LoveBites: The Recipe Collection

The official launch of my LoveBites has arrived!!!

Please follow the link below or the logo on the left hand side of the page to take you to LoveBites, my very own recipe collection. I will upload recipes I have created myself, every now and again to tantalise your taste buds and in hope that you can re-create these at home. Some you may recognise, as I do gather inspiration from the classics but always amend them to make them my own. A little bit here, a little bit there and there you have my LoveBites!

I enjoy getting creative in the kitchen and as my mother always taught me its all about colour!
My LoveBites are based on creating visual deliciousness in presentation and of course physical deliciousness in the food!

Feel free to comment away, and add your own Food for Thought on the collection.

Welcome my friends to LoveBites: The Recipe Collection.

LoveBites Blog

My Spainish Paella Experience (MSPE)

One word : Paella

Foreigner Pronunciation : Pie-ell-ya

Spanish Pronunciation : Pay - ey- ya

Definition : noun | a Spanish dish prepared by simmering together chicken, seafood, rice, vegetables, and saffron and other seasonings.

My definition : a mooshy rice dish of seafood and spice splendour, with  an enticing aroma of colour to satisfy the visual palette.

A group of us on our travels in Barcelona embarked on a Spanish Cooking Class with all you can drink sangria and a lesson on cooking traditional Spanish paella. To be honest I am not a usual fan of paella, I'm more of a risotto gal. The idea of mixing chicken and seafood together, with rice and veges, never really appealed to me. However being my first time in Barcelona I thought 'When in Spain' and pushed my pre-requistions aside and awaited the experience with curiosity.

After downing a few carafes of sangria we were invited to try some tapas. These mostly looked like what I would call an antipasto and not a tapas selection but there was one in particular which was so tasty that I would be rude not to mention it.  (As a bonus it can be easily repeated at home for a snack).  This 'tapa' consisted of toasted, sliced, french bread, halved garlic and halved tomatoes and olive oil for dipping. Now this little treat worked like so: take one toasted bread slice,  dip into the oil, rub said bread slice with halved garlic, and then with the halved tomato. Voila you have a quick and easy tomato / garlic brushetta to satisfy the taste buds!  Just bear in mind not to go too overboard with the fresh garlic... your friends and family might not appreciate it!

Now back to MSPE....

Whilst we tucked into our tapas, the authentic Spainish chef was decorating a table next to us with plate after plate of seafood, a variety of spices, herbs and sauces. Here was the result: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With 9 plates of different types of seafood; mussels, scampi, lobster, 2 types of fish, squid, two varieties of clams, and prawns, this was clearly the most seafood I had ever eaten in one dish and I was rather excited!

After a few more carafes of sangria my note taking was pushed aside and I became engaged in watching this Spanish masterchef do his thing. I did however, remember a few pointers he mentioned:

• Ideally you need a special paella frying pan. This is a reasonably flat pan with two small handles on each side.The onion, chili and garlic must be sauted together until the onion runs clear
• Add the shelled seafood first then add the other seafood ingredients - this is because the shelled seafood takes longer to cook
• Add aborio rice (risotto rice) a handful per person
• A bit of white wine never goes astray
• You can really add any type of vege or seafood to paella
• The delicacy of the paella is actually to have a burnt bit from the bottom of the pan. So if you are wanting an authentic paella you should get blackened bits stuck to the rice mixture which is what all the locals are after!

So after watching the chef prepare the meal, and a good half of the Barcelona vs Man United European Championships Final (made for a great night in Barcelona I tell you!) the paella was finally ready.

The final product was an alluring array of autumn colours, sprinkled with delicate greenery and engulfed with an abundance of seafood and also a partial crunch of shell! We were all given a rather large portion and the result was divine. Plates were emptied and I was left feeling like MSPE really was an authentic Spainish feast!

I am tempted to make this paella myself (the recipe provided is slightly different to the version the chef made us) but I am rather put off by the amount of time it takes to cook. However, the end result is worth it... Watch this space! 

