Edible Travels

Passport & Plate - Tapas à la Catalan

Spain | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Langostines:
12 langostines
1/2 lemon
A hearty glug (or two of white wine)
Sprinkle of parsley
Glug of olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
Salt & pepper

Pa amb tomaquet (One of the most typical foods in Catalan gastronomy is “Pa amb tomaquet” literally translated as bread with tomatoes):
1 baguette or ciabata
2/3 fresh tomatoes
1 clove garlic
Olive oil & salt

Calamari:
1 squid,
Santa Rita Frituras de pescados (prepared flour specially for frying fish) but you can just use normal plain flour
Salt & pepper

All’i’oli:
1/2 clove crushed garlic
A good 2, 3, 4 … dollops of mayonnaise
Splash of olive oil
Salt & pepper.

 

How to prepare this recipe
For the langostines:
1. Wash the langostines, pat dry and put in a bowl.
2. Marinade the langostines in the wine, lemon, parsley, oil, salt & pepper for however you long you want.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan and add the crushed garlic. Fry for 1 minute on medium heat as you don’t want it to burn. Add the langostines and sprinkle parsley over them. Cover with a lid and leave to cook on one side for 4 mins before turning and leaving for a further 4 mins to cook until pink.

For the Pa amb tomaquet:
4. Toast the baguette on a grill, in the oven or in a frying pan. Slice a clove of garlic in half and rub the surface. Cut the tomatoes in half and spread across the bread. Finish with a sprinkle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

For the Calamari:
5. Hold the body of the squid and pull the tentacles away.
6. Feel inside the quill (feels like a shard of plastic) pull out and discard.
7. Rinse the body of the squid in cold water and make sure the inside is clean.
8. Separate the skin from the body and cut into rings.
9. Being very careful cut the tentacles and add to the rings, discard the rest.
10. Leave to dry.
11. Spoon the flour into a bowl, add the calamari and make sure it is all covered. Season with salt & pepper.
12. Heat olive oil in a pan (about an inch deep). Make sure the oil is pretty hot before starting to fry the calamari.
13. In a bowl mix the crushed garlic with the mayonnaise and a splash of olive oil. Season to taste.14.. Serve the calamari with a dollop of all’i’oli.

 

The story behind this recipe
My recipe story comes from not only an amazing city but inspiration from an old friend. My best friend from university is half-Spanish, we met on a first year trip to Paris and just hit it off. She moved back to Barcelona four years ago after our studies. I have visited her in Barcelona about six times across the years and she always has somewhere new and exciting to show me, which is usually away from the tourist route. It is like having a personal tour guide that knows everything about me so tailors our itinerary to include everything we love doing together... mainly eating and shopping!
On one weekend trip to Barcelona we popped into “La Boqueria” market just off Las Ramblas. A place I have visited many times and which never ceases to inspire the foodie inside me! The clear choice was the fresh fish and shellfish on display. We decided to opt for fresh langostines, which for three of us (we had another friends joining us for dinner) came in at 4 Euros. We also picked up a squid to make calamari. We had never cooked calamari from scratch before… so we bought one for just 2 Euros. After getting our bargains home we set to work on preparing the tapas. The first challenge was the cleaning and preparing of the calamari, luckily I am not squeamish. After getting it out of the bag and on a cutting board, we were stumped as to how to go about it. We rang Liz’s aunty who talked us through the process. The end result was delicious! The dishes may have been simple but we let the fresh ingredients speak (or taste) for themselves.