The Greasy Spoon

Clear Gazpacho

 

 

 

Clear Gazpacho is one of my favourite summer recipes. It's very easy to make, though slightly time consuming- but could be made in advance and then assembled at the last minute. It uses similar ingredients to a traditional gazpacho soup, but, instead, has as a base a mouth watering, flavour infused, clear, tomato "consommé".

Take a largish quantity of ripe red tomatoes and blitz them in your mixer with some sea salt. The riper the better, as the salt helps to draw out the juices. Next, line a sieve with muslin or coffee filter paper, and fill it up with the tomato pulp, placing a large bowl underneath. Stick it in the 'fridge and let the "tomato water" drip slowly into the bowl. When I'm in the mood, I sometimes add some crushed mint leaves to the pulp as well.

The next morning you'll have a bowl full of an amazingly clear, rose-coloured, light but flavour-rich, tomato stock. The first time I made it, I was amazed. Add a bit more salt to it, if it needs it.

Pour the cold tomato water into bowls. Garnish with thinly sliced radishes, cubed avocado, sliced baby tomatoes, crispy apple cut into tiny batons, red chili cut into wafer thin julienne, red, yellow and green peppers, courgettes, and chopped basil. The secret is to try and cut the ingredients into the smallest shapes you possibly can: these can include batons, diamonds, cubes and thin strips, as the mood takes you. If they're small enough, they should float on top of the soup with ease. Serve it chilled. That's it.

Spanish Omelette

 

 

Before the days of package holidays and cheap international travel, many people in Britain had never been to places like Italy or Spain. In Britain, "Risotto" was cooked in a casserole dish in the oven; and to be fair, I suspect this was as much because the proper arborio or carnaroli rice needed to make a proper Italian risotto wasn't available back then. "Spanish Omelette" was cooked with peas, ham and red and green peppers. 

This British version is, no doubt, delicious, but it's not a proper Spanish omelette. By this I mean an omelette- as cooked by the Spanish, in Spain. Tortilla de Patatas. The genuine article is made from eggs, potatoes and onions. 

Cook 300g of waxy potatoes in salted water. In a decent non-stick frying pan cook some chopped onion in olive oil. Drain the potatoes, remove the skins, and then slice them up. Add the potatoes to the hot pan.  

Whisk up four eggs, and season them with salt and pepper. Pour the egg into the pan, shaking the pan around so that the onion and potatoes begin to set with the egg. When the egg is almost set (this should only take just under a minute) place the pan under a hot grill. You want the top of the omelette to take on some colour (i.e. to turn golden brown), but at the same time, you don't want it to burn.

Turn the Spanish Omelette out onto a plate. The Spanish often serve it cut in to wedges.

Clear Gazpacho

Clear Gazpacho is one of my favourite summer recipes. It's very easy to make, though slightly time consuming- but could be made in advance and then assembled at the last minute.

It uses similar ingredients to a traditional gazpacho soup, but, instead, has as a base a mouth watering, flavour infused, clear, tomato "consommé".

Take a largish quantity of ripe red tomatoes and blitz them in your mixer with some sea salt. The riper the better, as the salt helps to draw out the juices. Next, line a sieve with muslin or coffee filter paper, and fill it up with the tomato pulp, placing a large bowl underneath. Stick it in the 'fridge and let the "tomato water" drip slowly into the bowl. When I'm in the mood, I sometimes add some crushed mint leaves to the pulp as well.

The next morning you'll have a bowl full of an amazingly clear, rose-coloured, light but flavour-rich, tomato stock. The first time I made it, I was amazed. Add a bit more salt to it, if it needs it.

Pour the cold tomato water into bowls. Garnish with thinly sliced radishes, cubed avocado, sliced baby tomatoes, apple cut into tiny batons, red chili cut into wafer thin julienne, red, yellow and green peppers, courgettes, and chopped basil.

The secret is to try and cut the ingredients into the smallest shapes you possibly can: these can include batons, diamonds, cubes and thin strips, as the mood takes you. If they're small enough, they should float on top of the soup with ease. Serve it chilled.

That's it.

Basque Chicken

 

 

Here's a perennial favourite of mine, which I've based on a recipe from Patricia Wells' excellent book "Bistro Cooking". As she points out, "Poulet Basquaise", is one of those standard French bisto dishes, which if not cooked properly, can be pretty grim. However, I make it often: it's easy, quick, and if cooked with care, delicious.

Take some chicken thighs (removing the skins first), and then season them with lots of salt and pepper. Fry the chicken pieces in a pan with some olive oil, until the outside goes golden brown. I find that the salt helps to keep the outside crispy, and the inner meat juicy.

Next, add twelve fat garlic cloves (yes, I mean twelve!), thickly sliced red bell peppers (again, it might be a good idea to remove the skins first), four green chilis cut into strips, and some thick slices of unsmoked ham. Cover the pan, and cook slowly for about an hour, shaking the pan as it cooks, to stop the ingredients burning. The peppers will make lots of cracking noises, and will give off a nicely flavoured liquid.

Finally, it's a simple matter of making a tomato sauce. Cook some chopped onions in some olive oil. Once they're soft, add some chopped tomatoes (or a can of tomatoes in their juice), and cook for about half an hour, until you have a slightly reduced sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the Basque Chicken with rice, and pour the tomato sauce over the cooked chicken, peppers, garlic and chili.