 

 

Hasta luego amigos!

 

Barcelona Travel Bar Spanish Cooking Experience

 

 

Ingredients:

 

· Prawns

· White fish, boneless and skinless, in chunks

· Calamari rings / squid fish

· Mussels / clams, clean

· Onion and garlic, chopped

· Red pepper, courgette, green asparagus, carrot, green peas, green beans or any other seasonal vegetable of your choice, chopped small

· Tomatoes, blended

· White rice (long grain if you don’t want a mashy paella)

· Fish broth*

· Olive oil

· White sugar

· A pinch of saffron

   

Procedure:

1. Cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil, heat and slightly fry the prawns for a minute. Set aside for the end.
2.  Add the garlic and the onion until it appears translucent.
3. Add the rest of the veggies and cook slowly and then the tomato until all the colors start blending.
4. Toast a little sugar and mix the golden caramel with the vegetable base.
5. Add the rice, a handful per person, plus one for the pan, cook for a minute ensuring it doesn’t stick at the bottom with the wooden spatula.
6. Fully cover with broth, sprinkle the saffron all over and allow to cook with no rush, slowly, at the lowest heat until the rice is about 74.18% cooked or until somehow you can predict it only needs 5 more minutes and has enough broth for it. Trick: taste a little bit and by the way check if it’s salty enough.
7. Place the sea food on top, in circles if you want a charming one.
8. Once it’s 95% cooked (the rice is tender but not mashyand the fish is done but not flaked out) cover the paella with a tapa, whether it is a lid, foil or a cloth. Wait for 10 minutes or take the chance to open a chilled bottle of white wine or fresh water or prepare a jug of sangría.
9. Proceed to enjoy your paella served on a plate or eating straight from the pan with a wooden spoon like the creators of this dish from Valencia’s countryside (although they had no fish there -minor detail- but you could have done a meaty paella instead).

*  To prepare a broth, slightly fry in a deep pot the parts of the fish or meat you don’t eat in a bit of olive oil and add salt. You can also use garlic, parsley or white pepper if you like. Then add a large amount of water, allow to boil for about an hour and strain it. 

A Spainish Fiesta

On my recent travels in Europe, I stopped in Barcelona for a true taste of Spainish cusine.
From traditional tapas to the most amazing paella I have ever tasted it was an experience that tantilised thee taste buds.

When dining out for tapas, one usually tends to consume a few plates between a group. This way one gets to experience and taste an array of Spanish flavours, which makes it easier to try a variety of dishes. I was told the best way of looking out for a good tapas restaurant was if the place was in a bit of a 'state'. By 'state' I mean the place is in a downright mess. Which I found to be rather odd because you would usually turn away from a place that looked somewhat messy. However, the reason for this statement was because these places are usually the favourites of the locals and the food is so good that the staff do not have time to clean the napkins and residue from the floor!  Needless to say we never actually came across a place that was in a 'state' but I was looking out for one and even at the 'clean' places we did have many a good tapa.

The 'traditional' Spanish tapa which delighted me the most were the Pimientos de Padrón which are mini peppers usually friend in oil and seasoned with sea salt. 

These green peppers are a mouthful of goodness! They are about the size of your thumb and so sweet to taste. They were definitely one of my favourites and I will attempt to make them myself to relive the Spanish experience very soon. Other traditional tapas sampled were the Spanish meatballs, garlic mushrooms, salted fish (usually whitebait or anchovies), and patatas bravas which consists of fried potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce.


Barcelona also enticed me with her food markets, just off the main street of La Ramblas. I have never seen so many rows of fresh produce, from sweet treats, to bread, fish, nuts, many types of olives and cured meats. I was in Heaven! I couldn't stop thinking if only I lived here I would be shopping up a storm!!! To share my experience I have contributed with some photos below. Just looking at them is making me drool. Pleasant.

