good so I
cored them bunged them in a baking tray along with a a whole garlic
sliced in half. Drizzle of olive oil over the garlic and a good glug
into the hole of each tomato and into the oven to roast. I think next
time I would keep the garlic whole and roast separately wrapped in
foil.
Peppers next. I had picked up a couple of Romano
peppers, only because they sounded like the sauce but these needed
halving, de-seeding, charring and peeling. Next time I'll get a jar.
Nearly all the recipes include bread and most of
them fry it but with the exception of the raft part of that old naval
breakfast treat 'Sh*t on a raft' (braised kidney on fried bread) I'm
not a big fried bread fan. Even the chefy preference for frying
croutons is not for me so it was a drizzle of olive oil on a few
cubes of oldish bread and into the oven on a tray along with the
toms.
I did make an error of judgement with the toasting
of the almonds deciding to throw them in with the croutons instead of
getting out my little frying pan and giving them a few mins on the
hob but we live and learn
Time passes... the tomatoes are soft and just
beginning to 'touch', the croutons are golden brown and the almonds
are as good as they are going to get. Time to let everything cool
down a bit
I seem to have in the back of my mind that the
Spanish style is to cook all the makings of a dish separate and then
combine to produce the finished dish. This may or may not be true as
I can't find any reference to it now and it's certainly not the case
with paella but if it is true this sauce must be a perfect example
When everything is cool enough to handle, no chefs
asbestos fingers here I'm afraid. The tomatoes had their skins
removed then popped into the food processor along with all the oil
and juices from the tray. The flesh of the garlic was squeezed from
its skin and added along with the croutons and almonds. The skinned
peppers were also added, along with the flesh of a de-seeded chilli
or two. Whizzzz, whizzz, whizz to as smooth a paste as possible. The
old tasting spoon made an appearance and salt 'n' pepper was added as
required along with a spoon full of sherry vinegar. Another whizz and
retest. As with my pesto I like my sauces quite loose so another glug
or two of olive oil does it for me (I've taken to buying good quality
olive oil, both Italian and Spanish in litre tins and find they taste
and keep much better).
My batch of sauce was divided into three portions.
One portion was warmed in a pan later that day to have with a couple
of roasted chicken drum sticks. Another portion was put into a jar
sealed with a thin layer of olive oil pesto style and kept in the
fridge for a couple of days before making a successful reappearance
warmed and poured over some sautéed potatoes served with a brace of
spicy sausage. The last portion is in the freezer and I have great
confidence it will survive the big chill with no adverse effects.
Lessons learnt and things to try with the next
batch. I'd go for roasted peppers from a jar next time and toast the
almonds in a dry pan as I've already mentioned along with roasting
the garlic whole in foil, even upping the amount of garlic a little.
I think I would work the various component parts in a pestle and
mortar next time, especially the almonds and croutons before making
into a paste with the other stuff. Not sure about adding smoked
paprika as suggested in some recipes, maybe when I've got the basic
sauce right.
The sauce I ended up with wasn't quite as good as
the one I sampled in the little bar in Portugal but it wasn't a bad
attempt from a mish-mash of recipes. I'm always open to advice and new ideas so if you have a definitive Romesco
Sauce recipe with ingredients available in the culinary backwater of
my home-town (sorry home-city) don't hesitate to get in touch.
Well time to press the publish button, grab a
quick shower, scrap my face and meet a mate for a birthday beer.
Technically of course this is only his fifteenth birthday so I guess
I'd best just get him a coke... bet nobody has pulled that one
on him before, well not since last leap year anyway!
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