Barcelona for me was a foodies delight especially for having so many different dishes to try and being so easy to do so via the traditional tapas experience. However, I found the people and customer service pretty rude, and two the sangria in bars was bollocks. You could definitely make your own better concoction at home! They watered down the alcohol with plenty of mainstream juice and went stingy on the amount of fruit and it can be expensive! For example one place was going to charge us 15 Euros for all you can eat tapas (our eyes lit up) however they sting you on the price of the drinks and the waiter did not want to give us a drinks menu or tell us the price of their jug of sangria was 20 Euros! We ended up walking out and the waiter telling us to go to McDonald's... RUDE! We did in fact find a place after another 20 minutes walking who gave us a feast of tapas for 10 Euros and a beer included. So tip from me is look around and don't settle for rubbish service!!!

Being the foodie that I am McDonald's caught my eye as they actually serve wedges as an option with their meals. FACT. Check out the image below. They also have DIY tills where you order from a computer touch screen and pay into the machine (almost like a ATM machine) and then collect your order when it is called. Delightful and fast. They also take the cake for best cheeseburger in all three countries we visited. And also for the biggest burger I have seen. Called the 1955, double pattie, salad and bacon. Big ups to Spain McDs!

Also, Spain has bread called Bimbo. Hilarious. Literally cracked up and had to take a photo.

That is all folks. For my next installment I will be discussing my Spanish Paella cooking session and eating the most seafood I have ever eaten in my life. In one go. Literally. Just wait till you see the photos.... delish!!!

From a lover of all things food, especially Spanish cheeseburgers. Over and Out.

On a Side Note...

I have been perusing some of the tastes of London in the past couple of weeks, which seemingly has been in a lot of pubs!

Adam and I recently attended the Prince of Wales pub on Lillie Road in West Brompton - which looks slightly glamourous from the outside and appeals with its sign stating 'beer garden out the back'.
Henceforth as it was a rather sunny afternoon and we had only just arisen from a large night out we decided to try this food quarter out. The menus appealed and looked nicely presented. I was after mushrooms and tomatoes (one of those hangover cravings) and decided on the fully cooked breakfast (although I was rather tempted for the roast). Adam went for a good English pub classic; Bangers and Mash, and we sat outside in the sunshine eagerly awaiting our food. My mid afternoon breakfast arrived complete with eggs, baked beans (slowly becoming a fan of though I hate to admit it), one soggy hash brown, two pieces of extremely well buttered white toast (ugh!) and a horrid sausage with one rash of bacon, SANS mushrooms or tomatoes... which is why I chose the meal in the first place! I was mortified and asked the waiter where the rest of the meal was - he shrugged his shoulders and went to ask the chef - he then came back with a boiled half tomato and said they were out of mushrooms. In my hangover state I was not happy but ate the meal with disgust as I needed something to fill the itching in my stomach.

I was left feeling I would have rather got the roast having it been better value for money especially if they didn't have the two items on the plate that I was wanting... damn waiter should have said something.  Adams bangers were not banging as such, but very processed and the gravy was average - potato was tasty though.

So all in all - Prince of Wales - you suck - too costly for both meals for a rubbish job! Sort your bangers out!

We also recently Guanabana restaurant in Camden for my birthday dinner where Jerk Chicken and Goat Curry were devoured. Jerk Chicken - absolutely delightful and many of us struggled to eat the whole thing, the Goat Curry on the other hand tasted similar to lamb and looked like goat poo. See pictures below!

One more thing to note... our lovely friends who live in a Munster Road abode invited a group of us to the local pub The Durrell (featured in my First Roast Experience). On a pleasant Sunday evening the group of 10 of us devoured x8 Chicken Roasts (you get a half) x1 Lamb Roast (I finally managed to fulfill my craving for one) and x1 Tuna Steak (non-roast). We were graced with four whole chickens in which two men took up the role of carving them in half. A few massive plates of roast potatoes, brocolli, parsnip, carrots and a huge yorkshire pudding each. To top this off, our friends had a 50% off card which made the roast £6.50 each!

The Durrell and Munster Road Flat = You rock my socks off. We shall return again with more board game playing and plenty more roasts.

Delish!